A BALL IN SASKATCHEWAN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 77, 2 April 1910, Page 10

A BALL IN SASKATCHEWAN.

A SKETCH OF THE EARLY DAYS OF COLONISING. "Balance to your partner. Balance to your corner. Balance to all." The caller raises his voice above the- music and tho patter of feet until it penetrates to every part of the room. At » ball in North- West Canada his is an important occupation, an the programme consists largely of quadrilles into which many new figures are constantly being introduced, and it is his duty to tell tho company what to do next. "Circle two. Circle four. Circle six." The instructions ring mysteriously in the ears qf strangers, but are obviously simplicity itself to the initiated. This particular ball is taking placo in a email settlement in Saskatchewan, and the ballroom is n large, bare apartment over a newly-built butcher's shop. As the roof has not yet been Urpap«red, when the r.iin comes later it has a damping effect on the heads, if not on the spirits, of the company Although the bail has been supposed to begin at nine o'clock, Ihe musicians, presuming on lack of competition and their indispen«ability, do not put in an appearance until eleven. Howe\ er, no untoward incident ca l disturb the merry equanimity of tlw varied gathering, which includes an expublic school boy and his sister from England who have come to make their fortunes out of a Government lot, a soldier who has been through the South African War, as well as contrasting types of British, Canadian, American, and Norwegian settlers. Between the quadrilles comes waltzing, which, curiously, always means reversing. Tho women, being in a decided minority, enjoy no lack of partners, each one feeling herself a princess to bo entreated. Tho young girls look dainty and workmanlike in 3hort skirts and pretty blouses, for evening dress would be absurdly out of Dlaco in such, an environment. It is surprising how fashionable is the cut of their cfothes, as any chopping that cannot be undertaken by tho men must be done by post. A dance may include the additional excitement of a box social. For this every woman in the place prepares a box containing v supper for two. These boxes are decorated as charmingly as feminine tabte can devise, and are put np for auction to be bid for by the men. Of course, no hint is supposed to be given as to whose box in being sold, but as it is a deckled triumph for the owner of a box when hers fetches the higheflt bid, one imagines the rule is not invariably strictly observed by the young n>en and maidens. "Certainly it would spoil the fun," someone explained, ;f ono ignorantly bid ridiculously high for his own sinter's box," and one admits the truth of this as the pair ar© expected to enjoy its contents afterwards in company. WHEN THE FIRST SETTLERS CAME. As morning dawns the merrymakers depart to the (.hacks and honwetovk. Two or threo years ago, when tho first settlers came, the place was just a stretch of unreclaimed prairie, studded in summer with innumerable flowers of the vetch family Woman, the home-maker, had not yet appeared on the scene, and many a lonely young fellow yearned for tho gentle presence of wme household angel to sweeten his toilsome days. But this was earlier. Now quite a rising town has sprung up, as it were, in a night. A church has been built, tho altar table and pews constructed by the young men in their brief leisure There is the wheat elevator, shops arj opening, and the post arrives daily; everywhere are the characteristic features of a habitation of the Anglo-Saxon race. — Daily Mail.