My Virtues!
“Mrs. Kalen, let me present Mr. Black.”
“Mrs. Frummly, have you met Mr. Stewart?” and so on, world without end! This, at a large gathering, the one object of which is to get members of a community to really know each other! And at that, if it were possible for the hosts to see that every guest was introduced to every other guest, would even that do a great deal toward helping members of a community to know each other, other than to have spoken one another’s names? Put a human and socializing element in those introductions, and they will know more about each other than just names, and what’s more, they’ll like each other!
The men form one line and the women another, all of them facing the front of the room. When the music starts the men march down one side of the room to the back, and the women down the other. They meet and take partners as they come in the line of march, coming up the center of the room with their partners. When they reach the front, all couples march to the right, forming a large double circle around the room. The leader then makes an announcement to the effect that in order to make sure that everyone knows all the virtues of his fellow guests, splendid opportunities will be given for the flaunting of those virtues. Partners face each other, shake hands, introduce themselves, and then, with hands on hips, begin telling all the nice things they know about themselves, real or imaginary.
The only difficulty is that they have to do it at the same time, which makes it hard occasionally for one’s partner to hear about all the lovely qualities one possesses or aspires to possess! They are given just a minute for this when another whistle is blown which is a signal for the men only to walk forward until a second whistle stops them. The woman nearest them is their next partner. They shake hands with these new partners, and one’s virtues again become the topic of importance.
This continues for not more than five minutes. That will be enough!
Is it necessary to say that next day, when Mrs. Kalen meets Mr. Black at the bank, that she doesn’t wonder, “Have I ever met that man before?” Rather, it is, “Why, good morning, Mr. Black! Are you still the perfect man you thought yourself last night?”