ginia by Bob. I
might have been comforted by the nice way Kittie Fleming treated me, if
I had had eyes for any one but Virginia; but when Kittie smiled on me, I
always thought how much sweeter was Virginia's smile. But _her_ smiles
that evening were all for Bob Wade. In fact, he gave nobody else a
chance. It really seemed as if the governor and his wife were pleased to
see him deserting Kittie Fleming, but whether or not this was because
they thought the poor orphan Virginia a better match, or for the reason
that any new flame would wean him from Kittie I could not say. And I
suppose they thought Kittie's encouraging behavior to me was not only a
proof of her low tastes, or rather her lack of ambition, but a sure sign
to Bob that she was not in his class. So far as I was concerned I was
wretched, especially when the younger people began turning the gathering
into a "play party."

Now there was a difference between a play party and a kissing party or
kissing bee, as we used to call it. The play party was quite
respectable, and could be indulged in by church-members. In it the
people taking part sang airs each with its own words, and moved about in
step to the music. The absence of the fiddle and the "calling off" and
the name of dancing took the curse off. They went through figures a lot
like dances; swung partners by one hand or both; advanced and retreated,
"balanced to partners" bowing and saluting; clasping hands, right and
left alternately with those they met; and balanced to places, and the
like. Sometimes they had a couple to lead them, as in the dance called
the German, of which my granddaughter tells me; but usually they were
all supposed to know the way the play went, and the words were always
such as to help. Here is the one they started off with that night:

"We come here to bounce around,
We come here to bounce around,
We come here to bounce around,
Tra, la, la!
Ladies, do si do,
Gents, you know,
Swing to the right,
And then to the left,
And all promenade!"

Oh, yes! I have seen Wades and Flemings and Holbrooks and all the rest
singing and hopping about to the tune of _We Come Here to Bounce
Around_; and also _We'll All Go Down to Rowser_; and _Hey, Jim Along,
Jim Along Josie_; and _Angelina Do Go Home_; and _Good-by Susan Jane_;
and _Shoot the Buffalo_; and _Weevilly Wheat_; and _Sandy He Belonged to
the Mill_; and _I've Been to the East, I've