The Washington herald., 1911-02-12

London. Feb. IA gossipy writer who
does not depend upon buffers and foot
men for his information. but is himself d
conspicuous figure in society and club
land. is moved by the kaiser's recent
speech on the temperance of the English
navy to reflect how temperate English
men in cIubland have become.
AT lunch" he says, eight men out OF
ten in a fashionable London club wul be
drinking water or barley water-with pos
sibly a liqueur brandy with their post
prandial coffee. The other two will most
likely be drinking whisky and soda.
Any host will tell you nowadays that
two bottles and pint Of champagne
usually suffice for a dinner party OF ten.
about two of the five ladies drinking
water and two or three Of the men
whisky and soda; while one after-dinncr
bottle of port is ample This does not OF
course allude to occasional mems dinners.
which are apt to be more 'hefty:' but It
implies how little drink active men con-
sumo in the normal way.
Another soCiabIe curiosity is why at
the dinners so often given at the Savoy.
Carlton. Jules. Berkeley. and so forth.
does the entertainer so seldom offer after
never Omits it, Yet another point socially
is that it is aut champagne. aut whisky,
aut aqua. the rest of the vintaEcS except
port are absolutely not in il"
Peeress n Contributor.
The same writer, referring 10 the
Times disclosures concerning the mys-
teriouS Harriet" who subOrns buffers
and hires society girls and West End
doctors to provide her with scandal for
the American papers" tells Of an incl
dent that happened to himself a good
many years ago.
Meeting the owner OF a widely CirCu-
lated penny society paper he mentioned
the fact that a little while previously ne
had heard a peeress say that or course
she would never buy such a paper. but
that she invariably borrowed her maids
copy, just to see what is said about us
in the servants hall" The proprietor OF
the society weekly thereupon declared
with an oath that the very peeress in
question was one of his regular cOntribu-
tors and duly cashed her monthly check.
His hearer expressed his doubts and the
other retorted:
Come down to the office at 70 to-
morrow, and I'll prove it to you."
The dOubter kept his appointment.
And he says, when | had sworn Sc
Crecy. he showed me that not less than
twenty of the best known people in Lon
don were steadily feeding him with social
news
Harriet" it appears. is no new thing
in English Journalism
"All social London says the writer
already quoted, is acquainted with
crowds of these society journalists. Some
are the wives of hard-up men; others
are widows: others are idlers quite we'll
off, who like to Scribble the gossip they
hear; some do it to be of Importance,
while. as l write these obsery ations
know the man opposite me at the writ
ing table in this club is pouring out L
column for a siXpenny weekly.
'RecOlleCt that three-fOurths Of the
snapshots in the illustrated papers must
be done by personal trends OF those pOr-
trayed; and further is it a fact that
most Of them are sent up by those p"r-
trayed who always write if the check
is unduly delayed. This is a commercial
age, and society makes a golden penny
out Of the interest that the rest of Eng
land feels in them"
Better Advertised Than Actors.
The remarks of the writer quoted above
as to the publication of snapshots of
people socially prominent in the illus
trated papers recalls letter published
in Truth on January of this year. 1t
was written by an Indian officer, who
says:
Il have been brought up to regard the
aristocracy of England with great re-
spect, but it seems that these illustrated
papers do their best to hold them up to
contempt" He then describes a snap
shot selected at random from one of
these papers and proceeds: 1t appears
to me that something ought to he done
to put a stop to this snObbish practice Of
swapping people in society in their pri-
vate life and then publishing Their
photos for the eyes of all England to
gaze upon. l will not believe that the
individuals themselves are deSirOus of
appearing before the public in such a
ridiculous light
The editor of Truth points out to his
innocent correspondent that more often
than not these members of the nOhi!-
ity and gentry" look as if they are stand
ing or sitting for their photographs and
that any way no act of Parliament is re-
qured to protect leaders of society
from being photographed in their own
cOverts, stables yards, bOudOirs OF nIT-
series"
Some time ago the present writer heard
one of the leading actresses on the
London stage say something about this
topic. The discussion had been about
actors and actresses advertising them
selves in the press.
We'll" said the actress we don't
know so much about IL as others. II
wanted to put my photograph in tho
papers ! should not know very well how
to set about it But go ask the dukes
and lords and other titled people how
to do il. They know, and yOull find
more Of their pictures in the papers than
you will of ours"
In order to put the lady's word to tho
tset this writer will analyze the photo
graphs of some of the chief weekly Illus
lrated papers, and that the test may be-
quite impartial he will select those Of
the current week. none of which at tho
time of writing has appeared.
Actress Statements Proved.
Twenty -four hours have passed since
the last paragraph was written. Three
II the most popular illustrated weekiies
have appeared and fairly Justify the
.ctress' statement The Sketch has
OF a new dancer, a page
II "Rosenkavalier." two pantomme
girls. a page OF Edna May, a page of
lew wordless play, and that is all on the
theatrical side.
The Tatler contains twenty-seven pho
ographs of titled men and women, and
lbout a dozen of theatrical people. Tho
3ystander starts of with a British min
ster. the parliamentary secretary OF the
admiralty. snapped in the act OF buying
loaf in Tangier. and has twenty photo
yraphs of titled people, including the