Before the Ball took place, the Bradley-Martins drew fire from all directions, as newspapers criticized its extravagance and clergymen urged their congregations not to attend. One clergyman denounced the ball by saying: "You rich people put next to nothing in the collection plate, and yet youâll spend thousands of dollars on Mrs. Bradley-Martinâs ballâ.[1]
After the ball many ministers preached against its excessive consumption and the authorities promptly raised Bradley-Martin's taxes (as well as those of their friends and fellow-attendees the Astors) quite out of proportion to those paid by anyone else. The Bradley-Martins returned to England, where they had owned a home for several years, and Scotland, where they leased a 65,000-acre (260 km2) estate, Balmacaan.[6]
***Although historians have repeated oft-told half-truths without conducting primary research, the Bradley-Martin ball is perhaps best-remembered as the end of the excesses of the Gilded Age.***
Explanation:
Dinning in the Gilded Age was no differentâif you were lucky enough to exist in the wealthiest sets of society, your dinner table would hold a vast array of the most expensive and delicious cuisine around. If you did not live and travel within the wealthiest circles, however, food was often scarce. Although the quantity of food produced in America increased tremendously during the Gilded Age, many poor Americans suffered from hunger and malnutrition. In the new modern market economy, it was the inability to afford food that caused hunger as opposed to a lack of it.
The fine dining extravagance of the privileged classes was exemplified in popular womenâs magazines of the day, like Godeyâs Ladyâs Book, which offered detailed instructions for throwing a proper dinner party, among other pursuits. The magazine set the standard for etiquette and its influential editor, Sarah Josepha Hale, was regarded as a connoisseur of all things fashion, cooking, literature and morality for the middle and upper class woman.
The dining room was the center of socializing and entertainment in the Gilded Age home and was expected to dazzle guests with its sumptuous elegance. âThe most fashionable as well as pleasant way in the present day to entertain guests is to invite them to evening parties, which vary in size from the âcompany,â âsociable,â âsoiree,â to the party, par excellence, which is but one step from the ball,â declared Godeyâs Ladyâs Book.
