Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-12-06
Countess Thea Erdody Tells In
The World of the Life of
Nobility.
AMERICAN GIRLS HAPPIER

AM ERlCAN GIRLS HAPPlEh
Countess Thea Erdody is a member
of the a%ristocratic Hungarian family OF
Erdody, whose family seat is In
Croatia. She has recently renowned
her Austrian allegiance and is to live
and work in New York;
j suppose there are a great many
girls in this great country of America
who are this moment busy day-dream-
Ing, wondering how it would feel to
be a princess, a duchess, or at the very
least a baroness. when they ought TO
be hard at work making themselves
useful in the world.
1t is only human nature. perhaps, to
build castles in the air. but!
It seems a shame to me that girls
brought up in the most wonderful
country in the world, the only country
Just now where women are given any
thing like just treatment, should be
envying the poor women of n Old
World. who themselves. most of them.
would be only to glad to drop their
foolish titles. which never vet have
saved them from heart-break. and be-
come in return as free and happy as
American women.
All that ceremonial and glitter is or
the outside. If you have hitherto be-
lieved. as they tell me MANY An1eri-
can girls have. that the life of a
noblewoman Is Just a sort of mixture
OF castles and c%oronets and gorgeous
uniforms and court balls, with naughty
noblemen bowling down to you, and
lfVerjed servants waiting on you. and
all la poor common people hulnbly
getting GU of your way wherever YOU
60, o must never believe 1T any
more. Underneath. The poo woman is
irving tn nl1n fOr. fnYanrrnN'S dinnnr
and to cope With the high cost of
living, Very much as YOU do here in
America. or she is wondering, perhaps.
how h cost of Rudolph's new uniform
is to be met. and what she can go with
out In order that he may have it, ,ar
whether Victoria has any chance of
capturing the rich Count Hoffstein. or
course he is old and fat, and his past
life hasn't been very respectable. but
he is rich, and il the poor child marries
him h is at least sure of having
clothes to her back and food to keep
her alive.
You think this sort of thing is only
In the novels? All! no it is the plain,
ugly truth. And most of the proud
noblewomen w'no drive past you in the
streets of foreign cit,es-ii they are
lucky enough to afford a carriage
would tell you that it is an old story
to them.
To be poor and shabby. that is hard
enough to bear, goodness knows. But
TO be poor and shabby underneath. and
nave to spend all Your DAYS in a des-
perate struggle to keep up appearances.
and Keep the outside prosperous-look-
ing,to try frantically to keep the
OF afrairs.-and never successfully, for
the world always finds out, you can
trust the world for that!-that sort of
NE, my friend is just hell. Dc you
think that is too strong a word for a
lady to use? There isn't any word too
strong to describe the kind of life that
tense that deceye s nobody.
Inc nooleman, no matter how poor
ne may be. does not worry himself
about 1T. When he is a boy. his par
ents exhaust every effort to save him
from q realization of their poverty, and
when he comes of age he looks forward
TO marrying some rich American or
b~ourgeofse heiress, who will. of course.
De only too proud and happy to sup
port him and indulge him in all the
iuxuries his system requires. Or, if
ne ls not SO fortunate. and his individ-
ual fortune does not permit him TO live
at court. he will retire into the coun-
Try, where he can always shoot and ride.
n once a yea he can. with careful
management, have a month or so in
town.
OF course. when this happens, his
wife stays In the country. 1t would
not do to have her along during these
little excursions.
1t is a simple little problem of arith-
metic. you see. With just so much
money to spare from the yearly in
come, the count can ENJOY, perhaps. six
weeks in town, or the count and coun-
tess together can have three weeks.
From the first. the girl in a noble
family is taught that her brother is
Of the greatest Importance, and that
Deslae MN n is almost nothing. She
must be prepared to 60 without al
most everything that would make life
pleasant for her. in order that he may
go without nothing that will minister
to his pleasure or his equipment for
lie. For h poor young nobleman, at
the worst, there is always a career in