THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF LADY PATRONESSES OF PUBLIC BALLS
=Ladies are frequently solicited= to allow their names to be placed on
the lists of lady patronesses of charity balls. A ball committee is
desirous of obtaining a list of influential names to lend _eclat_ and
prestige to the ball, and a charity ball often numbers amongst its lady
patronesses the names of many of the leading members of the nobility,
followed by those of the wives of the leading county gentry, or by the
principal residents of a watering-place or county town; but it is
understood, as a rule, that the duty of giving vouchers or tickets for a
charity ball is undertaken by those ladies who are more directly
interested in it, whose husbands are on the committee, who make a point
of annually attending it, and thus are principally concerned in keeping
it select; and although in many counties and in many towns lady
patronesses, members of the nobility, do attend, yet it not unfrequently
happens that out of a long list of great ladies only three or four are
present at a ball.
The members of the leading nobility and gentry of a neighbourhood
invariably lend their names to local charity balls, and head the list of
patrons and patronesses, but beyond lending their names, and in some
cases sending a subscription of money towards the funds of the charity,
or a present of game towards the supper, they have very little to do
with the ball itself, which is practically in the hands of the local
stewards. The exceptions to this rule are the charity balls held in town
during the season, such as the Royal Caledonian Ball, the Yorkshire, the
Wiltshire, and the Somersetshire Societies' Balls. On these occasions
many of the great ladies give vouchers and attend the balls.
When ladies consent to become lady patronesses of a ball, they usually
notify to the committee whether they will or will not undertake the duty
of giving vouchers or tickets, as the case may be. Some ball committees
arrange that vouchers are to be given by lady patronesses, to be
subsequently exchanged for tickets, signed and filled in with the name
of the person to whom the ticket is given. The lady patronesses in this
case receive the money charged for the tickets, and forward it to the
committee after the ball, with any tickets that they may not have
disposed of.
The ladies who exert themselves to sell tickets are generally those who
possess a large acquaintance, whose husbands are members of clubs;
therefore, if any person ought to be tabooed for some good social
reason, the lady patronesses reap the benefit of their husbands'
knowledge, and are thus able to give a polite refusal when tickets are
applied for for persons who are not altogether desirable.
It is no doubt a difficult and delicate task for the lady patronesses of
a large ball to keep it thoroughly select, and if not very particular
respecting those for whom tickets are granted, a ball, though a full
one, is likely to prove a very mixed affair, if not somewhat
objectionable, by reason of the presence of persons to whom tickets
should never have been granted, on moral if not on social grounds; and
though the funds of a charity may gain considerably by the increase of
numbers, through a general willingness on the part of the committee or
the lady patronesses to grant tickets to every one who may apply for
them, yet such policy is very short-sighted, and is seldom practised
by those who possess any practical knowledge in the matter, as it is
fatal to the reputation of a ball if persons who are objectionable are
present at it.
In the case of a ticket being applied for for a person of doubtful
antecedents, a lady patroness's best course is to refer the applicant to
the ball committee for tickets or vouchers.
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=Persons not well received in society=, or who have ostracised
themselves, have a predilection for public balls, and make every effort
to obtain tickets of admission; and in some cases, when a refusal has
been pronounced by the committee of a ball, the committee has been
threatened with legal proceedings.
Unmarried ladies seldom or ever act as lady patronesses, it not
being considered advisable to place the discretion of granting
tickets in their hands, lest their ignorance of the world should be
taken advantage of.
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=The lady patronesses of a charity ball= who undertake to give vouchers
or to sell tickets, usually exert themselves to the utmost in inducing
as many of their friends as possible to attend the ball.
It depends upon the committee of a charity ball whether tickets are
presented or not to the lady patronesses and stewards; but if the funds
of the charity are not at a very low ebb, this is generally done in
recognition of their services.
The responsibilities of lady patronesses of private subscription balls
are light in comparison with those of public charity balls, as persons
who attend subscription balls are usually on the visiting lists of
one or other of the lady patronesses, while with regard to county
balls, lady patronesses are not usually concerned in the disposal of
the tickets.