The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-28
LORDS ARE VERY COMMON
In London They are 40 Prevalent
~ Clans Al q Clam
Bake,
Ons ar,nds " Hand Osssn, Others Appear
Often In she rsitce amt 1tebier
Courts.

fNpccisi Correspondence IT 1'nx isDrrrSBssf.
LONDON, jan. t0.--Down NJ one Of th
Victoria street hotels n few evenings ago
party of American tourists were nj dinner
They had done tho continent thoroughly
studied money. menus md madonDas until
they were tired md enjoyed al that variety
Of experiences and disillusions which char
scssrizes continental travel. They had ~
last reached London and proposed, In til,
childish innocence Of the average tourist
20 do II pretty thoroughly IN n week >
They began we'll. They had n sensation n,
their first dinner. One OF tho party, I
young man, camo in late and announced
with some emprcssement that he had, at
hour before, actually been introduced to
I live lord. The news spread quickly from
table to table, the wave of interest which
passed over the company was rs clearly
marked as IL they had boon n pond and tn,
news q paving stone which had beer
dropped into it. The party was made up OF
quiet, well-to-do. well bred. and well edu-
Gated people from the'middle states, but the
fact that they looked with interest ap-
preaching awe upon SO trivial a circum-
stance az meeting a lord was ~undeniable.
About fifteen of the company were young
ladies. They showed Lerhaps the greatest
interest. They piled the honored youth
with ceaseless questions and during all the
evening he was surrounded by a halo OF IN
terest which might have been gre ater if he
had met a sea serpent but would certsinl y
have been less if ho had merely been pre-
sented to a live gorilla.
The way in which the news was received
gas typical of the uniformed American 0 n
this side of the water. Despite the repub-
lican ideas which are imblbed from the
cradle upwards in the lana of the stars and
stripes, the average American is reason ably
certain to lose his head over the Engli sh
peerage until he gets used to it. The aver
age Americaine, particularly if she be
young and unmarried, will do 80 beyond q
doubt. No amount of education appears
titles and there is probably no Travelled
American who did not look upon his first
meeting with a lord as SO we'll worth re-
m~embering that he can tell you IN a mo-
ment the time. place and al! the attendant
circumstances We are republicans in fact
because the constitution says 80, but what
We are at heart is hard to say.
At the same time meeting a live lord is a
felicity which no American residing for
any time in London, if he nave any social
or financial backing, is likely to escape.
The English lord in London is as common
a specimen in social zoology as CLANS at a
clam bake. He has nothing like the iDl-
portance in the middle class eye that he
enjoys in the American mind. He is sim
ply q human being with a hereditary title
among six hundred other human beings
with the same title by heredity, and as
many more who enjoy the title by custom
or courtesy, viz: the sons of peers. If he is
rich and behaves himself he is popularly
respected. If be is rich and misbehave;
himself he is the object of mingled popu-
lar feelings. If he is poor he il
derided, and it is always the individual
rather thar the title whose qualities meas
ure the amount of popular respect which
he commands.
One peer of England is to-day a beggar
and tramp in the streets of London. lie
was discussed in the papers a few weeks ago
and wonder was expressed that his class did
not make some provision for him. This
wonder was not expressed by the British,
however. His class care no more about him
than would an association of journeymen
tailors for one of their number who had
zone wrong. Another titled gentleman,
Lord Galloway, figured in a Scotch police
court recently, as the defendant in a
disreputable assault case, but nobody was
land street exposure took place Lord Arthur
Somerset, who was attached to the Queens
household, was forced to disappear, and
Lord Euston was denounced, but convicted
his denouncer of libel. Nevertheless, the
English social system was not particularly
is to-day grinding a barrel organ about
the streets. Every month or so Lord
this or lord that figures in court as a bank
rupt or In even more unpleasant circum-
stances, usually though his more or less
picturesque relations with some bewitching
young person who sings in the music halls.
These facts are telegraphed at great length
to America because they interest Ameri-
can't, but London takes such matters very
coolly. The English are used to lords.
The aristocracy have been here for some
time, and a certain percentage of them
have always misbehaved themselves. At
home they are simply human beings like
other people, and the awe they excite is
confined to republicans from abroad.
To-day the English lord is everywhere.
For several decades the social barriers of
the nation have been giving wsy, and the
annual motion of Labouchere in the house
of m to abolish altogether the house
change in public opinion. The aristocracy
have grown poor.
The troubles in Ireland and the agricui-
tural depression in England have impover-
ished family after family while non are SO
rich as they we're. If you will go to the
Al u NiCCli" iSh " u = olIl
ner, or the Star and Garter at Richmond
for a breakfast you will hear a melancholy
tale from any of the old walters as to the
way times have changed. These two
places were once the '%'plunging' resorts OF
the young aristocracy. The Star and Gar
ter is Ouida's pet scene in which to place
her sublime hero of the days when she was,
or was not, au courant with the methods o.
the socially elect. If you will go to Gar
rard in tine Haymarket, the jeweler, time
out of mind, of the nobility, he will, if ht
chooses, tell you an interesting story o.
family jewels which have either gone undeI
the hammer or been disposed of at private
sale. During the great diamond corner o.
.-st year Garrard's spirits were not at all af
fected. He had for years been the custo-
dian of hundreds of thousands of dollar
worth which he could buy, at any time, a
his own price,.
1t is this cause that has made the Englisl
lord a much less important person thai
formerly in the London of to day. AS im
poverished English ladies of title nave gon
into millinery and dressmaking in the ives
end 30 peers and SONS of peers nave gon,
into business in the city. There are sc
many of them around Capel court that /;
thrown brick, in busy times, could scarcel
fail to abrade the exalted skin of at leas
one English nobleman. An American her.
on promoting" business recently tool
luncheon with an English friend in the cit
and met five lords, III business in one after
noon. mighty good fellows, too was hi
comment, and it was a just one. for no ma
has less false sense of his social dignit
than a lord among his friends. At racin
meetings, at the Pelican club, and all sport