During the winter of 1877, a Southern woman of warm sympathies, great taste, and natural ability, having married a young man of colossal fortune, was urged to take in hand the cause of the wounded Christians in the Russian-Turkish War, and raise funds to send to their relief. To do this, she formed the “Society of the Crescent and the Cross,” and a ball was given under her auspices at the Academy of Music, remembered in society as the “Turkish Ball.” This lady did me the honor of making me the Chairman of the Floor Committee of that ball. Consulting with her, we selected the members of the opening quadrille, and took good care to choose the most brilliant women in this city. My partner was one of the greatest belles New York has ever had, a woman of such air and distinction, such beauty of face and charm of manner, as we read of, but rarely see. Our quadrille, formed on the stage of this large opera house, with the guests of the ball filling the galleries and looking down on it, was no sooner over than I found we were in this dilemma: Our little quadrille was left in full possession of the vast auditorium, and the question was, how to get the people to leave the boxes and come down to us. It was not in any way a full ball, and as the ladies who had danced in the quadrille at once retired to their boxes, they left me, as it were, sole occupant of the dancing floor. However, I rushed around and here and there collected dancing men, and succeeded in getting a respectable number on the floor, and infused spirit into the dancing. The trouble in such cases is the indisposition of ladies to dance at a public ball, other than in an opening quadrille. The ball, however, went merrily on to a late hour. A few years later, I was asked to be one of the Floor Committee of the ball to be given to the distinguished French and German officers who came over to join in our celebration of the Centennial of the Battle of Yorktown. This was the invitation: _Office of the French Reception Commission, Room 7, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, 28th October, 1881._ _Dear Sir:_ _The Commissioners appointed by the Governor of the State to extend its courtesies to the guests of the Nation, request that you will act as one of the Floor Committee on the occasion of the Ball to be given at the Metropolitan Casino, on the evening of November 7._ _An immediate answer will oblige_, _Yours very respectfully_, WILLIAM JAY, _Chairman of the Ball Committee_. _To Ward McAllister, Esq._