Wichita eagle., 1888-05-11
of which he read afterward in a letter
from friend who attended 1t, and who

of which he read afterward IN a letter
from friend who attended 1t, and who
wrote as follows:
'sThis is a great place for dances: we
have one a week on the average. The
hall is usually not very elegant, com
pared with the frescoed salons OF your
ancient metropolis; it will be perhaps
twenty by forty feet on the floor. and or
course not lathed or plastered.a Very
possibly. toe. the building Will be deh-
Gent III bfaee5. and will rock and creak
To the measured but vigorous bounce and
ewing of dancers vino are consclentlollsiy
doing their level best. There are 10 COP
webs pendent from the rafters-the
building is too new for even the most
enterprising spider to have begun web
in yet-nor do | Ike the
color of new cottonwood hln-
Der as well as that of the weaIherbeaten
old barn; but In new country IKE TINS
one cannot expect to have all that is DE-
sirable. On the prairie one must not
look for the picturesque, or at least Ii one
does one will be badly sold.
There are but few young Iadies mere,
and most of them seem TO be engaged as
waters at this and other hotels. Fancy
scion OF the knickerbockerS answering
'beefsteak rare (which Is a joke, for the
buffalo meat here is never cooked other
wise than like dry chip TO the same
young lady with whom he waltZes IN the
evening! Il is not the same, however,
as the same thing would be at the east.
These girls are not BiddieS: they are the
daughters OF our settlers and citizens.
Women are scarce in this country and
it is very kind of them to look after the
creature comforts of an occasional bach
elor. as well as to dance with him. The
landlord pays them for it, l suppose, but
one needn't be always thinking OF that,
you know.
Sat the last ball the ladies' toilets were
various, and in general effect quite Won
derful, though l am too ignorant to give
any details. My impression Is that
striped calico and pink and white mus
lin were the staple materials, and that
the makeup tfould have been called, by
the fair dwellers upon the Hudson, 'hor-
ridly countrified.' No matter tor that;
there were pretty faces, and some forms
which no dress could makesseenl I'M
graceful, and J think their beaux were
not critical as to costumes.
GAS ~ the gentlemen, the variety and
originality OF dress We're far more strik-
ing. There was Cprley Marshall III
white ruff1ed shirt mo coat or vest, and,
1 bslisve, no collar, buckskin panta-
looms with an ornamental stripe down
the leg. low slippers and fine open-work
stockings. He carried two revoiyers at
his belt. There was Major Fitzgerald,
formerly of a Texas Confederate regi-
ment. Fifty wore pink-plald
HI, 81 a1ot oto1
with white muslin; paper collar
and crimson silk pecktis: no vest; black
velveteen sackcoat; and black corduroy
pantaloons inside his boots, which were
E-iehtly vanished and ornamented with
mlaid bars ana stars of yellow leather,
and huge pair of Mexican spurs with
bells. A most gorgeous Outfit! In the
same set with Fifty stood 8 bull
whacker Just in off the cathedral,
clothed in preternaturally dirty flannel
shirt, which was open showing his
manly chest as far down as the waist
band of his equally dirty butternut
pantaloons, and rusty C0whideS, which
exhibited his toes, and from which arose
! clouds of all the dust between the Red
and Big Arkansas whenever he executed
pas suel. There were. besides. several
prominent lawyers, editors, doctors and
real estate agents and city officials of
Wichita. Perhaps the probable number
of these will not seem SO large when you
! know that editor means also city clerk,
postmaster, United States commissioner,
| and lawyer, and that all the other
| lawyers are real estate agents and
CITY officers, These gentlemen APP
peared in conventional billed shirts with
studs, and gold watch chains, and black
! broadclOth. The rest of the company
rou may costume according to your own
fancy.
"And now that have given you such
Infinite account of how they all dress
ed. Won WANT Ire TO. tell you how they
danced? Icap't. just imagine it,!
But those days were not Wichita S
uslriest. Indeed, it was at that time an
open question whether or not there
No41td be anS Wichita beyond a mere
struggling haplet. The gfes5 rush had
been during the previous summer Tire
preliminary surveys OF the Atchison, To-
peka & Santa Fe railroad had indicated
this place-the point where the Texas
cattle troll to Abilene crossed the Big
Arkansas. and where there was supply
store fot The arovers-as its temporary
| terminus. OF scatrse. within few
months every claim was taken, up for
miles around. Munger and Dutch
Bill had staked off their adjoining
"eighties" into town lots, the latter gen
tlenan donning a blaclSfoat and becom-
| ing known thereafter rs Mr. Grlffep-
stein, ard Wichita boasted Of eight hun
bred inhabitents, with more coming.
Other towns have done better than that,
but it must be remembered that Wichita
was not vet terminus-it was only go
ing to be one, and the railroad was st
standstill at Emporia. whence lumber
and groceries had TO be brought IN
wagons. seven days Journey. And
Wichita was destined never TO Be o
terminus, for the railroad company, see
ing that all the land had been taken
there in advance OF their location, wisely
determined to run where their grant of
alternate sections could be appropriated
without deductions. They swerved
north. and started Florence. Peabody,
Newton, and other towns of their own,
much more to their profit and satisfaction
than any speculation they coIfid have
secured in Wichita. So the place was
at this time az dead az glass of soda
would be the dav after drawing 1t. II
had the surrounding country to depend
on, to be sure, and that was enough to
ensure it a reasonably good future for
the whole country was well occupied
with class of settlers who had come
there, not to speculate. but to stay and
work. But this was very common
place, humdrum kind Of prosperity, and
far from satisfying those who had ex-
pected big prize in the lottery. They