THE MINERS' BALL. 257 



your places, salute your partners,' tlien crash 

 went two fiddles, crowding out a break-down. 

 Again the voice ' Half right and left ' and 

 off they went. The sounds of countless feet, 

 scuffling rapidly over a floor, told me, in lan- 

 guage not to be mistaken, that a ball was going 

 briskly on very near my head. 



I sat up, rubbed my eyes, took a long mourn- 

 ful yawn, and began to consider what had best 

 be done. I discovered that a thin wooden par- 

 tition only intervened betwixt my head and the 

 ball-room ; everything rattled to the jigging tune 

 of the music and the dancers ; the windows, the 

 doors, the wash-crockery, the bed, all jigged; and 

 I began to feel myself involuntarily nodding to 

 the same measure, and jigging mentally like the 

 rest. Shades of the departed ! I could not stand 

 this. Goodby bed, and feathers, and sleep! I 

 may as well dance in reality as in imagination ; 

 and abandoning all my anticipated delights, 

 dressed, and entered the ball-room. 



It was a long room, lighted with candles hung 

 against the wall in tin sconces ; the company if 

 variety is charming was perfect. The costumes, 

 as a rule, were more suggestive of ease than 

 elegance ; scarlet shirts and buckskin ' pants ' 

 were in the ascendant. The boots as a rule, 



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