A DAY IN THE LONDON SEASON.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 30, 30 October 1907, Page 5

A DAY IN THE LONDON SEASON.

/'How : heavily time must hang upon your hands! You. have no house to look after, no seivants : ''to manage, no husband to cope with, and'ho , children to love! What a dreary existence! How do you got through life?" That is what a country cousin said to me last-week (writes a' "Club Woman" in-the "Daily Mail'-}')'. For answer I showed her a seven days' leaflet out-of the engagement book,that hangs by my writing-table. She tried to road it, but couldn't. "I am' a club-woman," I observed-luminously; "do you'know what that means?""It means that I am one of the very busiest women in London; someone whose

every hour is occupied, and not by any means always for my own personal enjoyment. I belong to half a dozen clubs, and there is always some committee meeting or some organisation ,I must attend; some venture to which I am bound to give time, attention, and my wits. . THE'CLUB-WOMAN'S "FAMILY." , "Being unattached and fairly well off means that 1 am the butt of those relatives, and friends who live oiit 'of London, but are everlastingly' requiring.something from London, On their behalf I-have to trot to this shop and that in quest of silks and stuffs that niust. match 'the pattern enclosed.' " ■A club-woman is at the inercy. of everybody oiice she has emerged from tho privacy ( of her sleeping-room. Imagine a family of about a thousand souls! There is a great deal of daily talking to be doiio in a "cliiU if one merely cou-'.ts tho passing word 'that one member, expects from another. Sol achieve all tlio serious work that requires real thought before I descend to the library or the drawing-room. My telephone is always at my command, and at 8.30 my secretary is in attendance, ready to take down in shorthand answers to all letters to which n typewritten reply can bo sent. Prejudice is, so distinctly ' against-, the' typed missive in -. England that-only purely business -notes can'' possibly be settled thus easily, which means that many wenry hours are spout in; unnecossary. manual labour.' v

On the heels of dictation I .como'early appointments, which range in"the season from, one's dontist: to one's oVossinaker, with manv possibilities : between.- One of those issue's photographer; another is one's beauty doctor. I always find it advantageous -throughout' May, Juno, and July to make a' rule of having the beauty of my face, ;hair, and hands -placed.-under: the control of capable specialists in beauty culture, who aro able to charm away the signs of fatigue, (hat must inevitably attack one who lives so strenuous a life as I do.

■ ■ ■. , THE BEAUTY SPKqrALIST. Of course, it takes time to.'attend the salons of tho beauty specialists, and if the visit is not accomplished in the early hours of the' morning, so far ns 1 am concerned ' it never is found'possible later in tho dav' 'As for tho photographer, is it not advisable to have, one's portrait taken . early in t] m season if one is to supply the demands of all'the acquaintances one makes duriher it p Women-are ,very fond of asking.one another for their photographs, and ! find that it is the most casual acquaintances who excel in making,this demand. Many, women content themselves with.ordering the. prettiest photograph' they possess of themselves over and over again, proyided it is not too obviously unlike them after a lapse' of yearsbut'that is not my way. ' ' • In addition to the papers, there nro books to'read, about which . everybody is talking', picture galleries to see, and any amount of

shopping to bo done, all of winch must, ho crowded iiiio t.I-ie (wo and a half hours that elapse between half-past ton-and lunch-time. Lunch is made an early affair by women who arc advocates of the light breakfast, habit, followed by-all who desire to keep themselves in good health and in fresh heanty, as long as Nature will allow them to ho so.

At lnnoh, a.s a nilo, one must brilliantly sparkle. Visitors ahound at that time; ail ones acquaintances of years and years past scorn to make London their Mecca during the season, and to romomher one's club addresses. .'

. And oven should one not ho entertaining or entertained (quite as arduous a "duty in these days by the way, as the former), there are other club-women who insist upon joining one at one's meal, and discussing this, that* and the other. To bo a listener .may bo doomed a successful career for some women, but to be a chatterbox is far more usually a .triumph in theso days. ' T am sure the reception rooms-at my clubs might he taken by a sightless person for tjio parrot-house at the Zoological Gardens, so incessant and shrill is the chatter that goes on in them, morning, noon, and night..

A BUSY AFTERNOON. In tho afternoon there, are visits to pay when there are not a 'number of social functions to attend. _ Next follows a tea engagement or. several. Unless reduced to subterfuge I sift my invitations ; through and choose the one that suits my mood or. my affections most completely, leaving the abandonment of the other functions to be explained by a prettily worded apology when next I moot my.wouldbe hostesses., There is very, little breathing space in such a day, is there? and contrive as I will I find it next to impossible to sot cure even half an hour's repose between tea and dinner time.- , ■ A dinner at one of the. restaurants, at.a club,. and occasionally at a private house is my daily rule during the season. Usually it is followed by a ball, a theatre, or the opera, and after that comes a pleasant reunion for simper. I never think of getting to bed before one o'clock during the three months, and probably it is very, much later orb I seek my downy conch. Even on Saturdays, when one usually- leaves tho metro-' polis for a week-end visit, bridge is played much later than I care to say, and tho Vrroars of the-week cannot be made up by taking a generous supply of beauty sleep — "Daily Mail."