since all the old pioneers were there from all the surrounding cities and villages; Kentucky was well represented. Though the grandest affair that had been in Cincinnati, there was no dress there that exceeded in cost five hundred dollars, with the exception of Mrs. C., who wore diamonds valued at ten thousand dollars.
Since that time there has been a gradual increase of elegance until the opening ball of the Opera House, where there were more elegant dresses than had ever before been seen in Cincinnati. For the ball at the opening of the Opera House, like that at the Burnet House, I commenced dressing at seven in the morning and dressed till half past eleven at night. In that time I dressed twenty-seven ladies, and refused thirty-eight, not being able to attend them. I will now give you a description of a few of the dresses of those ladies who passed under my hands. One wore a gold colored silk, of unusual briliance, the skirt was plain and exceedingly full, with a train of half a yard, but sufficiently short in front to expose an exquisitely formed foot, encased in a silk gaiter, the precise shade of the dress; white point lace with buff crape pleatings formed the trimming for the drooping angel sleeves which were gracefully confined at the shoulder by a silk cord and tassel, displaying an elegant point lace undersleeve corresponding with the trimming of the neck, which was a la Pompadour, and long tassels which drooped gracefully upon the skirt from the waist and confined with white and scarlet ostrich feathers; the hair was arranged with ostrich feathers to match those of the bouquet de corsage, and corresponded with the statuesque appearance of the lady, which any queen might envy. Her opera cloak, which was
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