shocked._

Now this little animal was not, as may be supposed by some, one of the
"common or unclean," but he was one of the elite, a regular _society_
mink. He was covered with very fine fur, but had his stomach filled with
stolen chickens. I leave the application to all to whom these presents
may come, GREETING. _When I want to buy a hat, I never take one unless
it fits me_.

More or less of the girls participating in the dance are engaged to be
married, and great effort is made to keep this a profound secret, so she
very naturally has every man for a partner except her intended. Here is
music in the back-ground, if her intended is present, and he is sure to
be there if he is in striking distance--if he is not down with typhoid
fever or in prison.

This music is in his heart, in the nature of clamoring for blood, by a
legion of different sized devils. It may be there is not one man in the
room that would have his girl under any consideration whatever, but he
imagines that they all want her. The female outfit for the ball consists
of girls and a number of young married women, and some a little older,
and some old women, forty to fifty years old, with grown children, false
teeth, false hair, and bloats to swell out their wrinkled cheeks, and
they, too, are dressed in the _fashion_ with red ribbons, and blue and
green; these furnish the _disgust_ for the occasion--and one of them has
been known to furnish disgust enough for a city of ten thousand
inhabitants, and of the very best quality. Let us return to the basket
containing the young married people, and examine the fruit therein.
Reader, did you ever see the young married woman watching her husband as
he glides up and down in the merry dance, _with an old sweetheart in his