When the mania for building immense country houses and yachts (the owning of opera boxes goes a little further back) first attacked this country, the builders imagined that, once completed, it would be the easiest, as well as the most delightful task to fill them with the pick of their friends, that they could get all the talented and agreeable people they wanted by simply making a sign.
To their astonishment, they discovered that what appeared so simple was a difficult, as well as a thankless labor.I remember asking a lady who had owned a "proscenium" at the old Academy, why she had decided not to take a box in the (then) new opera-house.
"Because, having passed thirty years of my life inviting people to sit in my box, I intend now to rest." It is very much the same thing with yachts.A couple who had determined to go around the world, in their lately finished boat, were dumbfounded to find their invitations were not eagerly accepted.After exhausting the small list of people they really wanted, they began with others indifferent to them, and even then filled out their number with difficulty.A hostess who counts on a series of house parties through the autumn months, must begin early in the summer if she is to have the guests she desires.