N society dancing is one of the most popular amusements, and those who dance should do it in such a manner as to win approval from their partners. Many wise men think dancing a silly accomplishment, but they err; it is the art of moving

gracefully and taking exercise to music. A well-executed dance may be called the poetry of motion. Habits of excessive study on the one hand, or the glamour of the pool-room and the racecourse on the other, may be sensibly attacked by the cultivation of society amusements in which ladies and gentlemen join, and the ball-room is the basis upon which a variety of such entertainments—that will effect a very salutary change in familiar customs—may be introduced. The company of ladies is always advantageous to gentlemen at that age when manners are being formed, and

as a rule the ladies whose example may be emulated on the race course will not command admiration from the better classes; while the pool room is very properly an unknown land to the gentler sex. For such reasons we are upholders of the dance.

A really formidable ball with all the accessories of fashion would be too costly an entertainment for many of our readers to venture upon, even once during the season; but in any well-ordered household, where there is a room fitted for the purpose, arrangements can be made with very small expenditure, for what may be called an informal evening,

including music and dancing, in which the delight would be found in the inverse ratio to the outlay. Manners and accomplishments should not be measured by the figures of the banking account, and young ladies and gentlemen who are now at spelling school in some of our prairie townships will in the course of a few years figure in Washington society, where it will be of the utmost importance for their comfort that they should be conversant with the figures of the dance, and know how to carry themselves in the polite circles of the ball-room. Dancing is a scriptural form of enjoyment, consistent with health, and with social advancement, as long as it can be pursued without extravagance, either in the monetary display made by the giver, or in the hours devoted to the amusement by the guests, and it is hard to find a reason why the dance should be denounced.

When you conclude to give a ball, and a dance may as well be called a ball as by any other name, issue your invitations, neatly written, or printed, at least three weeks before the event, to enable your friends to make their arrangements to enjoy your pleasant hospitalities, and reply in time for your convenience. This is the more necessary when some may be unable to attend, and a prompt answer will permit you to oblige some others of your circle, who, having guests in prospect for the anticipated date, will want additional cards. All invitations should be by card or letter.

As you would invite to a literary evening only those having a love for bookcraft, so you would invite to a soirée dansante only those who have a taste for the pleasures of the ball-room. Ask only as many guests as you can accommodate, and keep a list of your invitations, marking the names from which replies have come, with acceptance or declination. You can add to your list as many as will counterbalance the few declinations that come, and a percentage beyond that number for those who will at the last moment be deprived of the pleasure which they had promleed to you and to themselves. In this way you avoid putting your friends to inconvenience.

In some very fashionable establishments which have room for a hundred guests, twice that number will be invited. Such practices, although under the guise of fashion, closely resemble vulgar display. Your care will be for the comfort of your friends, and if you intend a "grand ball" you may go beyond one hundred; otherwise content yourself with a large ball, if you have room for fifty couple, a ball if you have room for twenty-five couple, or a dance if for ten or twelve couple.

The ball room should be of fair proportions, with a lofty celling and good ventilation, the lights being, if possible, so arranged as to give brilliancy to the assemblage without undue warmth. Electric lights will some day become the rule in large gatherings, as they do not sensibly increase the heat of the room; but for the present, ingenuity must devise means to carry off the heated atmosphere, without allowing it to incommode the dancers.

cold draughts, and the dress dilapidation incident to crowded stairways. You cannot have your refreshments in the ballroom for obvious reasons; but your supper should not be as ponderous as a state dinner. An elegant light refection should be provided.

After supper an ice or cool drink should be obtainable in the supper-room until the close of the ball. No lady should allow a lady guest to go alone to the supper-room; the hostess must specially request some gentleman to attend upon any lady who is unattended at supper time.

The supper will of course depend upon the season, and will be chosen with care by the hostess, unless an experienced caterer is employed. When the weather is warm ice should be liberally used, and carving should be done beforehand. In France soups are served hot at supper time unless the season forbids.

A carpet is out of place in a ball-room, and the floor should be well waxed; but when circumstances render that impossible, cover the carpet with linen securely placed and perfectly smooth. Make your room as handsome as you can by grouping plants, and flowers, and small trees, in convenient places, where they will not limit dancing room, and may serve as a screen for your musicians. Your screen will be elegant and inexpensive.

Your programme of dances will of course be arranged so that the card containing the list will permit of the names of partners being written in

Seats will not be provided at supper unless at a small dance; then the ladies only sit, the gentlemen in attendance standing behind their chairs. Wine, if used at all, must be used in strict moderation. A lady will only take one glass of champagne. Pressing to take wine is ill bred and sometimes dangerous.

More elegant care can be manifested in the provision of suitable dressing-rooms than in any other way. Consider what you would require for your own use in that case, and provide in the same way for others, but of course abundantly of water, soap and towels, near the several wash-

a manner convenient for reference. Such programmes with pencils attached require no description. Your musicians may be such as can play the piano, cornet, violin and violincello, and they should, if possible, be placed at the point farthest from the door, but convenience must be considered, and more instruments may be required if you have a very large ball-room.

The number of dances may not exceed twenty-four, and should not be less than eighteen. When the full quota is to be given announce supper after the fourteenth dance. March, quadrille and waltz will be the order of exercises with which to commence.

Supper is no inconsiderable item in ball-room economics, and many are deterred on the threshold of gaiety by the certainty of extravagant outlay beyond average means. All these matters must be considered, and the old rule of “a dinner of herbs with contentment” may be remembered at all times. If your means permit, provide a good supper on the same floor as the ball-room, to save your guests from

stands, with toilet necessaries for the ladies; and in the room provided for gentlemen such brushes and other articles as your husband and brothers require to assist thern in like circumstances. In a detached room have one attendant to receive the cloaks, overcoats, hats and wraps of the guests which should not be in the dressing-rooms, and give checks, duplicates of which must be attached to each set of impedimenta.

When guests arrive the hostess should receive them near the door,greeting each person by name and saying a few pleasant words; then the host should second the endeavors of his wife. The success of the evening largely depends on such attentions. Other members of the family can find appropriate spheres of action, presenting to each other guests desirous of such attention, who are not otherwise acquainted; and taking care that young lady friends have partners for the dance before they themselves engage. Gentlemen under such circumstances have no option when asked to be introduced to partners.  Gentlemen who are accepted as escorts by ladies,

for such occasions, will of course attend them during the evening, when they are not dancing with others, having sent to their residences bouquets, during the afternoon preceding, and having called for them with a carriage in the evening, at the hour appointed. The carriage will be in attendance to convey the lady home after the ball. His duty is clear and precise. Having arrived at the house of entertainment, he will first conduct the lady to the cloakroom, where wraps will be deposited and checks taken by him; then leave the lady at the door of the dressing-room near by, and proceed to the room for gentlemen. Having arranged his toilet carefully, without hurry, as the lady will occupy twice as long at the very least, he will return to the door of the ladies' dressing room, wait her coming, conduct her to the hostess, and continue in attendance generally, without fettering her action in any way, but watchful that she has partners, or the chance to decline them. The first dance belongs to him, and he will attend her to supper, as well an escort her to the carriage, and home, when she is desirous to return.

Gentlemen not in attendance on ladies are at the disposal of the hostess and ladies of the house, one of whom he should invite to dance, and if she declines, as she may, seeing some of her lady friends unprovided with partners for the dance, or not having room enough to take the floor, the gentleman will obey her instructions, and invite the lady indicated to dance. Gentlemen who are married will of course escort their wives to the ball, and attend upon them as above, but it is not etiquette for them to dance together.

A very sedate face is not appropriate to a ball-room; cultivate a pleasant expression, and when presenting hands during the dance, proper movement of the head and body, as in salutation, should bespeak your acquaintance with etiquette. Some gentlemen perform a dance as if it were a sacrificial duty.

When a gentleman is not familiar with a particular dance he must not invite a lady, but if urged by the lady of the house he may state his unacquaintance as a reason for reluctance, submitting himself to their discretion if the lady with whom he is to dance will assist him.  Arrangements must be made if possible, as to each dance some time in advance,  and the

names are to be entered on the programmes provided for ladies; then when the music commences you will be ready to lead your partner to her place. It is rude to leave the selection of partners to the last moment. Sometimes a lady will wish to sit down before the dance is ended; the gentleman will immediately offer his arm to conduct her to a seat, without a question, merely expressing regret on her account. He will then continue in attendance on the lady until the next dance, when her partner will come to claim her hand. Some gentlemen, while standing waiting for the waltz to commence, place their arms in position; that is improper: the lady's waist should only be lightly touched when the dance begins, and his arm should fall as soon as the dance ends.

Introduction by the lady of the house, or by some friend, is necessary before a gentleman can ask a lady to dance, when the ball is private, and such an introduction is quite in order. At public balls ladies may decline inkoductions offered by the master of ceremonies, and as a rule should only dance with gentlemen of their own set. Ladies will of course use their discretion, and there is no breach of etiquette in permitting an introduction by the master of ceremonies or an acquaintance, if the person is unobjectionable. The arm, not the hand, should be offered respectfully to a lady when she is to be conducted to her place before or after the dance. When a lady has made an engagement with one gentleman, and another desires her as his partner in that particular dance, the gentleman who wishes the change made in his favor must ask the permission of the gentleman first named.

An introduction in the ball-room, public or private, does not entitle the gentleman to subsequent recognition; that is entirely at the lady's pleasure. The ball room introduction is local, not general, unless the lady is very favorably impressed, but for that occasion the gentleman introduced is entitled to polite consideration; as for instance, if the lady does not wish to dance, some excuse must be offered, and the slightest must suffice to answer the request. The lady may dance, if she wishes to do so, with another gentleman immediately, and the gentleman whose offer was declined will not notice the fact; usually a subsequent request for that dance is declined, in consideration for the offer not accepted.  The gentleman

refused will not offer to dance with another lady who has heard the declination, but may proceed to another part of the ball-room, where he will be at liberty to seek a partner. He may not do so, if the lady declining pleads fatigue, but will remain by her side, unless dismissed, until the end of that dance. If the lady pleads fatigue only as to the dance then in progress, the gentleman may ask a subsequent dance for which she is not engaged, and to which she feels equal. The formula of invitation is very simple, as for instance: “Will you honor me?” “May I have the pleasure?” “Permit me the pleasure,” and so on. Do not allow your phrases and sentences to be stereotyped. When a lady has said that she is too tired to dance again, she should preserve her consistency by not dancing.

Dance like a gentleman, avoid the nice precision of a dancing master. Lead the lady respectfully through the quadrille, touching the hand, not vigorously clasping it,and in the waltz lightly touch your partner's waist with the open palm; dance quietly, without swaying the body or attempting “grace” steps. Be sure that you know the figures before you stand up, and careful attention will carry you through, if your partner is aware you are not perfect. The rule that applies elsewhere is imperative in the ball-room: the lady upon whom you attend must have first thought, then other ladies if unattended, and lastly yourself. Any inattention is ungentlemanly, and forgetfulness of an engagement may be considered as an insult by lady or gentleman. The escort for the evening must be in attendance upon the lady at the close of every dance, and continue until she is claimed for the next; because the lady may not leave her bouquet or fan in the keeping of any other person, except her husband or brother, and it is not proper for a lady to cross the ball-room, or enter it, without an escort. Conversation must be light and joyous, not on any account confidential, in the ball-room. Sometimes when partners are very numerous, a lady may give the first half of a waltz to one gentleman, and the remainder to another; but in any such case both gentlemen will know of the arrangement.

Should there be a vacant seat beside a lady with whom you are unacquainted, procure an introduction or leave the seat unoccupied, so far as you are concerned. Unmarried ladies will

not dance more than twice with one gentleman, because doing so will suggest a particular attraction. Arrangements for a dance should not be made while you are dancing; wait until the conclusion of the dance if you wish to re-engage, and then if you are allowed the honor, the name can be placed on the lady's programme at once. Usually, unless the lady has an escort, the gentleman with whom she dances the last dance preceding supper will escort her to refreshment, attend on her during her stay, and return with her to the ball-room; but when there is an escort he will surrender the lady to that gentlemen.

You should not rush to the supper-room immediately the announcement is made, but walk round the room once, or twice, if there should be a throng, and move toward the supper-room as if certain there would be all that your partner requires at any time. If the lady does not wish to go until after the next dance, repeat the invitation then, and again after the following dance, if you are the lady's escort. If you are the lady's partner only, and she has an escort, the duty devolves upon him. When the lady is unattended, and you are her partner, your duty in the matter ends after the first invitation given and declined. The next partner will act as the occasion requires, and upon the lady declining will conduct her to a seat, thanking her for the pleasure she has conferred. In the event of the lady accompanying you to the supper-room, your duty is to attend to her wants, gratifyfug every expressed or implied wish, and not seeking refreshment for yourself—beyond a glass of wine with the lady, should she do you that honor—until the ladies are supplied, or there are very few at the table. Ladies will not remain long at the supper table, as the gentleman in attendance has, in all likelihood, some engagements in the ball-room for the next dance, and their own programmes require fulfillment. Wear white kid gloyee, and carry a clean pair to be used after supper, if occasion should demand a change.

Gentlemen will avoid harsh tones, undue haste, and brusguerie in the ball-room, where ladies reign. Every person should be addressed pleasantly, and if any accident should give annoyance to lady or gentleman an apology must be tendered in respectful terms, immediately, by the gentleman causing the trouble.  Ladies will not enter nor leave a ball-room

unattended, whether they are married or single. A gentleman should be in attendance, but several married ladies may enter together, and a young lady may be chaperoned by her mother, or some lady friend. Any gentleman seeing a lady with whom he is acquainted about to leave the ball-room unattended, will offer his encort, and the lady will accept the offer usually, failing which, an excuse must be given; but if the gentleman is permitted to attend the lady to her carriage, he should be dismissed to return other engagements as soon as possible. If the gentleman is not desirous to return to the ball-room, the lady may accept his escort to her home, but he will be thanked and dismissed at the door, or in the event of his being invited to enter, he will decline, asking at the same time permission to present his respects next day, an engagement to be observed.

Public balls may be attended at watering places, and in country towns, by ladies and gentlemen who move in the best circles, but only on rare occasions, and young ladies should not be seen in such places often. In any assemblage of the kind the harmony of the ball room must be preserved.

The private ball, or party, has special claims on all guests to make the occasion enjoyable, and gentlemen will avoid such manitestations of partiality for any one lady, as must be marked by others. Dancing with one lady, or one gentleman, to the exclusion of others, is an indulgence to be shunned, as the purpose of the ball is a diffusion of enjoyment. Any person found guilty of introducing words of double meaning when ladies are present should be considered de trop in every home, and it would be waste of courtesy to call him a gentleman. No lady will recognize any such phrases, but their utterance should banish the speaker from every drawing-room. The faintest

sympathy with indelicate persons must be injurious, and may be destructive to the reputation of young persons, and,—

Good name in man or woman * * *

Is the immediate jewel of their souls.

The dance owes much of its popularity to French society, and the use of French is indispensable in the ball-room, so we append the phrases and terms most commonly used, with their meanings:—Balances; Balancer aux coins; Balances quatre en ligne; signify: “Set to, or swing partners;” “Set to, or swing to corners;” “Set four in line.” Chaine Anglaise; Chaine Anglaise double; Chaine Anglaise demi; Chaine des dames; Chaine des dames double; Chaine la grande; signify respectively: “Top and bottom couples right and left;” “Double right and left;” “Hall right and left;” “Ladies chain;” “All the ladies commence the chain at the same time;” and “All the couples chassez quite around, giving right hands and left alternately, beginning at the right until all resume places.” Chassez and Chassez croisez respectively signify: “Move to right and left;” and “Lady and gentleman moving to right and left in opposite directions.” Cavalier seul; “Gentlemen advances alone.” Demipromenade; “The couples half promenade.” Dos-a-dos; “Back to back.” Vis-a-vis; “Face to face.” Glissade; “Sliding step.” Le grand rond; Le grand tour le rond; and Le grand promenade; signify respectively: “All join hands, advance and retire twice;” “Join hands and dance round figure;” and, “All promenade round figure and back to places.” Le moulinet and Demi moulinet signify: “Hands across,” and “Ladies advance to center, give right hands and retire.” Traverser and Retraverser signify: “Opposite persons change places;” and “Cross back again.”