The Saint Paul globe., 1904-06-26

Special Foreign Service
/ ONDON, June 25.-Mayfair man.
- mas with eligible daughters, and
chaperons with fair aspirants for mat
rimonial honors on their hands, have a
grievance for which they declare the
young American matrons who figure so
conspicuoulsly in fashionable society
are largely responsible. Their specific
complaint is that debutantes are no
longer invited to dances as of yore, and
that in consequence their chances of
contracting desirable marriages are
greatly diminished. And they assert it
is chiefly the brilliant and bewitching
young American wives in the London
social world who set the example of
closing the ballroom doors against
young unmarried English girls. Hav-
ing once taken the field, they hold it
against all newcomers. 1t is they who
dance and give the dances for which
invitations are most eagerly sought.
AS notable among these are mentioned
Lady Essex, Lady Grey -Egerton, and
several others, in whose trains, as at
tendant satellites, are many young
English matrOns. At their smart terp-
sichorean functions young unmarried
girls form an incOnspicuous minority
While their brothers, who often regard
dancing as a "beastly BORE" receive
more invitations than they can find
time to accept. Under such circum-
stances what chance, asks the indig-
nant British matron. has the demure
little English girl just out Of school
against the brilliancy and dash of the
all-cOnquering American woman in So
ciety?
The Duchess of Roxburghe is still
house hunting. She is now personally
known to nearly every fashionable real
estate agent in London and has earned
Interpolation of being the stiffest bar
gamer among all the American ladies
who have found their way into the
English peerage. 'She also is fastfd-
tous to the point of being almost ridicu-
lous," said a leading agent who has
some of the finest mansions in Mayfair
and -Belgravia on his books. why" he
added, eff I offered her Buckingham
palace or Marlborough house she would
find fault with them. She wants all
London constructed on the American
principle" 1t is thought likely that the
duchess will settle on a house in Cav
enaish square, as the owners of man.
SlonS In the American colony in May
fair are opposed to any radical changes
in the internal construction of their
properties, especially when they are
only required for short terms.
That expensive and brilliant we'd
dings do not always insure the con-
tinued prosperity of the young couples
is a truism that holds good from the
highest to the lowest. Certainly few
marriages could have been more daz-
zling than that Of Lady Peggy Prim-
rose, the daughter of the Earl of Rose
berry, to the Earl of Crewe, yet within
few years even these, lacking the
wherewithal to keep up home of their
own have returned to live with the
brides father.
Not in generation would there be
such universal interest in the marriage
of any one girl as that manifested in
Lady Peggy Primrose's nuptials. Her
trousseau was an enormous one. and
the order for her lingerie the largest
with one exception ever executed in
England, or rather given in England.
for it was executed in the converts of
Ireland The exception was the trous-
seau of Lady Peggy's mother. Miss
Rothschild, in which every article of