The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1907-07-18
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
Happened-The Way His Difficulty
About Costume Was Overcome.


cured command to one Of the Eng
| lish royal leveeS recently found HIM
self in pretty predicament
On his notification paper was the
| hint that levee dress was indispensa-
BILE. In the guileless' innocence of his
democratic soul the Amertcan took this
! to mean that frOck coat and shiny
shoes would be calledfor.
He was in the act of looking over his
best outfit of that nature when a more
experienced friend called and caught
| him in the act. The friend made haste
| to inform the misguided Yankee that
levee dress involved silk stockings,
ruffied sleeves, black sword and other
| items.
CONSERVATION ensued. 1t continued
to ensue when owing to his height and
girth no borrowable suit was discov-
cred and no tailor could be found who
would make one before the next after
noon. At last a stage levee dress was
rented from His Majesty's theater.
where it had done duty in THE Last
of the Dandies.''
w
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 dispatch. In
the course of his progress upstairs the
yeomen disappeared, and he found
! himself in a lane of tin plated life
guardsmen.
Again the scene changed, says Town
and Country, and there was a lane of
royal footmen and next large room
filled to overlooking 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 levee 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
cut 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
next thing he knew he was outside i'll
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 wife 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 drawing room is held
100000 is spent by the people who go
to court.
None but a very old habitue of tne
court-and then she is never below the
rank of cOunteSS-would dream OF
appearing at court in a costume that
she had worn there before. The item
of flowers alone is one of vast impOr-
lance. If it 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 pound, and some of them are
worth ten times that sum. Then there
are the bookmakers and the hosiers and
the milliners to consider, to say nothing
of the people who lend carriages.
Suppose there are at low estimate
500 people on the presentation list. OF
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 a
drawing room is filled with London
ers who wander up and down the dou-
BILE line of carriages stalled in the mall,
peering into the windows and CRITICS
ing the costumes of the matrons ana
their debutante daughters. 1t is q
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
an hour, subjected to the gaze of Lon
don's citizens You see half a dozen
shopgirIs flattening their noses against
the window of motor brOugham and 1
carrying on a rapid fire conversation
about the dress of milady and her
daughter inside.
s"Ain't she beootiful, Mary Anna" or
"Wot do you think Of this TN? Oh don't
like 'er gown at all"
All this has to be borne with Spar
tan fortitude SO long as there is no
rowdyism; but, strange to say, there
never is.
A good many people starve them
selves for months so that they and
their offspring may have the money to
enable them to go to court There are
many half pay colonies who live in
the country whose one object is to
come up for drawing room.
Generally they have influential and
wealthy friends who make it easy for
them in the matter of lodging in town
and lend them their horses, carriages
and footmen; otherwise it would be i'm
possible for them to go. There seems
to be tradition thatif mans daugh-
ter has not been presented at court
her yvav IN a successful marriage will