, 1885-04-17
THE BALL.
How a Woman Viewed Il in tile Re
porter's Room and from the Gallery.

How a Woman Viewed II in the Re-
porter's Room and from the Gallery.
Washington Letter To San francisco Alta.
How few in that giddy ball room
thought of the toilers in the little room
just off the presidents who we're sending
over the wires TO your far off western
city, under the great ocean, on the throb-
bling cable to our disappointed English
sister, pen pictures of this mighty assem-
blage. l found them lunching in true
Bohemian style. The champage flowed
like water over n pine table, void of cloth,
but covered with all the good things that
graced the president table. | drank my
champagne out of n glass that many peo-
pie had evidently used before me, and
drank a toast to somebody somewhere,
with a boyish face looking into mine, of
whom or which | knew nothing. No
time for formality there; if you want to
study the character feminine, go into n
dressing room at a time like this, and,
quietly sitting down in a corner, observe
the dear creatures while their escorts wait
for them on the outside. Here is one by
me now resplendent in red satin and
point lace. She is old, red haired, ugly,
freckled, lean, lank and bony. Her feet
are simply immense, and she has agra
waited the fact by putting on white
slippers. If the old saying IS
true, "the nearer the bone the
sweeter the meat" she may console
herself. So does the law of compensation
work for the good of them that love ad-
miration. Here comes a big fat woman
in an old white satin that | am positive
has done service at all the balls since the
year l.. Here is another, poor girl, in an
old pale-blue silk, which 4 San Francisco
girl would not think she could wear to an
afternoon tea. take pity on her and pin
down her basque, or in the classical Ian
guage of the day | pull down her vest"
for evidently the waitress will not do ii.
and | cannot let her disgrace Grover by
appearing in that condition on his ball
room floor, | could tell you plenty of
such incidents. which shows you may go
to an Inauguration ball if you do not
possess a 81 900 dress. There was beauty
and magniicence in toilers there, of
which you have all read, 50 l like to
show you the other side of the picture
As | stood in the gallery looking down on
the luminous scene, the air perfumed
with the breath of n thousand flowers, on
on the highly polished floor rejecting
the thousand lights above it; on the
sheen of satin, the simmer Of
pearls, the scintillation of diamonds,
and the CLEAN of soft, white arms
and snowy shoulders, | had to pinch my
self to be certain that had not been sud
denly transported to fairy land. In vain
/ tried to find the Stanford party and our
genial friend, the Hon. Edward Curtis.
Like the old woman's son, who lived in
America, no one knew where they could
be found. Twas ever thus" etc. At
home in California every one knows every
hour in the day where the Stanford party
is and what doing, and here | lose them
in a ball room 100 by 300 feet. How
ever, after all have left the room, I learn
they were at supper with the president
when | was searching for them. In my
next | will tell you of my interview with
him, my impressions, etc. The manage
menr deserves great credit for their pre-
cautions against fire; every twenty feet il
that vast auditorium was a fireman il
citizens dress, and m engine OF eithei
: side of the house. The economical ad
ministration showed itself here even, f,
: there is money over and above all ex
penses to be used for charitable purposes
which is a good outlook for the new Demo
cratic regime.