Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-02-17
: IIrcnch Hall.

tier box at the Madison Square Garden
somewhere about cockcrow Tuesday
morning-and there was o rumor to
that ehcct-his wonted smirk must
have had q lively color of satisfaction.
For the gentleman aforesaid would
have been looking down upon a fll-dc-
steele ball. genuine devils dance of a
wildness and abandon that bordcred
upon delrium. His Majesty would
have seen that society--sometimes
called Il. III. society. because it never
awakens until midnight-whereot he is
the Ward-McAllister, in the full swing
of its one grand annual reyel, the
French ball.
MY faithful servants, the New York
fast society, are doing me proud" he
must have said. Now, in Paris they
invented that little phrase Ga-de-sicclc
largely 10 express the spread of my
kingdom in that delightful city but,
after all, it takes the Anglo-Saxons to
do devils dance once they shake OFF
that stiffness and formality of theirs"
And ii is not surprising that his Ma
jcsty was full OF chuckles and leers and
grins as he pecpcd over the railing of
his box. For below him, upon the pol
ished floor of the garden-that
vast. smooth cypanse, which is the
fuess floor for dancing in the
world-was moving throng of
men and women, intoxicated with
wine, with the reeling atmosphere
of the ball room, with the eontagion of
abandoned gayety. The air was thick
with the smoke of tobacco, heavy with
the perfumes of scents and flowers and
cigarettes and wine. 1t threw over the
whole scene a mist through which the
dancers moved, borne upon the great
pillows of rythym from the orchestra,
now The wailing of stringed instru-
ments. now the roar of the drums and
brasses.
In the boxes sat the "dowagers,
with their charges and their colored
maids. Upon the faces Of the 'dowag-
ers" sat cunning and deceit and wicked
ness. Some of the charges" were
little behind them in those respects,
and not whit behind in the matter of
rouge. Others were fairly young
they might be called the ;debutantes, :"
and they were making their bow and
entering the arena for the prizes Of that
''other side society.
These charges were not got up in the
manner that would best aid the pur-
poses for which they had come. Some
wore fancy costumes, tights, split
skirts and such devices for displaying
form and face to the most allrring ad-
vantage. Others wore evening gowns
made in the prevailing style, with sun
dry eXaggerations. There were dress
waists, cut away in the back and low in
front and scant over the shoulders.
There were dress skirts cut tight to the
figure and worn with only tights under
meath.
OF the men it is not necessary to say
much. They far outnumbered the wo-
men. Such of them as could took part
ners. The majority stood banked
against the boxes in solid ranks OF
black and white, or roamed the ball
room on predatory excursions after
other mems partners or in search OF
some novelty of high kicking or other
departure from the conventional idea
of the proper way for woman to car
rv herself in public. They smoked,
they drank, they shouted, they kissed,
they embraced, they tossed women in
the air or bore them about upon their
shoulders. They spent money and had
sore heads the next day.
Now no one expected when the ball
began that it would rise to the frantic
whirl which delighted the gentlemen
in red at 3 o'clock in the morning. AT
midnight there were very few signs of
any hilarity, and those who had come
early SO that they might not miss sin
gle thing, fell to cracking their jaws
with yawning, cursed Parkhurst and
Byrnes, complained of the ugly legs
and the venerable faces. known TO all
attcnders of French balls these ten
years. Indeed ut midnight there was
but one comely woman in the room,
one out of the several hundred. Many
of these several hundred looked we'll
at q distance. frisking about and get
ting their bodies into trim for the kick
ing and whirling. But close view
was usually disappointing, and at times
horrifying, as, for instance, in the case
of that undersized woman who got her
self up with plaits down her back, and
looked at twenty yards as if the Socie-
ty for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children ought to be up and after her,
but at ten feet rs if she might be the
last surviving eyewitness of Wash
ington's triumphai tour.
But it is pleasanter TO dwell upon the
one good-looking woman, so tall, so
stately, with black hair, and dark.
clear skin, and calm, shining eyes. She
was clad in white gown-a graceful
gown, with the waist cut so low that
her round white shoulders and back
showed smooth and firm. She looked
very dignified, and no one would have
suspected that she could kick as she
afterwards did.
She went with her escort into the
wine room and drank part of almost
the first bottle served. As she sat the
wine room filled, and from the ball
room came the crash of music and the
sounds of crowds arriving and stirring
themselves to the point of enjoyment
As her eyes were growing brighter and
her smile was taking on warmth and