The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1877-02-14

A French Masked Ball.
HOW THEY CONDUCT SUCH AN AFFAIR
IN NEW YORK-THE CAN CAN.

The mask ball Of the Cercle Fran
Gals de Harmonic at the Academy
last night was very much like its
fctes Of former years. AS usual, the
French element predominated, bring
fling with it French manners. French
manners, French gayety and French
abandon to lend zest to the enjoy
ment. The crowd ives larger than
usual, partly owing, no doubt, to the
reduced price of the tickets and part
ly to the decrease in the number of
public entertainments ofthis charac-
ter. The assemblage was, on the
whole, an orderly one; the gayety
was contributed chiefly by the French
element and the noise by the Ameri-
can. 1.-THE costumes were less cost
ly than in former years, they lost
nothingin picturesqueness and oddi-
ty. When the ball was at its height
the lively strains of opera -bouf1e mu-
sic, the fantastic movements of the
professional and non professional
dancers and the fash of glittering and
yari colored costumes gave the scene
an air and sound Of one of the peri
odical gay gatherings in the Luxem-
bourg quarter. AS the throng be-
gan to diminish, the noise increased,
the dancers became wilder and less
conventional and the scene and
sounds more American, resembling
in some respects the Buffalo Bill
balls" for which the Crescent City
was once famous.
There was little novelty about the
costumes or characters; the negro
minstrel in large check trousers and
preternaturally black face, the Jardin
Mablle beau in wonderfully fitting
garments and long crayat ends, the
haboon, the clown, the fool, the
knight in armor, Napoleon, the po-
liceman, the gendarme, the soldier of
the seventeenth, eighteenth and nine
teenth centuries, were all there. vi
yaDdiers, ladies Of the French court
blondes with nondescript dress and
very little of that, queens, Indian
princesses, flower girls and spriagy
Iimbed ladies with dress so infnitesi
NAL as to defy description, were there
also. Of course, there were more
men than women, at least on tn,
floor, and the wal, flowers, or NOR
correctly speaking, the door flowers
were all Of the sterner sex. Their
we're many fair lockers on in tn
boxes who would not venture to tn
floor.
The dancing began early. At 10
30 the floor was crowded with coup
les and the modified form of the en-
entertainment was in full swing
After midnight the Caron family
from Paris, gave a series Of artist
dances, including a Thunder an
Lightning Qnadrille,' with accom-
paniments of rain, thunder and light
ming. There were thirty dances O
the regular programme, All immens
: share Of the music, Of course bein
Offenbach's, and again of course, TIL
feature Of the evening was the perez
NAL and much maligned can-cal
which, very properly came toward
the close Of the entertainment, whe
!, the legs, by long practice had al
quired the springiness necessary fl
the effective performance Of tt
+ dance. The music started, the dal
!. GERS took their places, buzz Of al
= ticipation was heard, and with a SUI
dued but expressive little yell tt
f show began. The women with the
: skirts, those Of them that had skirt
in their hands, in their hands, tt
men, like Nine. Angot, les mains 81
} les Ranches, advanced, retreate
;. ducked heads, bowed and whirled.-
Mems heads became temporary foo
balls, si!ken stockings of delica
d bues flashed in the air, the dancer
+ meanwhile, keeping up lively no,
! as OF enjoyment, though Occcaslons
ly it sounded more like the wall
n "widdy" in the wake scene Of Il
"Sbaughrann." A professional Tea
j canist'' doubling himself up like
. gymnast, hoped around, skipp
Is about darting here and turning thel
Then at close quarters, the roul
y dance figure began, in which, as NJ
n rasquin has it in "Girotie" on chat0
Is lille un. peu Plus haut, and the org
n was at its height. The ladies in t
boxes were glad they had tn,
. masks on and the male lockers
were not sorry they had refused