The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-04
From Cassell's Saturday Journal

NoCIETY'S London season has com
menced, and the annual nerve
~ racking round of social functions.
gaia nights at the opera, dances, dinners
and receptions Is in full swing.
TO the average society woman this big
season is an ordeal; to the average So
clety man 1t is a banal bore But. how
ever worthless and useless it may seem.
it must be lived through. Money must
be spent like water; entertaining must be
conducted on a sumptuous scale; the big
houses of Mayfair must be decorated with
flowers and thronged with guests; the
somebodies of society. together with a
number of moneyed nobodies who want to
be considered of society, must be dined
and suppered and generally feted by every
woman who values her reputation as a
hostess.
The expense of the London season may
be greater than half the peoples bank
balances can bear, but 1t must be in
CURED.
At fairly ordinary reception hundreds
of pounds are spent upon the flowers
alone. Supper-which is served from II 80
calls for an expenditure of several hun
dreds more. Celebrated artists must be
engaged to play and sing to the guests,
no matter how heavy their fees may be.
But society contains many absolute ad-
venturers-men and women of noble birth,
who are almost as poor as the proverbial
church mice. How do they manage? They
occupy imposing mansions in Belgravia
and Mayfair; they entertain on a scale
which is eclipsed only by multi-milion-
aires who hang onto the outer fringe of
the fashionable 10000; they go about in fine
clothes; they have their own box at the
opera; they keep their motor cars.
How do they do it? By divers means!
The approach of the big season is often
an agony of apprehension to these splen-
did paupers; but they rise magnificently.
il somewhat shamefully, to the occasion.
They plot and plan during Lent With an
anxious eye on the calendar they arm
themselves during the dead days before
Easter for the fray In which they must
prove victorious or retire to the coun-
try"
Lady Dash, holding an army of angry
tradespeople at bay with the aid of her
tongue (she interviews her most belliger-
ent creditors in the drawing room), de-
cides that something must be done. She
packs her husband off to the clubs where
there are other adventurers-some Of them
honorables with, but a small appreciation
of honor-who make living out of intro
duclng people who want to get into So
ciety to people who want to remain in It..
Sir Dash drinks sundry whskies and soda
with these adventurers, and endeavors
to obtain useful information; but II he
cannot get hold of the name of the latest
money lender willing to pay e1o00 to fig-
ure at a swell function in the West End,
he desperately agrees to share with any
of his friends who have information to
sell.
The outsiders pay for the privilege Of
wriggling their way inside. They know
that real society consists of an exclusive
gang of we'll born but not necessarily
we'll hammered people. They know that it
is slow and costly affair to creep into
society through the back doors Of Park
Lanes paupers-an affair associated with
iiuHiOSiiCSS ohNco' iSNs ehS SAOp ooCo iluI
mind a snub.
When Sir Dash can hear of nothing use-
full at the clubs and Lady Dash returns
unsuccessfully from the boudoirs of her
friends, the couple turns to other schemes.
But it is seldom necessary for them to
do SO. Members of the middle class are
always clamoring for the assistance of
women such as Lady Dash. 1t Is COM
paratively easy for her to obtain lump
sum of not less than s10OO for inviting the
marriageable daughter Of retired pro-
vision merchant to one Of her receptions,
provided she can guarantee the presence
of princess.
The Dowager Lady Blank, on the other
hand. may have no love for parvenus.
She dislikes the thought. perhaps. of ad-
vertising her financial condition by means
Of her friendship for outsiders whose very
names are obnoxious to her other guests.
There are several sources of revenue open
to her. She can go in for the troublesome
business Of bear leading" she can start
q society or found a club.
Bear leading" consists of training the
clumsy cubs Of moneyed people in the