The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-01-31

One prize Is given to the best and
most graceful dancer, and another
or the one that can dance the longest
without rest As soon as all who
thought themselves equal to the honor
/ had taken their positions, the band
played and away they went to win
the prize for the most graceful dane
ing. How they did dance. and the
grace they had-all the grace that
could possibly be put into the gavotte
was utilized. Some ideas of grace
were quite interesting, too, remind
ing one of cake walk, but some did
really well, considering that the aver
age girl weighs about $50 to 200
pounds and wears sabots of solid
wood. But the men sailed aroun d
with their long, lanky legs, the nice
little ribbons streaming in the breeze.
The judges looked wisely on from
their stand and took notes. At the
finish of the dance all crowded round
the judges and received the decision.
Then came the dance of end urance.
This time all gracefulness etc, was
forgotten and the easiest way was
the vogue. Round and round they
went, the dust rising to the tramp
ing and yelling and clapping, and
still they went. Half an hour passed,
then one by one they began to drop
out and at the end of an hour not
over four were still at it, and they
looked mighty weary. Then more
dropped out until two were left, and
how they went at it and how the
crowd did yell and urge them on!
Finally only one was left. He took
the prize after an hour and a
half of hard dancing, while the must
clans nearly dropped dead from loss
of breath.
Then came climbing CREASED poles
and duck chasing in the bay, in which
all the future Concarneau fishermen
joined.
That ended the fun till evening,
when more dancing was to take place
in the big stone market. We had all
learned the dance by this time, and
resolved to show the Bretons what
Americans could do. So, after supper
we all strolled down to the Halles,
from which issued a deafening roar of
voices and humping of wooden
sabots on the stone floor, mingled
with the delicious strains of the bag
pipes. The big market was all ablaze
with gas lights and filed to suffocat-
ing with girls and young men going
round the old hall to the time of the
pipes.
We Immediately solicited partners,
but none of the girls would go with
US for some reason; so we all got to-
gether and had dance of our own.
stare and laugh at our attempts, but
we did not mind that and kept right
on, introducing a few American steps,
and then the people looked serious
and said: tires bieni'' sEncore!''
and we did give it to them. We soon
had three Brittany maidens at the
end of our string and the girls began
to desert the sailors for us. So finally
we each got big string of maidens
of our own and led them through the
mazes of the Brittany gavotte, to the
envy of all the other girls, and then
peasants and sailors began to hook on
behind until we each had a row of a
dozen or more and owned the place.
It was the most laugha BILE thing I
ever saw-a lot of American students
leading the native dance away off in
Brittany! Many of the men got angry
at us for taking their partners, and
Kissed as we passed. "Gal1e Ang-
laise!'' (they always call us English),
and "couchonr' But we owned the
place and didn't care. The girls pre-
ferred US, as we were much cleaner
and better dressed than their sailor
friends. 1t was rather hot work
for US to tow a load of Breton
| girls after US round the hall
and dance for an hour at a
| time, and I had on big pair of sabots
full of big nails.
There were several American girls
! there, too. and they had much sport
with some of the native girls doing
! the gavotte. Nine. Sarah Bernhardt
was there, leaning against one of the
| stone pillars with her son, and seemed
! quite amused at the gayety. She
came over especially from Big Mel to
! see the fete, and it's wonder she
| didn't take part herself, for she is
! just the kind for such fun. At mid
night all the lights went suddenly
out, ending the evening and leaving
| all in total darkness, and much Bre ton
squeezing, etc, was done.
Since that night we have been the
acknowledged leaders of the cotillion
at Concarneau, and the sardine girls
point US out with great pride to their
friends. The whole town knows us
now.
NHagara's Slow Recession.
Conjectures as to the age of Mag