Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-05

IcCelFeQ III AOuuOu anu IL
all parts of the world, from the Shetland
Islands to British India. Whether guests
are invited for day, week, or month,
the invitations are for period absolutely
limited In duration; and no social law OF the
British aristocracy is more inviolate than
this.
The etiquette of reception of guests is
most simple Indeed there is less formality
shown in the actual relation of host to guest
In British nobleman's home than will be
at any time confronted in the house of a
Hoboken brewer or Kansas City merchant
In hogs The first coachman, with the fam
lily close carriage, if rainy, and with the
wagonette if in fine weather, brings the
titled guests from the station, traps follow
ing after with the luggage; and the groom
with another carriage, attends to the guests
servants.
How the Guests Are Received.
Milord's valet and milady's maid meet the
arriving guests at the castle entrance and
conduct them at once to the drawing room,
where the host and hostess receive and well
come them; but they are not delayed in
being shown to their apartments. Mean
time the housekeeper is attending to the
guests servants. Every gentleman brings
his valet and every lady her maid, and
often her own footman, unless an express
request to the contrary has been made in
the invitations. The visiting valet is as
signed room in the servants hall, and
ladies' maids are provided with separate
rooms, usually en- suite with their mis-
tresses' apartments.
Whatever number of guests may be found
at any one time at these great establish
ments-and except on special occasions they
Will not exceed dozen or twenty-in pro-
vision for the cuisine, in complete staffs OF
servants, and in the number of servants EN-
ployed, they are at all times, during the
occupancy Of MILFORD and milady, or either,
as well prepared for entertainment of the
highest as the least number. That is one of
the penalties of being nobleman. But to
illustrate details of the ordinary regime,
we Will suppose that a dozen or a score of
guests are already gathered at the castle
and the invitations read for ga week"
Only One Formal Occasion.
The usual hours for meals are: Breakfast
at to 10; luncheon at 2; tea at 5; dinner
at 8, and supper at from II o'clock until
midnight. Whether guests have arrived
before luncheon or before dinner, etiquette
requires that all shall gather in the drawing
room for intrOductions. This is absolutely
the first and last of formality among these
titled people during their sojourn. What
ever the difference in rank, none whatever
is thereafter recognized. The story books
do not put it this way, but the fact remains.
1t is the unwritten and inviolable law of
such occasions that, while mere distinction
In rank, in form of address, is adhered to,
for the time being the offensive distinction
Of precedence is wholly abolished. Socially
and ethically while you are his lordship's
guest you are neither his superior nor in
ho
Not only is this true, but there can be only
two possible occasions for extreme dressing.
Those are at dinner, where of late years
everything savoring of full dress has been
tabooed, and in the event of ball being
given to which neighboring nobility are in
vited
There Is probably no other place in the
world where guest for a week is so much
the master of his or her own inclinations.
Etiquette and form make no demands what
ever upon you. You are as free to follow
your own whims, either for rest or activity,
as though quartered in a glenside cabin.
Remain up all night; sleep all day; never
appear at a meal save the first luncheon or
dinner; and there is none to wonder, ques-
tion. or criticise. The entire motif of the
hospitality of the British nobility is, in
short, the dignifed but complete indul-
pie pleasures, or complete rest.
What the Amusements Are.
There are many sources of amusement.
There is certain to be one or more grand
''meets," where the ladies join in the excit-
ing hunt across country to the music of the
yelping hounds. Often the occupants of
near castles join in these. Then there will
be return sport of like nature, and delicious
'.hunt breakfasts" are given. For the gen.
tlemen exclusively, there will perhaps be
pheasant shoot" on the grounds, or the
sportsmanlike pleasure of grouse shooting
on the moors. The ladies often Join in fish
ing parties to some distant stream, when
lunch is served in the open wood beside
some spring. Even when there is no riding
after the hounds, the pleasant roads and
lanes swarm with merry cavalcades of horse
women and men, distant bits of scenery,
castle ruins or historic abbeys being thus
visited. The drives are the finest in the
world, and most brilliant intercourse is had
between castle and castle.
Within and without the great establish
ment itself there is always provision for
almost every imaginable sport. Billiards
and tenpins are as great favorites with
ladies as with gentlemen. There is always
a suberb cricket field. Frequently football
matches are gotten up between the lordly
old boys. The tennis courts are nowhere
excelled. The truth is that, despite the
immense establishments, the great retinues,
and the enormous general outlay as penance
to rank and station, the real home-life of
the British nobility is an aecusative con-
trast, in all essentials to comfort and ster-
ling entertainment, to the hothouse home
life and grotesque social writings of many
of our own people of equal wealth.
EDGAR L. WAKEmAN.