Before getting back to detailed newspaper descriptions of leap year balls, here's a less detailed but still useful description of one in the form of a very mediocre poem. It was published on page three of the Oakdale Leader, in Oakdale, California, on Friday, February 14th, 1896.
The leap year elements mentioned specifically in the poem are:
- the ladies "managing" things and taking the author into the ballroom
- the "beaux" sitting in a row waiting for partners and the ladies rushing to find one, making sure no one was left out
- Fannie and Julia as some sort of ball organizers or floor managers, wearing badges and making sure things went smoothly
- a lady acting as treasurer and, by implication, asking the author to dance
I admit to cynically feeling that the ladies being concerned that none of the "gints" were slighted was showing more care for their feelings than many gentlemen showed for those of ladies when in conventional roles -- the ladies were perhaps deliberately setting an example for the gentlemen of how they wished to be treated.
As far as the actual dance elements go, the only dances mentioned by name are the march, waltz, and quadrille. I was amused by this tidbit about the march, implying, perhaps, a farandole (spiral) of some sort:
At last the band struck up the music,
And it did look out o’sight,
To see them form in circles
And then get out all right.
I can relate, from personal experience, to sending a huge grand march into spiral formation and hoping they make it out without turning into a Victorian mosh pit.
The most interesting element for me was the brief description of a cotillion (meaning a dance party game) and how the attendees felt about it:
Then they had a fine cotillion—
Whatever that may be—
It looked like jig, breakdown and reel—
At least so it seemed to me.
Six couples they got on the floor
And they did hold it down
While all the rest had to look on,
And many a one did frown;
But they all had their turn at dancing
If they waited long enough,
Tho’ some they would not wait at all,
But flew off in a huff.
Those lines neatly sum up the main problem with running a cotillion at a large event: only a small number of couples dance at once, while everyone else watches, or perhaps gets tired of watching and flies off "in a huff". It's not a problem at a small ball, but if you have, say, thirty couples (not that large an event!), and only six dance at a time, and each repetition of the figure takes five minutes...then people are sitting out twenty-five out of every thirty minutes, which is not likely to please people who want to dance. The situation gets much worse with a larger number of couples, like the "at least eighty" who participated in a cotillion at a leap year ball in Providence in 1892. A figure like this one, in which everyone can participate, is less annoying, but may be hard to manage in a really large group. Evidently the leader at this ball was not very clever about the choice of figure!
There's not much more to say about the poem, but I've included a full transcription below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE LEAP YEAR BALL
———
AS SEEN BY DAN O’TOOLE.
The lamps were burning brightly
As I came within the hall,
And the ladies just looked stunning—
Some were short and some were tall—
And the pretty decorations
As they swung from overhead,
Made me think I was in dreamland—
With the colors yellow and red.
Entering, I was met by ladies
Who looked every one a queen,
And the way they managed things
Was a sight fit to be seen.
Then they took me in the ball-room,
Where the beaux all sat around,
Each one waiting for his partner,
Hoping that he would be found.
At last the band struck up the music,
And it did look out o’sight,
To see them form in circles
And then get out all right.
When at last the march was over,
And the quadrille it was done,
Then you’d ought ter see the darlin’s
Rushing up to every one,
Asking if they all had partners—
For ‘twould be a shame, you know,
For the dear gints to get slighted,
As they sat all in a row.
There was Fannie all resplendent
With her badge upon her breast,
She was here and there and everywhere
And did her very best
To make it all so sociable
That you felt you wasn’t strange,
Where she couldn’t be there Julia was—
In fact, ’twas all arranged.
Then they had a fine cotillion—
Whatever that may be—
It looked like jig, breakdown and reel—
At least so it seemed to me.
Six couples they got on the floor
And they did hold it down
While all the rest had to look on,
And many a one did frown;
But they all had their turn at dancing
If they waited long enough,
Tho’ some they would not wait at all,
But flew off in a huff.
After awhile this dance was finished
And all once more serene—
I felt relieved, you bet your life,
Although I won’t be mean,
For a pretty little maiden,
Who as “Treasurer” was tagged,
Danced the waltz with this poor sinner,
And ’twas very fine, begad.
When at last it all was over
And the lights were burning low,
Then the ladies went to supper—
Each one with her own dear beau.
And it makes this old heart sad to think
That now it all is o’er;
But we hope we’ll all get there again
In 1904.
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