Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-05-12
LoNpoN's FAMOUS CLUBS.
Some Facts About Thsm-How They
Are Governed, What They Cost.

was ever more stringent than the laws
that govern some Of the principal clubs
in London. EXclusiveness is the key
note of the majority of them. and to
maintain that exclusiveness the strict
est rules are enforced. Not only, for
instance, is the admission of ladies not
generally approved of in the older male
clubs, but some of the clubs-nOtably
the Guards-possitively forbid any
strangers entering their doors. The
Carlton will allow strangers to pass
the threshold, but they must not go
beyond the great hall, while the Athe-
naeuEl has allotted a small chamber
near the entrance where members
may receive friends and callers says
"Tit-Bits.''
70 become member of any of these
first class clubs is not easy. In the
first place the fees and subscriptions
are high The entrance fee range be-
tween 20 and 40 guireas, while the sub
scriptions may be anything between
and II guineas per annum.
The best military clubs are the most
expensive. The entrance fee. is G40
$4,000 to the Army and Navy Club and
to the Junior United Service. 1t is 40
guineas in the Naval and Military Club.
None of the great political and social
clubs, except the Carlton. with f40,
imposes so high an entrance Zee. AT
the Junior Carlton it is So guineas; at
Brooks, the Turf. the Travellers and
the Athenaeuln. it is 80 guincas, the
Garrek ?1 and Whites IS.
Even if you are willing to pay sucn
entrance fees and subscriptions how
ever, and have good proposers and sec
onders at the club YOU wish to join, it
is by no means certain that you will be
elected. In the majority of the best
clubs a general ballot of all members
is still preserved--that is to say. one is
not elected by committeeman it is
easy enough to keep man out If some
of the members so desire.
In the older clubs the rule prevails
that one black ball in ten excludes a
candidate. At Brooks the rejection is
accorded TO scale. Two black balls eX-
clUde where the total polled is twenty
four. between twenty-five and forty
nine three black balls invalidate. from
fifty upwards four black balls exclude.
Hence it will be obvious that the cleo
ton of a candidate must be practically
unanimous.
In his highly interesting book enti-
tled Clubs and Cluhmen." published
by Hutchinson &: Co.. from which these
facts are taken. Major Arthur Crifllths
tells story aprcpos of the whimsical
objections sometimes raised by men,
bers to candidates. The story is about
Thackeray and the Garrck Club A
man of fortune named Hill. self made
1>,,< ,&&i,
astray with his his. was a candidate
for election. Il piled him because he
is a liar" sair Thackeray. He calls
himself ill when he isn't.
Theodore Hook was one of the Car
riCk's most famous members. He gen
orally arrived at the club late in the
afternoon and never went home till
morning." He had been told by the
doctors he said. to avoid the night air.
A member Of the club in Hooks time
predicted the advent of the millennium
at the end CT three years. IAN right"
cried Hook: give me a &C. note now
and will repay you $50 at the millen-
MUM.
Apart. however. from the notabilities
who have been members of the Garrick
and they include almost everybody
VINO has been anybody, in art and
drama especially. during the last eigh-
ty years-tne Gerrick was and is es
tecmed for its good cooking Two IA
nous things are still to be obtained
gin punch and the Garrick steak. The
recipe of the first is to pour half pint
of gin on the outer peel of a lemon.
then add a little fresh lemon juice. a
glass of maraschinO, about a pint and
a quarter of water and two bottles of
iced soda water. with two pints of
pinch as the result. The Garrick
steak is made by cutting through the
sirlion. and the flat piece produced con-
tains both the upper and the under cut
At the Athenaeum Club-sixty- nine
members of which, it has been calcula-
ted, have been buried in Westminster
Abbey and thirty-two in st. Paul's-a
feature in the feeding was the "Asiatic
Sunday" as some one styled it, when
curry and rice always appeared on the
bill of fare. Another popular dinner
was that which provided marrow bones
and jam rOlv-poly buildings.
Although the members of the big
clubs are most fastidious in regard to
the cuisine. the average salary paid to
the cneI Is Sa1d 10 be only between EGO
and G300 A particularly onerous re-
sponsihlity is that imposed upon the
wine butler. in the old aristocratic
clubs such large quantities of table
silver are being constantly handled
that the utmost precautions are neces-
sGrS to prevent disappearance. The
whole of the silver out is checked and
counted over every night when the
days work is done, and no servant is
at liberty to leave the house until the
tally is reported correct
The value of the possessions of the
best clubs does not end with the silver
plate. The furniture of the Oxford
and Cambridge Clubs. for instance. is
valued at nearly E20,O0O; the books and
maps in the library are worth over
10000. while a similar amount would
| not buy the wines in the cellars
Fifteen years ago the library Of the
Athenaeum was entered On the books
as having ccst G29.127, it's stock Of
wines being put at nearly $4,000. The
wine stock of the Reform Club is vail
ucd at over $4,000. while the Junior