"COMING OUT."

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2918, 22 June 1878, Page 4

"COMING OUT."

(PKOK THE WOBID.)

It has sometimes been remarked that a Drawing-room in February is not altogether an unmitigated joy. To the wisdom of the remark I can testify from my personal experiences of last Thursday. In the first place, the greater part of our street was in possession of our national protege the working man, whose serenity under the trying nature of his occupation has been my admiration for a week. His appetite or power of sleep can only arise from a clearness of conscience given to few, or an unfailing performance of duty towards himself. The fetive day which found Her Majesty enduring Buckingham Palace for the occasion opened, or scarcely dawned, on the hazy grimy metropolis. In the midst of steady rain our stately carriage drew up at the.door, when my wife, in all her splendour, stepped forth into the dreary element, and seating herself with difficulty, soon became lost to sight in centuries of old lace. Meanwhile, an accident was iaking place within half a yard of her unconscious back, owing to a collision between two opposing vehicles,.the drivers of which could not decide whether to bless most our carriage or the Board of Works. It was in vain my daughter — our young debutante — screamed to her mother to spring out; that lady was enjoying the unruffled composure a consciousness of diamonds alone can give. At length we drive off, are soon passing languidly up an avenue of very happy, very dirty, very wet human beings, standing ankle-deep in mud—perfect models of physical endurance, and with high moral natures showing not a sign of envy in their hearts. Arriving at the palace, we meander slowly through, lofty corridors lined with Yeomen of the I Guard, and find repose and many friends |in the ball-room. A glittering mass i& huddled up at the entrance to the adjoining room, awaiting the moment when these gallant gentlemen, with their ungallant office to perform, drop the cord which, for the moment, holds the. aristocracy in abeyance. Weary waiting, pressure, and discomfort. The proudest women of the land are here subjected to humiliations and indignities unknown to them beyond the precincts of the palace ; they have to obey orders ! Your eyes, wearied with diamonds* scan the ceilings, and find them wanting in cleanliness. Scraps of conversation amuse one. A lady asks 'her friend to pick up her tail and tuck it under her arm. Darwin ought to inquire into this. A very pretty woman is chaffing a gentleman about the straw coming, out of his calves, or it is suggested that another gentleman with varicose veins showing through his silk stockings might pick it up and use it with advantage. A whisper comes round that the Qaeen has given up, and is walking about the garden in a waterproof. No kissing of bands thank goodness! The last cord has been withdrawn, and I now leave my lovely charges to take care of themselves, and double back to reach the final scene by the circular method expected of gentlemen on these occasions. I arrive in time to find my wife has passed, and, like a tragedy queen, is watching the comportment of her daughter. That young lady has just emerged from the hands of two magnificent pages, who have shaken out her train,-and are now calling her name along the rpyal path. Here she comes, making the transit of the heavens like a graceful and newly-dis-covered comet with a long white tail. She stops in her progress to curtsey with the utmost condescension to their Boyal Highnesses drawn up before her. JFrom that moment the mother is satisfied that her daughter is really out, and that the whole world knows it.