Society as I Have Found It
too slippery (which it often is, if hard wood is used and it is new),
there is nothing to be done but to sprinkle it with powdered
pumice-stone, sweeping it off before dancing on it; and again, if it is
not slippery enough, then, as above, give it repeated doses of corn
meal, and the roughest floor is soon put in good condition to dance on.
The opening quadrille of this ball was very effective. We formed in the
second story of the Hall. I led the way to the ball-room with the
“fairest of the fair,” the daughter of one of the most distinguished men
in this country (who had not only been Governor of this State, but
Secretary of State of the United States). We were surrounded by a noble
throng of old New Yorkers, all eager to view the opening quadrille. The
ladies were in Colonial costumes, representing Lady Washington and the
ladies of her court. As I walked through the crowded rooms, having on my
arm one of our brilliant society women, “a flower which was not quite a
flower, yet was no more a bud,” we met approaching us a lady in indeed
gorgeous apparel--so gorgeous, that the lady on my arm at once accosted
her with, “Good gracious, my dear Mrs. B----, what have you got on? Let
me look at you.” Her head was a mass of the most superb ostrich plumes,
Prince of Wales feathers, which towered above her, and as she advanced
would bend gracefully forward, nodding to you, as it were, to approach
and do her honor. Her dress, neck, and shoulders were ablaze with jewels
and precious stones, and in her hand she carried an old Spanish fan,
such as a queen might envy. The following reply to the query came from
this royal dame: “What have I got on? Why, Madame, I had a grandmother!”
“Had you, indeed! Then, if that was her garb, she must have been
Pocahontas, or the Empress of Morocco!” The war of words beginning to be
a little sharp, I pressed on, only to meet another famous lady, whose
birthplace was Philadelphia, and who had had no end of grandmothers. She
wore a superb dress of scarlet and gold, tight-fitting, such as was worn
during the Empire. Another young woman wore her great-grandmother’s
dress, pink and brown striped brocade, cut like Martha Washington’s
dress in the Republican Court, in which her great grandmother figured.
The wife of a prominent jurist, a remarkably handsome woman, with a
grand presence and a noble carriage, representing Lady Washington, wore,
to all eyes, the most attractive costume there.
During the winter of 1877, a Southern woman of warm sympathies, great
taste, and natural ability, having married a young man of colossal
fortune, was urged to take in hand the cause of the wounded Christians
in the Russian-Turkish War, and raise funds to send to their relief. To
do this, she formed the “Society of the Crescent and the Cross,” and a
ball was given under her auspices at the Academy of Music, remembered
in society as the “Turkish Ball.”
This lady did me the honor of making me the Chairman of the Floor
Committee of that ball. Consulting with her, we selected the members of
the opening quadrille, and took good care to choose the most brilliant
women in this city. My partner was one of the greatest belles New York
has ever had, a woman of such air and distinction, such beauty of face
and charm of manner, as we read of, but rarely see.
Our quadrille, formed on the stage of this large opera house, with the
guests of the ball filling the galleries and looking down on it, was no
sooner over than I found we were in this dilemma: Our little quadrille
was left in full possession of the vast auditorium, and the question
was, how to get the people to leave the boxes and come down to us. It
was not in any way a full ball, and as the ladies who had danced in the
quadrille at once retired to their boxes, they left me, as it were,
sole occupant of the dancing floor. However, I rushed around and here
and there collected dancing men, and succeeded in getting a respectable
number on the floor, and infused spirit into the dancing.
The trouble in such cases is the indisposition of ladies to dance at a
public ball, other than in an opening quadrille. The ball, however, went
merrily on to a late hour.
A few years later, I was asked to be one of the Floor Committee of the
ball to be given to the distinguished French and German officers who
came over to join in our celebration of the Centennial of the Battle of
Yorktown. This was the invitation:
_Office of the French Reception Commission, Room 7, Fifth Avenue
Hotel, New York, 28th October, 1881._
_Dear Sir:_
_The Commissioners appointed by the Governor of the State to extend
its courtesies to the guests of the Nation, request that you will
act as one of the Floor Committee on the occasion of the Ball to
be given at the Metropolitan Casino, on the evening of November 7._
_An immediate answer will oblige_,
_Yours very respectfully_,
WILLIAM JAY,
_Chairman of the Ball Committee_.
_To Ward McAllister, Esq._
Experience had taught me never to go on a committee in any social matter
unless the committee was formed by myself, or made up of personal
friends on whom I could rely, and who would second and support me in my
work; for I well knew that it requires hard head-work and hand-work to
carry through to success any social project. Sometimes it happens--it
has often happened to me--that you have men on a committee with you who
are wofully ignorant of the work they have undertaken to superintend,
who in one breath tell you “I know nothing about this business,” and in
the next criticise, discuss, and deluge you with useless and worthless
suggestions, and then, when they find they themselves can do nothing
turn the whole matter over to you and tell you to “go ahead.” You do go
ahead and do their work, and then, when they find it is effectual, and
they see your efforts will be crowned with success, they quietly come in
and appropriate the credit of it.
However, on this occasion I agreed to act, as my duties were confined to
forming the opening quadrille, and taking charge of the dancing. Picture
to yourself a huge hall, one mass of human beings awaiting the opening
of the ball, impatient of delay, anxious to dash off into the waltz,
tempted by the inspiriting strains coming from a perfect band of one
hundred well-trained musicians. Then, at one end of this vast hall, a
stage filled with ladies in brilliant costumes, and foreign officers all
in uniform; the Governor of the State, the Mayor of the City, and the
chairmen of the various Yorktown committees; then your humble servant as
one of the Floor Committee, flitting from one group to another,
instructing each of them what they were to do. The position was indeed
droll. I stood behind the Governor, who was to all outward appearances
conversing with General Boulanger, but was literally squeezing my hand
and asking me what he was to do. One distinguished German general
promptly said, “I go it blind! I will simply do what the others do.”
These were the forces I had to marshal and put through a quadrille. I
dodged from one to the other and called out the figures, and breathed a
sigh of relief when the dance was concluded.
Looking around the galleries and scanning all the distinguished people,
my eye lit upon a wonderfully bright and intelligent face. Inwardly I
said, “There is a man among men. Who can it be?” My curiosity was so
aroused that I went into his box, introduced myself to him as one of the
Floor Committee, and said, “I have never seen you before; I know you are
a distinguished man. Pray who are you?” Laughingly, he replied, “I am
James G. Blaine.” “Well,” I said, “my instincts have not failed me this
time. I have heard and read of you for years. Now I see your genius in
your face.” Beauty in woman, genius in man, happily I never fail to
discover.
The invitation to this ball was as follows:
[Coat of Arms of the State of New York.]
_BALL._
_The Commissioners appointed by the State of New York request the
honor of your presence to meet the Guests of the Nation at the
Metropolitan Casino on the evening of Monday, November 7, at ten
o’clock._
_New York, 19th of October, 1881._
Some of the distinguished guests of the Nation were M. Max Outrey,
Ministre Plenipotentiare de la France aux Etats-Unis, M. le Marquis de
Rochambeau, General Boulanger, le Comte de Beaumont, and le Comte de
Corcelle, representing the Lafayettes, and Colonel A. von Steuben,
representing the family of Major-General von Steuben.
FAMOUS NEWPORT BALLS.
CHAPTER XXV.
_A Famous Newport Ball--Exquisite effect produced by blocks of Ice
and Electric Lights--The Japanese room--Corners for “Flirtation
couples”--A superb Supper--Secretary Frelinghuysen in the
Barber-shop--I meet Attorney-General Brewster--A Remarkable Man--I
entertain him at Newport--A young Admirer gives him a Banquet in
New York--Transformation of the Banquet-hall into a Ball-room._
The next great event in the fashionable world was a Newport ball. A lady
who had married a man of cultivation and taste, a member of one of New
York’s oldest families, who had inherited from her father an enormous
fortune, was at once seized with the ambition to take and hold a
brilliant social position, to gratify which she built one of the
handsomest houses in this city, importing interiors from Europe for it,
and such old Spanish tapestries as had never before been introduced into
New York; after which she went to Newport, and bought a beautiful villa
on Bellevue Avenue, and there gave, in the grounds of that villa, the
handsomest ball that had ever been given there. The villa itself was
only used to receive and sup the guests in, for a huge tent, capable of
holding fifteen hundred people, had been spread over the entire villa
grounds, and in it was built a platform for dancing. The approaches to
this tent were admirably designed, and produced a great effect. On
entering the villa itself, you were received by the hostess, and then
directed by liveried servants to the two improvised _salons_ of the
tent. The one you first entered was the Japanese room, adorned by every
conceivable kind of old Japanese objects of art, couches, hangings of
embroideries, cunning cane houses, all illuminated with Japanese
lanterns, and the ceiling canopied with Japanese stuffs, producing, with
its soft reddish light, a charming effect; then, behind tables
scattered in different parts of the room, stood Japanese boys in
costume, serving fragrant tea. Every possible couch, lounge, and
easy-chair was there to invite you to sit and indulge yourself in ease
and repose.
Leaving this ante-room, you entered still another _salon_, adorned with
modern and Parisian furniture, but furnished with cunningly devised
corners and nooks for “flirtation couples”; and from this you were
ushered into the gorgeous ball-room itself,--an immense open tent, whose
ceiling and sides were composed of broad stripes of white and scarlet
bunting; then, for the first time at a ball in this country, the
electric light was introduced, with brilliant effect. Two grottos of
immense blocks of ice stood on either side of the ball-room, and a
powerful jet of light was thrown through each of them, causing the ice
to resemble the prisms of an illuminated cavern, and fairly to dazzle
one with their coloring. Then as the blocks of ice would melt, they
would tumble over each other in charming glacier-like confusion, giving
you winter in the lap of summer; for every species of plant stood around
this immense floor, as a flowering border, creeping quite up to these
little improvised glaciers. The light was thrown and spread by these two