Social Graces or when I learned the "Big Apple"

When I arrived at Junior High age my parents thought it was time to learn some "Social Graces." My brother and sisters learned on their own. There was a Topeka couple named Matthews who ran a ballroom dancing class for people like me. They ran a laundry in Estes Park in the summer. In the winter they came back to Topeka. The group was made up of equal amounts of girls and boys so you never sat any dance out. I generally danced with John Hessup. We met in the parents' houses. At our house we rolled the rugs in the living room and the dining room. We had a record player and we learned how to hold each other and take one step one way, two steps the other. At the end of the year we were eligible for the next year's class which was held at the Hotel Jayhawk in the Florentine Room with other groups. I learned the Big Apple. I still danced with John--two steps one way, one step the other.