An 1890 description of a dance between Stephenville and Hamilton: “We found about 15 girls . . . the orchestra consisted of one fiddle . . . I was rather bashful, but encouraged by a fierce-looking cowboy with a villainous eye, two big pistols and a pair of three-inch spurs. I selected a partner and we began. Nothing but quadrilles, [an early form of square dance] we danced. As the cowboys warmed up they occasionally aided the caller by calling out: ‘Everybody dance just as pretty as he can!’ ‘Climb he grapevine,’ or ‘Chase the squirrel,’ etc. At the conclusion of the quadrille I escorted my partner to a seat and attempted the polite in my best style. I noticed that all the cowboys left the room . . . Before long the newcomer was signaled by the cowboys outside to join them and was told that ‘I had committed a most serious breach of etiquette by talking to my partner . . . .” State Gazette (Austin)