ate
friends.

At a country ball the guests are on a more friendly footing than is
generally the case in town; and, therefore, make a point of taking leave
of the hostess if possible.

It is optional whether a host conducts a lady to her carriage or not. In
the country more is expected of him than in town in this respect, as at
a London ball, such a civility would involve a vast amount of exertion
which few hosts would be willing to undergo: ladies accompanied by an
acquaintance generally make their way to their carriages.

* * * * *

=The Custom of covering in Small Balconies= and the windows of the
drawing-rooms where a ball takes place, rendering the atmosphere of the
room almost insupportable from the total exclusion of air, is fast
disappearing. The space gained by this means for the accommodation of
the guests is totally disproportionate to the discomfort thereby
entailed upon them.

Ball-givers have at length realised the mistake of crowding two hundred
to three hundred people together into rooms not properly ventilated, and
it is now the rule, when covering in balconies, to introduce window
frames into the bunting covering, and to drape them with lace curtains,
etc., the windows of the ball-room being entirely removed.

Large blocks of ice are frequently placed in convenient spots for the
purpose of cooling the atmosphere, and coloured ice produces a pretty
effect.

Patent ventilators are also much in use, and the substitution of
electric lighting, on account of its emitting little heat, has become
general.

Ball-goers appreciate these alterations as only those who have
experienced the close, stifling atmosphere of an over-crowded ball-room
can do, and as half the London ball-rooms are only average-sized
drawing-rooms, the absurdity of excluding air from the ball-room with
yards of thick canvas cannot be too severely criticised.

Ball-givers, too, frequently issue far more invitations than the size of
their rooms authorises, under the mistaken idea that to have a great
crowd in their rooms is to give a good ball.

But experienced ball-givers limit the number of their invitations to
under two hundred, instead of expanding it to over three hundred.

* * * * *

=The Country Ball Season= ostensibly commences in November, reaches its
zenith in January, and terminates early in February.

The stewards of these balls are, as a rule, the repres