The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-06
%LIKEPARIS4 WELL, MAYBE.
AN EVENING At A FRENCH BALL
ON ITS UPPER


Were Not-Rayety OF Life on = Reef.
"How do you make Paris In New York"
why should you Y"
But II you wanted to ~
Try the French ball recipe: three parts Ten
derloin, one part German, and one part FRENCH
Spanish, Italian, and rdstdqtonere. Flavor
with champagne, and stir up violently. Servo
In tho Madison Square Garden"
but that's only to DO had once q year. How
do you have Paris in New York every nightT"
"Simply dilute the recipe to the 3ooth part.
barring Sundays. of Its original strength. Then
omit French. Italian. and rdstnQuoueres and
substitute college freshmen or precocious
schoolboys in the last year of their preparation.
Make the rest not all Tenderloln and German,
but season with a pinch of Eighth avenue and
East Fourteenth street. Substitute beer Tor
champagne and make all the walters talk Ger
man. Then you call 1t Paris In New York. You
might call II Tihis in 1ranscaucasia or Peoria
in Illinois. II you cared to. and the description
would At as closely. But II you must have
Paris. why. let 1t 20 at that"
Then, rs Herr Sauermagen finished speaking,
the face of the young man who had been ques-
tioning him grew cloudy with disappointment
Two minutes before his eyes had been bright
with anticipation, put the words of his wiser
friend had made him feel that possibly after all
he was not going to be able to find Paris In New
York, and there was already growing down at
the bottom OF his heart q vague distrust In the
promises made by the bill boards. They had
certainly promised that. Sauermagen had told
him. though, that the thing was not to be made
here easily enough to enable managers to ladle
It out every evening Mt the price OF so cents a
sip. So he was discouraged. Neither the Red
Mill. nor the Barroom of the Ambassadors nor
OF the Clock was to be reproduced for his view.
He was going In 500 Only what SauermaRon
analysed AS u French bali on Its uppers.
But the youth went to the ball. Sauermagen
went with him and with the certainty OF find
ing a compound that his recipe described ex-
actly. he assembled solemnly to the roof.
Sauermagen. twenty years before. had been a
youth as brlGht-eyed with expectation rs the
friend at his side. But all that was gone now.
The natural lightnoss and gaycty Of his spirit
had long ago disappeared. He had been read
Ing Jokes in a comic paper for ten years before
the change in him had really become notice.
able. But old friends who saw him after the
change were shocked. The fresh color had
left his checks and he was saliow,
and with the melancholy expression Of a
lost soul. His face was drawn and the
long lines running from his cheek bones to his
lips gave him n look OF intense pain. Such was
the man whom persons still living
as a gleeful, RlRdsome young fellow. merrily
skipping over the hills about Portchester and
taking his daily swim from the rock-bound
shores Of the Sound with the gayest of the
youthful thronG. That was the Sauermagen OF
other and earlier days. The man who went up
to the roof in the elevator looked like the en-
bodied spirit OF years of bad and rejected jokes.
The performance down stairs concluded as
the two men stepped into the elevator. SO there
came along with them the audiences from the
two theatres. The Hobbies were Congested with
waiting crowds. Only a few could force their
way into the elevators, and the process of
carrying up the lot continued long after the two
mtn had reached the ball room. They stood
while the elevators disgorred their passengers.
There were as many women among these as
men. Certainly a large majority OF the women
were young. But It is Just as true that
there was . surprisingly large number
of women whose youth was only O dis
tant memory. They were gray-haired and
stoop should cred. dressed in black bomhazine,
with crepe wells ana black shawls folded over
their arms; or they were short and stout, gray
haired. too. and deliberately dressed. with gay
bonnets. They came with short. stout hus-
bands. gray-bearded and dressed In broadcloth
frock coats: and they came sometimes In family
parties with what seemed 10 be sons and dauEh-
tiers, black-eyed, black haired, dark-skinned,
and handsomely dressed.
Where do they come from ?" asked the
young man. Where are they in the recipe ?"
EN- In among the Germans" Sauer-
magen said. They're talking 1t anyhow"
These family parties strolled about the floor
that was surrounded By an oblong row OF tables.
The surface In the centre was shining. and It
reflected the lights hung In the glass roof.
Gradually the crowds coming up In the elcva-
tors from the floors below filled the passages
about the dancing floor. Some Of them sat at
tables. There was q touch Of curious incougruity
in the presence of the old women. who sat
about staring at the scene as II the like
Of 1t had never before been seen in their
experience. When the dancers appeared and
some of their skirts went considerably higher
Into the air than the old ladies had imagined
possible in the course OF a longi and drcOrous
career. they either stared in simple amazement
or glanced With n smile of deprecatory enjoy
ment at the sight.
There said sauermagen. try to see how
much Paris there Is about that table. IAN old
couple with four young people sat ut the table
In Paris American women 20 TO places hat they
French women never visit these places. Here.
when Paris is imported. the respectable women
go on their native heath to see what Is ~particu-
larly not intended for them"
But, the old ladies scattered through tho
crowds about the line OF battle fingered for
awhile. They saw some of the Quadrilles and
some Of the ballots before they started to 90
home. There were evidences In other parts OF
the room that the character of the crowd had
begun to change. Gradually the persons who
had come up from the theatre below seemed to
disappear ana their places were taken by other
women. Not all of them looked as " they hah
come to the ball with the men who stood next
to them and with whom they spoke from time
to time, There were new arrivals among the
men. While the old women staring quietly at the
dancers had represented one extreme of the
crowd, there had gradually begun to assert
Itself another element which represented the
opposite extreme OF the balls patrons. This
element was composed OF young men. Pallid
and tired looking some OF them were, but quito
as many were robust and ruddy with, healthful
youth. They hustled about nightly in tho
search for n liyeliness which up to that time
had not come; They were later tho malnstays
OF whatever vitality the bal c%hdmpftre had.
why call 1t bal chdmp6tre p asked the young
man Of It's not In the fields"
Possibly because It's in Long Acre. was the
answer. Then Sauermagen relapsed again into
the ncrid gloom which his friends az well ~ his
enemies well knew meant that he was not feel
ing at his best.
In the circle cleared for the dancers the ballet
marched and the hired dancers whirled. While
the first contingent Of the spectators had stood
Watching, these evolutions were not observed to
awaken any particular enthusiasm. When the
oldIwomsn and their husbands and the young
men with their wives began To lea We. the quad