_A COLONIAL BALL._
We had not been long settled in Matakohe when an invitation to a ball
at Mr. M----'s was received, asking us to go early in the day, as
the tide then suited best, to bring our evening clothes with us, and
to dress there. We accomplished the journey in my punt, for I had by
this time one of my own, and on our arrival at Mr. M----'s found the
household very busy with preparations.
One half the spacious verandah had been closed in with canvas, and
formed a supper room. It was decorated with flags, Nikau palms, ferns,
and flowers with very pretty effect. The other half was to be utilised
as a promenade, and was hung with Chinese lanterns.
As the afternoon advanced, guests began to arrive--some on horseback,
and some by boat. They all brought their evening clothes with them,
not in portmanteaus, but in _flour bags_. It is most surprising to a
new chum to see the manifold uses to which flour bags are put to here.
Besides usually taking the place of portmanteaus, they are made into
aprons, kitchen cloths, dusters, and sometimes even into trousers for
boys. Not long ago I met a lad with a pair on. On one leg, printed in
large red letters, was "Wood silk dressed;" and on the other "Lamb's
Superfine." Almost every one bakes at home in the country, so flour
bags are very plentiful.
Rather late in the afternoon a gentleman arrived in a punt with his
wife. It was nearly low water, and he got stranded in the mud fully a
quarter of a mile from the beach. Finding he could not get the punt
any further, he jumped overboard--sinking immediately nearly up to his
waist--and pushed the punt with his wife in it to the shore. Changing
his clothes in a boat-house on the beach, he shortly after appeared at
the house as though nothing unusual had occurred, and I don't think
considered his adventure worthy of mention to any one.
I have had several mud-larking experiences myself since then, but
have not yet learned to behave with the _sang froid_ displayed by the
gentleman on this occasion.
When the time arrived for donning our dress clothes, I was ushered into
a huge barn standing close to the house, where several washing basins,
brushes and combs, looking-glasses and other toilet necessaries had
been placed in position on tables and boxes. Between thirty and forty
gentlemen, in various stages of dressing, were there, and jokes and
repartee were being bandied about freely. Several of the gentlemen
caricatured in that amusing book, "Brighter Britain,"--written after a
visit of the author to this part of the colony,--were present, and most
of them had already called and made my acquaintance.
The feat of dressing accomplished, and having succeeded in arranging my
tie in some sort of fashion by the aid of a hand-glass and flickering
candle, I proceeded to the drawing-room, from whence already issued the
enlivening strains of one of Godfrey's valses.
The settlers up here, and in the province of Auckland generally, are
most enthusiastic about dancing. Young and old, married and single,
all delight in it, and no opportunity of indulging in a dance is ever
neglected.
Flirtation I have never seen attempted, and conversation indeed is only
sparsely carried on. It is in the dancing itself that the enjoyment is
centred, and to it the attention of both ladies and gentlemen is almost
wholly directed. An anxious expression is ofttimes observable on the
face of a male performer, as though his whole mind was concentrated in
the effort to acquit himself well in the task before him; but though is
countenance depicts no pleasurable emotion, he doubtless enjoys himself
immensely.
On the present occasion dancing was carried on with unrelaxed vigour
until past midnight, when a move was made to the supper room. The inner
man refreshed, dancing was resumed, and day began to dawn before the
party broke up.
The greater part of the ladies slept at the house, though some rode
straight away after donning their riding-habits. The gentlemen, about
forty in number, were accommodated in the barn with beds of soft hay
and rugs.
The ease with which the ladies out here do without the paraphernalia,
considered in England as necessary in preparing for a ball, struck
me greatly at this, my first colonial one. The dressing of a young
lady at home is a big affair, embracing an elaborate costume, an
equally elaborate toilette, hair-dressing, and goodness knows what
all, and concluding generally with an elaborate bill. Out here a
light dress of muslin or some similar material, relieved with a little
ribbon, and hair ornamented with a flower or two, constitutes the
full evening costume of a young lady. She looks quite as nice as her
semi-manufactured rival in England, and there is no prospect of a big
bill for papa in the immediate future to mar her evening's amusement.
The gentlemen are equally negligent. If they have dress clothes, they
put them on; but if they have not, they appear in whatever cut of black
coat they happen to be the proprietors of, and enjoy themselves every
bit as much as their swallow-tailed companions.
Before I left Mr. M----'s residence, he informed me that the
fish-preserving scheme had turned out a failure, and that my bearded
acquaintance had received a letter from his partner in the Waikato,
in which he stated that the fish forwarded in the two tubs had sold
readily at one shilling each, but had made all who partook of them very
ill. "He presumed," he wrote, "that there must be something wrong with
the German preserving preparation," and concluded by stating that as he
had no wish to be apprehended for manslaughter, he must decline to have
anything more to do with the business.