Old-Fashioned Propriety.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 238, 21 January 1888, Page 3

Old-Fashioned Propriety.

Those "society balla" were conducted with great propriety and reserve. The claim of every person of both sexes to be admitted having been previously determined by the responsible and trusty com* mittee, there was a sort of temporary and conventional equality on the terpsichorean floor; and therefore every gentleman had the privilege to invite a l&dy, without the formality of an introduction, to figure in the dance as his partner. After it was over, he escorted her back respectfully to her seat, without presuming, if unknown and not duly presented, to remain standing before her, or to sit by her side, to continue the conversation' or prolong the accidental acquaintance ; the gentlemen walked up and down between the rows ofladie^that densely lined the hall, some merely bowing as they passed to whom they knew, and others stopping to converse. No woman, marriod or single, joined in this, promenading with a 1 male companion,' as is the custom in these present days, and the eyes of a lynx could not have detected the slightest flirtation. The word itself was notknown, for the thing it means is for Louisiana a modern invention which had not then been patented and brought out for public use. In fact, this peculiar pastime would have been impossible to attempt ; it would have produced a social earthquake.