New York has long been celebrated for its magnificent social
entertainments. Its balls, dinner parties, receptions, private
theatricals, pic-nics, croquet parties, and similar gatherings are
unsurpassed in respect to show in any city in the world. Every year some
new species of entertainment is devised by some leader in society, and
repeated throughout the season by every one who can raise the money to
pay for it. The variety, however, is chiefly in the name, for all
parties, breakfasts, dinners, suppers, or receptions are alike.
Of late years it is becoming common not to give entertainments at one's
residence, but to hire public rooms set apart for that purpose. There is
a large house in the upper part of Fifth avenue, which is fitted up
exclusively for the use of persons giving balls, suppers, or receptions.
It is so large that several entertainments can be held at the same time
on its different floors, without either annoying or inconveniencing the
others. The proprietor of the establishment provides everything down to
the minutest detail, the wishes and tastes of the giver of the
entertainment being scrupulously respected in everything. The host and
hostess, in consequence, have no trouble, but have simply to be on hand
at the proper time to receive their guests. This is a very expensive
mode of entertaining, and costs from 5000 to 15,000 dollars, for the
caterer expects a liberal profit on everything he provides; but to those
who can afford it, it is a very sensible plan. It saves an immense
amount of trouble at home, and preserves one's carpets and furniture from
the damage invariably done to them on such occasions, and averts all
possibility of robbery by the strange servants one is forced to employ.
Still, many who possess large and elegant mansions of their own prefer to
entertain at their own homes.
On such occasions, the lady giving the entertainment issues her
invitations, and usually summons the famous Brown, the Sexton of Grace
Church, to assist her in deciding who shall be asked beyond her immediate
circle of friends. Mr. Brown is a very tyrant in such matters, and makes
out the list to suit himself rather than to please the hostess. He has
full authority from her to invite any distinguished strangers who may be
in the city.
Upon the evening appointed a carpet is spread from the curbstone to the
front door, and over this is placed a temporary awning. A policeman is
engaged to keep off the crowd and regulate the movements of the
carriages. About nine o'clock magnificent equipages, with drivers and
footmen in livery, commence to arrive, and from these gorgeous vehicles
richly dressed ladies and gentlemen alight, and pass up the carpeted
steps to the entrance door. On such occasions gentlemen are excluded
from the carriage if possible, as all the space within the vehicle is
needed for the lady's skirts. The lady is accompanied by a maid whose
business it is to adjust her _toilette_ in the dressing room, and see
that everything is in its proper place.
At the door stands some one, generally the inevitable Brown, to receive
the cards of invitation. Once admitted, the ladies and gentlemen pass
into the dressing rooms set apart for them. Here they put the last
touches to their dress and hair, and, the ladies having joined their
escorts, enter the drawing room and pay their respects to the host and
hostess. When from one to two thousand guests are to be received, the
reader may imagine that the labors of the host and hostess are not
slight.
Every arrangement is made for dancing. A fine orchestra is provided, and
is placed so that it may consume as little space as possible. A row of
chairs placed around the room, and tied in couples with
pocket-handkerchiefs, denotes that "The German" is to be danced during
the course of the evening. There is very little dancing, however, of any
kind, before midnight, the intervening time being taken up with the
arrivals of guests and promenading.
About midnight the supper room is thrown open, and there is a rush for
the tables, which are loaded with every delicacy that money can buy. The
New York physicians ought to be devoutly thankful for these suppers.
They bring them many a fee. The servants are all French, and are clad in
black swallow-tail coats and pants, with immaculate white vests, cravats
and gloves. They are as active as a set of monkeys, and are capital
hands at anticipating your wants. Sometimes the refreshments are served
in the parlors, and are handed to the guests by the servants.
The richest and costliest of wines flow freely. At a certain
entertainment given not long since, 500 bottles of champagne, worth over
four dollars each, were drunk. Some young men make a habit of abstaining
carefully during the day, in order to be the better prepared to drink at
night. The ladies drink almost as heavily as the men, and some of them
could easily drink their partners under the table.
After supper the dancing begins in earnest. If The German is danced it
generally consumes the greater part of the evening. I shall not
undertake to describe it here. It is a great mystery, and those who
understand it appear to have exhausted in mastering it their capacity for
understanding anything else. It is a dance in which the greatest freedom
is permitted, and in which liberties are taken and encouraged, which
would be resented under other circumstances. The figures really depend
upon the leader of the dance, who can set such as he chooses, or devise
them, if he has wit enough. All the rest are compelled to follow his
example. The dance is thoroughly suited to the society we are
considering, and owes its popularity to the liberties, to use no stronger
term, it permits.
[Picture: THE GERMAN]
The _toilettes_ of the persons present are magnificent. The ladies are
very queens in their gorgeousness. They make their trails so long that
half the men are in mortal dread of breaking their necks over them; and
having gone to such expense for dry goods in this quarter, they display
the greatest economy about the neck and bust. They may be in "full
dress" as to the lower parts of their bodies, but they are fearfully
undressed from the head to the waist.
Towards morning the ball breaks up. The guests, worn out with fatigue,
and not unfrequently confused with liquor, take leave of their hosts and
go home. Many of them repeat the same performance almost nightly during
the season. No wonder that when the summer comes they are so much in
need of recuperation.