The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-06-12

na0 larger ana tnOTe lOTIudl euteEtdln-
/ ments. Very unlike were they to the
stereotyped style of evening party we
are accustomed TO see. For such a
merry-making started about two
o'clock one soft November afternoon.
| We found ourselves, as we left the vii
| lage, in quite a train of carriages, while
several horsemen, sometimes chatting
beside carriage or dashing onward in
brisk canter, and always managing
their horses skillfully, added to the life
of the scene.
1t was dusk, when we stopped at last
before stile, amid Il crowd OF carriages
and horses, and walked thence some
distance to what seemed a low, ram
bling house, large, unpainted, and
somewhat ruinous. Crossing a wide
porch, was taken to a room certainly
not more than fourteen feet square,
containing two beds and crowded with
ladies at all stages of the toilet Can
words, much less written words, convey
an idea of the wild confusion of that
little room, with all those young girls
and their maids? On the bed and on
the floor were tossed robes Of satin, and
lace, and velvet, and silk, slippers and
sashes, gloves and handkerchiets,
wreaths of flowers, boxes of pomnde
and powder and rouge, combs and hair
pins, and every imaginable article be-
| longing to lady's ball-dress, mingled
in one chaotic mass.
Most of the servants had been dis
missed for want of space; and three or
four pairs of black hands did the work
of II dozen. And If their owners had
anv brains, they might well have been
driven wild by the numerous calls and
the contradictory orders. How any
one was ever dressed at all was a mys-
| terry; yet one after another did succeed
in attiring herself with a world of or
| naments and hair elaborately curled,
braided, and oiled, in a way one might
think would require hours of toll and
'palient endeaYor." Somehow, Sal
| ly," and "Cassy," and "Sandy" did
manage to fisten dresses, "do hair"
put on shoes and sushes, dive under
beds, and mount on them, and eXtri-
cate from the mass the various articles
required. Each ludy seemed. too, to
have her own in the main, though in
such small articles'as combs, and hair
pins, and especially the all-impOrtant
powder and perfumes, each took what
was most convenient.
At length, when the room was some
what cleared, Joined Mr.. LeGrand on
the porch, aud went to the ball-room,
where, although it was not yet nine,
they had already been dancing, two
hours. / looked in vain for our host
ess, while my companion was pushing
directly toward the quadrille just form
ing. a teacher, however, OF more eX-
perience than /, came to my assistance,
assuring me that any special attention
TO the mistress of the house was by no
means the custom; "still, :" she added,
"if yHu care TO see her, Ia UOiLd-dip-
ping"
There in an ante-room she stood,
tall, ine woman, in claret velvet and
diamonds, asssuutf-box in her hand and
a brush in her mouth! rFE 3.
was content to turn away without
paying my respects.
A long, low room was filled with
dancers. III one corner TWO or three
negroes. refulgent in cast off vests and
white gloves, scraping their tiddleS In
true negro style, repeated the three or
four airs of their repertoire unintermit-
tingly, varying them now and then by
"a few words of song. The dancers were
room, the nickerimg brightness of the
candle-light, the wild music, the rich
and tasteful dress, with the Tree, care
less enjoyment of the dance, were like
so much else in that life, at once
fascinating and incongruous, attractive
and absurd.
AT about ten an adjoining room was
able, which must have groaned If
ever table did. AT the head was an
opossum, roasted entire and served
cold, supported by vast pieces of
bacon, numerous turkeys and chick
ems, cakes and pies and puddings,
and sweetmeats and-favorite CON
dinent of all-pickled cucumbers in
Vulnerable. These the ladies ate as we
would eat an ice, or as II child would
like 10 eat bOn-bOns, taking Il plateful
and disposing of one huge pickle after
another with infinite Zest. The bever-
ages were as numerous as the edibles,
and partuken of more freely. For aiter
lNu t,.l hTnF I,a
rest of the night coffee was drank costly
by groups of ladies and gentlemen, and
much stronger pOtationS by the latter
in private. The effect soon became Wis
ible in the flushed faces, eXtravagant
compliments, often not very intelligi-
BILE, aud a startling increase in the gem
erHl abandon of manner. .
Midnight found the dancers as fresh
as ever, but shortly after that time 1
must confess to having succumbed to
fatigue, and, creeping into the drawing
room, slept till the dancing ceased
about day-break. When returned to
the parlor, which of course, with every
one in it, bore the general air of IA bun-
quet- hall deserted, / hHd occasion TO
congratulate myself, that was TO be
driven home by the only teetotaler in
the company. Poor Cassia, as L re-
member, was particularly unfortunate
in her attendant, whose bewildered con-
dition was very evident in the endeavOr
-of which he made us all witneSs-to
change his white evening vest for one
of red plush. 1 can but laugh as re-
call, even now, his grave aud satisfied
expression when he finally approached
us with the collar downward, and The
bottom of the vest, all carefully but
toned, standing up to his chin. ,.
We reached home about nine O'Clock,
and thought the party no small affair.
1t seemed TO me the pleasures of dane
ing and eating and drinking had been
pretty thoroughly exhausted But Cas-
sia assured me it was nothing to what
was occasionally done; and she de-
seribed wedding party at a plantation
some twenty or thirty miles away,
where they kept the amusement for.
week, sleeping during the dny and ris-
ing at night 70 resume the dance.