February 26. No news of Robert and Nadeshda. Have been glancing through
this diary. How conceited I am, taking credit to myself for everything.
I wonder if I am vainer than most people, or does everybody make the
same ridiculous discovery about himself when he takes himself off his
guard? What an imperfect record this is of our launching. But then, if
I had made it perfect I should have had to go into so many wearisome
details, not to speak of my having so little time. Still, it would
have been interesting to read some day, when I shall have forgotten the
little steps--for although we've had in all only a month before the
season and five weeks between New Year's and Ash Wednesday, so much
has been crowded into that time. It's amazing what one can accomplish
if one uses every moment to a single purpose. And I've not only used
my own time, but Robert's and Jessie's and the time of their and my
friends, and that of Nadeshda and a dozen other people. They and I
all worked together to make my enterprise a success--and Jim and the
Senator, and "ma" Burke was a great help after the first few weeks.
Yes, and I mustn't forget Cyrus. He has made himself astonishingly
popular. I see now that he showed a better side to every one than he
did to me. Perhaps I can guess why. I wonder if he really cares or did
care--for me, or was it just "ma" trying to get me into the family, and
he willing to do anything she asked of him?
But to go back to my vanity--I see that Jessie, Rachel and Cyrus
were the real cause of my success. Jessie and Rachel alone could
make anybody, who wasn't positively awful, a go. Then Nadeshda, bent
on marrying Cyrus at first, was a big help--and every mama with a
marriageable daughter was hot on Cyrus' trail. So it's easy to make
an infallible recipe for getting into society: First, wealth; second,
willingness to act on competent advice; third, get a "secretary" who
knows society and has intimate friends in its most exclusive set,
and who also knows how to arrange entertainments; fourth, have a
marriageable son, if possible, or, failing that, a daughter, or,
failing that, a near relative who will be well dowered; fifth, organize
the campaign thoroughly and pay particular attention to getting
yourself liked by the few people who really count. You can't bribe
them; you can't drive them; you must _amuse_ them. The more leisure
people have the harder it is to amuse them.
Looking back, I can see that "ma" Burke passed her social crisis when,
on January 5, Mrs. Gaether asked her to assist at her reception. For
Mrs. Gaether was the first social power who took "ma" up simply and
solely because she liked her.
We have spent a great deal of money, but not half what the Tevises have
spent. But our money counted because it was incidental. Mere money
won't carry any one very far in Washington--I don't believe it will
anywhere, except, perhaps, in New York.
I ought to have kept some sort of record of what we've done from day
to day--I mean, more detailed than my books. However, I'll just put in
our last full day before Lent, as far as I can recall it. No, I'll only
write out what Mrs. Burke alone did that day:
7:30 to 10. She and I, in her room, went over the arrangements for the
ball we were giving in the evening.
10 to 12:30. She went to see half a dozen people about various social
matters, besides doing a great deal of shopping.
12:30 to 1:45. More worrying consultation with me, then dressing for
luncheon.
1:45 to 3:45. A long and tiresome luncheon at one of the embassies.
3:45 to 6:30. More than twenty calls and teas--a succession of
exhausting rushes and struggles.
6:30 to 7:15. In the drawing-room here, with a lot of people coming and
going.
7:15 to 8. Dressing for dinner--a frightful rush.