El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-03

~ nee went to a mask ball 10
heard about it for weeks and
- weeks. Everybody had
Are YOU going to the ball?" That
was what people who wanted to be
funny said, when they saw you buying
a new pair of gloves or a new dlngle-
bangle for your throat
I'll see you after the ball is over,
said others, and they always laughed
when they said IL, for the ball was 20
very. very gay, oh, wildly gay-so gay
that you couldn't even imagine It.
I wanted to go-I wanted dreadfully
to go; so did every other woman IN
town. but we didn't even dare to hint
at such thing. Nobody We-lt-that is.
nobody that you knew-Vomen, OF
course, I mean The men Went-al1 Oh
them-every one of them.
.sSmart, Men All Go.
The smart men," the club men, even
some of the steady going old churcn
course; they had to. or be considered
fogies, and a fogie is an unspeakaoIe
Music-five orchestras. supper-well,
it simply made oyu III TO near II al
and be 20 and not go.
I went-went for my paper. HOW
excited / was when they told me to go!
/ got a pink frock and some black os-
trich tins and some black gloves, very
long, and pink slippers and things ana
a great arm full of luscious pink roses
and 1 went to that ball
/ had an escort. He was masked and
walked close behind me to see that L
didn't need him. 1 thrilled every tune
I thought of that escort, and now
dreadfully I should need him before the
'sTum. Tumte. tum tum"-the music
made my heart leap before the carriage
stopped. "Tum, tum, te tum tum," how
could 1 wait TO see it all, and to dancei
Oh eys, I intended to dance. 1 was
going to be a part of the ball, if I re-
GREETED, in sack cloth and ashes, the
rest of my natural life.
What, that the dressing room? III
lit stuffy, crowded With-What ordi-
nary creatures The first woman who
spoke to me was dressed as an ostrich.
I shall never forget her gaunt, bag
gard face and her poor tired eyes. She
was very proud of her dress. though
she'd paid $50 to the coStumer for 1t,
she said, just to rent it
The second woman was Folly.
What a meagre little Folly, with sharp.
ferret eyes and red hands, The rest
looked more or less like somebody's
Few Pretty Women There.
A few pretty ones there were. Just
few. but what voices, what AL, rau locus
They stabbed me through the Sits OF
masks. ''Tum. tum tie tum tum, II VIII
be better on the floor, I thought hope
fully, and to the floor L went. WhatE
that was all.
1'Tum tie tum tum"-drearier and
drearier. Where were all the gay spir-
its2 Where were all the wits-au the
| irrepressible gaiety 1 had looked for?
I wasn't the least bit shocked, I was
bored almost to tears It was like a
picnic in a mOrEue, to any one who had
| ever been at a real ball, with real light
hearts and real gaiety.
An Illusion Killed.
Dead another illusioni I've never
] had more of them about-wIcked
Vice is the dulIest thing in the
/ world. the stupidest, the most unin-
/ teresting. Honestly it is, sisters. I
/ know, for 1 have looked upon II in
! many forms-and always I have pitied
/ the poor victims of it-and wished I
| could take them out somewhere ard
3. give them a really good time.
They are so sad, the gay people Of
/ the gay life-so tearfully sad start a
| sentimental and half of them are in
! tears-in an instant-pOor things. poor
poor imitation things
Mystery, Not Vice. AIlaFes-
The lure of vice2" Why, sisters, II
isn't vice that allures. il is the mys-
! terry We make of it that does the mis-
/ chief. "Tum tie tum tum. The woman
| in the ostrich feather dress turned out
| had often struck ne with a kind Of
| delicious hOrrOr-th2. haggar1. tired
| not too youthful siren-poOr thing, ]
| longed to get her a good hot cup 0ft ca
and a footstoOl, and 10 tell her to take
! a good long nap. white I answered the
! bell and keep all the peddlers and sam
! pie people away
| Don't be afraid of the lure. sisters
! You can't see it in the broad daylight
! it's the half light that makes it posi-
bic at all Let in the light-aH there
! is of it-and watch poor Sinking vice
| hide her miserable, disheveled head.