Some time after the visit just described, President Juarez gave a ball in honor of the anniversary of Mexican [pg 282] independence. We had the honor, in common with some other Americans, of receiving an invitation to the ball, which, of course, we accepted.
There were four American ladies in our party—two the wives of infantry officers stationed at Fort Bliss, the post surgeon's wife, and the wife of one of the leading citizens of Franklin. We were all invited to pass the night—or such portion of it as would remain after the close of the ball—at the mansion of a lady, a native of El Paso, of American descent.
We were bestowed in three or four vehicles, and forded the Rio Grande successfully a little before dark. We found El Paso in festal array. The cathedral was covered with shining lamps from foundation to steeple. The Plaza was brilliantly illuminated, and crowds of both sexes were already assembling for the grand open-air baile of the profanum vulgus. Class lines of demarcation are very sharply drawn in El Paso, and the gente fina alone were admissible to the president's ball.
We dined at the Señora L——'s, where we had the pleasure of meeting several Mexican officers of high rank. Among them were General Ruiz, the Postmaster-General (another sinecurist just then), and other staff officers, whose names we have forgotten. A little son of one of the officers at Fort Bliss—a child of five or six, who spoke Spanish very well, having passed nearly all his little life in New Mexico, only remaining sufficiently long in New York to set all doubts at rest as to his being born in the Empire State—became a very great favorite with the Mexican officers.
Between ten and eleven p.m. our vehicles were again in requisition, and away we went to the ball. It was given in the spacious house of a wealthy citizen, the front of which was brilliantly illuminated. A guard of Mexican soldiers was posted in front of the house, and lined the long hall leading to the ball-room. Their pieces were at order, and they saluted the chief officers by striking the butt of their muskets against the ground. They were dressed in gray jackets, like the undress of the New York National Guard, white cross belts, white trousers, and a leather cap, somewhat Hussar shape.
We had the honor of giving an arm to one of the four American ladies on entering. Arrived at the door of the ball-room, four white-vested and kid-gloved Mexican gentlemen offered an arm each to the four American ladies, bowing at and smiling most sweetly on us the while. At first, we were disposed to resist “the deep damnation of this taking off.” The ladies hesitated and drew back. The situation would have become remarkably comic; but Don Juan Z——, well-known to all Americans who visit El Paso, seeing the critical state of affairs, came to us and whispered that it was the costumbre del pais—the custom of the country. We submitted, but, we fear, not with a good grace. By the way, we only saw our American ladies at a distance for the rest of the evening. The Mexican gentlemen took entire charge of them. Don Juan informed us that we were expected to take our revenge among the señoras and señoritas.
The ball-room was very tastefully arranged. The placeta, or open square in the centre of all Mexican houses, on which all the rooms in the building open, was roofed and floored for the ball-room. The window-curtains were hung outside the window of the house; mirrors, paintings, etc., [pg 283] were hung on the outer walls, making the illusion that you were inside the house instead of outside of it, complete. American and Mexican flags were festooned around the walls. The music, softly and sweetly played, was placed in a side room, entirely out of sight. No braying cornet flayed your ears, and no howling fiddler, calling out the figures from a position dominating everything and everybody, gave you an attaque de nerfs. The fiddlers would be heard, not seen. The waltz, the national dance of Mexico, was, of course, the terpsichorean pièce de résistance; but a fair number of quadrilles were sprinkled through the programme, in compliment to the Americans.
We have seen many balls in the Empire City—some given under “most fashionable auspices”—but we must in justice declare that we have seen none which surpassed the Mexican President's ball. There may have been more glare, more glitter, more diamonds, if you will, but there certainly was not more good taste, more elegance and refinement, more genuine good-breeding and gentlemanly and ladylike good-humor. There was no rushing, steam-engine fashion, the length of the ball-room; knocking couples to the right and left, and tearing dresses, without even an apology. The ladies were richly but not gaudily dressed, and made no barbaric display of golden ornaments, as their New Mexican sisters are wont to do on bailé occasions. The gentlemen—except the army officers—wore the traditional black dress-coat and pantaloons, with white vest and gloves, clothes and gloves fitting admirably, for the gente fina of El Paso got both from Paris. The army officers were, of course, in full uniform, the American uniform looking rather sombre compared with the red-leg top trousers, with broad gold or silver stripes, and the magnificent gold-embroidered sashes of the Mexican general and field officers. By the way, the lowest officer in rank of the Mexicans in the ball-room was a colonel. The only captains and lieutenants admitted were the Americans. Juarez' son—“the image of his father”—though somewhat shorter in stature, in the undress uniform of a second lieutenant of artillery was in the vestibule with the guard.
The president, with his cabinet and staff, was already in the ball-room when we arrived. After being dispossessed of our fair companions, we were ushered to the portion of the room in which the president sat. We paid our respects in turn, and were kindly and cordially welcomed. Juarez was dressed in plain black, except his gloves, which, of course, were white.
The male portion of the American party then broke ranks, and spread themselves through the ball-room, enjoying themselves each after his fashion; some in the fascinating “see-saw” of the Spanish dance, others in the apartments off the ball-room where exhilaration of a different kind was provided.