Fanchon also thought
sandy hair attractive, Sam Williams discovered, a few minutes later, and
so catholic was her taste that a ring of boys quite encircled her before
the musicians in the yard struck up their thrilling march, and Mrs.
Schofield brought Penrod to escort the lady from out-of-town to the
dancing pavilion.
Headed by this pair, the children sought partners and paraded solemnly
out of the front door and round a corner of the house. There they found
the gay marquee; the small orchestra seated on the lawn at one side
of it, and a punch bowl of lemonade inviting attention, under a tree.
Decorously the small couples stepped upon the platform, one after
another, and began to dance.
"It's not much like a children's party in our day," Mrs. Williams said
to Penrod's mother. "We'd have been playing 'Quaker-meeting,' 'Clap-in,
Clap-out,' or 'Going to Jerusalem,' I suppose."
"Yes, or 'Post-office' and 'Drop-the-handkerchief,'" said Mrs.
Schofield. "Things change so quickly. Imagine asking little Fanchon
Gelbraith to play 'London Bridge'! Penrod seems to be having a difficult
time with her, poor boy; he wasn't a shining light in the dancing
class."
However, Penrod's difficulty was not precisely of the kind his mother
supposed. Fanchon was showing him a new step, which she taught her
next partner in turn, continuing instructions during the dancing. The
children crowded the floor, and in the kaleidoscopic jumble of bobbing
heads and intermingling figures her extremely different style of
motion was unobserved by the older people, who looked on, nodding time
benevolently.
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