on. He may also ask a lady (if he has a moment to himself) to
dance with him, whether he has ever met her or not, and he can also leave
her promptly, because any "stag" called upon by an usher must dance. The
usher in turn must release every "stag" he calls upon by substituting
another; and the second by a third and so on. In order to make a ball
"go," meaning to keep everyone dancing, the ushers have on occasions to
spend the entire evening in relief work.

At a ball where there are ushers, a girl standing or sitting alone would
at once be rescued by one of them, and a rotation of partners presented to
her. If she is "hopeless"--meaning neither pretty nor attractive nor a
good dancer--even the ushers are in time forced to relieve her partners
and take her to a dowager friend of the hostess, beside whom she will be
obliged to sit until she learns that she must seek her popularity
otherwhere than at balls.

On the other hand, on an occasion when none of her friends happen to be
present, the greatest belle of the year can spend an equally deadly
evening.

=THE DANCE PROGRAM=

The program or dance-card of public balls and college class dances, has
undeniable advantages. A girl can give as many dances as she chooses to
whomever she chooses; and a man can be sure of having not only many but
uninterrupted dances with the one he most wants to be with--provided "she"
is willing. Why the dance-card is unheard of at private balls in New York
is hard to determine, except that fashionable society does not care to
take its pleasure on schedule! The gilded youth likes to dance when the
impulse moves him; he also likes to be able to stay or leave when he
pleases. In New York there are often two or three dances given on the same
evening, and he likes to drift from one to the other just as he likes to
drift from one partner to another, or not dance at all if he does not want
to. A man who writes himself down for the tenth jazz must be eagerly
appearing on the stroke of the first bar. Or if he does not engage his
partners busily at the opening of the evening, he can not dance at all--he
may not want to, but he hates not being able to.

So again we come back to the present situation and the problem of the
average young girl whose right it is, because of her youth and sweetness,
to be happy and young--and not to be terrified, wretched and neglected.
The one and only solution seems to be for her to join a group.

=THE FLOCK-SYSTEM