The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-25


Crete danced to the assault, keeping time to
q rude measure they chanted. We can, how
ever, imagine their steps only n crude pas
QyanadstiQue--an ungraceful version of that
sShanghai- drill" that so delights the bosoms
of our maidens, as performed by the bone
and sinew of our volunteers. In the high
Grecian civilization, we learn that Socrates
hied him to the bower of Aspasia, and, under
her teachings, learned
.oTo nimbly caper in a ladys chamber,
To the lascivious pleasings OF Lutte"
or Tyre. The highest Grecian idea of grace
was drawn from the pose of the dancer; for
the most perfect of their recovered statues is
the god of the dance, and their most cunning
chisel wrought the dancing-faun.
But, in the Reman era, dancing became
questionable among the great, and was al
most given over to the slaves and actors who
amused them at their feasts The straiter
laced of the period made the dance butt for
shafts of invsctive or ridicule, being appa-
rently as much in earnest as more modern
prudes, who perhaps made such their proto-
types. Cicero gravely reprehends the sport
in Gabinus, declaring it beneath his consular
dignity; and Sallust assures Sempronia that
to dance so well invites doubt of her being
an honest woman. Kingsley, too, in his
''Hypatia"-that wonderful picture of the
wonderful city-shows the ineffable disdain
Inc philosopher JQo dancer.
1t was only in the middle ages that sort
of order crept into the dance. What had
hitherto been an nnarranged gymnastic, de-
pendent wholly on individual power, now
first came under general rules; and, as Ian
guage and music before it, the dance began
to possess a grammar of motion. Then it
once more came under the patronage of the
great-beeahe the fashion. At the French
and Spanish-and later at the English
courts, the formal measure of minUet and
poLondise were walked on all state occasions,
first by royalty itself, and then by the highest
in the land. Some time later the c0rdnto
and gdlIidrd varied these by intruding their
livelier ideas; next the aodlts was introduced;
and, finally, such strange results of search
after novelty as the gaU0tte and ta00lta.
In poem published about the close of the
sixteenth century, we find description of
the latter dance, which brings it into near re-
lationship with the polka of to-day, proving
this age has no right to letters patent for this
invention. Queen Elizabeth, if not poker
herself, most probably had the dance per-
formed before her, for the description of the
poem is exact
"Yet is there one-a most delightful kind
A lofty jumping, or leapng round;
Where arm-in-arm two dancers entwined,
And whrl themselves, with strict embracemeAts
bound.
And still their feet an anape do sound
An anapRst is all their music's song
Whose first two feet are Short and third is long,"
The 'anapest" here plainly marks the pecu-
liarity of the polka step; and we are at liberty
to picture to ourselves the knightly Sidney,
''our burly cousin Burleigh," or the gentle
Raleigh, doing a backstep at the bidding of
Leicester, for the delectation of the royal
guest of Kenilworth.
The descent may be long-but it is rapid
from the glitering pageants of chivalry to the
glaring ones of ''shoddy." A lustrum or two
since ''our best society" was agtated to its
centre. Polka, like Harlequin unrehearsed,
bounded over the head of all the proprieties,
twirled round upon her toe, to the wonder
ment of the elect, and then settled comfort
ably down in their midst. Polka, the daugh-
ter of Progress, was not to be put down as
her more quiet cousins german had been.
She knew that to do was but to dare; and,
acting on the knowledge, she succeeded.
Years before, the waltz, imported
from the Rhine" had become
the feature of every May day frolic on the
village-greens in England. But her capital
did not embrace the stranger with great
fervor. Almack's had already replaced the
minuet of the previous generation by the stiff
quadrille, and though daring few encouraged
the waltz, they could not sustain her long.
Prim Propriety, of the strictly British stamp,
refused to heed the whispers of that comely
maiden, Common-sense there were myste
rious illusions to the Scarlet Woman; and the
graceful child of Germany and Spain was
voted icentious gypsy, fit only for Danish
ment to Mabille, or at best for corner Of
Cremorne. So the waltz, as all prosecuted
things of the Old World had done before her
fled across the water to us; though in her cast
the reception was a little different Here
too, she was voted impure by the modesty o.
the period.
But immaculate society even then enjoyed
its noble and elevating recreations. Then
as now, Mrs. Aurifas Midas would be "a
home" on stated evenings; then, as now, Mr.
Aurifer Midas would do his duty to society as
groaning, he signed the heavy check for th
yearly ''crush." Nightly would the invariabl
Belinda deck her hair with pearls, drape he
shapely bust with transparent illusion, ant
see that she was ravishly bOttee. Nightl
would the inevitable T. Totum coax on i'm
maculate kids, eomplacently examine his owl
feet, and plunge through the crowd to seel
Belindas, and lead them through funerea
quadrilles. Dowagers donned diamonds an
laces; papas groaned into unwonted dress
coats and unbounded white vests; and tn
world of tom iammed itself into overheate
rooms to eat, drink, and be merry-f prac
ticable.
Then, as now, Mrs. Aurifer Midas ball wa
always success. There was the same dis
play of diamonds and bust; much eating an,
drinking; more buzz and malice. The name
of the most noted, eked out with stars, wer
: duly chronicled, and dresses were commente
on in the Weekly SpGtterer; and sundr
young gentlemen "slept at friends"
Still, an underlined and misty idea prevaile
that the ball was not all it should be; tha
something might have made it pleasantel
If the inevitable Il. Totum had any mind
was haunted by suspicion-and he whii
pered it to his inyariable BeliRda-that got
bl;no oronuattas bihhino P1.o,pd, on