The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-08-18
THE HIRED GUESTS.
ONE OF THEM TELLS ABOUT THE
TRICKS OF THE TRADE.

They Get engagements Through the "Uni- |
versaI Powder" with Whom They Reg
ister-Must Ise Well Informed and More
or Less Accomplished.
"It was not till prevailed upon Mr..
Whiteley of Westbourne Grove to place my
name on the register he keeps for supply
ing people with evening guests that rec
ognized the justice of the appellation, the
universal proyider, 4" said gentlemanly
looking man recently
"My first engagement was at tho house
of a rich provincial manufactures, who,
having made fortune, had left his native
town and started an establishment in the
west end. Some friends--for "a considera-
tion, you may DO sure-introduced him To
so many good people that he at last ven
tured To ISSUE invitations for dinner
with "a ball 20 follow, but the day before
| the event the poor man had such n number
| of refusals that lac had to apply to Mr.
| Whiteley, and i, among others, helped to
! fiji the vacancies.
at must not be supposed that the part
| of hired guest is mn 0asy one to play. Tho
| conversational tastes of the people We Wis
! it are so varied that / hayo not only To
keep myself posted on all questions and
gossip of the day, but bo prepared to set
the ball rolling on all sorts of abstruse top
les from theology To spiritualisn
GAS "a rule, l generally get my instruc-
/ tions some days beforehand, but if they
don't como To hand either call or write.
Public questions require very delicate
handling. For instance, If tho discussion
turns on the wrotchod Armenian business,
/ find that the ladies are for interference
Mt all costs, while the gentlemen arc not
From dining out so much l have nat
urally cultivated a very fastdiOus palate.
| This is fortunate, for were | To eat other
wise than sparingly the briliancy of my
conversation would be sadly dinned. Din
ner conversation requires considerable
management When first started, used
Co let off some of my best jokes TO while
away that fundamentally half hour which
precedes the dinner. They wero invariably
so utterly wasted that | now never joke
till aftor the first course, and then only
slightly, till SEQ how tho dinner is appre-
ciated
although do we'll during the season,
| think like Christmas best. Strange as
it may seem, there are still number Of
families who love to keep Christmas in
the old fashioned wny.
Not long since one Of the SONS of my
host blurted out during the evening that
IL was his last night ut home, as next
morning IA pal and himself intended start
ing for South America, and after making
their way tn the Amazon rivor, start or
child hunting To make their fortunes.
"Beng the favorito son, the family, OF
, course, were greatly disturbed at the news,
seeing which calmly announced that dur
: ing my travels in South America l had
personally exp lored every inch of the river
, you ara too late, my boy, l said. All
/, the naturalists met last year were terribly
disappointed The country has been liter
ally stripped You won't find an orchid
) there, l can promise you.
: 1.-The grateful look the mother gave me
pleased mo almost rs much as the 40 note
= my host slipped into my hand at parting.
! "The growing dislike of patrician young
, mon tn dancing sends many Belgravian
! footman tn Whitoloy's during the season.
. Although we hired guests arc treated with
the most charming courtesy In high lie
indeed tho higher we go the nicer find
4. the people are-stll some of our tasks are
! far from pleasant Look here, Mr. -,
= young Lord - once said tn me: My sis
6 ter's been and fallen in love with cad OF
9 a fellow hate. Now, i want you To cut
: him out You're good looking fellow, So
q | think you'll succeed. If you try, bat fail,
O III give you 40; If you succeed. III make
it eco
- ~ did succeed, but my rival took it out
of me i'm Regent street the night after he
got his congo | am a bit of n bruiser my
II self but he was "a better
1.-TWO other hired guests and iayseli
tb.,. cpf hrinUinu ubOut the
:, marriage of IA very accomplished, amiable
e but dreadfully plain girl. At the house
: where was engaged noticed that not on
q ly was she not asked to dance, but was
= completely ignored by all the marriagca able
;. men present. But after the hired guests
there were three of us--had trotted her on
dozen times and whispered it about th'
room that she was IA very nice girl ant
not bit ugly when you came To Talk u
her, other fellows took her on
II "When | met her at u ball six months
later, l was glad To hear she was engaged
d "a distinctly unpleasant episode occur
# red to me last Christmas. One of TIN
"a daughters mt house where was ongaget
r to dance lured me during the evening int
violent Irritation AS she knew who
70 was her conduct naturally surprised me.
AZ "Still, the way i'm which she encouraged
IS me was so unmistakable that at last 1 de
N cided she was really in love. For quite
IS couple of hours 1 debated with nysel
,e what to do, deciding that it would be m
duty to tell her during the next dance tina
rs an impossible gulf separated us.
to Il might have saved myself the trouble
I'd for after a short conversation with goo
Of looking fellow she had not spoken to dul
r. ing tho evening she came To me and said
Of please forgive me. 1t was very wrong,
know, but / have only been flirting wit
" you to make Charley jealous. 1 had ROY
i. with him yesterday. think I'll make
ne up now Don't say word. told Charlie
al you were a South African millionaire
Please don't tell him who you really are.
I'd Parsons Weekly.