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1.
Vermont
Mrs. Rebecca M. Halley
West Newbury, Vermont
Square Dances ,Play Parties
(Informant would not allow nmne used. I can furnish it
if desired).
"Good nawnint, ma'am, it do bit fair to be a good day,"
gave his head a quick twist to the side and a brown stream
of "Tobaccat" juice made a surprised blob on the roadside,
raising a tiny dust cloud.
"Ye want dance calls, do ye? Wa-al naow, meby I can think
some on Tem up. Uster do a lot of it when I was a young feller.
Uon't ye cone in and set? 'tis nice in the sun this
mawninl."
"ha -al naow, what do ye want? String dances or contra
dances? Both on 'em? naow, can ye beat thet?"
wheezed and chuckled like a badly fitted steam pipe, and casually
shot forth his brown stream from puckered lips. A quick and
hardly noticeable shift of quid and he proceeded.
"riot ma'am, we didn't have no fancy calls in them days. he
called len plain, no rhymes or feelishient.
They
was Lem Tucker
an' mc. started dances round here, way back when I was coin,
tl high. Yes sir, longer a7o then I like to recollect. Then
times they was a lot a them hard shelled !ithodists round about
ant they was dead set aginl dancinl. The young fry had to do
sonethin' se they uster rat 111D parties round about and play
kissin' games. 1,1.y sakes, I swan, but some of then games was
rough. I uster like to Co some hugginf an' kissinf lon7 of the
best of 'cm, but I'd ruther itfud be private. I'm a tellinf
you naew, some of them nicer gals jest wouldn't play. Too
much fer fem. I've seen the tines myself when I'd ruther
watch than play.
"7owsumever thet may be, Len. Tucker, him an' m started
square dancinf. Lem he rlayed the fiddle. He us -ter set cross-
leg7ed, like of this," and he sauatted on the rracs cross-
legged and humped hir-olf over an imaginary fiddle. 4ain that
quick bird -like twist and the juice settled slowly, drowning
7reen blades. ",a.lf when he 7ot tired of playing like of that,
he'd lay himself daown fiat on the bed on his back and shot up
his eyes. ::e'd play like tet, all by ear, mind you, for a
everinf through. I had think fast to call, naow, to keep
up on 7:11m.
"Them hard shelled 'thodists was contannation damn on
round and square dancinf. kic1 they hugged the gals too much,
that and them cards was 'abominations of the evil). a -al
the i)evil 7ot sane of them, I'll warrant.. Te *wheezed and
chuckled again and pounded his knee with his clenched. fist.
Lem ant ne, we Air It a Thlasses Candy'hill. Old
-is' 1,e7..r7 'Vain, "ler tatfs mother .o wain, uster open
up thf 110113e along about once a took. Pany's thf kitchen
junket vie hod
rs.
ain't thouht of then days for
,)onft scents though folks have seek good times naow,
t there's whore w*fe. .e uster drive with a horse
when we was fust married, out once a week, anyway, right along.
Nothinl like a little rum to ISO= your insides, a good sharp
fiddler, an a nice armful of woman t' swing here an' there.
Who -e -e -es that quickens me up some jest Willem' on it, I
MOW, I'd forgot all about it. Say, warn't that tornadic we
bed awful? I thought we'd all be blowed galley west. Tic -tic.
I can't remember them games we played, but I can re.
collect the forfeits. My, my4 7es uster 'walk a cedar swamp.'
TO ever walk a cedar swamp? No, ye wouldn't of, that was way
'fore your time. KTII, gal asked th' feller, be was way 'tother
end co th' room, the questions ant he bed tl answer truly 'yes'
or 'no'. If he could answer yes he took one step forrard, an'
if he hod to answer 'no', he took one step backlard. When be
got up so as he could reach th' gal,he could kiss her if be
could ketch her.? My, oh myt Warn't thet fun?
"Did ye ever make a sugar bowl? No? Wap-al ye put yer
fingers together to make a circle like this an' ye kiss right
through it. I swan, some on 'em liked tl stay right there
"va.0a1 I seen a few 'hot suppers' in my time. No champagne,
but some pain without the silam. It's a funny old world, take
it up one side and down tt other."