The number of young men and women who came together on the occasion was about one hundred, and while they were trimming themselves for the approaching dance, the musician, a huge, long-legged and bony Dutchman, was tuning a rusty fiddle. The thirty minutes occupied by him in this interesting business were employed by the male portion of the guests in “wetting their whistles.” The dresses worn on the occasion were eminently rustic and unique. Those of the gentlemen, for the most part, were made of a coarse grey cloth, similar to that worn by the residents on Blackwell’s Island, while the ladies were arrayed in white cotton, trimmed with a narrow scarlet ribbon. Pumps being out of vogue, cow-hide boots were worn by the former, and calf brogans by the latter.
All things being now ready, a terribly loud shriek came from the poor little fiddle, and the clattering of heels commenced, shaking the building to its very foundation. “On with the dance, let joy be unconfined,” seemed to be the motto of all present; and from the start, there seemed to be a strife between the male and the female dancers, as to who should leap the highest and make the most noise. Desperate were the efforts of the musician, as he toiled away upon his instrument, keeping discord with his heels; and every unusual wail of the fiddle was the forerunner of a profuse perspiration, which came rolling off of the fiddler’s face to the floor. And then the joyous delirium of the musician was communicated to the dancers, and as the dance proceeded, their efforts became still more desperate; the women wildly threw back their hair, and many of the men took off their coats, and rolled up their shirt-sleeves for the purpose of keeping cool. In spite of every effort, however, the faces of the dancers became quite red with the excitement, and the hall was filled with a kind of heated fog, in which the first “break-down” of the evening concluded.
Then followed the refreshment scene. The men drank whisky and smoked cigars, while the women feasted upon mince-pies, drank small beer, and sucked molasses candy. Some of the smaller men, or boys, who were too lazy to dance, sneaked off into an out-of-the-way room for the purpose of pitching pennies; while a few couples, who were victims to the tender passion, retired to some cozy nook, to bask unobserved in each other’s smiles.