Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-10-03
CLUBS OF LONDON.
&c Takes Sometimes Fifteen Years to Bo
Admitted to Membership.

Few men know how long it takes to
get into London club. AS matter
of fact. with the exception of the po-
litical clubs. the service clubs and the
Athenseum, it generally takes from
| six to fifteen years to obtain admis-
| sion to good club in London OF the
service clubs. the Rag is by far the
most exclusive. but any one properly
qualified can get into the Junior
United or the Naval and Military.
For an ordinary individual to get into
the Athen8um it takes some time;
but they have there what is called
election by council. which admits q
man speedily enough. At the Carlton.
If you are q member of Parliament
Conservative bien entendu. for. Of
course, it is the Tory stronghold). and
not absolutely unfit for publication.
is true of the Conservatives at the
Carlton is true of the Liberals at the
Reform, for the really chic Liberal
club is, of course. the Brooks, which is
rather difficult of access.
Boobies. which in the old days used
to be most exclusive. has gone down
terribly of late years; and the same
may be said of Whites, which former
ly was the rendezvous of the creme de
la creme. but which now opens its por-
tails to Tom, Dick and Harry, and
which is now indeed only worthy of
commentator in the admirable and
most comfortable arrangement of its
buen retiros. Formerly it took
a long time to get into Whites,
but now any decent man. well
proposed and well seconded, can
become member in few
days. The Marlborough Club has
also undergone sad change of late
years. and is to-day nothing like what
it was originally intended to be. 1t is
smart enough. but it can hardly be
called select; and, although most of
the members of the jeunesse doree be-
long to it. many members of the
jeunesse cuivree also are counted
among its members. Arthur's has
become sadly old-fogyish, and. the
cuisine at the Windham has galloped
down hill of late. The Junior Carlton
and the Conservative are both creep
ing slowly up the hill, and are becom-
ing quite popular.
The St. James Club is a very pleas
ant place of resort for men who know
continental life well, for here there is
always to be found a great gathering
of foreign notabilities and diplomatists,
and to people who like Bohemians on
their best behavior we recommend the
Garrick. although here again there has
been a terrible change for the worse of
late years.
The Bachelors Club is the rendez-
vous of the jeunesse doree of society.
and it now takes about five years to
get inside its portals as member.
The great recommendation is that the
members can bring in ladies to lunch
and dine. and the same accommodation
is allowed the member of the Yelling
ton Club. Woe betide the member,
however, who brings in any woman
who is not every thing she should be-
He finds his compulsory retirement
has made room for another member.
The one and only club in London
that has kept up it's reputation for ex-
clusiveness is the Travellers. the
pretty little house between the side of
the Athenaum and the Reform in Pail
Mall.
To gain access to the Travellers
takes between ten and fifteen years,
but even after that long time of wait
ing candidates are not infrequently
blackballed, for there exists no more
capricious club in London. Members
of the diplomatic corps are admitted
therein as honorary members; but to
have stood the ordeal of ballot at the
club in question, and to have been
elected member thereof. is certainly
a social triumph; for many of the best
men in London have been pelted with
black balls when they came on for
election at the Travellers
The reason why so many young men
are to be found members of clubs to
which it takes so very long time to
belong is simple enough. Their names
are put down by their proposer-gen-
orally, of course, the father or, at
least. relative-when the candidate
is still small boy in jackets at school;
so that by the time his election comes
on he is just of age. and there will be
thing against him at so early stage
in his career. That is, indeed. the
safest and best plan to adopt, and the
one usually resorted to, for not only is
it absurd for. a man of twenty-five
to have to wait fifteen years to get in
to club. but it is almost moral GER
tainty. provided he be a man of merit
and character, that before his election
becomes due he will have made suffi.
Gent number of enemies to imperil his
being received into a very select and
exclusive coterie.
The st. James Club. like the Marl-
borough, was founded out of I,ique and
offended vanity. Some members of
the Travellers having heard some Of
fensive remarks passed regarding che
billiard tables. made up their minds to
secede, and did SO, starting the st.
James as the Prince of Wales,
when he found a man proposed with
his own royal appreciation was black
balled at Whites. also ''cut up rusty"
and founded the Marlborough Club