The herald., 1898-11-13
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The LIFE Of LADY
CURZON IN INDIA
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Dflll1dnU ana ldsClHdlluS W tuc dulDlllOus
mind. To read OF the functions which Lady
Curzon--as she must now be called-has tc
perform is sufficient to turn the head OF
many woman in all ranks of society.
LADY CURZON AS QUEEN
She will be to all the society of India, in.
cluding all the naughty, opulent, and pow
erful Mahrajahs and Rajahs, the same pin
nacle of social pre-eminence which her ma
jesty is to society at home. She will hold
drawing rooms, where the ceremonial will
be as splendid and elaborate as at Bucking-
ham palace, and where there will be far
greater picturesqueness than in our dingy
climate. She will have three palaces to live
in: and she will, whenever she goes abroad,
be accompanied by an escort of splendid
cavalries and prancing steeds.
When the viceroy and his wife arrive in
Bombay, they will be received with sa-
lutte of l0l guns from the fort and from war
ships in the harbor, and with an imposing
display But it is quite safe to predict that
all the pomp and splendor of the state cere-
uonials will be as nothing compared with
the reception accorded to the representa-
tivcs of the empress by the millions of her
Indian subjects.
THE VICEREINE'S HOME
The "viceregal lodge" at Simla is the head
quarters of the court from March to Octo-
her. and has grown of late to be the real
home of the viceregal family. In March,
not merely the viceroy and his family and
the viceregal household, including the pri-
vate secretary, the military SECRETARY, the
viccregal surgeon, the numerous ADJ S.
with all their households and belongings. but
also the whole personnel OF the supreme
government, take wing to the mountains.
rhe transit from Calcutta to Slmla takes
two or three days and night. and the change
of climate due to the elevation OF Simla
over 1000 feet is sometimes too sharp to be
quite agreeable. You may leave Calcutta
with the thermometer standing at over w
degrees. and find Simla with good deal OF
snow encumbering the roads.
THE SEASON IN CALCUTTA
The four months. from December to
March, form the Calcutta season. and dur
ing this time the home of the viceroy's wife
and family is the superb palace in the center
of Calcutta known as government house.
its vast southern front looking for miles over
the famous Madam. or Central park, bound
ed OH one side by the extended Notifications
Of Fort William and the River Ganges (here
called the Hooghly) and on the other by
the European houses of the City OF Pal
aces" the cathedral, and other great build
ings.
Even during the brief and busy Calcutta
season. however. there is a quiet country
retreat. known as the viceroy's garden
house, at Rarrackpur. a few miles out. There
the A.DC's. organize pleasant little week
end" parties. And in these and similar
gatherings the vicereine is able to receive her
own friends of the inner circle as well as to
eniov the domestic life of the country.
A STATE RIDE
In Calcutta, when she drives abroad, she
has to do so with the pomp and clrcum-
stance of royalty, files OF sowars troopers
of the bodyguard usually galloping before
md after the carriages as an escort. But at
|Earrackpur, though, of course, there are
plenty of guards unobtrusively posted to
secure the safety OF the illustrious resident,
most of the panoply OF royalty is discarded
for a time.
The social side of viceregal life in India,
owing to the absolute seclusion to which
all Indian ladies of rank with only few
eyceptions) are vigorously condemned by
the social customs of both Hindoos and Ma
homedans, is almost entirely confined to the
European and American colony and visitors.
Not that the viceroy's wife has no OPP
portunity of knowing and being known to
the maharanis. the begums and other great
ladies of the native community. But, as IT
is impossible, as rule, for any maharanl
OF other great Indian lady to appear in any
social gathering, so the vicereine's acquaint-
ances and friendships among them must
necessarily be made in private-in purely
domestic and not in social llie.
EMPRESS DAY
The greatest state function of the year
in which her excellency is the chief person
age is, of course, the Calcutta drawing room,
usually held within few days OF Empress
day-January lst-the day on which the
queen was proclaimed empress of India,
commemorated every year by the great dis
tribution of titles and other honors, by re
views and fetes in every station OF the EN-
pire, and by state banquets in Calcutta and
elsewhere.
The pageantry of the Calcutta drawing
room is precisely similar to that at Buck
ingham palace. Her excellency represent
ing and taking the place of her majesty
Gentlemen attending on ladies who are be
ing presented, or who are attending the
drawing room, if they are entitled to uni
form, must appear in full drawing room as
distinct from levee dress. The ladies' trains,
feathers, ornaments and bouquets are ex-
acty the same as in Buckingham palace.
If lady has been presented at Bucking
ham palace she need not be presented again
at government house, but is entitled to at
tend otherwise she must be presented by a
lady already on the government house list
THE POMP OF AN EMPRESS
OF course, as in London and elsewhere, the
name of the lady who desires to be present
ed must be submitted beforehand for ap
proval to the military secretary to the vice
roy, who, in India, discharges those cere
monial functions that in London belong II
the lord chamberlain The military secre
tary submits the name to her excellence
and, if it is approved, he then sends The
| lady the necessary presentation cards, on'
| to be given up at the entrance to the gov
ernment house, the other to be handed t.
| the 4. D. c. at the throne room and reac
out by the military secretary on the de
butante's making her obesance to her ex
| celency.
There arrived, the lady's train is spread
out and arranged by an A. ID. c. She
makes her obeisance, and then her train i,
again caught up and thrown over her arm
| by one of the A. ID. C.'s specially told of
for this task. Lord William Beresford
Y. C.-the famous "Bill' Beresford. who
has married one of the most charming o
American ladies (the dowager duchess o
Marlborough, and of whom it is said t,
he imDOssible TO know whether he is mos