"BUYING INTO" SOCIETY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 6 September 1913, Page 9

"BUYING INTO" SOCIETY.

No one with eyes and ears open can ! take part in the various gaieties and functions of the London season without becoming aware that the profession of paid chaperon has become a reality and ' not a novelist's fiction. In the course of a week or. two, if he is a regular attendant at dances, he will notice, or it is sure to be pointed out to him by one of his partners, that a particular lady is wont to escort one or more girls—for no reason of relationship that the idle gossip of the ballroom can discover —and to be indefatigable in 6ecunng her own and their presence on every possible occasion. Or, should he be a confirmed dinerout, ho may wonder why Lady So-and-So should send out invitations on behalf of a woman he has never heard of, until the ultra-fashionableness of his fellow guests and the obvious wealth of the .host and hostess throw a flood of golden liglit on the motive. The medium, introducing the would-be sponsor to the paying guest is the agony columns of the fashionable morning papers in the early part of the year, when such notices as the following may be noted with regularity:— Society La.ly, able to influence high social introductions, is prpeared to act as chaperon for the London season. —Apply Lady X., 's Library, W. Or the bargain between the parties may be struck through the agency of one of the numerous bureaux that exists to smooth the path of the social aspirant and lighten the feurdens of harassed hostesses. It is on a knowledge of the casual nature of so much of the season's hospitality that the paf3 chaperon trades. Suppose that it is a girl—say a ricn American of the Argentine;—ihe has charge of. Aware that the presence of one girl more or less will not affect a dance tor which 600 to 1000 invitation cards have been distributed broadcast in quarters as' far apart as Aldershot and the S.W. postal district, the chaperon gets introduced to the prospective hostess at the first opportunity for the express purpose of saying, "I hear you're giving a most delightful dance. 1 do hope you'll let me bring a charming girl I have staying with me." Ur the importunity takes the form of telephoning the request at the last moment, when a refusal on the hostess's part to add a single name to her list can always be misinterpreted- as acquiescence, and apologised for the misunderstanding tendered if necessary on the threshold of the Balh-oom at the moment of being announced. In the same way should the charge be an older woman —a wealthy widow or the wife of a colonial magnate—and the task of securing a social circle should require other and more diplomatic means, a similar wisdom guides the steps of the salaried sponsor. If it be a luncheon or dinner she virtually plays the part of hostess, for, after first establishing her client's reputation for wealth, shes elects guests from her own wide circle of acquaintances on the principle that A will accept to sit next B, and both will feel flattered at the presence of C. If the function be a concert she sends out cards "With Lady Blank's compliments," and for a ball she arranges that the most desirable of l.er own friends shall give dinner-parties in honor of the occasion and bring on their guests. On© chaperon with a handle to her name is reputed to have arranged a I series of luncheon parties with herself as the piece de resistance, at a charge to her clients of £20 apiece, and to have undertaken to secure a presentation at Court for the inclusive sum of | £500; but whatever truth there may Ibe in this it is indisputable that a regular tariff exists for the performance of similar services. The action takeii last summer to restrain a traffic in vouchers for the Royal Enclosure at Ascot raised a-cornei'of the veil concerting the social mysteries, and justified the assumption; that not: everyone who figures as a member Tof so-called society>is what He or :die; •pretends ■:to^t>ei-i-";A. West End Man," in the Daily Mail.; ■*■■■'-.■■■•.