There were festoons of paper-flowers
everywhere; over the windows and doors; around
the homely pictures which adorned the walls;
and hanging from the rude central chandelier,
where some twenty candles, moulded
by Dame Hodges herself, were burning. At
the upper end of the hall was a slightly
raised platform, improvised for the occasion;
thereon stood a quaint old harmonium, and
several chairs for the amateur musicians.

The sides of the room were supplied with
wooden benches, where the non-dancers,
"wall-flowers," and elders could sit and
enjoy the sight of the quadrilles, waltzes,
country jigs, and reels. The girls were a
long time, we thought, fixing their curls and
arranging their bows and neck-ribbons; they
appeared at last, however: a bright bevy of
them, arrayed in gorgeous colours, and in
excellent spirits for fun. The elders, male and
female, ranged themselves on the benches,
and prepared to enjoy the scene. The
three knotty-handed and thick-whiskered
youths who were to supply the music, made
their way with an awkward gait to the
platform, and began an eager and
discordant tuning of two fiddles and a
bass-viol, trying mightily to look unconcerned
and unconscious. At first there was a
slight difficulty in breaking the ice and
starting the dances. The girls huddled
together in one group, the lads in another,
both too bashful to begin; but after the
requisite amount of tittering, and sly
glancing, and hurried whispering, my
classmate Tom made a dart for the group of
petticoats, and captured Ellen Maria: at the
same time calling on the boys to follow up
the assault he had so heroically made. This
brought matters to a crisis at once, and
where before there was an embarrassing
silence and stiffness, there was now laughing
and talking, and the couples up and
down the hall quickly placed themselves
in squares for the first quadrille. We
college men, with our reverend and pastoral
host's two daughters, took up a position at
the head of the hall, dancing vis-à-vis.
It was charming to observe how simple
and modest were the manners of these
good country people. The girls had no
affected society airs, but if coquettish, were
honestly so, and if bashful, had a true
bashfulness which was far from unbecoming;
and the boys, mostly awkward souls
enough in speech and movement, were yet
gifted with sturdy vigour, open faces, and
hearty spirits, which made the refinements
of fashionable youths seem paltry and
effeminate. These farmers' boys certainly
looked with little pleasure upon the less
ungainly manners of us collegians; and
just possibly we did put on some airs; still,
we were a little disposed to envy on our
side, for the ruddy health of a farmer's boy
is worth at least as much as the ability to
read the Antigone without stuttering. We
were also quite at a disadvantage here on
the dancing floor. How tame and weak
did our fashionable best-approved quadrille
step seem, amid the lusty thumps and leaps
and flourishes of our rustic rivals! They
danced as if the art were made for the
double object of pleasure and exercise. They
put their whole souls into it; they grew
earnest and red in the face over it; their
hair danced on the top of their heads;
their boots danced with a creak on their
feet; their elbows danced up and down in
mid air; they danced all over. And we,
simpering youths of society, walked through
the figures at a fashionable pace, as if we
had hardly strength enough to hold out our
arms in " ladies' chain!" To be sure, our
country friends were awkward and ungainly
enough in their gyrations, and afforded us
vast amusement; they floundered so! But
they were thoroughly enjoying themselves,
which I certainly was not, and which
Tom would not have been, had he not been
under the spell of Ellen Maria's bright
eyes. The quadrille was really a sight to
see, and to be long remembered. Once
started, the little hall shook and shook with
the sturdy thump of feet. The musicians
caught inspiration from the sight, and
squeaked away with an ever-increasing
zeal; the old folks stood up in their
eagerness to see the fun. Josh, as he advanced
in " forward two," jumped out into the
middle of the floor, and, arms akimbo, broke
into a rattling spasmodic jig; Amanda,
who was his vis-à-vis, kept up the spirit of
the thing by curtseying and bobbing about
and nodding her ruddy face; then back
they whirled to their places, and the
next couple repeated the performance. In
some parts of the dance, the boys would
seize the girls round the waist, and fairly
hurl them across the room, making them
spin round and round, quite off their feet,
and giving them a final hearty squeeze as
they set them on the floor again. There
was no squeamish, simpering modesty
among these damsels, you may be sure;
they did not give you their hands as if they
were about to touch a red-hot poker, but
grasped yours tightly and heartily and
honestly; neither did they shrink in
pretended bashfulness when their partners