Demand, we are told, creates supply. During a short stay in a Florida
hotel last winter, I noticed a curious little man who looked like a cross
between a waiter and a musician. As he spoke to me several times and
seemed very officious, I asked who he was. The answer was so grotesque
that I could not believe my ears. I was told that he held the position
of official "introducer," or master of ceremonies, and that the guests
under his guidance became known to each other, danced, rode, and married
to their own and doubtless to his satisfaction. The further west one
goes the more pronounced this mania becomes. Everybody is introduced to
everybody on all imaginable occasions. If a man asks you to take a
drink, he presents you to the bar-tender. If he takes you for a drive,
the cab-driver is introduced. "Boots" makes you acquainted with the
chambermaid, and the hotel proprietor unites you in the bonds of
friendship with the clerk at the desk. Intercourse with one's fellows
becomes one long debauch of introduction. In this country where every
liberty is respected, it is a curious fact that we should be denied the
most important of all rights, that of choosing our acquaintances.
No. 34--A Question and an Answer
DEAR IDLER:
I have been reading your articles in _The Evening Post_. They are
really most amusing! You do know such a lot about people and things,
that I am tempted to write and ask you a question on a subject that is
puzzling me. What is it that is necessary to succeed--socially?
There! It is out! Please do not laugh at me. Such funny people get
on and such clever, agreeable ones fail, that I am all at sea. Now do
be nice and answer me, and you will have a very grateful
ADMIRER.
The above note, in a rather juvenile feminine hand, and breathing a faint
perfume of _violette de Parme_, was part of the morning's mail that I
found lying on my desk a few days ago, in delightful contrast to the
bills and advertisements which formed the bulk of my correspondence. It
would suppose a stoicism greater than I possess, not to have felt a
thrill of satisfaction in its perusal. There was, then, some one who
read with pleasure what I wrote, and who had been moved to consult me on
a question (evidently to her) of importance. I instantly decided to do
my best for the edification of my fair correspondent (for no doubt
entered my head that she was both young and fair), the more readily
because that very question had frequently presented itself to my own mind
on observing the very capricious choice of Dame "Fashion" in the
distribution of her favors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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