From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:
The Ballet was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, and we came home so late that I don’t have to go to Sunday School today. The Ballet was just like Fairy Land. We all went together, Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunt Tillie, and I, and we sat close to the stage with the same two patent leather men who had come to dinner that night with Suzanne. They brought me flowers too, just like Aunt Tillie’s. Hers are small red roses and mine are tiny pink roses tied with a lovely blue ribbon. They are called corsages and we pinned them to our muffs. All the ladies looked so beautiful and the lights were so gay and bright and the men were so handsome and it was so much fun just to watch the musicians come into the pit. They call it a pit because it is deep down under the stage. It looks a little like a bear’s den. When the musicians started to tune their instruments it sounded very scratchy but very exciting because you knew that the scratching was going to stop and some beautiful sounds would come and they did. The lights dimmed, and then it got very dark. It really got black and then the curtain went up. First there was just the beautiful music in the darkness and you couldn’t see anything at all. Then it got a tiny bit lighter but I still couldn’t find Suzanne. All I could see on the stage were millions of slaves and they were wearing beautiful gold and silver clothes and their heads were bound in turbans and I knew they were turbans because Aunt Tillie had one that she wore last winter. Hers of courses didn’t have gold, silver, and diamonds sewn in it like these. All the time I was watching, I heard the music getting big and exciting and sometimes a little sad. Then it became lighter and you could see lots of colors and then everyone on the stage began to dance. They danced with wonderful baskets of fruit and flowers with cages of golden birds and turkeys and grapes on silver platters and jugs of wine. You couldn’t see that it was wine but I was sitting next to Grandfather and he said that it was meant to be wine. Some of them danced with boxes with strings of pearls spilling out of them or strings of rubies, diamonds, or emeralds. Then all of a sudden I saw a fat man lying on some pillows. This is the Sultan, and right next to him was Scheherazade, only it wasn’t Scheherazade, it was Suzanne, but it wasn’t really Suzanne either, it was Scheherazade. She was telling stories to the Sultan, but between the stories she danced. She danced alone and she danced with a beautiful prince and she danced with all the slaves and she wanted the Sultan to dance but he wouldn’t. Maybe he couldn’t because he was so fat. Suzanne looked like an angel. Her dress was all gold and silver and diamonds and pearls and she had diamonds and pearls in her hair. In the middle of all the dancing, the curtains came together again and the lights went on and I was afraid that was the end but Grandfather said no, it was only the first act and there would be two more whole acts to follow. And then he took me outside to a little dining room and we all sat at a little table and ate chicken sandwiches. I had hot chocolate and the grown-ups had coffee. The bell rang and we went back to our seats. I don’t remember too much about the rest of the Ballet. I must have fallen asleep, but I woke up before it ended. Everyone was clapping, and everyone on the stage was in front of the curtain, and Suzanne’s arms were full of flowers. She and the others were bowing. In fact I as wide awake and I wanted to go to the restaurant with Aunt Tillie and Suzanne and Mr. Ralph and Mr. Leonard. I’ve never been to that kind of restaurant, the kind where ladies and gentlemen go after the theater at night. Grandfather said that in just ten years more I can go. Then Mr. Leonard said, “Never mind, Hilda, you know I am waiting for you until you grow up.” So I went home in the carriage with Grandmother and Grandfather.
