The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-12-01
THE SOCIAL FLUTTER.
The rlegsu, BaII OF UndIns Hose Co.

y And il was also '.Undine" eve. Fifteen con
L secuuvs years has old Undine Company
under old and new leaders, invited their
friends to partase of their hospitality upon
the wsxed canvass, and each year the event
has been one ofincreasing Importance, until,
within the past few years. it has become not
only the largest public ball of the city sea-
son, but also the most eagerly anticipated OF
oil public balls. Once the Company WAS
embarrassed in finding ways to dispose of
their tickets-now they End like difficulty
in dlsposing of the crowd, OF course a
crowd is the acme of ticket committees
ambition, but the ticket committee Of this
year had very little to do, unless its duty be
confined TO saying "Come one at . time.
Don't crowd us, gentlemen"
In former years, Undine entertained their
guests in halls calculated to chow . small
crowd off to the best advantage. but the Rink
was not large enough to accommodate the
immense concourse Of humanity that fairly
spread the walls Of that great building on
Wednesday evening. Not less than FIVE hun
dred tickets were disposed Of, and - nearly
every other gentleman was accompanied by
two or moro ladies, the hall had been scarce
ly opened, before it WAS filled to overlooking
and at no time was it possible TO acoommo'
date the immense Ihrong, with anything but
| Il % h.
entail of the company were serious in con
sidering a proposition to build al addition
to the rear end of the hall Mr.. Otto Con.
dolf was uproariousy in favor of it. He
rushed into the box office at eight o clock
and nearly frightened the scent of newly
gathered roses, worn by O'Gorman and
Charlie Hahn, into the central part Of
Alaska. Boys" quoth he, in stage wills
per, The hall is now crowded with not less
team four thousand people. There are six
thousand coming down from the north side,
one thousand from the east side, and eight
thousand from the west side! Hadn't we
better put cut the lights and "holler' FIRE?
Dogonit, we can't give dance when the
whole town insists upon seeing ii. What's
the use Of all these people oOming' Why
couldn't some have come last year and some
next year! II We yell are, We can at least
throw some water and Amu,s the throng, but
now -"
There is no telling to what lengths Otto's
impromptu lecture would have bsen extend
ed, had not OGorman, gently leading him
into the cloak room, persuaded him tina.
last years dance WAS within hairs breadth
of being IS large IS this year; that there
we're net more than fifteen hundred people
in the hall, and that next years ball was
liable to be larger than the present occasion
"Are you pretty sure, O'Gorman?"
why. of course am
"All right thcn, but it looks shsky
doesut it?"
Thu. apprised, Otto took his place as lead
e. of the grand. march with considerable
calmness, but his furtive chances toward the
door seemed to argue that his mi nd was not
wholly sstiated. The grand march WAS
elegantly laid out, and would have been the
great feature Of the ball, bad not the crowd
hem med the column in 80 closely, that the
leader wac forced to forego many Of the
most attractive portions and give up the
space to the rapidly accommodating clans.
McAllistsrs four hundred down to Smiths
six Thousand. They came in every conceiv'
able costume, and with every imaginable de-
gree Of confidence Broadcloth mingled with
homespun and satin brushed against the
cheapest worstsd. 1t va. not crowd ball,
but ball Of crowds, and indeed the only
event Of the year. where all grades Of socisty
met, in seeming equality, for one night only.
The concert, by Willis full orchestra be-
ginning at eight O'Clock and continuing half
an hour, opened the evening in very agree
able manner, and quite number Of new
pieces, which had hcec held on the strings
of the viOlins and in the bell shaped mouths |
of the horns in waiting for the event, were
rendered with spirit and dash that could
not fail in gaining favorable comments.
After the grand march, in which about
one hundred and twenty-five couple partici'
pated, quadville, by Burden, was called, |
and the floor was Immediately TAX en- posses
sion of by the immense throng When order
was finally restored, it was found that there
was not room on the floor for more than half
of those who desired to dance although the
space allotted to each four couples caused the
auadrille to seem as hollow mockery with
great deal more mocllery than hollow.
The program, was made up of twenty |
two numbers, incuiing eight quadrilles, five
waltzez, two polkas two schotisches, a quad |
rifle waltz, quadrille>lancers, medley, duch !
ess and gallop, The music was uniformly |
excellent and the calling never better.
In enumeratlng the causes which led to
the magnificent success of Wednesday even~
ing the committee of arrangements, recep'