PREPARING FOR THE ARISTOCRACY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2528, 27 August 1902, Page 63

PREPARING FOR THE ARISTOCRACY.

One more American heiress has gone abroad to be moulded into pioper shape under the tute'age of the famous chaperon. Fraulein Elsie yon Rotsch Moewis, says the New York Journal. In the li v t of rjistocratic beauties whom she has trained one finds the name of Lady L iiraon and Pauline Whitney, now Mrs AimeTic Paget, the daughter of William C. Whitney One after another the Laiter girls have been entrusted to her care.

The Fraulein, to expre-.s it \iilcarly — so vulgarly that she herself -n onld be shocked — knows the ropes. She knows just how a young woman of the great Old World aristocracy should conduct her&elf. She holds that the tiers c* of Americans are a vital cause of bad manners.. "Study repose,'" she says to her pupil*. "It is the fast principle in that great ;>xiom that is the foundation of gloriou.* womanhood — 'To be beautiful one must suffer.' 1 The Fraulein's lecture goes on to Fay that repose means control It is a temptation to wriggle ai.d twist, to shake the foot, to fiddle with a trinket, to bpat a. tattoo even with the fingers. "Bad manners" she uiUs all thk — "lick of consideration for oihei\s. lack of control, lack of iepo^e. Sit stiil. Study lady-like calm Thifj lecture the 'Fraulein usually begins on the steamer when the waves are sufficiently still and the pupil not too sea=ick. It i* continued on I'iiid. In the firtt lectuie the Fraulein makes plain the fact that America and Europe are as widely different in manners as two hemisphere? may b?. She tells her dear g'rls that what might pass for small naivetes at home would be considered ciinies abioad. She explains that anything that is underbicd iv the Old World ranks as a ciime. E;\ tiie same law breeding is a virtue. One is to be na.tural only if one is ai the s-ume time gracious and graceful. It is never graceful to be nervous.

The Fiaulein sometimes speak? of repuse as the basis of manners. Urder that head *he gioups a .series of injunctions.

"Avoid rocking chair?, ' she says. '"They are .an invention of Americans and vulgarians. Foreign ladies never lock.

'"Don't cro.-s v°ur leo;=. nr even your feet. It is a solecism whic.h in Europe Society will never jurdon.

"Never alow yourself to l;e in r liffcTcnt to your attitude

"Whatever happen^, be Kiaceful "L?arn to glide jjiacefulh w l,cn walking. Don't tramp Americans lur^ly know how to walk.

"'My d^ar." the Frunlem will 'you aie jjoing to-dty tw> have the yreHl pn\ i ie^e of calhaiT upon M,idanie la Cointe>.s>e de in her old chateau in the Faubouig >St. Germain.

"My dear, she is hm older lv ladw i>M enough to be your mother, .ilmost aout grandmother

"How shall you conduct youi'-eir' "FiMt, you will luake hei <i ."-li^ht rm; spy — very slight, just a suspicion Then if she holds out her hand to yon

"What? Shd,ke it! Did' I hear yuii say shake il? Ah, my child, the dear old lad\s Jiand should be gently caie*sed with the lip-.'

Bui iv all probability at t lie dreadful suggest iqp of shaking the visit tv the Comte&.-e »vill be postponed aud the lesion on tire proper etiquette tcr.vuids e'deilv people will be conned a^ain A whole lecture is devoted to the deference, the charming respect, the never-ceasing tenderness and care with wh eh all young people abroad treat all elderly people. Finally, when the Fraulein's young charge is presented to Madame la Com t ess**, sLe will xo in simple fiock exquisitely clean. She will have learned jusrt how to curtsey, just how to bend pnd kis-s her hand, just how to sit Vt ill v. ithout rocking or fidgetintr. ju>t the proper imioimt of reticence and defa-ence, ai;d to gracefully until she is spoken to. jh&t, tlie Frauleis, will t^aclj lier £upil

to sit gracefully. - Bend slightly forward easily, sitting a little to one side, not straight over. Listen gracefully. Look interested, animated. The woman vho knows how to listen need not talk.

'"Do not clasp your hands over ■your knees in the habit of many American gnl*-. Shocking"! A young girl should not beem to be aware that she has knees.

"Do not sit with your aims folded. Let them fall gracefully. "And, I beg of you" — here the Frauleins eyes are apt to fill with tears — "never to sit with your feet under you. What awkward moments may that habit not lead to ! I have actually seen young women in public trains sitting on one foot. Comfortable? In the category of womanhood there should be no such word. For comfort substitute grace."' So the Fraulein discourses. So she prepared the present Lady Curzon for her high position. So she has prepared dozens of American girls for any position they might be called upon to fill.

The table of expenses of the young women whom she takes in charge is tiemendous. They must have the best of gowns, the best of rooms, the best profes. sobs, or the (Fraulein cannot undertake to fit them for the best. She herself is> an expensive necessity. It has been whispered that her services may be secured for £2000 a year. But when these services are an open sesame to palaces they cannot be rated too high.

Who can say if Mary I^eiter would ever have become the Lady Curzon if the Fraulcm had not fitted her so exquisitely for her exalted position? Two years she spent with the Fraulein learning to dip, to walk, to sit. to talk. The Fraulein points to her with pride as a shining example of the Moewis system in the art of etiouette.