e a brute and a cad, even though he had waited
nearly three hours before being able to speak to the girl he had come
purposely to see.

There really is something to be said on the man's side; especially on that
of one who has to get up early in the morning and who, only intending to
see one or two particular friends and then go home, is forced because of
an impulse of courtesy not only to spend an endless and exhausting
evening, but to be utterly unfit for his work next day.

One is equally sorry for the girl! But in the example above her stupid
handling of the situation not only spoiled one well-intentioned man's
evening, but completely "finished" herself so far as her future chances
for success were concerned. Not alone her partner but every brother-stag
who stood in the doorway mentally placarded her "Keep off." It is
suicidal for a girl to make any man spend an entire evening with her. If
at the end of two dances, there is no intimate friend she can signal to,
or an older lady she can insist on being left with, she should go home;
and if the same thing happens several times, she should not go to balls.

For the reasons given above, there is little that a hostess or host can
do, unless a promise of "release" is held out, and that in itself is a
deplorable situation; a humiliation that no young girl's name should be
submitted to. And yet there it is! It is only necessary for a hostess to
say "I want to introduce you to a charming----" And she is already speaking
to the air.

Boston hostesses solve the problem of a young girl's success in a ballroom
in a way unknown in New York, by having ushers.

=USHERS=

Each hostess chooses from among the best known young men in society, who
have perfect address and tact, a number to act as ushers. They are
distinguished by white boutonnieres, like those worn by ushers at a
wedding, and they are deputy hosts. It is their duty to see that
wall-flowers are not left decorating the seats in the ballroom and it is
also their duty to relieve a partner who has too long been planted beside
the same "rosebud."

The ushers themselves have little chance to follow their own inclinations,
and unless the "honor" of being chosen by a prominent hostess has some
measure of compensation, the appointment--since it may not be refused--is
a doubtful pleasure. An usher has the right to introduce anyone to anyone
without knowing either principal personally and without asking any lady's
permissi