, 1884-04-10
THE ELYSEE BALL.
Partisan Society in Parade at a Pres.
idential Reception
Incidents OF n Mammoth Ball where
There Was No Comrort---How
thc PopuInce Treat Pres
idcnt and Premier.

Paris Cor. Inter Ocean.
The most important event of the past week
IN social circles has been tho ball
at the Elysee. 1t is generally believed,
especially by foreigners, that doing things Oh
q grand scale is an exclusively American
characteristics. This mny be true in certain
directions, but in the matter of balls, France,
to use a very expressive c%olloquialism, beats
us all hollow. Ten thousand invitations were
sent out for Thursdays fete, and not less than
5000 men and women-it would not be very
exact, in every case, 10 say ladies and gen.
tlemen filed before NJ. and Madame Grevy.
The jam was only equnled by tho heat. It
was like being squeezed to death inn furnace.
An army officer was soon put hors de com
bat, and il it had not been for the prompt
Attendance of n physician, who happened to
be seetbing hard by, France would nave had
one soldier the less.
IN THE BALLROOM.
In the ballroom It was even hotter
Mothers with their daughters painting for a
dance or, more probably, for air, occupied
four or five rows of chairs on three sides Of
the room. A fine orchestra sweltered on a
platform erected on the fourth side. A solid
body Of men n score deep was banked up
against the mothers and tho daughters, whilo
in the very center, covering a space of u few
yards square, could be seen heads bobbing up
and down. much Hike dougbnuts In the
caldron. A thousand candles and the animal
heat from n thousand bodies produced the
effect of n hundred open furnace registers.
And yet there was not the slightest escape
provided for. this foul and burning air,
although tho ballroom was n temporary
building constructed in the garden. There
was not a window or ventilator in tho whole
big edince.
We fee the ballroom and End ourselves
In a current-a veritable gulf stream-mov-
ing with resistless tide through snites OF draw
ing-rooms, up two flights of narrow back
stairs to the second floor of the palace, then
returning through another series of rooms,
down the main stair case, and, at the end Of
t~hree-quarters Of IN hours struggle, weary
Of limb-for there is no sitting down, every
chair and sofa being seized and held like
life-preservers in a storm-and porspiring at
every pore, we find ourselves at the place
from which we had started.
A RUDE, n @ crow.
One feature Of the ball remains to be do.
scribe We turn toward the refreshment-
room, sadly in need OF some cool drink. 1t
requires ten minutes to work ons's way
through the mass of swallow-tails and trains
which lie between you and the coveted oasis.
But finally you get into the right current,
and arc pushed on slowly but surely toward
your bphls blLuOuRh Juo thlThlCt uOOT 1S
very wide lin fact thoro are two, the crowd
is much wider, and after a moment Of terri
BILE compression, worthy OF the embrace OF
the most vigorous Of grizzly bears, you are
belched forth into the middle of the floor.
But what n inisnoner TO call the place a re-
freshment-room. Tho long table, stretch
ing from end to end Of this the largest
saloon of the Elysee palace, is be-
sieged by n legion OF department clerks, who
cling TO their vantage ground with n per-
sistency and ill-breeding characteristic Of
the placeman. There these young fellows
stood four deep for a half hour or more gorg-
ing themselves with delicate viands, never
dreaming of giving place to tho parched
multitude behind them. Some of the moro
considerate would indeed pass over sand
witches and ices to the outS retnhed arms in
the rear, but they would not leave tho
table.
Some of the scenes at the Elysee buffet last
Thursday beggnr description. / noticed NJ. Ma
der de Aontjau, over 70years old, one OF the
most distinguished French orators and dep
uties, wait patiently for a quarter OF an
hour within reaching distance of tho tablo,
and when he finally secured n place and had
handed some iced coffee to lady friends, he
suddenly found himself pushed back into the
crowd again by a bevy OF rude beardless
boys, and had to retire from the r~efreshment-
room without having eaten n morsel or
drank a drop OF anything. And this was
in the capital OF France, at the palace OF tho
chief magistrate. Such scenes must make
Louis XIV and his courtiors blush II their
spirits ever "materialize.n
II SHOCKING AND THE PLEASANT.
A Frenchman once INFORMED me that he
was greatly shocked at n White House recep-
ton during our civil war to Bee ladies and
] uopflnnau sDrfns ~, an gnFng oy1 chairs L.,
order to catch n glimpse OF Gen. Grant, thon
tho hero of the hour, who was passing
through the drawing room with his stall.
Such astounding examples of brazen- faced
ill-breeding us those continually thrust upon
our attention last Thursday were never sur
passed il equaled in the United States. The
entrances TO the supper-room-I have here
tofore only spoken of the bufTet-were
blocked up for an hour or two before they
were opened by q crowd OF men and women
who seemed to be utterly unconscious of
their unbecomiDg conduct. Young men even
stood up in the broad window-ledge near the
doors in order TO pounce down more effect
lively the moment the barriers which sepa.
rated them from the cold chicken and cham,
payne were removed.
Having studied these various phases of tho
ball, we retired to a secluded little parlor on
the second floor, which the surging crowd
swept by unnoticed, and INDUCED in CONVEX
sation with a witty group until . O'Clock in
the morning. As We sat there we suddenly
saw n stately usher, crying: please make
way for the president a the republic, > and
NJ. Grevy, followed by his family, quietly
passed by on their way 10 their private
apartments. This was a little after midnight.
Tho president slyly left his guests to their dis
comforts and sought the pleasures OF the
sleep of the just. Public opinion forces NJ.
Grevy to give these balls. He submits grace.
fully. He receives his guests most urbaney,
offers them good music and bounteous re-
f~reshments, throws open the whole Elysee 10
them, but when il comes to being squeezed
and suffocated he retires
At . or 5 we went down stairs again.
Abour one-half of the guests had followed the
example Of the host and gone to bed. The
rooms wers now comfortable. There were
vacant chairs. the doorwnys were free, It was
possible TO dance in the ballroom, and one
could get something TO cat and drink AZ the
buffet. The young people now began to en-
joy themselves. The Scene WINS brilliant, re-
fined and pleasant. The dhIrgreeable e1
periences of the FIRST part OF the evening faded
away before the attracdyeness of the morn
ing hours, SO that those who were patient
unto the end must have gone away feellns
that all is indeed well that ends well.
New Haven News: The legal notion thaI
a rascal can take refuge in silence strikes u
az singularly cratic
Little Joker is the best smokinl