Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-03
THE ENGLISH COURT.
An American Girl Tells Of Her
Formal Presentation.
ABAD DISAPPOINTMENT.
The Queen Was Not There and the Princess
Christian Received Instead-i Stufy Pal
ace and the Dire ssing Not So Good as at An
Inauguration Ball.
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

am an American girl, spending few
months in the land of my ancestors, seeing the
sights and doing the town. Yesterday, in
the natural course of events, was presented at
court. Now, hope this statement will not
prejudice any Of my countrymen and country
women against me. / feel almost positive you
will saw, ''Of course. she bough. her way there,
like the majority OF shOddy Americans who go
TO England" But that is not the caee: L cid
not employ duchess to present me. More
over, am not from Chicago or Denver, my
father is not a pork packer and L have no
more money than l can easily dispose OF. Inc
fact is / belong to a Door but respectable
American family. and am studying music IN
London, with the intention OF going on the
stage as soon a / can get a position outside
the chorus ranks. Afterward shall come to
America and, perhaps, go ION the road In
concert or operate company. So much Tor my
self and my personal ambitions.
SOMETHING ABOUT ANCESTRY.
Isuppose 1 really had q right to be pre-
scented. according to the English standard, for
nv father is what ali Britishers would denomi-
nate a sgentlemaa,' inasmuch as he Is de-
scended from long line OF gentry One OF
INV ancestors a Briton OF the fourteenth CEN
tury, WAS o: the military profession. and a very
blood thirsty sort OF person he was, according
to all have heard about him. be Is said 20
have murdered member OF tina royal family
in church. which made him a man OF great dis
tinctlon IN those DAYS. Then. my mother is
VIA. would be- called "A lady by birth. That
doe. not sig aify siat she born full hedged
Lady, after the fashion OF Eve. according to
orthodox statistics. but she Il simply descended
from one OF the KnIckerbocker families who
settled New York. / do not speak of these
tLings because | am proud OF my ancestors L
really don't care anything about them. or
whether had any ancestors at all. In America
It Is hardly considered respectable to have an
cestOrs Iha. was shown plainly enough IN the
case of Mr. Harrison. who, when running for
President was despised by The opposing party
because he had grandfather. So you viii
readily see that IL Is not IN u bosstlng spirit
that tell you about my family tree ONLY
mention II to show that according to the En-
glish way OF looking at it nobody could possibly
objec. to my being presented at court
sTuFFY PALACE.
When at u O. clock yesterday found myself pro-
perIy fixed for presentation, with bouquet. long
train. plumes, veil and chaperon, 1 felt for all
the world like a BRIDE minus a bridegroom.
However wnen NV carriage drew Up IN front
of Buckingham Palace entrance, l forgot all
about my husbandless state In my contempla-
ton Of the house where her majesty elects to
resi,Ie onIr aboC. two weeks during the wear. |
must saw did not think much Of the GiTinity
ard splendor that hedge the queen In and
about Buckingham Palace. ! really felt sorry
that she should be obliged to oven occasionally
visit such a place. The windows were dirty and
were 10: ,Astefuliy draPed. Every one had
different style 0f curtains. and according 70 the
English fashion, there vas funny little
dressing table stuck up IN each one.
As said before. in vie~ OF sIch surroundings
felt rather sorry for the queen, but my SYM
patty turned to anger and censure when, on
49,. ssrnraS han
Der" some one informed me that the quet
was out at Richmond visiting the Tecks and
had delegated Princess Christian to receive her
guests for her. i wanted to see the Queen OF
England aud had been told that on a certain
day she would be at home. / went and she vas
not there, and had no. even had the politeness
to send plea of indisposition- In America 1t
Is the custom for ladies to be at home on their
ct home days. and venture to say that II Mrs
Cleveland should break this rule she would re-
ceive the cut direct from all her acquaintance
and the world at large. i had more reasons
than one for being displeased at the queens
absence. For weeks / had been taking lessons
In curtseying and hand-kissing- All that prac-
ticing in the latter art wen: for nothing. and
the money / paid out to learn how to do
went for worse than nothing.
TIE QUEEN NOT THERE.
For an hour after my arrival at the palace
nv thoughts dwelt on this bitter disappoint-
Of mind and with not too reassurIng counte-
nance that / walked into the throne room as
the official announced Miss Prady Prim of the
United States" / gave scant curtsey to the
Princess Christian, and while doing it / OBJ
served that there was nothing about her appear
ance to attract special attention. She was a
pleasant-looking sort of woman, but nothing
out of the ordinary. When got to the Prince
OF Wales nv temper was somewhat under con-
troll. and gave him my best, most practiced
cur.sey and was rewarded with a smile. Des-
pite all his well-known faults l felt sudden
liking for him and wished had dared to shake
hands with him. The Duke of York was sInil-
ing all the time and appeared greatly amused at
somebody or something. Whether II was any
thing that happened In the throne room, or
whether it just the placid smile he Is said TO
have been wearing ever since his engagement TO
the Princess Nav. / had means of telling,
but am inclined to think it was the latter.
admired him immensely. and, for a royalty, 1
should saw he hal good portion OF common
sense and general intelligence II / believed in
kings and royal families l would be perfectly
content TO have HIM for a sovereign, but my
few months In England have not angiIclzed me,
and although state Carriages. shower bouquets
and long trains are all very fine and interest
ing. still prefer the democratic way of doing
things. according to Jetersonian simplicity
methods
Speaking of trains reminds me that heard
an English girl saw just before she was pre-
etNltu, Il clall DC SldO WHICH tuc AoiO
lain puts this thing down. Its more trouble
than carrying a baby" great many of the
dresses were not OF the regulation court cut.
The younger ladies bod:ces we're made only
modestly low and did lot expose the shoulders,
Is they are generally supposed to do. One
young woman was in great distress because her
string of pearls broke and rolled over the hoor-
They were all stepped on and crushed Nobody
could blame her Tor shedding real tears.
THE DRESSING MOI BRILLIANT.
Taking it all in all the drawing room was a
disappointment to me. None of the costumes
could compare with those seen at our Inaugural
ton or patriarchs balls. Some of the gowns
were positively cheap and had lass year s
made-over look The bouquets were of the
straggly kind, with lots of green leaves and a
lonely little blossom sticking up here and there.
Flowers are not expensive III London and there
was no excuse for such stingy-looking affairs.
Some OF the coachmen who brought the social
aspirsnts to the palace seemed To be wearing
vegetable flowers, such as mustard and string
bean blossoms. One thing / noticed particu-
larry was that most of the mothers seemed
more anxious TO show of themselves ths to
advance the interests of their daughters. such
continual keeping the girls back by mothers