DANCE

I was exceedingly delighted with the waltz, and also with the polka. These differ in name, but there the difference ceases--the dances are precisely the same. You have only to spin around with frightful velocity and steer clear of the furniture. This has a charming and bewildering effect. You catch glimpses of a confused and whirling multitude of people, and above them a row of distracted fiddlers extending entirely around the room. The waltz and the polka are very exhilarating--to use a mild term--amazingly exhilarating.
- Territorial Enterprise, Letter 12/12/1862