THE LONDON SEASON

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 2, 3 July 1939, Page 18

THE LONDON SEASON

DIFFERENT FROM PAST DAYS

Under.the shadow of preparations for possible war it is not very likely that the "season" of 1939, which opened dismally enough in chilly rain, will be able to achieve its traditional or perhaps legendary "brilliance," says the "Manchester Guardian." Actually it is one of »those survivals from the past which our conservative habit will not permit to die—that past in which "society" divided its time unequally between country and town life, when every family which had any pretensions to belong to the "ruling classes" had territorial possessions, generally in the shape of what the last Lord Holland "debunked" so acidly "'as ; "the worst of all sights^—a vast green field, .dotted with trees, surrounded by a wall, and damped by a variety of .swampy ponds, which call themselves country seats."

In former times probably the one essential purpose of the "season" was to serve as a marriage market. Distances iti the country were great, roads were bad, mothers had few opportunities of bringing their (often) numerous daughters into the ken of eligible bachelors, and so,' if there was no family "mansion" in London, it was necessary !to hire a house for a few weeks and to give and receive invitations to balls, routs, morning parties (held in the afternoon), and so forth. If all went well there would be engagements, if not the money spent had been wasted and littlfe could be hoped for until the campaign could be resumed in the following year. Now things are entirely different and some kind of "season" extends over nine months of the year.