National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-03-05
FAIRY SCENES.
Beautiful Pictures from the BaII-Room
Memories OF the Dance.

| Memories OF the Dance.
And now in the mad whirl and intoxi-
cation of the dance the scene grew bewilderirg in
its beauty till every heart stepped in the spell
Of romance, and the sonbTe soberness of prosaic
| life was for the while shimmered over with the
sheen of sentiment. In and out of the arches,
adown every vista that cleaned in the soft radiance
of the light, the dancers writhed and glided and
turned like shadows from swaying, swinging
vines in the ftful breezes ola moonit night. The
intense, penetrating, yet softened and mellow ed
glow of the electric light flooded the whole area
with wave on wave of scintillating splendor, as
brilliant and beautiful as starlight sparkling on
SUBMITS of SHOW. In its chaste permeating ra-
dance the lime-white sheen of the calcium lights
was robbed of its ghastly glare, and they shone
with subdued CLEAN, giving picturesque force to
the view. AL salient angles were softened, and
all points transfused with the mellow tnts of fairy
land. Crowds of beautiful women, stimulated by
all the accessories of the dance We're Respondent
in elegant and tasteful toilets, that were bright
with color sweet with perfume, and rich in costly
and delicate fabrics.
THE PEOPLE
were varied and interesting in the extreme, and
each one seemed east in his happiest most genial
mood. The splendoT and color of dress were SD
perb the beauty of ornament magnificent. There
the deep, passionate flush of rubies, the purple
simmer of amethysts, the miik-white CLEAN of
pearls. There was the softly flashing lustTe of
eyes which outshone the diamond there was the
snowy hue Of arms that shamed even pearls into
dinginess there was the merry and happy rustic
of voices free and tender and naelodous with love
and pleasure and joy. Almost all ages were rep
resented. There were young and merry hearted
girls; there were stately matronS; there were
white-hared danes leaning on the arms of
grandchildren and mingling in the may
movements of the dance with as much enjoyment
as their joyous young relatives, and with very lit
tie less grace Generally the vast crowds repre-
scented the elite of the land. The theory Of the
ball was democratic; its attendance Was decidedly
ars,ocratie Yet everything was free, as smooth,
and as harmoniously flowing as if distinctions in
society were unknown, and life had always pre-
served its Arcadian grace and simplicity. Per-
haps the chief characteristic of the ball was
the hearty abandon of enjoyment into which
each one threw himself, the enthusiasm with
which men and women gave themselves up
to the genius of the evenings pleasure
The programme of dances for briiiiancy and
variety was in keeping with the animation
and spirit displayed elsewhere, and Souza
never before produced such music as the waves of
his baton this night caused to tremble on the pal
plating air. All the poetry of the American soul
was there, materialized in motion and symphonied
ont in sound. All the glory all the Wild delicious
dreams of mirth and joy that slumber in the
memory Of the dance we're Weakened into melo-
dious murmur and movement. Bewildering vistas
flooded with brilliant light aud delicious sound,
opened before the gaze at every turn, filled with
the richest attractions of form and color, that
moved in graceful harmony to "iutes we'll
tuned law" Clustering columns, enwreathed with
Il
gracefully clinging garlands. and banked with
deep masses of tropic greenery rose here and there
shutting of one vista of grace and beauty only to
reveal another of even more exquisite loneliness
and even still greater variety of charming attrac-
tiveness. The iHdeScribable murmur which seems
born of the magnetism of
JOYOUS CROWD
which is Undesirable in itself whose subtle grace
and sweetness elnde the most minute analysis, and
which forms of the chief clements of the dance
fascination, kept time with the melody of the mu-
sicans and the motions of the dancers as if it were
& part no less of one than the other But the
dancers How shall they be described? They
were foanl-caps ON tine spray of schottsehes, dew
drops glistening on the webs of waltZes, fakes of
feathery down floating amid the pirouettes of
pokaS cotton seeds careessly cast the caraeoies
OF eotlions glints of glitter cleaning in the gyra-
tons of galops Like dreams stiff frozen as they
stood in the pauses of the music, like dreams
inextricably meshed and mingled in may
motion when the music resumed its sway,
shadows glancing on ripping waters through
wind-stirred foliage, in breezy moonlights, shad-
ows, rising and falling and writing with every
breath of melody, knowing no law but harmony
having no aim but grace, living no life but joy,
these dancers transformed the scene Into courts of
Elfand, and living men and women into Feritable
fays and trolls. Five thousand persons at enc time
moving restlessly but timefully and tunefully in