Connecticut western news., 1893-06-01

| | taken from the reporters account of the event witnessed in person:
 The real character of tae J.rIne acita ball at | Madison Square Garden did not develop itself | until after the procession had ended and the | newspapers gone to press. Then fun began, | with all the abandon born of easy morals and | flowing wine
 | the men took their wives home and returned | to see the sport The boxes they had previous | ly occupied with decorum now became the ren- | dezvous for the liveliest women in town. Masks were thrown aside regardless of con- | sequences-the women were only too glad to | be recognized, and the men were reckless of | their reputation. Nearly every important so- | cial club had headquarters, the Union, New | York, Knickerbocker, Calumet, St. Nicholas | and Manhattan men holding levees in one | more boxes.
 Picture, if you can, half dozen leaders of | the german, poseurs of grace and dignity at l the windows of the Fifth avenue clubs, joining | hands in a circle, Jumping up and down like wild Sioux in ghost dance, shouting at the | top of their voices ana perspiring like bod car rers, the center of their saltatorial efforts be- | ing bright eyed blond, kicking first the eye | glasses from a near sighted fellows face and | then toeing hole in the crown of 8 tall silk l hat upheld higher than her head.
 | It was devils carnival.
 1 Round and round the great amphitheater ! swirled the throng in the most energetic and |
 There is & dance much affected by society | called the Work, 1" in which a couple lock arms and move forward though promenading, al- | though at intervals there is a skipping step or | two and then @ waltz.
 The Work" was very popular at the Carmen | cta ball. But the couples did not lock arms. | The lady placed her bare white arm around | the neck of her partner; he with one arm en- | circled her waist. With the disengaged hand the siren upheld her skirts. Instead of walk | ing forward sedately they rushed at running | speed, both kicking their heels in the air, | knocking down any one encountered, and then, | when united for the waltz, her feet making | circles in the air within radius not confined | to less than yard above tile floor. | The formality of an introduction was reli- | giously observed, however, in the boxes. "Mr. Smith, allow me to present you to Mrs. | Brown"
 | the Smiths and Browns all ordered champagne | at S5 a bottle and drank it, usually breaking | the glasses by way of disregard for the cost. The bottle was passed around without glasses | once in awhile, having been first sweetened by | amber tinted lips that Lad just held ciga- rette, whose ashes would nestle somewhere | above the corsage of the damsel who had | smoked it. Jewels of rare value glistened on | the necks and arms of those gay but naughty | fairies. The dresses were from Worth street perhaps, but made of the costiest materials | and in the most becoming style and perfect fit. | Silk hosiery and satin slippers, some edged | with gold lace, in colors to match the dress, were the invariable rule.
 | And again, says another reporter:
 He saw. too, a gray haired, gray mustached | citizen, whom everybody knows about the | Stock Exchange, seated in a dimly lighted box, | which the curtains protected with friendly | shadow, between two women from side street, | as well known as his own name, with an arm | about the neck of one girl and another about | the neck of 8 bottle of that sparkling cider" | There, hours before, he had sat erect, blase, | eminently proper, in the same box, with a | naughty, brown haired, fur enwrapped woman | beside him. She had after few moments | thrown her furs aside, for the heat was in- | tense. Half disdaiEfully, with the slightest | suspicion of an amused smile wreathing her | lips, she had watched Carmencitas entry with | her Spanish camp followers; watched Carmen | cita sway and bend in the dance she went | through on the dais in the center of the Gar | den; watched the proem to the juice-of-the | grape-enlivened carnival that YVES just being born. She was his wife, and about midnight she had gone away. Did she wish him to go | away with her? Didn't she care?
 | That such people who lead such lives should arrogate to themselves the title of society is a piece of cheek whose sub | limity must elicit at least admiration from the average American. I have de- scribed this circle of society not because l hope for the salvation of its members. | There are not many of them, according 10 their historian, Mir. McAllister, and
 they are not of the class of people easily
 cached with any moral influences, and
 they are they woll'l be of little ac- | count when won. It is not for their sake, for they are scarcely worth the ex- ertion, that I would speak, but it is for the sake of the masses who burn incense to vanity. It is for the. sake of the peo- pie who are deceived that would speak. This coterie constitutes 8 mob. Hagel defines the mob as any number of people who have withdrawn themselves from the body of society and seek their own
 ends and aims.
 MT. McAllister gives most accurate
 description of this sort of a mob in it's exclusiveness. From the bottom of my heart pity the man or the woman who
 tries to get into that circle of people.
 And yet, says the historian: "Now, do not for a moment imagine that all were
 indiscriminately asked to these little
 fetes. Referring to 8 Newport picnic.
 On the contrary, if you were not of the
 inner circle and were a newcomer, it
 took the combined efforts of all your
 friends backing and pushing to procure
 an invitation for you. For years whole
 families sat on the stool of probation,
 awaiting trial and acceptance, and many
 were then rejected, but once received
 you were put on an intimate footing with
 all"
 So speaks the high priest of the inner
 secrets of the inner sanctuary. It re-
 minds us of the occultism of the Hindoo
 It brings us face to face with the con-
 ception of society which the Hindoo only
 knows in its perfection, the nation of
 caste.
 The Indian papers report that in the
 neighborhood of Fyzabad man of the
 Ahir or cowherd caste was carrying a
 young calf home on his shoulders when
 by some accident it slipped down and
 broke it's neck. The Brahmins Gin other
 words, the McAllisters) declared him to
 be outcast and sentenced him to the se-
 verest form of Hindoo excommunica-
 ton for six months. They further told
 him that he could not have committed a
 greater sin than causing the death of 8
 COW, but taking into consideration that
 he was an uneducated man they had
 dealt very leniently with him. During
 the period of accommodation he was
 ordered to lead a life of mendicancy, and
 with rope round his neck and DOT
 tion of the calf's tail on his shoulders he
 was to perform pilgrimages to different
 Hindoo shrines.
 The members of his family were for.
 bidden to supply him with either shelter
 or food under penalty of undergoing g
 similar excommunication. The Ahir re
 gently returned to his village, but until
 the purifcation ceremonies are over he
 must live in 8 temporary grass thatched
 house which has been erected for his res
 idence. It remains for man of one oi
 the lowest and most degraded caste te
 purify him. A barber, after shaving the
 delinquent and pairing the nails of his
 hands and toes, will make over the hail
 and nails to the low caste attendant, who H. T.