The first two social events held at Government House after the instalment of Lord Curzon as governor-general were the levee on the 7th of January, 1899, which was attended by sixteen hundred gentlemen, and the drawing-room on the 12th of the same month, at which Lady Curzon wore her viceregal honors with irresistible graciousness. After the presentations, which were made in the throne-room, Lord and Lady Curzon standing in front of the magnificent gold throne upon a velvet-covered dais, she went up into the ball-room, which occupies the entire third floor of the central portion of the palace, and which is said to be one of the handsomest in the world, and there mingled among her guests with a grace as charming and unaffected as if she were again hostess in either her American or her English home instead of the representative of the Queen of England and Empress of India. [Illustration: Miss May Handy From photograph by James L. Breese] When we consider her exalted position and her unusual personality, the rapidity with which she has established herself in the affections of the people all over the empire ceases to be a matter of wonderment. The good judgment and tact of both the viceroy and his wife have prevented them from falling into the grave error of some of their predecessors in showing a preference for the European over the educated native element. As a result, Lady Curzon's praises have been proclaimed by the latter in the glowing language that is peculiar to them as frequently as they have been by the former. Ram Sharma, an Indian poet, referred to her, in the course of some lines of welcome addressed to Lord Curzon, as "A rose of roses bright, A vision of embodied light." Another native scribe, when she received the decoration of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India, declared her to be "like a diamond set in gold, or the full moon in a clear autumnal sky." Not only by her youth and beauty and her social graces, however, has she endeared herself to the people of India. With a high appreciation of the viceregal position and of the duty owing to their subjects under all circumstances, Lord and Lady Curzon last winter made a tour of the plague-stricken districts of the empire. Besides advising and making intelligent suggestions to those who were working among the sufferers, they in many cases personally provided for their care, and by unselfish heroism bound the whole nation to them by ties of profound gratitude and a tender personal affection, augmenting thereby India's loyalty to the queen-empress.