Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/216



186 A GLANCE AT BUENOS AIRES.

to hear that the married women of Buenos Aires had in a memorial to the Archbishop^ prayed him to close the Al- cazar^ or at least to keep their husbands away from it. Silly married women â€” as if the remedy were not in their own hands!

Far different^ though situated in Alcazar- street _, are the humours of the " Progreso Balls/"' which are frequented by all the celebrities and somebodies in the city. The Club is most hospitable in sending out its invitations,, and Mr. Constant Santa Maria never lets his countrymen lack the hint to attend. Socially considered^ the Club Progreso is of the highest order, the members are the best men, and though its object is of course political, its opinions are not extreme. Physically it is a handsome house, laid out more in French than in English style ; and having been built by a Spaniard, the basement floor is let to shops and stores.

The ball hardly opens before 1 a.m., though the local dinner hour is 5 to 6 p.m. â€” why not make it at once 2 a.m., and snatch the " beauty-sleep^^ before going ? A few, very few, heavily bearded old ladies represent the dowager and the chaperon, so perhaps the hours are not merely fashion- able and absurd. Unmarried girls accompany their mar- ried sisters, which savours of innocence. The toilettes greatly vary, these resemble peignoirs â€” those might be seen at the Tuileries. I cannot wax enthusiastic about the beauty : an Englishwoman there suggested the lines â€”

" So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows."

The men are extensively *^ got up ;" every cheek displays the handiwork of the artiste ; every head has been sub- jected to the curling-irons; the dressing-room is crowded throughout the night, and at times a youth in a sly corner of the ball-room draws through his wiry locks the furtive comb. Yet, with the exception of a foreigner or two, there