Page:Letters of Life.djvu/133

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SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS MENTAL PLEASURES.
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have mentioned, was for a select number of young friends of both sexes to wrap themselves up warmly, and soon after tea drive out a few miles to one of those quiet, respectable houses of entertainment, which the rural districts afforded. The season of snow being their time of harvest, they kept in readiness a large room for dancing, and a man who, after the labor of the day, was able and willing with his violin to quicken the "light, fantastic toe." There we amused ourselves for a while with quadrilles and cotillons, waltzes being happily unknown, when some slight refreshment was handed round, and we returned. Gay were our spirits with this exhilarating recreation, yet wonderfully restrained within bounds of decorum. Our party was composed of the sons and daughters of neighbors, or those who associated on intimate terms, and was seldom too large for three well-filled sleighs. Most of us had the affinity of school days, or of hereditary friendship, so that there were many subjects in common to render conversation delightful. Some of us girls were in the habit of recapitulating and prolonging these pleasures by notes, of which the following from a favorite companion, may serve as a specimen:


"Dearest L: Did not we have a good time last evening? Such a moon I We might have seen to work muslin by it. Then the smooth, well-beaten roads, and the snow so high on each side, and all over the fences