The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-27
ENGLISH WOMEN'S CLUBS
INFORMATION As TO SOME OF THE
LONDON ORG ANJZATIONs.
Cost of Membership, Rules and Rcgu-
IatiOns, and the Comforts and
COnveniences Provided.

anu II IS nlOdeleu AFTER thG hundred and one
clubs for men which flourish in Pail Mall.
st. James and Piccadilly. The Pioneer
Club, which, as its name would Imply, was
among the very first of the London women's
clubs, combined study ana debating classes
with the social features, but even then the
social attractions seemed always foremost.
The club occupied a handsome house. the
town residence of its former president, the
late Mrs. Massingberd. at % Bruton street,
adjacent 10 Grosvenor Square. 1t was hand
somely furnished, with lay~se and artisticaIly
arranged drawing rooL reading rooms,
library, and alas! a smoking room; there
were bed chambers for members who came
up to town from their country places, and
which they could occupy for a fortnight,
with large dining room where meals were
served daily. On Fridays gentlemen were
invited to So clock tea. and they were also
asked to special functions in the evening;
these were sometimes musicales, or lectures,
or occasions for discussion where a chair
man presided and where special address
was followed by general speechmaking, in
which any one present might take part.
Of course, so extensive a menage required
a large staff of servants. housemaids and
parlormaids a cook and her assistants and
all, with but one exception, were women;
this exception was the Buttons" a small
boy in a dark green livery glittering with
brass buttons, who waited on the door-an
apple-cheeked. fair-haired, blue-eyed lad
who had been chosen for5 the office he filed
quite as much for his cotneliness as for his
aptness. One always saw motley throng
at the Pioneer-many women of high So
cial position, rank and great wealth-The
Duchess of Bedford. Lady Henry Somerset,
Mrs. Phillips and others, and with these
host of women in the Professions, writer's,
journalists. physicians, musicians and paint
ers, and others still more humbly occupied
in the telegraph officey. and as stenog-
raphers and bookkeepers IN the great whole
sale houses, banks and shipping offices in
the city. If the Pioneer Club was dedicated
to the furtherance Of any one idea it was
to the PRONUNCIATION of democracy, and in
this direction it outdidl even the Liberal
Club. In order to abolish class distinctions
under it's roof the members were known
by number so that '47 might be her grace
the Duchess of Durbon Or Miss Sythe. the
head assistant of Bradler-square postofice.
The force of custom and tradition, however.
was a little too strong TO be obliterated in
one decade, and one observed that notwith-
standing it's excellent principles, which were
lived up to astonishingIy well. there was
still a sort Of glamour that hung round a
duchess, while the equality which was ex-
emplified in the case of the postoffice assist
ant was still little forced. In the United
States women have MORE adaptability, the
English women reminding one Of those large
bodies that move slowly.
TWO WEST END CLUBS.
The Alexandra Club ard the Victoria, two
West-end clubs, are socias organizations, and
nothing else. They are classified thus: la
dies of position only (which means that
the membership includes only such women
as have been presented al court. Both these
clubs have a large men Hership and wait
ing list running up into the hundreds. The
Alexandra is located at q Grosvenor street,
and the Victoria is in Westminster, not far
from the United States Embassy. Both are
luxuriously fitted up, wish spacious drawing
rooms, reading rooms, bed chambers, dining
and breakfast rooms, aid large staff of
servants Is employed, both men and women,
the former wearing theI club livery. While
the membership qualifications are somewhat
narrow the club may snclude amoagst its
visitors those who are. not members, but
who come as invited guests The members
avail themselves of this privilege constantly,
and the number of strangers is particularly
large at 5-oclock tea, the favorite mode OF
informal entertaining. IN addition to these
are the Sesame Club, degoted to educational
matters and into which both men and women
are received on equal footing. Among ts
leading members are Mr.. Henry Norman,
one of the editors Of the London Daily
Chronicle, an authority IN the Eastern ques-
ton, and who is almost as well known in
the United States as he is in England, and
his wife. who is bettec known as Marie
~ ~ 49,
Karpathians" The University Club for La
dies is planned after th@ United University.
and admits medical women and women OF
university education. Its rooms are at A
Maddox street, W. c., and there Is no limit
to membership. The Albemarle is about
the only SOcial club Of mote admitting men
and women, and its success has been such
that it has a membership of 500, but 100 less
than the exclusive Alexandra Club. The
New Victorian, at Sackville street, has $50
members, and the Green Park Club, which is
a comparatively new institution, is devoted
to social affairs music and cycling This
club has grown rapidly. in favor, its pretty
rooms in Grafton street being a chosen
breakfasting place for cycling parties. The
Sandringham Club wasg founded in 1886 by
Mrs. Henrietta Cowen the sister of Fred
erick Cowen, the well-known composer It
is at IL Old Bond street. just off Piccadilly,
within a few minutes walk Of St James
Hall, the Criterion and, other theaters, the
Royal Academy, the Grafton galleries and
the rooms of the Society Of Water-color
Painters. Equally interesting is the fact
that Il IS In the very heart OF the best shop
ping district in Londoh. There is a fine
restaurant attached to It, where the guests
are served by neat maids in black frocks.
white caps and apronsi and here members
may bring at any time their friends Of either
SIX. In addition to this there are private
dining rooms, where dinners may be or
dered and served as exclusively as In ones
own home every day in the week, Sunday
included. The Sandringham Club has made
a noticeable and generous departure; ii re-
ceives into membership without other Gre
dentials, any American woman who comes
to London In good standing in an American
club, bringing letters from its secretary.
The fee is 1 guinea a month. but this en-
titles the visiting member to the privileges
OF the reading room, receiving her mail and
having 1t forwarded anywhere IN the United
Kingdom or on the continent-an important
matter where one must rely upon the hotel
officials or clearinghouse Keepers, since let
tiers can be forwarded from the postoffice
direct only in the case of rate payers ard
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