The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-09-23

OH0 BActOs -oEtulnp pa OAf a0If Al3dn tttte
Mans first ball. =,
/ On thaS eventfnl night, it9was diff
cult to say wheth rshe or her daugh-
ter was the more excited She would
let no one but herself pat tho finish
ing touches to Nan q freshh tailet4e,
and oldlfashionedl jewels that had
belonged to q bride, now ssparkled
and shone on the girls fair neck.
But what would any of Mans su hse-
quent admirers quitting out of the
question those who might possibly
be artists) have thought of the
piquant little belle of an evening,
could they but have seen the picture
before she started for her ball. A
bedroom fitted up like a boudoir,
and hung round with glasses. A girl
standing up, straight from among a
feathery mass Of whitehess, long
glistening lines of drapery falling
from, and lying bright beside her on
the ground, and figure scarcely
less pretty kneeling in half-dressed
condition, and fastening on her skirt
hot-hogse flowers. X 81, Ejl1i-c
Man.. herself, looks not unlike o
flower, with blue eyes, and her lips
and cheeks stained into color; but
she still requires to be looked at
artistically, else you might see that
the blue eyes are flashing light
and the red cheeks blazing with i'm
patience. i. .. +,t. 81. ..-..s
''But see, dear; now look yourself,
Nan. It is exactly six inches wide;
Wv, ooulJp,t 1,oro $40 I>,o. L., IL,
that
"What does it matter if it's six or
sixteen." retorts Nan, eff it isn't
broad enough? It's no use, mamma,
if Jane can't go out in the village and
get me another, I won't wear q sash
at all"
s'But your dress looks so unfinish-
ed, dear, without"
eyes, / know that, of course" said
Nan, quite unmoved, "but if it's to
be question of looking unfinished,
or wearing that" ('that' was of course
the sash held up high in the air,
call 1 can soy is, it'll have to look
unfinished.
CHOW, Nan, dear, don't be SO inn
petuous.
Sim not in the least impetuous, )"
said Nan, who, while she declined
advice and rejected hints, always
denied accusations, 'only nothing
on earth, you know, mamma, would
make me go to ball, with a."
And so on, in fact, da capo, ring
ing the changes. But Eve forgot all
that was not gracious in Nan, when,
with her own heart beating painfully,
she chaperoned her through the
open door of the ballroom, and
found there no face that was sweeter
than one that had inherited the
beauty of the dead. And Eve herself
had never looked more like the girl
young Ashley had chosen, and who
had been 30 admired when he had
taken her with him half over the
world.
That evening was thorough sue
cess for Nan, but Eve, even while she
gloried in it, yet trembled for results.
She had ensconsed herself close to q
window, where she could always see
the we'll known putting of Mans
dress, and where she could even
catch little watts of her talk, as the
revolving dances brought her round
that way.
Nan had knack for saying the
most unfattering things; with her
caressing voice, and all the dimples
in her face, contradicting them fatty,
so that no compliment could be SO
delicious as Mans little quaint at
tempt to set people down, and the
descent was for them easy, while the
blue eyes softened the sentence, and
the very mouth laughed at its rude
ness. But all this, though pleasant
enough, and sort of intoxication to
Cavendish, young war-office swell,
now swinging round with Nan, and
inwardly vowing she was "the incest
girl out" was considerable source
of uneasiness to Eve, whose dislike
to the old idea of the moth and the
candle was constitutional, and who
took no pleasure in watching any
game, where, as we'll as o spider, a
fly is also requisite.
'This is our dance, Miss Ashley"
This moth was known among his
fellows by the name of Popham, and
for him to have been scorched would
have been deemed serious.