Driven Into Trade.

Evening Star, Issue 7484, 31 March 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

Driven Into Trade.

It was rather a hitter pill for London society to swallow when it first admitted wholesale traders within its sacred portals. How wonderfully its views have broadened is show by the way in which men and women of the very best society aro now engaged in retail shopkeeping, and are not in the least ashamed to own up to it. Lady Granville Gordon was the first to set the ball rolling, when her father, Mr Henry Roe, the Dublin distiller, failed in business. Lady Gordon's success induced many society people of both sexes to follow her example. Customers discovered that what used to be called " quality " have some taste, and are pleasant to deal with. The only trouble is that the market may be overstocked with milliners and dressmakers who belong to the " upper snccles," but who are unfortunately dependent for their incomes upon Irish tenants and Scotch crofters. The latest recruit to the band of highborn women who have gone into trade is Lady Mackenzie, of Scadwell, Ross-shire, Her ladyship has opened a shop in Sloane street, where she deals in bonnets, hats, etc., under the name of Mdme de Courcey. "Mdme de Courcey" is a tall, handsome woman with a broad open face, and a very fine pair of clear blue eyes. She is evidently a woman of business, with a strong character ; at the same time there is nothing of the strong-miuded woman about her. Her manners have that charming ease about them which denotes the true gentlewoman. The shop in Sloane street is handsomely yet quietly furnished. Mdme. de Courcey does not attend upon her customers, except they appear to be intimate friends, but looks after the business part of the establishment in a room upstairs. " Yes," said the lady, in answer to a query put by a ' Herald' correspondent, " the crofters are at the bottom of it. We can't get anything like the rents from our tenants in Ross-shire. Matters arc bad enough now, but they are going to be worse. Foreseeing this I determined to shut the stable door before the steed had left. My husband was very much opposed to my going into trade, but you see I got my way in the end." "What makes you think that still worse times arc coming?"—" Well, people who own property in the Highlands are dependent to a large extent on their moors and deer forests. A great part of the land is good for nothing else. The game laws must inevitably be repealed in England before long. Once repealed on this side of the border they must go on the other side. Then where is the Highland landowner to get his income from ? I don't blame the crofters. Some of my husband's tenants are men whose families have occupied the land for generations back. They would do anything they could to meet their obligations; but it is impossible for them to do so. Their crops may be excel lent, but what is the use of a good crop if there is no market for it. Foreign competition has killed their market. Yes, times are hard now, but nothing like so hard as they will be. It is no use trying to shut out the truth. Socialism is making enormous strides, unpleasant though it may be to have to face it." " Has your going into trade affected your social status in any way ?"—" Not in the least," and Mdme de Courcey gave a sort of low chuckle. " The fact is, it is rather the fashion to be in trade. All my old friends deal with me, and prefer doing so to going to people they know nothing about. You would be astonishsd if you knew how many people there are who have a first-rate position in society and are tradesmen. Naturally the old tradesmen don't like our competition, but what are we to do? We must live." " Is your custom confined to your friends?" —" Oh, no. People come into my shop just as they would into any ordinary milliner's. I have a good many American customers, too. Americans arc patronising English fashions much more than they used to"— and then Mdme do Courcey was called upon to attend to business matters, and tho correspondent took his leave.—Exchange.