192 FARMING IT 



the Wedding March from Lohengrin, fortissimo 

 and at double time, marched into Daniel's house 

 and down the broad hall, where, to the great con- 

 fusion and amazement of the doctor and the 

 young lady, we presented the entire lot of ware, 

 in sections, and with oratory, to the young cou- 

 ple. They recovered promptly from their em- 

 barrassment, and it was a late hour when we left 

 Daniel's weary with well-doing and sated with 

 good cheer. 



When an entire neighborhood winds up an 

 evening with old fashioned square and contra- 

 dances, with pigeon-wings, Kensington balances 

 and waist-swings; when a gentleman of three 

 hundred pounds' weight goes down the centre 

 with a maiden lady of seventy-eight, like a lithe 

 youth of eighteen with a young matron of twenty- 

 eight, and when two aged but courtly bachelors 

 give an exhibition of ante-bellum dancing that 

 would astonish a modern Papanti, one can read- 

 ily conclude that performers and spectators are 

 keyed to the highest pitch of enjoyment. 



Indeed, the play and the dance were so enjoy- 

 able that the evening was but a precursor of many 

 other evenings of similar enjoyment ; and before 

 the week was past a meeting was held at the old 

 gentleman's house and an association formed 

 known as the "Masque Club," in which plays 

 are recited periodically, with the book and with 



