National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1885-07-23
PRESENTED AT COURT.
woMAN's STORY OF A PRESENTATION AT A
ROYAL DRAWING ROOM.

ROYAL DRAWING ROOM.
Do you think you can go to "draw-
ing room" without learning how TO make
proper reverence2 No, indeed. You
must go to a coy little house in the West
End, where very elegant and quaint
little old French lady will show you all
you have to do for guinea n lesson, and
then on the afternoon before the great
day you go to see the lady who is to pre-
sent you TO get the important tickets,
and to receive explicit instructions as to
your line of conduct for, as the lady be-
longs to the diplomatic circle, she will
be in the room with her royal highness,
and you must enter alone. At her house
you meet some gentlemen, and one tells
you that when he was presented was the
only moment in his life that he has
known what fear was, and that he WAS in
agony lest he should trip over his sword,
and you think of your three or four yards
Of train, and you are sure that will be
much worse than sword. And another
tells you that the young ladies usually
are white and trembling with fear, and
that often they make a terrible fiasco;
they tell you Of one poor unfortunate,
who, instead Of kissing the queens hand
when IL was extended to her, shook il
vigorously, and then realizing what she
had done, lost her head completely, and,
forgetting all the great line of personages,
turned her back and incontinently fed.
BY the time you leave your instruct
ress' house, you are trembling in every
limb, and you spend all the rest of the
evening making courtesies TO the chairs
and sofas, and fervently hoping that you
may not disgrace your country on the
morrow.
Your landlords daughter devotes her.
self TO you for the next day, and makes
the most helpful and obliging of little
dressing-maids, and at last you are ready,
all pearls, lace and shining silk. 1t is
quite long drive to the park, but sud
you know you have arrived, and inside
the gates you find hundreds and hun
dreds of people waiting to see the car
riages pass and standing on tiptoe to
catch glimpse Of you. All the way up
the long drive the Horse Guards, in their
long plumes and brilliant scarlet, are
stationed at right and left, and inside the
palace gates is long row of horsemen
standing close together, and you alight
to the sound of martial music. When
you have left your wrap in q room near
the entrance you go up very grand
stairway, past men with spears call Beef
EATERS" dressed in red and yellow you
hand one of your tickets to the queens
page, and are ushered with great many
ladies into huge room, all red and gold
and there you sit for quite long time
gazing at the lovely views of the park
through the wide windows, and studying
the dresses.
AS you pass the door to the presence
chamber you drop your train from your
arm, and the two chamberlains-or what
ever they are called-quickly and deity
straighten it TO its full length as you
walk slowly forward; at the door of the
throne room some one takes your second
card; and then you hear the lord cham
berlain pronouncing your name in very
loud voice, and now you are bowling to
the princess; you wish the ladies' behind
you would not come quite so fast, for
you feel hurried and are conscious you
are not making YOUR reverence the way
you were taught; you courtesy TO the
ladies next the princess; but how many
there are, or what they look like, you
haven't the least idea; you see the prince
quite distinctly, and you walk sideways
and make series of little diminishing
bows to the row of dukes or princes or
whatever they may be, but of them you
retain not the faintest impression. Sud-
denly you feel your train hustled on to
your arm. for in your confusion you have
forgotten to hold your arm out properly,
and the great deed is done II has lasted
in all about fifteen seconds; you haven't
seen anything very distinctly, and you
retain only one idea, that her royal
highness was dressed in light yellow
but you have been presented at court, and
surely ought to be satisfied. The next
day your name appears in the Court Cir.
cutar. Christian Tnion