The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1884-05-28
THE FIRST BALL.

But | want to go so much, said
Zadie. "Oh, Mrs. Mugs, please,
please, don't tell grandma"
The old country house had been
shut and locked up for the night.
Overhead the stars burned in points
of frozen light, and the hard snow
cleaned family underneath, while
every breeze that stirred the woods
set a whole chime of tiny icicles to
iingling.
Zadie Wilde had had the least pos
sible cough that afternoon, and old
Mrs. Wilde had sent the housekeep-
er up with steaming hot potion of
vinegar, molasses, lemon-juice and
Irish moss, at ten 0 clock that night.
Girls never take any care OF
their health" said Mrs. Wilde.
"And Zaidee is in my charge while
her parents are in Havana. Be
sure, Mrs. Mugs, that she drinks the
whole tumblerful and gets right into
bed. And Mugs, Fyou had better
take away her candle. There's al
ways danger of setting fire to the
bedroom curtains, yot, know"
Bless me, ma'am," said Mugs,
Miss Zaidee is seventeen. You
can't take away her bed candle, like
ifshe was a little girl"
"Well, tell her to be very careful, "
said Mrs. Wilde, laying her head
down among the pillows with sigh.
Mugs trudged up stairs, and
opened the door very softly. Miss
Zaidee might be asleep for anything
she knew, and
But Zaidee was not asleep. On
the contrary, the room was bright
with wax candles and there, before
the cheval-glass, stood the little dam
sci, dressed in white, with soft Ori-
entail sash, cluster of white roses
in her belt, and the prettiest little
white satin boots that ever, like lit
tie mice, peeped in and out"
Zaidee Wilde was going te the
Military Ball. Leave or leave, as
she explained to Mugs, she was GO
ing with Colonel Battersby and his
daughters.
But, Miss" pleaded Mrs. Mugs,
"vour grandma said you wasn't to !,
She don't like them Miss Battersbys,
anyhow
Yes, [ know, coaxed Zaidee, "but
grandma has forgotten how she felt
when she was seventeen. And Col
onel Battersby is 70 be at the Great
Gate at half past ten precisely-and
| never was at bail in all my life
before. Dear Mrs. Mugs, you will
keep my secret, won't you"
well, 1 never" said Mrs. Mugs.
But there was soft spot down in
her heart, after all, and she finally
consented, after many tears and en-
treaties on the part of Zaidee, to con-
done her ofienses.
81 s'pose it is dull here, she reas-
oned within herself. And Miss Iai-
dee-and after all girls will be girls.
OF course my mistress will be very
angry if she knew it-but we must
take care she don't know it,
So Mugs herself helped to bun
die Zaidee up in the old gray shwl,
which hid all her glories as brass
extinguisher hides the light of can
die, and escorted her to the Batters.
by carriage, which waited at dis
Greet distance from the house.
You're sure you've got the key to
let yourself in, Miss ?" said she, the
last thing.
"Oh, yes, its all safe in my dress
pocket"
Mugs trudged back through the
snow, thinking OF the long gone by
DAYS when she was seventeen-and
Zaidee Wilde went TO the ball.
Oh, the lights, the roses, the be-
wildering beauty of the scene. To
accustomed ball-goers, it was the
same tedious story, over and over
again, the same Blue Danube" and
Thousand and One Nights" the
same tuneless clarionets and squeak
ing violins, the same sickly gas
lights, the same decorative plants
from the nearest florists, the same
artificial smiles and worn faces be-
decKed anew in rouge and veloute
and pearl powders But to Zaidee
it was like the Arabian Knights, ="
suddenly galvanized into life, a
cream of beauty and enchantment.
OF course she knew nobody there
but the Battersbys, her grandmother
had kept her shut up deal too close
for that-but partners came eagerly
to beg for introductions, and old Col.
Battersby found himself a more pop
ular character than he had been for
years, in virtue of the pretty young
debutante, who came in the train OF
his old maid daughters.
"By Jove,' said the old colonel.
Il didn't know that Zaidee was so
pretty, before" I"
Nor had Zaidee known it herself.
She could scarcely recognize her own
face as they passed in front of full
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