Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-01-03
give a horrible color to the figure that

| give a horrible color to the figure thai
Is led out
There is an evident fear on the par
of the ball officials that matters will
proceed too far. They endeavor K
/ prevent the women from being pulled
into the boxes by laying hold of them
and pulling them back, in which
struggle the women are curiously
wrenched and disOrdered, and the
men in the boxes curse and laugh and
! shout, and the dancers, now accus-
toned to the spectacle, give it no heed
| whatever.
II there is anything in the behavior
/ of a woman that is at all peculiar to
/ the eve of the observer who is not IA
miliar with the impulses and the
manifestations of them in this class, il
| is the feverish abandonment into
which drinks and other eXcitements
have driven them. 1t is not often
/ that common bawd, without brains
! or beauty enough to attract passing
glance, thus has the opportunity to
elicit vOlleys of applause from crowds
of men; and, without stopping to
question the value OF it, she makes
herself dOubly drunken with it. If to
kick up her skirts is to attract atten-
tion-hoop, la! If indecency is then
the distinguishing feature of the even
ing, she is the woman for your money.
So she Jumps rather than dances. She
has a whole set of lasciviOus motions,
fashioned quickly, which OutdO the
worst imaginings of the diTty-minded
men who applaud her. She springs
upon the backs of the men, she sWag-
gers, she kicks offhats. She is small
sensation in herself, and feels it, and
goes about with defiant and pitlless
recklessness, reigning for the few brief
hours over the besotted men who feel
a fiend's satisfaction in the unnatural
exhibition.
To particulariZe to any great extent
would be to make public the habits
and manners of the vilest prostitutes
in their proper haunts, where, out OF
the glare of publicity, they may, and
probably do, perfect themselves in the
indecencies most likely to catch the
eyes OF men little better than them
selves. That respectable foreigners
were induced to attend this bail by the
representations made by the managers
is certain. That they were outraged
by what took place there is beyond all
doubt. To suppose man deceived as
to the character Of the entertainment,
and 10 go there and mingle with
masked ladies who for awhile ape the
department of their betters, is to sup
pose a sensation at once startling; for
when the richly dressed ladies dot
their masks be finds himself surround
ed by q ghastly assemblage OF all the
most virulent social corruption IN our
dOwagers turned out to
be the fluffy and painted keepers OF
brothels; the misses sink into grinning
hussies, who are branded on the
cheeks and forehead with the ineradi-
cable marks of shame.
But il is safe to say the Unsuspecting
were few indeed.
At 2O'clOck this curious spectacle
was at its height. All about the insti-
tute. and On The stairs, and in the cloak
rooms, and through the narrow, tOrUu-
Gus passages leading to the stage /
dressing rooms were vile tableauX OF
infamed women and tipsy men, .
bandying brutality and Obscenity. |
The animal was now in fall possession 1
Of its faculties. But, just as the orgie /
is bursting into the last stage-a free |
.ight-when the poor creatures in their /
hired costumes are ready TO grOvel in |
the last half oblivious scenes, the /
musicians rattle of "Home, Sweet /
Home" +" with strange, hurried irony, |
and the managers, with the same 1
lassA turn off the gas of the main
and the bal dOperd Is at
In end.