Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-01
GOING THE PACE KILLED
LUXURIOUS WOMAN'S CLUB

bled over one another in their eagerness to
be enrolled among these exalted represent
tatives OF blue-blooded feminine aristocracy.
The presence of several American women
Of title furnished equally attractive bait
owing TO the supposed length of their
purses Among them were Lady Tanker
Vile, who was one of the vice presidents.
and Lady Hesketh, Lady Arthur Butler,
Lady Cooper and several others who Joined
as life members.
In short while the club outgrew its
original premises. The subscription fee was
increased from three guineas (S1575) to
thirty gutneas (S157.50t; but even that lat
ter price was considered cheap for the
privilege of scraping up an acquaintance
with baroness, a countess or possibly a
duchess. Just before the stampede began it
was proposed TO raise the annual subscrip-
ton fee TO fifty guineas, so numerous were
the applicants seeking admission. The man
agement built at enormous expense a mag
nitcent palace in Dover street.
The site is historic. 1t was the scene of a
pitched battle in 1854 when Sir William
Wyatt marched upon London. But it was
not Its historic associations which com
mended the site to the management. 1t was
it's association with swelldom, Dover street
being distinctly ''toney" The first essential
for the success of a womans club in Lon
don Is a good position SOmeW here between
Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park Corner
w omen dearly love swagger address. To
hundreds of them, many of whom have
long pedlgrees but slender purses, a fash
tonably located club IS oasis of elegance
In the desert Of obscurity Armed with it's
address on their visiting cards they can
afford to live in cheap lodgings in suburbia
and no one is aware where they Foost save
the hall porter at the club, who forwards
their letters and guards inviolate the secret
OF their number and street. The executive
OF the Empress Club was the first to recog-
nize what a convenience such an institution
would be to women folk of this class.
though, of course, it was the genuine So
ciety woman with a generous income to
whom it specially catered.
In the matter OF furnishing and deCora-
tions-in all-round up-to-da teness-the Enl-
press Club house was probably the most
hxuTiaslS and perfectly appointed estab-
ishment Of Its kind In the world. No ex-
pense was spared In its establishment.
Magnifcence was aimed at and achieved.
And It succeeded by leaps and bounds. Ii
was the first womans club that dared TO
provide a smoking room for women; the
irst, too that ventured billiard room.
At these innovations Mrs Grundy raised
her virtuous eyebrows and exclaimed,
What next?' The question was answered
later
1t was not the smoking room, nor the bill
Hard room. nor the refreshment bar which
wrecked the Empress. In these days of fem
mime emancipation, club women will stand
for all these things and more, Women s
clubs in modern Babylon are no more Sun
day schools than are mems clubs. But
club women have not yet reached the point
where they will tolerate association with
women whose regulations won't stand In
vestigation-not at least when such assocsa-
ton ceases to be sanctihed by the saving
presence of duchesses and countesses and
danes OF high degree.
What played havoc with the Empress was
the sparing use made OF the blackbau. Flat
ed by It's success. the management grew In
different 10 everything but money. Prac-
! ticaliy any woman who could furnish a
bankers reference as a guarantee OF abii-
ity TO pay the subscription fees was adj
mitted 10 membership. In this way second
rate actresses with shady regulations, d.
vorcees and women who had chosen pro
lection in preference to the more rigid
ties OF matrlmony gained entrance to the
club They brought in as their guests men
who were notorious rakes. The atmos-
phere of the club became decidedly roWdy-
ish. IL was no uncommon sight to see
walters hnrrying about as early as 10 q. m,
with brandies and sodas pick-me-ups,
cocktails and ltqueurs. Among the latter a
particularly insidious kind OF absin,he was