The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-08-08
A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT.
How an American Bought His
Way Into British Society.
BOARDED AT 50 MUCH PER WEEK.


~ sum of Fifty-tvo Dollars an In
PRODUCTION to Titled Persons = he,
came Acquainted Through an Ad.
A cable dispatch recently published
In New York stated that London So
ciety was considerably wrought up
over the publication OF letter in the
London Daily Mail, signed American
Visitor The writer Of this letter de-
clared that for the weekly sum of 10
guineas about $52) he was being en-
tertained by dowager countess for
the Goodwood and Cowes racing sea
son, the arrangement including intro
ductions to titled persons, on condition
that the boarder did not wear American
clothes and hid his American accent.
The London Daily Mail in cabling the
letter to the New York American sub
mitted documentary evidence establish
ing the genuineness Of the communica.
tions mentioned in the letter.
The letter is dated OFF Cowes, Isle OF
Wight, Aug /, and here 1t is IN part:
/ am in chair under an awning on
the deck Of a noble yacht that today
makes unit in the great floating for
est Off Cowes, having dlned well at a.
board graced by the presence Of proba-
bly, more real aristocrats than all my
confreres in Wall street have ever
seen. am mere moneyed American,
of confessedly snobbish tendencies, and
do not feel pleased with myself. Nor
Is my contempt for my fellow Amer
leans diminished By the reflection that
indirectly / shall pay for that dinner
on the contrary, the fact that | have
entertained, unknown to themselves,
some Of the proudest and bluest blood
ed owners Of pedigrees in Burke's is a
tidbit lending pleasant flavor to my
cigar The latter, which l suspect win
cost me dollar In my board bill, ex-
tracted from a box bearing a coronet
inscribed with a motto that since Boil
ingbrokes days has been the watch
word Of generations of fighters
! am the first paying guest to be re-
ceived into the bosom Of the distin-
guished but impoverished family bear
ing this crest. For something approach
ing my chief clerks salary, $1,000. the
dowager countess, my present land
lady, undertook to receive me for Good
wood and Cowes, introducing me to
certain number OF her titled friends.
/ made the dowager countess's ac
quaintance through an advertisement
in the board and apartments wanted
column Of the Morning Post, announc-
Ing my ambition to mix in good Eng
fish society, approximate terms to be
stated. The dowager's was one of
thlrty-eight replies received, hair Of
them bearing coronets and the names
Of people making a splash In society.
as we vulgar Americans term 1t. One
application bore an impressive daub Of
purple wax with a coronet and straw
berry leaves
OF the many applications received,
my secretary decided on the dowager
countess, as she seemed to offer the
best opportunities, SO that found that
for six shillings and nine pence, the
cost Of my advertisement. the doors
of the highest English society were
flung wide open to welcome ne. Next
day the successful applicant, the dow
ager countess. telophoiled me
Americans visiting England criticise
your nonhustling and unbuslnesslike
ways but they ought TO have dealings
with some bill burdened entail ridden
aristocrats looking for paying guests
and they would shed that idea. No
Wall street hustler could have handled
the telephone better than the dowager
and the way she stuck through subse
quent negotiations made me thank my
stars and stripes that / had no need TO
talk dollars to her every day. The
dowager made me put away all my
American clothes before she would
consent to temporarily adopt me, and
she expressed the wish that l do the
same with my American accent. find
the latter feat difficult, but during the
week at Goodwood and by hardpractice
have rubbed Of the sharper corners
Of my objectionable twang, and the
dowager gives me daily lessons after
lunch on the yacht
So behold me this evening sitting on
one Of the smartest yachts in the
Cowes roads. satisfied with everybody
ana everything, fof am certainly get
ting my moneys worth.
Gracefully reclining In a chair near
by is one of the most beautiful debu-
tantes Of the season. She is the dowa-
gers youngest daughter and. being
an impressionable bachelor with enough
money to build up the shattered for
tunes Of this good old family it Is
curious, but my cigar smoke makes
succession of rings
Near BY sits the dowager countess.
In the glow Of the setting sun she
looks almost pretty again, and can
believe the story that in the mid Vic
torian days she was an autocratic
queen Of beauty at whose frown men
went tiger hunting in India and did
other desperate things. The stories
must be true, for the dowager herself
told me.
Leaning over the dowager's chair
stands her eldest son, the present earl.
Her sweet old face is upturned to him,
and note that her hair is almost
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