Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-04-22
THE WHITE FAWN.
g country Merchant " Sees IL, and
is sihOcked-He Describes the Per
fOrmauee, ana Indulges I'm Some
WhOles0Ene Comments Thereon

ADEutaDCts ahu M
Wholesome Comments Thereon.
From the New York Tribune, April 18th.
The curtain rose at Eight and dropped
at eleven o'clock, and for three long hours
large and apparently respectable audi
ence Witnessed the scenes that were pre-
scented with profound attention. was sur
prised 10 note so little applause, for,
though the spectacle is confessediy popular,
and bad already been presented over sixty
nights, only a few manifested outward
pleasure, aud the people sat hour after
hour perfectly quiet, gazing at those dan
GERS, and seeming 10 me either fascinated or
AMAZED | remember very we'll that long
ago, when La Bayadere was played in st.
Lonis, the applause, if such il could be
called, was more astonishing than any
thing / had ever heard. TO great extent
the audience was composed of merchants,
bar keepers, and river men, with fair pro-
portion Of ladies. When the female dan
GERS began TO expose their persons, the
applause consisted of storms of Chaps and
stampings; but when the exposure in-
creased, and reached its full extent, though
not % az great Il degree as the White
Fawn, a series Of screams and yells arose
30 loud, 50 terrific and unearthly, that they
seemed 10 come from Infatuated creatures,
not from human beings. | can explain
the difference in no other way than by
supposing the New York audience 80 re-
fined, and perhaps so religious, as not TO
permit itself TO be carried away.
These dancing women, as may be sup
posed, are az good looking as can be OBJ
tanned. They are generally young, and, if
old, such arts as are known to make them
look young are used. Their dress can be
described in a few words. Ii is fastened to
the lower point of the shoulder by mar
row band; it crosses behind along the mid
die of the shoulder-blades in front across
the middle of the breast il extends nearly
twelve inches below the hip-joints, and the
arms are bare. The lower limbs seem
tightly covered with thin hesh-colored
fabric, and this is met at the base of the
body by a garment of some kind of illu-
sion goods, similar to what We used TO sell
for Grecian lace, lying in layers or puas,
and totally conceaiing all that part of the
body. The feet are elegantly and lightly
clad. The dancing il mostly confined to
making display of the lower limbs, and
a common and often repeated posture is to
stand on one limb and TO raise the other 80
as TO form of the two a right angle. The
latest improvement ia this school Of art
and high culture requires a male assistant,
who receives The dancer, in the midst Of
her dancing, upon some part of his person,
so that her head and shoulders will be
downward and fronting, or sideways to the
audience, while her feet are in such posi-
ton that the illusion goods are displayed.
One great feat is to have two at one time
hang over his shoulders, or he, and several
other dancers, combine to obtain positions
that will give variety to the display. If
this description is imperfect, am certain
that many Of your readers will be able to
correct me.
A friend mad furnished me a glass for
the occasion, which, though not much dis
similar to those in fashionable hands, was
made for another purpose, was of great
power, and / could see which of the dancers
were powdered, which had painted canine
lips, and which were padded. 1t was so
powerful that what to most Others appeared
as charming faces showed me anxious and
distressful eyes, and for the second time in
my life learned that woman may have
the most enchanting smile on her lips
while her heart is sinking with despair.
As the hours passed one exposure was fol-
lowed by another, and, if possible, by new
one. The gaze OF the spectator became
rigid, each sat like a statue, and tired
nature found relief in long drawn, hulter-
ing signs. 1t was about an hour before the
continued repetition began to have much
effect, which was marked by each ceasing
to whisper or to smile. Evidently there
was determination TO show no emotion,
and to the last to gaze unmoyed. But
some are so constituted that, whatever may
be their culture and refinement, they do
rot have this power, for these in
sensibly relax; each new exhibition
was an assault upon an exposed
| and crumhing fortress, aud, "a such
! applause as arose at st. Louis was sup
! pressed, the nerves alone could give an
| expression. Every man who goes 10 such
i a place at once looks TO the ladies in the
audience, for he wonders what it is that
can be attractive to their eyes. To every
man the first sight is repulsiye, and 1t can
| be no less so 10 a woman. The change III
the mind Deems to come gradually and by
| a process similar to acquiring a liking for
unnatural, or even disgusting stimulants
We know little, but perhaps enough, O
magnetic influences, and it is not improb
able that a woman's ideas in such plact
are secondhand. In casting my glass
around the audience, near the close of on,
of the most noted displays, l saw severa
ladies with trembling lips, but in a moment
they assumed their accustomed frmness
Finally, with little beauty and less mean
ing, with confusion of fern leaves, a re
cliniug of partly nude figures of ascending
and descending designs and amidst
| cleaning and glare of various ColOreC
lights, the curtain fell on the infamou
scene. Half stitled by the close air, choke,
aud partly benumbed, the audience sliC
away like a guilty throng, many huskil,
remarking to others upon the splendor o
the closing view.
One Of my first impressions on beholdinl
so many young women capable of adorninl
society, and being made happy, vet no los
TO shame, was that they felt it would be
greater shame to earn an honest living, o
that they had sought it in vain. Turning
to the audience, | could not help thinkin
that each had poor opinion Of each. Tn
lady coming in with a gentleman eithe
I
him. or was in 4 fair wav TO leave him, O
she had never been married, but had bette
be; that gentleman, bringing a lady who's
train swept the aisle, had other claims ia
away, or his domestic life was feverish an
unhappy; aud the Young men, coming b
themselves, had come TO lay the foundation
for domestic in6delity, and for a waste {
opportunities and means The saddles
sight was in the yonng couples with ros
cheeks and hopeful ewes. How man
sittings are required to corrupt 8 yoHn
girl DO not know; bat / fel
that no place eau equal this for dc
bauohing the soul, and that when a girl, &
lest, is delighted With these scenes, he
, day of ruin cannot be far away. For, be
fore one comes to admire these things, III
! finest sensibilities must be shocked hey on
} expression, and modesty-that especit
Jewel of the human soul-must be d,
graded TO the dust To sit in that plac