Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-06-10
CHAPTER XXXNI.
The PaIo Alto Ball.

on the evening of that following day
i'm May, the sun hung red and round
over the distant unknown land along
the Rio Grande. In that country, no
iron trails as yet had come. The magic
of the wire. so recently applied to the
service of man. was as yet there un-
known. Word travelled slowly by
horses and mules and carts. There
came small news from that far-off
country, half tropic, covered with
palms and crooked, dwarfed growth OF
mesquite and chaparral. The long
horned cattle lived in these dense
thickcts. the spotted jaguar, the wolf,
the ocelot, the javelina, many smaller
creatures not known in our northern
lands In the loan along the stream
the deer left their tracks, mingled with
those of the wild turkeys and of
countless water fowl 1t was far-off
unknown, unvalued land. Our flag,
long past the Sabine, had halted at the
Nueces. Now it was to advance across
this wild region to the Rio Grande.
Thus did SNUG James Polk keep his
promises!
Among these tangled mesquite thick
cts ran sometimes long bayous, made
from the overflow of the greater rivers
-resacas. as the natives call them.
Tall palms sometimes grew along the
hayOus, for the country is half troplc.
Again. on the drier ridges, there might
be taller detached trees, forests palo
alto. the natives call them. In some
such place as this. where the trees
were tall. there was fired the first gun
of our war in the southwest. There
were strange noises heard here in the
wilderness, followed by lesser noises,
and by human groans. Some faces
that night were upturned to the moon
the same moon which swan so glor-
iously over Washington. Taylor camp
ed closer To the Rio Grande. The
fight was next to begin by the lagoon
called the Resaca de Ia Palma. But
that night at the capital that same
moon told us nothing of all this. We
did not hear the guns. 1t was far from
Palo Alto to our ports of Galveston or
New Orleans. Our cockaded army
made its own history in its own un-
reported way.
We at the White House ball that
night also made history in our own
unrecorded way. AS our army was
adding to our confines on the south
west. SO there were other, though Sc
cret. forces which added to our terri
tory i'm the far northwest. AS To this
and as To the means by which 1t came
about, | have already been somewhat
plain.
1t was a goodly company that assem-
bled for the grand ball, the first one
i'm the second season of Mr.. Polk's
somewhat confused and diScOrdant ad-
ministration Social matters had
started off dour enough. Mrs. Polk
was herself of strict religious prac-
tice, and | imagine it had taken some
what of fnesse to get her consent to
these festivities 1t was called some
times the diplomats ball. At least
there was diplomacy back of it, 1t was
mere accident which set this celebra-
ton upon the very evening of the
battle of Palo Alto. May eighth, 1916.
BY ten o'clock there were many in
the great room which had been made
ready for the dancing, and rather
brave company it might have been
called. We had at least the splendor
of the foreign diplomats uniforms for
our background, and to this we added
the bravest of our attire, each one in
his own individual fashion, | fear.
Thus my friend Jack cambridge was
wholly resplendent in a new waiStcoat
Of his own devising, and an evening
coat which almost swept the floor as
he executed the evolutions of his west
crn style of dancing. other gentle
men were. perhaps, more grave and
staid. We had with us at least one
man. old i'm government service, who
dared the silk stockings and knee
brccchcs of an earlier generation. Yet
another wore the white powdered
queue. which might have been more
suited for his grandfather. The young
cr men of the day wore their hair long
i'm fashion quite different. yet this did
not dctraCt from the distinction of
some Of the faces which one might
have seen among them-some of them
To sleep all too soon upturned to the
moon i'm another and yet more bitter
war. aftermath of this with Mexico.
The tall stock was still in evidence at
that time and the rufiled shirts gave
something of n formal and old-fash-
inncd touch To the assembly. Such as
they We're, i'm their somewhat varied
but not unintcresting attire, the best
of Washington We're present. Invita-
tinn was wholly by card. Some said
that Mrs. Polk wrote these invita-
tions i'm her own hand. though this we
MAY bc permitted to doubt.
Whatever might have been said as
To the democratic appearance of our
gentlemen i'm Washington, our women
were always our great reliance. and
these at least never failed to meet the
apprnyal of the most Sncering Of our
foreign visitors. Thus we had present
that night. as remember, two young
girls both later t" h"c"m" famous IN
Washington society: tall and slender
vnumg TcrcSc Chalfaut. later I" become
Mrs. Pugh Of ohio, and I" rccciv" at
the hands of D"mmarF'S minister, VII"
knclt before her at later public ball,
that irwclcd clasp which his wife had
hadr him present /" TN" most h"autl-
full woman ne found in America. Here
also was Miss Harriet Williams "i
Gcurgotnwn. later 1" h"c"m" tn" second
Nir,. Of that Baron I!udiSc" "i Russia
who had represented his government
with us since tn" year l\%N n tall,
robust. blonde lady sh" later grew I"
Lr Browns Hotel. nom" of many "i
our statesmen and their ladies. turned
out a full complement. Mr.. Gay was
there. smiling. though fear non" to"
hanpv. Mr.. Edward Everett as 1t
rhanccd. was with us at that time. We
had Sam Houston of Texas, who would