A chocolate waltz at midnight

In winter, during carnival, the village held whip-round balls — everyone chipped in to the fun with whatever they could. An accordion and a drum played, and people danced late into the night. Doughnuts were baked by the hundred, and orangeade was drunk from bottles with the price pressed into the glass.

There was a custom: at midnight the "chocolate waltz" was played. The men chose partners, and the prize was a bar of chocolate — a rare thing then. The way home from the dance in Czarne led through the forest, so a paraffin lantern was prepared for my parents.

I set this down because such small things appear in no chronicle. And yet it was of them that the real life of the village was made.