Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-02-04
THE INDIAN
BALL MASQUE
The Boys and Girls at Fort
Lewis Indulge in a Fancy
Dress Affair.
All the Popular Characters
Represented and a Good
Time Enjoyed.

The night was cold and clcar-ihe
moon at her brightest that evening
Dark figures ahead of us gliled mys.
teriously along, light laugh float
ing back occasionally oa the air. Az
we drew near the building whele the
dance was to be held the witcnery
of the night lost some of its charm
and We quickened oiir footsteps in
anticipation of wnat was before US.
How the lights streamcd ont over
the snow! Grotesque figures appear
ed at the windows. Then the door
opened and blaze nf light rushed
forth simultaneousig with the hum
of many voices.
But not all in the room coptr;but-
ed to the cheerful buzzin.; Of human
tongues. Around the walls mute as
statues. sat many oddly garbei fig
ures, their features hidlcn hrhind
curiously shaped masks. DARK eyed.
uniformed Indian hoys and girls were
among the snectators, as well as
many other individ auls not 1T all re-
markable-just plain AMI pretty Amer
lean citizens. as well a3 m extremely
small minority that couldn't be class
ed as either
Soon the music sta tel. the gor-
geously costumed figures paired Off
and IN and down the room they
marched. What brilliant picture
it made The swiftly moving tig-
ures, some daintily pretty, some ex-
quisitely ugly, some charmimgly gro-
tesque, all interesting, were fascinat-
ing to watch. There was no dill
Guilty in understanding what the COS
tunes represented.
There We're two colonial girls in
blue. with powdered hair and patch
es, who looked charming a lark
haired girl who made music at ev-
cry movement, bells jinglcd wher-
ever she went chatted merrily TO
an irreproachably uniformed volrln-
teer. MIR. and Mrs. Santa Claus on
their way home to the Arctic regions
had evidently dropped in to see the
fun. They were both there
The yellow Kid" enjoyed himself
immensely. He wasn't very pretty,
but then. he couldn't help his looks,
of course. A butterfly girl in a blue
dress, cloudy with the pretty yellow
and white insects, was charming
sight. The costume was so original.
A short-wasted Greenaway frcck
in red with a white null hat was gely
quaint Little Bopeep was there with
her crook, cute little old-faslioped
figure. Night in deepest black, was
also present. Her sombre garment
was relieves with silver stars. A
1iminutive Uncle Sam was cunning
as he could be.
An Indian chief in full dress, featl-
ers. war paint and all, was delightful,
ly terrifying Clowns there were many.
One in particular had eyes like sai,-
GERS and nose as large as a broom
stick-nearly. Indeed this same fea-
ture came near causing one of our
party to measure his length upon the
floor.
There were dominoes Of all co ors
and shades and two enormous twins
These last wore shrtwaists and
bloomers. We could oaly distin.
guish them by their suubonnets. Oh
yes, and the bad man was there, horns
and all.
How they did enjoy themselves
This was the first masquerade the
Indian children had ever attended
and accordingly to them it was an
| event in their lives. With all theii
fun there was not sign of bolster
| BUSINESS, which is more than can be
said of many white children Of theii
age
| Just before 10 O'Clock the younger
boys and girls who were allowed Il
be present as spectators, filed ou
and went home. leaving the larger
ones still dancing merrily.
The square dances seemed to b,
the greatest favorites, although ther,
were plenty of two-steps and waltZes
They all danced extremely well, too
AT half-past II supper was served II
the long dining room. What a crow,
OF us there were. At each tabl,
there were ten or twelve persons. ant
there were about 26 tables. Afte
supper dancing continued for a,
hour or so. Then after a quadrill.
the musicians began to put away thei
music and at n signal from DR.. Breel
the boys all filed out. Then tn