floor was boarded as was
actually used for dancing. It is not too much to say that the ballroom
was elaborately decorated. High overhead were fastened graceful and
beautiful palm leaves, a dozen feet or more in length, and there were
green wreathes and initial letters flecked with flowers and bright red
berries. Men, women, and children joined efforts to make the interior of
the tent a bower of tropical beauty. The effect was most pleasing. Such
decorations in the Northern states would doubtless have cost a large sum
of money. Here they cost only a little time and labor. I wish I could
say that the ballroom was brilliantly lighted, but the gas and electric
light plants were as yet unplanted, and we had to depend on kerosene
lanterns suspended from the roof. However, as most of us had been using
only candles for illumination, the lantern light seemed very good. No
one thought of complaining that it was dark.

I shall not be able to describe the Grand Ball in all its wondrous
details, but only to make brief mention of a few of the features which
particularly impressed me. I remember that as the people gathered
together we had great difficulty in recognizing each other. We had
thought we were all well acquainted, but that was before the men and
women had gone down into the bottom of their trunks and fished out their
good clothes. The transformation, particularly in some of the men, was
paralyzing, and after we had identified the individuals inside of the
clothes, many of us forgot our company manners and opened our mouths
wide in astonishment. Men who had been accustomed to wear, seven days
in each week, a careless outing costume, or old, cheap clothes of
cotton or woolen material, or mayhap nothing more than shirt and
overalls, had suddenly blossomed out in well-fitting black suits, set
off by cuffs, high collars, and silk ties. It was a dazzling sight for
La Gloria. The men had been very negligent of their dress; scarcely one
had brought his valet with him to Cuba! There may even have been a few
dress suits at the ball, and I will not make oath that some of the women
were not in decollete gowns; to be entirely safe, however, I will not
swear that they were. The women looked very well and so did the men; all
were a credit to an American colony.

Mr. J. A. Messier ("Albany"), the floor manager and master of
ceremonies, was attired in neat and conventional dress, and performed
his duties gracefully and well. The grand marc