Telegram-herald., 1889-06-30

How People Of All Grades tIdoy an De
easional Harmless Street Dance.


lSpesial Correspondesoel
LONDON. June l0.-Tbe strangest sight
that have come across in London Is one
that l don't think cosld be duplicated
anywhere In the world, and YOU Will see
it every fair evening III nearly all parts
Of London. from Rag Fair 10 Regents
park, and in fact III almost every street
About sundown. as the stores aud bust
ness houses begin IL close, the hand or
gans are out in full force, and no police
man mIstles them along or otherwise i'll
treats them. and they stand along 10y
the smoothest stretch Of pavement they
can find and begin 10 play. They all play
one tune. 1t is a sort of Jig tune or
country dance and quite catching.
Hardly will the man start the crank
when YOU will see the nearest four per
sons stop and begin 10 dance a rather
pretty and quite complicated step, and
then they viii take hold of hands by
twos, advance, retreat, cross over and
balance, al in perfect time and with
evident enjoyment.
Ninety nine times out of a hundred
to each other, and they are for the most
part respectable people, clerks, shop
girls, milliners, etc. and often i have
seen women dance with little babies in
their arms. Sometimes there viii be
three or four "scts" dancing together,
but more often only one. Few stop TO
look, as the sight is SO common.
.g L
CUSTOM and that it was quite proper, fox
1T excited no comment. and as soon
as the four had danced out their fig
ure they went their way with scant
ceremony in the way of leave taking. Ii
was but bit of harmless amusement,
and no one thought it in any way wrong,
neither dancers nor spectators. and no one
presumed upon the fact of dancing as a
vis-a-vis to try to force further ac-
quaintance.
Sometimes the dancers would be all
girls; often quite elderly persons, both
men and women, and they would each
and all fall into set at once without the
slightest ceremony and dance with vim
and gllsto that only equaled their grace,
for the dance is very pretty and graceful.
One evening, just before dark, | bad
been short distance 10 post some let
ters, and on my way back came To where
a man was playing the familiar tune,
and there were three girls all impatiently
tapping their feet. l saw that they ex-
pected me to join, and hurried by. look
ing about for acquaintances; and seeing
none, l joined them, but the step was
beyond my power, and | had to give
it up.
know Lady H MARY Duffin-Har-
dy). who is well known in America. and
she and her pretty daughter danced four
or five figures, rs they called them, with
a couple Of shop girls right in oxford
street one evening. after which they en-
tered their carriage and drove away.
Another time ! saw "A Jolly faced old
Englishman, real type Of the English
gentleman rs we read Of him. take his
place and dance with pleasure within a
stones throw of the British museum.
Afterward | saw him in Westminster.
where he was pointed out to me as a
prominent member of parliament Mac
Donald Cameronl ! should not he a bit
astonished to know that his royal high
uess and perhaps her royal highness
ioiaed in one Of these innocent sidewalk
dances. and. in fact, feel sure that his
royal highness has. Bat imagine, viii
you, a Fifth avenue girl dancing on the
sidewalk with the first person she meets
I to the music OF a hand oTgan' The skies
might fall, but that would never happen,
and yet it IS a harmless amusement and
a little pleasure in ugly London.
NARY Brennan