The guests were by far the most curious feature of the entertainment. Their costumes represented a wide range of efforts to comply with the request, printed in bold letters on the invitation cards, that they should come in evening dress. Some of the ladies were correctly low-necked, but by far the greater number represented the frugal spirit of their nation by wearing costumes which would have been equally suitable for a concert or a christening. Others, again, appeared in walking dress and bonnets, and there was one unmistakable cycling skirt, Diamond rings worn over cotton gloves were another attention-compelling item. One good lady, whose appearance suggested that she followed the useful and honourable calling of a charwoman, trod heavily through the rooms in a short black stuff skirt, baize alpaca blouse and green velveteen toque with a bedraggled black feather. By way of contrast came a tall, elegant blonde in dark blue silk trimmed with handsome Brussels lace, and an aristocratic old gentleman having on each arm a girl wearing a pale pink satin decollete gown with a train.
e men had of course less scope for variety in their attire, but it was impossible not to admire the calm courage with which some of them walked about with their hats on. There were many smart young clerks in full evening dress with studs; middle-aged gentlemen in long and wonderful pleated fronts and aggressive rather greasy frock coats and tumbled ties officers. in uniform and municipal councillors with tricoloured scarves over their shirt fronts. One young man calmly promenaded through the ball-room in a brown suit, coloured tie and yellow gloves, very much the worse for wear. Another appeared in a heavy overcoat and round hat, accompanied by a damsel in a black stuff dress and woollen gloves. And yet these people who did not know how to dress knew how to behave. They walked decorously through the rooms, showed no trace of embarrassment, and were no worse than anyone ¢lse when the time came to attack the buffets. for a time, under the incentive of free Here the red man came to the sxcfoce
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.