On Monday, February 14th, 1876, the ladies of the frontier town of Sun River, Montana, held a leap year ball, as recorded a few days later in The Benton Record. Sun River had been established less than a decade before, in 1867, and probably wasn't very large at the time -- the entire population of Montana was under 40,000 as of the 1880 census, and it had not yet been admitted to statehood. According to Montana census records, the population of all of Chouteau County (which I believe Sun River was part of before Cascade County was split off) was 3,058 in 1880.
The frontier location is relevant: there apparently was, unsurprisingly, a surplus of men in the area, putting the women in a more powerful position regarding courtship and marriage than they might otherwise have enjoyed. Women living in a small settlement in Montana were also probably strong characters to begin with; it wouldn't have been an easy life.
The article describing the ball was headlined "The Bells [sic] of Sun River" with subheadings including "Lady Beaux" and "How She Did It".
The motivation for the ball was the customary leap year role-reversal:
It is customary in some countries, particularly those where the female population is largely in excess of the male, for the ladies to organize and conduct Leap Year festivities, just to show how well they can do it, and how they desire to be treated when under the customary rules of society, which make them the protegees rather than the companions and protectors of men, and permit them to receive, but not to extend proposals of marriage.
Along with just enjoying the role-reversal, teaching men how to act toward women was a common secondary theme in descriptions of leap year balls. But the imbalance of the sexes meant that women already had their pick of men in some ways:
It is hardly probably that the Sun River Leap Year Ball was organized for the purpose of "Facilitating matrimony," as every marriageable lady in this vicinity appears to have an unlimited train of suitors.
The following example was presented as better than the usual way gentlemen treated ladies, which really makes one wonder...
Miss Jones having entered the dwelling of her chosen partner, addresses him as follows:
"Mr. Brown, I have called to escort you to the Leap Year Ball. You will please put on your hat, take my arm, and consider me your guardian angel for the remainder of the evening."
The determined demeanor assumed by Miss Jones leaves all fashionable excuses out of the question, and to avoid the humiliation of having his hat jammed down over his eyes, and being jerked out of the house by the coat-collar, Brown accompanies his fair conductress without once pleading indisposition.
I doubt that men typically threatened to force women's hats on and haul them physically out of the house. This may have been an exaggeration or caricature triggered by discomfort at a woman taking charge. The women taking charge of the transportation was typical of leap year balls.
The treatment of men at the event itself seems to have been genteel:
Having arrived at the Hall, Brown is not conducted to the door of the dressing room and there left to care for himself. His hat and coat are removed and carefully put away, his boots closely inspected to see that they have been properly polished, his necktie is adjusted, his hair brushed and parted in the middle, and a clean handkerchief placed in his pocket. His partner then conducts him to a seat in the ball-room, sits by his side and feeds him with mixed candies until the dancing commences.--During the evening she never leaves the room to purchase cloves or indulge in an out-door segar [sic], as her whole time is employed in attending to the wants of Brown and entertaining him with honied words and tender smiles.
The careful examination of the clothes is definitely a feminine tweak; I doubt many gentlemen would have concerned themselves that closely with the details of their ladies' apparel or touched them physically to adjust it. The remainder is unsubtle negative commentary on men's usual manner toward their partners: insufficiently attentive, insufficiently romantic, and abandoning them to smoke. The gentlemen were reportedly pleased by the attention, to the point where the author suggested, presciently similar the author of the 1884 Illustrated London News article, it would make them better-disposed to women's suffrage than the efforts of Victoria Woodhull, who had famously run for president in 1872:
Such was the treatment received by the gentlemen who attended the Leap Year Ball given by the ladies of Sun River, and its effect in favor of female suffrage should be more convincing than all the harangues ever delivered by Mrs. Woodhull and her clique.
The ball itself appears to have been conventional in general: running from 8:00 in the evening until 4:00 in the morning, with a supper at which the ladies "waited upon their guests" and a typical for the period program of dances. A Miss Kate Dunn was credited with "the success of the entertainment", though whether as an organizer or an actual caller or dance leader is unclear. Happily, a program of dances is included in the article:
March to seats in ball-room. Quadrille, Basket; Waltz; Virginia Reel; Schottische; Quadrille, Plain; Mazourka; Quadrilie [sic], Cheat; Varsouvienne; Quadrille; Polka; Quadrille; Walts; Children's Quadrille; Grand March to Supper; Quadrille, Esmeralda; Quadrille; Waltz; Opera Reel; Money Musk; Varsouvienne; Quadrille; Scottische; Quadrille; Waltz; Quadrille; Varsouvienne; Polka; Quadrille; Virginia Reel.
Breaking this down:
- a Grand March at the beginning, and another to supper at the midpoint
- two Virginia Reels and the contra dances Money Musk and Opera Reel
- the specific individual quadrille figures Cheat and Basket
- four waltzes, two schottisches, two polkas, two Varsouviennes, an Esmeralda, and a mazourka
- nine plain or unspecified quadrilles
- a children's quadrille
The children's quadrille is an interesting inclusion. I suppose in a small town any event would be attended by nearly everyone.
The number of quadrilles is high, but not impossibly so. It is possible that the punctuation is incorrect and some of the dances were actually "Quadrille, waltz" or "Quadrille, polka", as quadrilles that mixed in couple dances were common in late nineteenth-century America. The one place where that appears to be the case ("Quadrille, Esmeralda") is actually the least likely.
Appropriately to the February 14th date, Valentines were given out during the ball, though where and from whom they originated was not explained:
During the evening quite a number of valentines were distributed among the guests. Several of these cupid's missives were very handsome and one received by the charming school mistress of Choteau County, Miss Finnigan, was simply beautiful.
Note that Miss Finnigan was the schoolmistress, singular, for the entire county.
The newspaper writeup included a list of twenty-three ladies who attended, with the note that there was not enough space to include the descriptions of their outfits provided by a Miss Pauline Strong, "the acknowledged belle of Sun River valley". Twelve of the ladies were married women (or possibly widows) and eleven unmarried. Some were likely mother/daughter, sibling, or cousin sets, such as a Mrs. J. J. Healy and the Misses Mary, Maria, Lilie, and Annie Healy, or the two Mrs. Strongs and Misses Ellen, Pauline, and Mamie Strong. There may have been more men, possibly considerably more, but even if each woman brought only one, fifty people seems good turnout for a small frontier town. Mrs. Healy may have been the official hostess, as she made a speech at the end "thanking the gentlemen for their company and expressing the hope that all present would meet again in the year of 1880."
At the end of the ball, the ladies "took possession of their partners, and escorted them to their several homes."
The full original description of the Sun River leap year ball may be found online on page two of The Benton Record, Vol. 1, No. 44, published on Saturday, February 19th, 1876 in Fort Benton, Montana.
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