Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-07
AMERICAN LADIES ABROAD.
The Attempt to Move in London Society,"
Easy to Be Presented to the Queen
Other Features Which Are Rather More
nifficult

Other Features Which Are Rather More
Difficult.
1t is an Americans privilege to faunt at
aristocracy and to love lords says the Lon
don correspondent of the Boston Herald
There used to be notion that only an En-
glishman dearly loved lord, but it is high
time to overhaul that ancient superstition
and arrange it up to date. Who that lives
in London can doubt the fascination of
titles when he sees hundreds of Americans
yearly devoting their time, their treasure
and their peace of mind to the engaging pur-
suit of nobility hunting? Few of you at
home realize the rate of annual increase in
the numbers of our countrymen and women
arriving here in the season for the conquest
of society. But every year the numbers
grow. 1t cannot be said that the numbers
of conqueSts grow in proportion to the num-
bers of arrivals from over-sea. In truth,
there are every year more diseppointments
and more aching hearts.
The Americans who come to London for
the delectable purpose of getting into So
ciety" are often as much out OF their reckon
ing as are the tourists whom have already
described. They think the game much
easier than it is. Many of them retire in
utter discontinue at the end Of their first
season; some try it second year, and even
q third, if their purses and their assurance
hold out; but the end, in the majority of
cases, is defeat.
Divided Into Two Glasses.
There are two kinds of Americans who
come to London to 'tget into society" One
has some kind of social standing at home,
the other has not. As far as London is con-
cerned, the first las but little advantage
over the second. Some pretty stories could
be told, if there were no feelings to wound,
of estimable ladies who rule their set in New
Vnrlr RnCtnn a nr1o
zoo, or Five Pines Crossing-autocrats at
home-who have discovered in London that
they are only items in the multitude and
that nobody here cares q jot for the social
glory they have won in the country of their
nativity. They usually begin by explaining
themselves. This is fatal error. London
society asks no explanation from man or
woman. 1t likes you OF it likes you not If
you explain, the act implies some doubt on
your own part, and some acute self-con-
seriousness. You have yet to learn that in
London no one explains his social qualifica-
tions To do SO would be to condescend
basely. If society does not know ones quail
if1cations, the loss is society's. Do you ex-
pect duke to explain that he is a duke; to
tell how many guests he entertains at din
nar, and to declare that he is lineally de-
scended from the first settlers?
Some of the Americans work into the
wrong sets and then congratulate them
selves that they are in society. Some of
them, to be sure, never discover their error,
81 llltle DISQUALIFICATION nave Cney. Inc
smart set'' is not society,"" sporting lords
are not society, neither do prime donne, cell
ebrated actors, advertising agents. nor the
enchanting habitues Of Bohemia constitute
which our American friends center their
hopes. Much, you see, depends upon the
definition you give to the term society"
Our compatriots have a vague notion of
what they want, but their plans for fulfilling
their desires are equally vague. One thing
they are sure to do-they attempt to secure
presentation at court. Many of them sue
ceed in getting thus far with their ambitious
projects. 1t is not so difficult for an Ameri-
can to get presented" if she goes to work
the right way. In fact, the Americans have
rather overdone the business, so that "pre-
seItation" is a cheap distinction.
Likely to Turn Their Heads.
All the same, it usually turns the heads of
the worthy persons who succeed in getting
into the Queens drawing room. They are SO
cocksure the way is clear for them straight
to the very heart of society that they put on
airs after the tedious and unsat-
isfactory ceremony of "presentation." They
have moved the powers of earth, if not
heaven and earth themselves, "to get pre-
sented." If the Minister Plenipotentfary
happens to come from their town SO much
the better. They know him, or can easily
procure an introduction suitable to their
Lurpose. Then they have court costumes
made, take lessons in court department, and
when the eventful day comes they swell with
proper pride. 1t is diverting to witness the
elation with which an American prepares
for these aristocratic functions. 1t is divert
ing to watch an Americans distress when it
is borne in upon him-or her-that the fact
Of having been presented at court" does
not put the social peg hole higher.
Being "presented" is of no use to the
American aspirant for social honors in Lon
posed to be qualified for an invitation to a
state ball or a state concert, but YOU never
get the invitation. For the rest of your life
you must rest With more or less serenity
whether you have been presented; nobody is
she wiser save your own townsmen, for
whom you have carefully provided o news
paper paragraph. The chances are that you
will never see the inside of Buckingham
Palace again. In brief, then, the presenta-
ion at the Queens drawing room or the
Princes levee goes for nothing.
Some Americans besiege the 'tMarlborough
House set,p and if they have money and
other credentials, such as "smartness"
Ind beauty they may gain an entrance.
Then their ecstacy is unrestrained. They
believe that they are in ''the best society,"
whereas they are not only several removes
rom 1t, but they have imperiled their
chances of getting into it by the very fact of
heir ass0ciation-more or less remote-with
,he Marlborough House lot. The "best So
'lety" is by no means on terms of intimacy
With the marlborough House set;" it is, in
Iced, inclined to turn its back upon those
who enjoy the Princes favor.
A Curious Kind of Fish.
The reputation-or is notoriety the better
by some Of our country
women who have come to London, establish
ng themselves here in a large way and
all sorts of titled folks and
from the Prince of Wales to a
,orsey baronet, or the author Of the latest
,omic songs, seems to increase the farther it
yets from London. These good people do
lot create much of a ripple in the social
waters here. Society" regards them as a
curious kind of fish, and rates them at their
proper value. 1t is pretty clearly under
Itood that the ambition of these dear crea-
;ures' lives is TO cut figure, is to have nota- |
,tlities at their houses, and to see the Prince |
when they want him Well, notabilities go, |
% be sure, but they go as they went to Olym- |
oia when Barnum was there, or to the exhi- |
,ition grounds at Earl's Court during Buffalo |
Bills brief reign. Even notabilities must |
nave diversion, and 1t is sometimes comfort |
ng for them to know that their American |
lostesses can afford the elaborate entertain |
nents they give, which is not always the case |
With the British. But as for being social |
,owers," as for presiding over Salons" as
'emote newspapers represent them-weli, it |
S all news to the Londoners.
There is queer kind Of American bird |
hat comes to London in the season to twit- |
er on the social tree. 1t has just enough |
money to keep it here a few weeks: it lives |
n the most modest of nests, at q highly re- |
pectable address; and what with being /
Isked to breakfast, luncheons and dinners it |
the business in a very economical |
way. 1t spends Its small life In q continual |
wftter, and it goes home with gossip |
enough to last it through the winter, |
.dorned, of course, with amazing tales cal |
'ulated to duly astonish and impress the |
in America.
Many of these queer birds migrate to Lon
lon in the season and make themselves des- |
,erately uncomfortable in their efforts to |
,eep up appearances. But it must be said |
hat they keep up appearances with remark |
bile skill, with, indeed, an amount of per- |
istence ana ingenuity which would serve |
yell in some purpose more worthy of human |