The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-05-23
PRESENTED At COURT
Experience of an American at
an English Royal Levee.
A RAPID TRANSIT FUNCTION.
He Was In and Through and.Out Be-
fore He Really Realized WHat Had.
Happensd-The Way His Difficulty,
About a Costume Was Overcome.

fore He Really Realized WHat n ao
Happened-The Way His Difficulty
About Costume Was Overcome.
A six foot American who had Sc
cured a command" to one of the ENG
lish royal levees recently found fhim-
self in pretty predicament.
On his notification paper was the
hint that levee dress was indispensa-
bIe In the guileiess innocence of his
democratic soul the American took this
to mean that frock coat and shiny
shoes would be called for.
He was in the act of looking over his
best outfit Of that natUreswhen more
experienced friend calleds4and caught
him i'm the act The frfendsmade haste
to inform the misguided Yankee that
ievee dress involved silk stockings,
ruffied sleeves black sword and other
items.
CONSERVATION ensued. 1t continued
to ensue when owing to his height and
gi-th no borrowabIe suit was discoy
cred and no tailor could be found who
would make ore before the next after
noon. At last stage ievee dress was
rented from His Majesty's theater,
where it had done duty in THE Last
of the Dandies.
After the leyee was over the Ameri
can confessed that he hardly knew
what had happened. When he reached
the palace he was first surrounded by
the yeomen of the guard. who started
him upstairs with great dispatcl In
the course of his progress upstairs t.
yeomen disappeared, and he found
himself in a lane of tin plated life
guardsrnen.
Again the scene changed, says Town
and Country. and there was lane of
royal footmen and next large room
flied to overf1owing with admirals.
generals. diplomats. peers. chamber
lains soldiers and sailors of all de-
grees of commissioned rank and a
great host of men attired like himself
in Ievee dress. One by one they were
singled out and ushered into the royal
presence in the adjoining room, where
stood the king surrounded by his suit
The work of presentation was so
rapid that the American found himself
out and in another room before he
knew what had happened. His over
coat was on his back in the same
rapid, mysterious fashion. and the
the courtyard. But he was actually
presented" and is now forever Hof
fahig or eligible for presentation at
any court in the world, provided he be
HAYES himself.
All this was preliminary to the pres
entation of the mans VIE and daugh
ter at the drawing room. Men are pre-
scented at the kings levees. and the
women undergo the same ordeal at the
courts or drawing rooms. which are
by far the more imposing functions. 1t
Is probably no exaggeration to say that
every time a drawing room is held
100000 is spent by the people who go
To court.
None but a very old habitue of the
court-and then she is never below the
rank of a countess-wouid dream of
appearing at court in costume that
she had worn there before. The item
Of flowers alone is one of vast impor-
tance. IL ii were not for the drawing
rooms the large florists could not exist.
Every woman who is presented goes
armed with a bouquet, whose value is
at least a pound. and some OF them are
worth ten times that sum. Then there
are the bookmakers and the hosiers AID
the milliners TO consider. TO say nothing
OF the people who lend carriages.
Suppose there are at a low estimate
500 people on the presentation list. or
these every mothers daughter has her
self photographed in her court cos
tune and London court photographers
are notorious for their stiff prices
st. James park on the night of
drawing room is filed with London
ers who wander up and down the dou-
bic line of carriages stalled in the mall.
peering into the windows and CRITICS
ing the costumes of the matrons and
their debutante daughters. 1t is
legitimate privilege of the populace to
consider those waiting for presentation
as objects of interest. and there the
latter have to sit, some of them over
IN hour, subjected TO the gaze of Lon
1on's citizens You see half dozen
shopgirls flattening their noses against
the window of motor brougham and
carrying on a rapid fire conversation
about the dress of milady and her
daughter inside.
Amt she beootiful Mary Ann:" or
'Wot do you think OF this IN? OF don't
like 'er gown al ALL"
All this has TO be borne with Spar
tan fortitude SO long as there is no
rowdylsm; but. strange to say. there
never is
y good many people starye them
teIyes for months SO that they aud
their offspring may have tue money 10
enable them to go 10 court There are
many half pay colonies who live in
the country whose one object is to
como IN FOR IRA room
Generally they have influential and |
f-,, l. L