Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-01-07
LONDON'S BAR MAIDS.
Husband-Hunting Carried on While
Serving Drinks.

Under the title, Feminine Types in
London, Jesse Francis Sheppard gives
in the Nouvelle Revue an account of
the London bar maids.
They are recruited he says,
among the bourgeoisie as we'll as
among the bourgeoise as we'll as
most interesting types can be found
in the bars or public houses of the
West End, close to the fashionable
theatres. Among them are very many
perfectly respectable girls, who have
chosen the career of a bar maid in
order to make living, and, especially
if they are pretty, to get chance to
catch a rich husband.
"A public house, situated at the
angle of one of the principal thorough
fares, is both a gilded palace and a
mine of gold. 1t exercises a strange
fascination upon the poor country
pumpkins who have just enough to pay
for a drink; but the due coming out
of a theatre, the country greenhorn,
the fashionable snob, and the fire.
quenter of the music halls are always
to be found there. 1t is among these
that the bar maids hunt for a husband.
If there is one class of London society
more stupid than another it is that
one which includes the frequenters of
the public houses. With pipe in his
mouth and a glass of beer or whisky
in front of him, the young English
man. dressed in fashionable style, with
a slight and elegant figure and regular
features, remains standing for more
than an hour paying pretty little COM
pliments to one or several of these
ladies.
"The bar maid judges her customers
want to attract her attention you must
present yourself with a silk hat and
a handsome cane in your hand, and
a suit cut in the --latest fashion. The
high hat is de rigueur. Without that
there is no possible chance of success.
''It was not without difficulty that I
managed to get an interview with one
of these young ladies, whose intel
ligence was equal to her beauty. AT
first I was aetonished at finding so
much intelligence in an English girl:
but I learned that she was Irish, and
that explained the mystery. Her
father was dead and her mother was
left without resources. SO she was
determined to come to London and
look for a husband, by posing behind
a bar in Piccadilly
L was hardly more than three days
here she said, with an amiabIe and
roguish air, when I understood why it
was that SO many pretty English girls
don't get husbands. Though they are
beautiful they are generally stupid.
When they are intelligent they are
cold, masculine, and ugly. English
men travel great deal and meet in
their ramblings through the world
very many sprightly women, and they
do not care for pretty girls who don't
know how to chat with them
/" But in this mixture that come
here to drink and chat I said, how do
you distinguish the men of the world
from the others?" ,.
I recognize them by three things,
she said, boldly; by their figure, by
their clothes, and by their complexion
For the most part they are tall and
thin, dressed in the latest fashion, and
have complexion more or less
brOnzed. This last trait is the surest
sign Seeing that looked astonished,
she added: Nothing can be more
simple. An English gentleman, if he
has a fortune, passes three-fourths of
his time hunting and in other open
air exercises. The chaps who remain
always in London have a paler and
more delicate complexion, and, more
over, the expression of their faces is
quite different from that of the Others"
Noticing with what attention 1 was
listening to her, she continued: The
gentlemen that l refer to have nothing
elegant about them except their
clothes, for their conversation lacks
novelty. How can a man who under
stands nothing but hunting and cricket
interest an intelligent woman? The
conversation that goes on here in the
name of wit makes me tired, but
these gentlemen are the easiest of all
to deceive They are great big chill
dren in everything except sport and
politics.
But you are always engaged I
said, and it is difficult to get an op-
portunity to chat with you. You must
already have had several offers of
marriage?'
I have been only one month here,
and I have already had three. Two
were from very rich sportsmen; but
riches alone won't do for me. What
[ am after she added laughing, is a
title. You know I must have a title. >
cat this moment the play in one of
the neighboring theatres was over,
and the public house was invaded by
crowd of men, more or less stylish.
The beautiful Irish girl kept herself
somewhat aloof, and only served GUS
toners that had the appearance of
gentlemen
well, 1 left London. A few months
afterward On returning there I wanted
to see once more my beautiful Irish
bar maid. She was gone. Another
lady was in her place, and she told me
that Miss Clara had left to marry the
second son of a prominent nobleman."
New York Sun.
Mr.. Barrie must share many of the
traits Of his Sentimental Tommy, judg-
ing from the account which he gives