As we have seen, journalism was only one field for the commercial instincts of penurious "Society people." In 1887 _Punch_ takes for his text the following paragraph from a daily paper:-- "One well-known West End Milliner is a graduate of Girton; another bears a title; a third conceals a name not unknown to Burke under a pseudonym.... Many of the best women of all classes are ready to do anything by which the honest penny may be earned." _Punch_ was somewhat sceptical as to the honesty of their intentions; the only way, he tells us, to get an invitation to the dances given by one titled shopkeeper was to buy one of her bonnets. This may have been a malicious invention, but he was fairly entitled to make game of the advertisement which appeared in the _Manchester Evening Times_ in the spring of 1887:-- "To Christian Widowers.--A Nobleman's Widow, of good birth, about 40, no family, left with small income, pleasing, sweet-tempered, cultured, domesticated, fond of children, desires Settled Home and a high-minded Protestant Husband of 50, or older, seeking domestic happiness with a devoted, loving Christian wife.--Address----" [Sidenote: _The American Invasion_] The lady shopkeeper had become such an institution that _Punch_ included her in one of his series of "Modern Types" in 1891. The portrait is not exactly flattering, though he admitted that she sometimes possessed other than purely social qualifications for success:-- At first everything will go swimmingly. Friends will rally round her, and she may perhaps discover with a touching surprise that the staunchest and truest are those of whom, in her days of brilliant prosperity, she thought the least. But a _succès d'estime_ is soon exhausted. Unless she conducts her business on purely business lines, delivers her goods when they are wanted, and, for her own protection, sends in her accounts as they fall due, and looks carefully after their payment, her customers and her profits will fall away. But if she attends strictly to business herself, or engages a good business woman to assist her, and orders her affairs in accordance with the dictates of a proper self-interest, she is almost certain to do well, and to reap the reward of those who face the world without flinching, and fight the battle of life sturdily and with an honest purpose. [Illustration: THE NEW SOCIETY CRAZE! THE NEW GOVERNESS (_through her pretty nose_): "Waall--I come right slick away from Ne' York City, an' I ain't had much time for foolin' around in Europe--you bet! So I can't fix up your gals in the Eu-ropean Languages no-how!" BELGRAVIAN MAMMA (_who knows there's a Duke or two still left in the Matrimonial Market_): "Oh, that's of no consequence. I want my daughters to acquire the American accent in all its purity--and the idioms, and all that. Now I'm sure _you_ will do _admirably_!"]