PITIABLE SCENE AT THE ROYAL DRAWING ROOM.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 399, 27 December 1871, Page 3

PITIABLE SCENE AT THE ROYAL DRAWING ROOM.

Few more pitiable scenes can be imagined than that presented !>y the " Drawing 1 Room " on Tuesday at Buckingham Palace. Hundreds of ladies mi^bt be seen patiently sitting; in their carriages in the Mall for upwards of an hour on a bitterly cold spring afternoon, in low evening dresses, until rhey were admitted into the Palace, where they waited in pens for -another hour, and then, having passed before Her Majesty, waited for still another hoor unril thdy could get away, and at last arrived at their own homes, many dt them half dead, and probably having sown the seeds of consumption or other 'illness, in obedience to a barbarous custom, the'felic of da]ys, if possible, tiiore unenlightened than our bforh. Surely these ceremonials 'might be 'arranged With more consideration for the health and comfort of those expected 'to take 'part in them than is at present dis played. Evening dress, at : all times objeotfbnable, is utterly inappropriate in the "daytime • &nd there ciih be no occasion for. turning- ah assemblage oi -iveif-naeaning ladie"p into a despairing mob, all fighting with'eauh'bther for "life— dear life, 1 ' almost y in the presence of their sovereign. Terrible, ti6wever, as must be the sufferings ol the ladies who attend Drawinrg4loorfis in cold weather, they are mild compared with Hhose Si the wretched coach-, men . and_f6otmen,v : who > . without ; -great!coats," in* krfee^breecjkes anfi silk stockings, tna'v be seen shivering wit't cold theyj wait-fbf hours tiritfl" their "carri;a|e,s are called.. I'hese nnhappy;;;men: should ar. least be clothedTrn .gaVmenrs capa^bl^ of re^ s"isiing the blast of .a north-east wfn.o!. jßesides the "Society -I fV tfie Protection of "VVomep and •OKilßren, a Society i the, "Pfotecri()n"6f J "^^ (?oa"chmeii^&na- -Footineri would find a gobd .'field, their opjeratiqns in^ the ; precincts \s ; - Buckingham: Ipalac.e on the occasion gf a Room iti^the.WVly'sprin^4-' r Pan/'MalVGaSsejtte.'A ti?aveller who deniandod his trunk afc a Baltimore railway dpeot before all 6tHers, and Svas told' by." the Irish baggage master that he imist be patient and .wait-, his. turn, turned "upon the baggage master witliy "you ate an impti dent dog !'.'" to which he "of the rejdined-^" An'^. faith ye ,...^re.^a. monkey, and'it'3 a great -pity we two. are made beasts ye wasn't ari:illephant, so that ye could have yer blessed 'trnnktinder yeßftose all the time."