Page 37 - 1917 Hartridge

The June Dance, 1916
((And there was sound of revelry by night.)1
Byron.
Crisp and cool the night wind blew into the big auditorium, which had been transformed, for the occasion, into a flower-decked ball-room. At one end of the hall was the stage, banked with blossoms, and at the other stood the proud ex-seniors, flushed with their rapid change from senior to grad­ uate, from graduate to a place in the receiving line.
T he occasion was really a function— an annual function, the dance given by Miss Hartridge in honor of the graduates. It began, this night of June, at eight o’clock. Many of the girls were late, owing to their unsuccessful attempts to remove whiskers and rouge, relics of the play produced that afternoon. But by nine o’clock. Van Eps’s orchestra was playing such lively and “catchy” Invitations to dance, that the floor was crowded with moving couples, the girls a splash of color against the men’s dark costumes.
After each dance there was a general exodus in the direction of the punch howl In the hall. From there everyone went for a promenade on the long verandah. At the sound of tuning up, back flocked the promen-
aders, and thus It went until the grand march led to the supper rooms. I'he classrooms of the day before had been transformed by rugs, easy chairs, and cushions, and now chattering couples ate delicious Ice-cream
and dainty cakes amid much laughing and talking.
After a while, dancing began again. Not until after one o’clock next
morning, when the last couple had hidden Miss Hartridge “ good-night” (it should have been “ good-morning” ) was the big hall silent and cieserted, and safe for the mythical gray mouse to venture forth in search of some stray crumbs.
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Adele DeLeeuw,’i8.
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