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REPUBLICAN CA^IDATE ADELBERT AMES
SPENDS PLEASANT EVENING AT BAY ST. LOUIS ? PLANS PREPARATION SPEACH OF ACCEPTANCE AS GOVERNOR CANDIDATE August - 1873
(Letter from formerly U.S.Gen. Adelbert Ames but presently U. S. Senator from Mississippi and candidate for Governor vritten at Shieldsboro, Miss., to vife Mrs. Blanche Butler Ames in Massachusetts.)
August 17, 1873 - Shieldsboro, Miss.
Ride	*	f'
Pleasant	and	Game	of	Croquet
Yesterday I rode over the shell road vitji Mr. and Mrs. Raymond.
We had a game of croquet after supper, and as darkness came before it vas finished, ve had the grounds dotted vith people vith lamps in their hands, to give us light.
Sana Attended Colored Bal!\
I had an invitation to a colored ball last evening, and vith three acquaintances attended it.
It vas at a colored hotel. The assemblage vas small, oving to the fact it vas said that the out train from Nev Orleans failed to stop at a certain street as vas expected.
Except as to color, nothing out of the usual order of a country ball vas perceptible. The belles vere evidently a Creole from the Mississippi River above Nev Orleans and a vhite girl apparently raised, it vas said, by the hostess.
Bathing
After vieving the dancing for a fev minutes, ve vent a-bathing. The vater vas delightful. We of the north do not knov the luxury of bathing. Here one is inclined to rem&in in the vater any length of time. I can understand hov it is the savage inhabitants of islands under the equator are half amphibious.
The vater last night vas full of phosphorous and often a rapid motion of the hand under vater vouid leave a small luminous ball behind. As ve svam along, little sharks like electric sparks vere thrown off, or vould roll up the arm.
Finally ve came out, and I vent to bed, thinking of you and in my sleep dreamed of you. The night vas cool, as are all the nights here, and I avoke this morning, this Sunday morning, much refreshed.