RISE OF SOCIETY WRITING
THE first real account of a society event ever published in a news on the Pacific Coast appeared in the second number of the paper Oregon Spectator February 19, 1846. The event was a ball at Vancouver. Under a single-line sidehead the item appeared as follows:
Captain Baillie and the gun-room officers of H.B.M.S. Modeste entertained a numerous circle at a ball here, upon Wednesday evening. There was a brilliant assemblage of the "fair sex" of Oregon; and although in the far west, yet from the gay display that night we are proud to state that the infant colony can boast of as pretty faces and handsome "figures" as the mother country. Dancing commenced at 8 o'clock, and it was pleasing to see the "tripping on the light fantastic toe" kept up with such spirit. The dresses of the ladies was a theme of universal admiration, combining neat ness, elegance, and ease. Reels, country dances, figures eight, and jigs was the order of the evening; and if we do not yet come that fashionable dance, the Polka, still we live in hopes of seeing it introduced at our city balls, a gentleman who knows and dances it well and who lately visited the Falantine Plains having kindly volunteered to instruct the Oregonian beauties in its intricacies.Vancouver, February 7, 1846.
A glimpse of the social life and the society reporting of the middle 50's in Oregon is afforded by the following from the Oregonian, August 23, 1856:
A complimentary ball was given by the friends of Capt. Withers, U.S.A., to that gentleman at the Metropolis Hotel, on Thursday evening last. A large number of ladies and gentlemen were present from Oregon City, Vancouver, Astoria, and other places, as well as from this city. Everything was got up in a style unequalled before in Oregon. The large hall at Keith's Metropolis Hotel was most beautifully decorated and lighted up with several brilliant chandeliers, which, with the enchanting music from the splendid band belonging to the military post at Vancouver, and the beautiful daughters of "old Mother Eve," produced a scene of gaiety seldom equalled in any country. The supper was the best we have seen gotten up on this coast, and was enjoyed with as much relish as the dance. Everything, in short, was in tip-top order, and was a compliment to the gentlemen who got it up, as well as to Capt. Withers.
