The Republican., 1892-04-22
THE SLEEPY PARTNER.
One OF the nsufserable Rores OF Boston
Dancing Party.

One OF the tnsuGcrable RoreS OF q Boston
Dancing Party.
Probably no situation has appeared
more often in fiction and ON the stage
than the counting of an heiress. In
fiction and on the stage it goes almost
without saying that an heiress has an
advantage over other women in win
ming the admiration of men. But it is
not so at a Boston party. At Boston
party wealth and social position fade
before the danger of being obliged to
talk to young woman for more than
fifteen minutes at time. Society and
fortune are not to be weighed in the
same balance with such an ordeal.
Many funny stories are told of how
young men have conspired to relieve"
one another from too long conversa-
ton. And what an attitude of gallantry
is suggested by this word relief" A
young man is rescued by voluntee,s. as
if he were a Shipwrccked mariner in
distress, or is left to his fate without
relief" And if by chance he has been
presented to stranger to our city, he
might as well give up all hope of subse-
quent liberty.
AT every party there is varying per
centage of young men who wonder,
when they seek a partner for a dance,
whether they are making a mistake,
and lose all sense of expected friendli-
ness in the wearing uncertainty. Often
uncertainty develops into probability,
and probability develops into certainty.
that their liberty is gone. If man is
a good partner he will feign undying
chcerfulness in his hard lot; he will
dance repeatedly with his partner and
stop with her like fresh conner in some
new corner of the room.
His very kindness will deceive tho
reserve supply of young men standing
in the doorway. But your bad partner
will succumb to his fate. His last gasp
viii be, Don't you like to sit and watch
watch, with eyes slowly closing and
head little on ono sidc---the cmbodi-
ment of unobtrusive patience.
And his partner, left between the
Scylla and Charybdis of accepting his
sacrifice and sitting alonc--what is her
frame of mind? Usually she chooses
Scylla. 1t is better to have partner,
even if his eyes are half closed and his
head is on one side, and he has long
ago ceased to speak. than to be quite
alone in the gay world. She knows that
the drowsy man win never dare to
speak to her again.
She has ruined his evening and. per-
haps, She has lost friend. She hopes
that She has lost all ambition for self
employmcnt that he is thinking of his
business; $; that he is no longer unhappy,
but is almost as comfortable as if he
were at home and abed. Her other
friends stroll or dance by her. Some Of
them have been in the habit of calling
her by her Christian name: many have
visited at her house; all have been en-
tertained there. She would like to fcign
chccrfulness, hut she fears TO address
her partner, foreseeing the awful Sleep
Illness which his eyes would disclose
sh0uld he raise the lids She thinks Of
asking him TO get her glass of water,
in the expectation that he win disap-
pear with the glass. But She feels that
he is the soul of honor. and that he will
sit with her in his comatose condition 10
the last tramp.
Under such circumstances your heroic
young woman will go TO the dressing
room and sit down there in her bcauti-
full dress, which she has unpacl1ed from
the drcssmakcr's box with thrill of
expectation. She is pretty; she can
dance well: she is amiablc; she is rich;
her family is of the best. She can play
the piano indiffcrently we'll: She knows
something of three languages; She has
made beginning in philosophy and po-
litical economy, and physics and chem
istry and philology.
A great deal has been done for her
socially, and she is bitter al heart when
her friends come painting into the room
to have their torn dresses repaired. That
awful, sleepy partner and the Needless
gayety of the others is all the society
that She knows.
The troublc is that popularity and
neglect arc intensified at our Boston
parties by their peculiar conditions. In
Europe every girl has her chapcronc 10
whom She goes after her dance, and it is
not burning disgrace TO be seen with
her mother. And any man may dare Ia
speak TO her. knowing that he may
have her after the dance which he asks
for. Here. too, in years gone by, when
the german was more in vogue, there
was not the same difficulty for every
lady then had both scat and partner
She could cali her own, and every man,
being bound 10 his own partner, was
! free To have other women when he
chose
But now a girl who is stuck" is in a
most miserable plight She must beg
for pity somewhere. If only for seat
by some older lady And TO many a
young woman the prospect Of party is
a matter Of great nervousness and anx-
icty, and many "A man finds his better
nature warped by selfish motives Of a
petty but most exasperating kind. -
Boston Transcript.
| Temperance Promoter.