St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-26
WHEN PRESENTED AT COURT
How 1t Feels to Kiss the Hand of
Royalty.

How 1t Feels to Kiss the Hand of
Royalty.
Here are the confessions Of young
woman who survived the ordeal Of
presentation at the British count few
days ago. The girls impressions are
printed, not with the idea of schooling
fair young Americans for similar social
experiences (sInce. indeed, true-blue
American girls haven't the slightest
hankering for hand-kissing), but they
are printed because they are interest
ing as revelations Of feminine. hopes
and fears on an occasion deemed OF red
letter Importance. The young woman
writes:
'For weeks before l had been in a
minor fever of excitement-that kind of
excitement which seems particularly to
agree with girlS-and l need scarcely
say that when Monsieur Cupidon, the
French hairdresser., called at 8 o'clock
sharp on the fateful morning, he found
me prepared. willing victim for the
sacrifice. And what sacrifice!
after half an hours deft manipula-
tiOn of my hair he left me with my head
perfectly clamped down under an eX-
cruciating system of tinv hairpins. My
poor head felt fully treble its former
weight, and from it depended a long
veil, which for several hours thence was
TO be a source of continuous torment to
me. The pleasure of putting on new
dress, joined to fresh tortureS which
were in store for me, speedily made me
forget the Injurious ingenuity of Mon
Sleur Cupidon.
"When | finally came down to the
drawing room to be inspected by my
fa ha fC vph xuit a
| tight lacing, the hairpIns. the stiff white
satin and all my various new finery, L
| felt very much what should imagine a
| truSsed fowl would feel ii it had any
| sensation left to it. AS for the servants,
/ can never convey to you their eXag-
| gerated admiration of my real and
| added charms. Our old nurse, Anna,
was utterly unable to control her
| emotions, and, having passed variety
| of most eXtravagant comments upon my
| appearance, finally sought refuge in
| tears.
''In due course, however, mother and
l were safely slowed away i'll the
landau, and then, ! may say. my real
troubles began. From 11:45 until
| shortly after 2 O'Clock we were stationed
! on the Mall. prey to every kind OF
| malaise. The carriage was stuffy, but
| over my shoulders and arms crept a
| species of feverish cold, which made
me feel hopeleSSly miserable. Add to
| this that the crowd of changing
| people gaZed at US as if we were wild
| beasts at the Zoo. or wax figures at
Madame russaud's; and they certainly
| made whatever criticisms occurred
| to them, with a want of reserve
which was often startli ng. Why
| Willie,' cried a tattered urcnin, in the
| utmost aStonishment, the ladies is a.
| nakedp and. dare say, as all that he
| could see of mother and | were our
| heads, shoulders and arms, he veritably
| believed we were going to present our
selves at court i'll the scanty costume
! said to have been once assumed by the
| Lady Godiva.
II must admit that when we at length
reached Buckingham Palace my first
| impulse was to bolt back into the car
| riage and make determined and pub
| lie struggle against the conventional.
| However, the many new things | saw,
| the LIany things had to occupy myself
| about and an overwhelming desire to
| become officially recognized as grown
| up girl lent me courage and enabled me
| to struggle successfully against the
| temptations of my inward emotions.
Aud the things which had to attend
| to were really bewildering. Though
| only possessed of two hands, | had to
| hold Il heavy train over one arm, keep
| my veil secure from injury over my
right shoulder, hold a fan, two large
| cards. and gigantic bouquet. Further
| in the crowd | bad to be perpetually
| guarding against my very clothes being
! dragged off my back by the more eXcit-
| able of my neighbOrS.
sit is useless attempting to describe
the many tOrmentS L underwent until
the browning ordeal of all had to be en-
dured Suffice it to say that, slowly
aud painfully, we passed through the
| intervening rooms and contracting pens
| till, gradually being compressed and
contracted. found rRyself at the door
| of the Throne room, the very next VIC
tim Signaled out for sacrifice.
''In the dim light. and utterly scared,
! all | could realize was mass of gold
lace, the glitter of diamonds and jew
| elry-and 4 smile. Yes, / saw just one
| sympathetic smile. | did not realize
the face OF anything that belonged to it.
| but in my daZed condition all | could
| fix was that one kindly smile and lit
| tic hand slightly held out in advance of
the royal circle. Then some one called
| out my name and the name of mother,
| by whom / was presented, and in a
| species of dream l curtSled, kissed the
| little and and-well, it was all
| over.
"a second later l found myself ut
| terly broken. in fever Of excitement.
feeling more dead than alive, but
| among the blessed whOhad been socially
saved through the eliminating ordeal
of presentation.
And then perfect peace came over
my spirit. was no longer schoolgirl,
but grown-up woman, with all the de-
lights of love. gayety, the world, fashion,
| passion, marriage and the future before
me. On the further side of the railing
| | observed crowd of other girls, strug-
Cling forward to undergo the ordeal
through which l had just successfully
| passed.
Il felt no pity. no sympathy, no bonds
whatever which bound them to me.
was now fuli-hedged woman of the
world, and if you ask me frankly,
think | should rather have wished inn
mediately to close the doors of the
Throne room, and never again 10 have
allowed any other girl to attain the
privilege of belng-preSented at court"