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Show THE SOCIETY YOUNG MAN. A young man, against whom there is nothing notorious, has several ways at the present day of entering society, should his kith and kin be unable to command the ordinary mode of ingress. A good tenor voice will open the doors of houses which otherwise would be closed. A marked capacity for private theatricals is in itself an introduction to the highest. Music, comic songs, a talent for getting up cotillions, mimicry, ventriloquism, conjuring, are all means to an end. Society conducts its hospitalities on a very commercial basis. You are welcome because you are noble, illustrious, famous or wealthy, and thus by your presence reflect credit on your host and hostess. If you are none of these things, you are invited because you take the place of professional singer, musician or entertainer. There is no obligation on either side. You get your dinners out of society, and society gets its equivalent out of you. But to the man who has no equivalent to offer, society is the coldest of hosts. - London Society. |