The herald., 1895-01-01
THE BOWLDER BALL.

great and furnishing town of Bowlder,
A. T., awoke to find posted up on the
bulletin board in front of the postoffice
q red and white and blue handful an
nouncing that on April 8 the grand
annual ball rendered by the young men
of the "city'' to the young ladies of the
city would be held.
The handful was artistically master
full. No less than six different sizes of
type had been used, and red ink, blue
ink and purple ink had not been spared.
The handful was at least six feet long
AT the bottom was magnificent pic
ture of Sloan's hall, in which the ball
was to be held AT the top waved the
stars and stripes, and in each Of the four
corners stood out proudly the coat of
arms of the great territory of Arizona.
1t had been mooted about for a week
that the announcement was to be made
in the near future, but the young men
who comprised the committee in charge
Of the arrangements had kept their &C
tions q profound secret, and when the
question was preached to them they had
denied that any definite date had been
agreed upon. The town had therefore
been in furore of excitement for over
a week, and nothing else had been talk
ed of, neither at the stationery and
bookstore, at the postoffice, at the hall
where the G.. A. r. men met every
night, nor in the drawing rooms after
supper. The young men in charge of
the arrangements it was known met
nearly every night at the Office of the
editor in chief of The Weekly Bulletin,
but as to what they did or said it was
impossible, as The Bulletin announced,
''to ascertain.
But now the announcement was
made, and the interest and excitement
were simply unbearable. Old man Shoe
meyer, the village music teacher, had
been the first to discover it, for the no.
tice had been posted during the night to
further enhance the mystery which
should duly surround the actions of the
young men in charge of the arrange
ments. The old man noticed something
unusual about the bulletin board from
that morning about o'clock.
"An inspiration came to me-" he
said in relating the particulars Of his
discovery later in the day to group of
admiring fellow citizens, ''that it was
the announcement of the ball. It's the
announcement, says l to myself. So
slipping on my shoes l ran out without
my hat and there, sure enough, it was
just as you see it there. My heart went
thumpety- thump when 1 saw it, and
ran home with all my might to tell the
girls. At first they did not believe me,
but called out to them to look out of
the window for themselves. And there
they saw it just as had seen it. Yes,
sir, | was the first to discover the hand
BILL
And the old man swelled with his own
Importance and acknowledged with dig
nifty the deferential salute of the mayor
of the town, who had just come up to
congratulate him.
There was very little business done
that day in Bowlder. The flag was rails
ed on the Town hall, and court adjourn
ed Immediately after meeting. Every
where little groups Of young and old
men stood around talking about the mo-
mentous occasion. In the evening the
militia band turned out and serenaded
the young men who had charge of the
arrangements, and the young men Game
out and got on barrel, one after the
other and made short and enthusiastic
speeches, which were greeted with rap
turous applause.
And the next morning, to cap the eli
max, telegram came, addressed to the
people of Bowlder, which read:
TUCSON, A. T., Jan. e.-Congratulations
will be with you. JIM TRUsLow.
Jim Truslo~, or the Hon James Tim
othy Truslow, was the representative of
the great and furnishing town of Bowl
der in the state senate.
The telegram reached the city about
10 O'Clock. Lewis, the telegraph opera
tor, was suddenly seen to rush out of
the Western Union telegraph Office. He
was waving his hands wildly in the air
and hurrahing at the top of his voice.
He ran straight for the bulletin board.
A great crowd followed him. And when
the telegram had been read aloud
laundering cheer went up that could
have been heard in the senate chamber
at Tucson, $50 miles away
Itwas many days before the town got
back to business again, and then, the
first excitement passed. the great ques-
ton arose, "What shall | wear"
Of course the men were not interested
much in this question. There was but
one costume admissible to Them
Every man in town had white satin
necktie and cutaway coat and his
funeral pants," as the black broad
cloth garments were called. The young
men who had charge of the arrange
ments, it was whispered, had sent to
Phenix for patent leather shoes for the
occasion, and the mayor, it was posi-
lively declared for fact, had sent to
Denver for white waistooat.
But the question of dress worried the
women. Old trunks were opened, old
bits of lace and embroidery cut and
tackled on, and in every yard on the
first Monday after the announcement
had been made was to be seen futterinO
IL LID sIuleL breeZes under the abnormal
y hot sun dress of some white fluffy
sort OF other-that is, in all but two
yards.