The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-05-23
THE BAD BOY.
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A.
 Vel suppose you sook in the miii. tazy bah st the ext0sifioa building las, night" said the groceryman to the bad boy as he came ia Yawning, with wiIeed
 button-hoae bouquet in his lappel, and some insect powder on ehe collar of his coat.
 sYes,. said the boy, as be got on the
 counter and cnTied up beside the cheese
 box, with his head on pile of wrapping paper, to go to sleep. "We take in al
 the big sociefy affairs, my girl and do.
 ] tell you that ball vas the biggest thing ever held in this cnunsry. Five thousand
 people dancing at once. Think of that, old man- am proud to have come ont
 in socie9y under such favorable auspices" {"
 and the boy looked like a veteran in everything except size.
 70, give us a rest about auspices, you young dude. It would have been more to your credit b have kept an eye on your
 father, and not let him make . spectacle of himself as understand he did. Way didn't you stay by him and steer him through P And the erooefyman pulled the wrapping paper from ont under the
 boys head, and let his head strike the counter with dull thud.
 70. pa makes me tired, 1" said the boy. as he rubbed his head. @You see. pa is one of them oid-aime dancers, a hooper up.' He used to go to dances and dance every sef, and jump up and down till his head struck the chandeliers, and he wozld grab his partner and swing her till her heels would crack together, and he would hop and skip, and jump up and twist his legs around each other, and perspire and mop his forehead with a handkerchief. and when he would alamand left he would jerk a girls arm out of joint and when he would sashay he would be liable to break ribs, step oa dresses, throw his partner down and walk ovex hex. That used to be the style when pa was young. but 1t is different nov. People dance easier, and don't plank their boets down on the floor like pile driver, and dance break-downs. It used 10 be the style for a man to engage partners for every dance early in the evening. That might work in small hall where you can see all the ladies at giance, but in building that covers . whole block, with SO many peo- pie, and 90 many places to get lost, it can't be done. But pa got his programme full the lrst inning, and alter he danced with ma the 6rst time, he began to hump himself to 6nd his second partner. Wei, you'd dide ts sec pa gailoping up and down stairs looking for his partner. He got wild because he vas afraid he could not tind her before the music struck up. He looked at his programme and asked me If had seen woman with a sort of a brindle dress on, cat low in the instep in front, and told him saw such a lady go up in the gallery towards the big or- gan, and pa run over a couple of soldiefs with girls, and after running about a block, he found the brindle dress, but it was cut high Tn the neck, and wasn't the one he had engaged, and when he came back the dance vas going on and he was left. He saw lady in one of the sets with brindle dress on, and he got near her and looked offended; and he giared at hsx tin one of the guards ordered him to get ont of the way. By the time the dance vas over he began to think of ind ing his partner for the next, and as he started ont looking for the white dress he remembered she wore, he run against the brindle dress lady, and she was angry because he had engaged her and then left her sitting alone during the dance. Pa zied to explain that he walked more than mile to find her, and they con- promised by agreeing to dance the next time. That lett ont the lady in white saas hs ~ss engaged to, and thought i would make 1t pleasant for pa, so told him the husband ef the lady h white, who was soldier, was looking for him, tor insulting his wife, by engaging her to dance and then going back on her, and that he wanted gore. Pa was scared, and he went away off to the opposite corner of the exposition building to form on for the dance, away from the sanguinary soldier, when, just as the music was about to strike up, soldier came and claimed the lady in the brindle dress, and took her away from pa. Then it was too late to go and find the lady in white, and pa got rattled. He didn't dare show up and face any of those he had gone back on, SO he scratched out the hrst three on the programme and con- ciuded to commence on the fourth, and he got fireman and policeman to help him ind her. They found that she had gone b supper, and pa couldn't gef in, 90 he waited by the door till she came out. and by that time the dance was over, and he went looking for number five, and after 6nding the man who danced with her last, he learned that she had gone home. Well. pa was hot. He came to me sAd wanted to dance with my girl a lev times, but told him she was suffer ing from spring hait, and he went of to the smoking room, where I found him about a- m., behind a screen telling some of the fellows what nice time be had O, l guess pa enjoyed himself, though he didn't have a chance to squeeze anybody's hands till the bones cf the fingers would crack, as he ased to do. He said he walked about eighteen miles hunting for partners, and never en- joyed himself 90 weIl before, but he looks scared when he meets any eenfIenau friend of the doxe0 ln<5ses ke k.H = hs.