FRIENDSHIP BY FLAG.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 135, 4 December 1909, Page 13

FRIENDSHIP BY FLAG.

A NOVEL "AT HOME." Lonely Londoners flocked to Mowbray House on Saturday afternoon (9th October), when the opening Flag "At Home" of the winter season was hold in tho flower-decked editorial offices of Mr. W. T. Stead, the Daily Mail reports. Miss N. G. Bacon, the secretary of the Round About Club, and the originator of introductions by flag — which avo to break down English reserve and insularity—cheerily explained the social etiquette of tho systom. The act of donning tho tiny silken flag, with which each visitor waa presented, is an announcement that the woarer is prepared "to speak and be spoken to." Tho removal of the flag is a polite way of ending a conversation. "Flags up" was tho rulo at Saturday's gathering, and for two hours seventy odd tongues wagged fast and furiously. Everyone was talking of the new Flag Tables which were to be established at the Eustace Miles Restaurant, and which were to be formally opened by Mr. W. T. Stead on 22nd October. "After the 22nd," explained Miss Bacon, 'visitors to the restaurant can, if they wish, obtain at tho door two of the flags of the Round About Club and an explanation of flag etiquette. Visitors can then select tables at which a parson who is 'flagged' is sitting, and it will be quite correct to begin conversation." Mr. Eustace Miles, who was present at the 'At Home," sees further possibilities in tho flag idea. . There might .<% SBX Sags, ho suggests, so that the flagged might indicate whether they wish to convorse with a man or a woman, and also age flags.