Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1851-06-05

Teton himself entered the gate in hi
every day clothes, evidently jus
from his Office up Town, and seemin
to be occupied with any thing els
than thoughts of a tea party.
thought he started slightly on obser
wing me snugIy seated in his gallery
but, as he was among the politics
men | ever knew he soon recovered
and expressed thegreaiest degree o
pleasure at seeing me, begging that
would excuse him for few moments
as he would soon be dressed. Now
as we have been accustomed a
BIackstoneville always to gather a
parties at least by sunset, you may
well imagine that | felt somewhat
queer and dubious to find the gentle
man of the house coming home a
this late hour to dress. Still, there
was no remedy but TO sit still, witt
my eyes wide open, and observe the
course OF things; and thus | sat iol
one long hour after another, won
dering and impatient enough, until
at last | hea d the nine O'Clock bel
ring. Just then a large flashy car.
riage drove up before the gate, and
Mr.. Lyttleton, who had been polite
ly sitting with me the last hour and
a half, walked out 10 meet those who
were about TO light from it. To my
surprise. however, only a single lady
was inside, and, as she swept into
the house, caught sight Of the
prettiest blue eyes | ever beheld, and
heard her Iaughingly tell Mr.. Lyttle-
ton that she had hurried off rather
early, so as to get there in time TO
help Mrs. Lyttleton prepare for the
reception of the company! My God,
| was positively shocked Here was
lady arrived after usual bedtime,
apologizing for having come so soon,
and |, hapless mortal, had been qui-
etIy waiting Tor the party ever since
clever dark This, thought ], would
set all BlackstoneviIle in a blaze OF
wonder getting together to dance
and froIic after the finest part OF the
night was gone.
In less than fifteen minutes after
this, at least fifty carriages had come
up, filled with ladies and gentlemen,
whilst there was no end to those who
came afoot, though these were pref
ty much all gentlemen. still kept
my seat at the side of the door, and
had a fair chance to see every lady
as she passed in, for there was the
brightest sort OF lamp swung up
jus; in the centre of the passage in
side. As yet | had not caught a
glimpse OF Mrs. Blanche Lyttleton,
for neither she nor her husband, 20
my utter astonishment, stood at the
door TO receive the company. Only
two servants were there, one Of
whom took the hats, and the other,
a tidy looking yellow girl, conducted
the ladies through TO different part
of the house. In a few minutes,
however, both parlors and the pas
sage were crowded, and | never in
my life heard such a buzzing and fus.
sing. At tBlackstoneville, we always
sat pretty silent until "Grind the bot
tle," or "Sister Phoebe one" was
and it was only after we
played both Of these that dancing
began. Al the end Of an hour or
so, Mr.. Lyttleton, observing that |
was too modest TO move about much
where | knew SO few, came up and
insisted that should go with him
into one of the saloons, and be in
troduced TO the ladies. | OF course
did not decline the obliging offer, es-
pecially as | had taken so much pains
to rig myself out FOR the occasion.-
One thing, however, caused me to
little. Thinking il was TO
be regular dancing affair, | bad,
according to our way at Blackstone
vile, fixed up for the very purpose,
and had bought a nice timber pair Of
morocco pumps and silk stockings,
in order TO have the free use of my
feet. | had also made my washer
woman do up my favorite ruffle shirt,
which used to catch the eye Of all
our village girls, and had brought the
OF my watch gracefully
over the plaits confined by neat
breastpin. But when entered the
room, / saw that every gentleman
present had on high-heeled boots just
the same as if they had been going
to church, and instead of ruf1es most
OF their waistcoats buttoned up half
way to the crava!. / could not but
notice all this,and felt that was ra-
ther awkwardly situated, for my feet
would be seen TO attract
attention with such con-
trast against them. | was tolerabIy
proud. however, and felt nv own
rather too much to allow
such a matter seriously to disturb
me. and so swung through the crowd
with quite an air. Presently we
stopped in front Of a sweet looking
LADY. the same ] had seen arrive first,
seated on a something | could nofl