The occasions when people come together for a dance are so rare-maybe two or at most three times a year. The point is to show off as many gowns as possible, and since the opportunities to do so are so few and far between, the most must be made of them. So you never see a young woman show up at such a festival without a bundle containing her reserve gowns tied to the horn of her saddle. These dear young things love to appear sometimes in the middle of a dance, in a new dress, and they change them at least three times in the course of the evening. I don't know how they do it, but it's a fact.............
"Neighbors" are seperated by such vast forests that the women in particular have few opportunities to leave their homesteads to visit friends. They are that much happier, therefor, for every chance they have to get together, and you can be sure no one stays behindl If a house is to be built somewhere, the owner calls for a house-raising frolic. If someone needs help clearing felled trees and brush off a field, it's done with a log-rolling frolic. Even in the fall when it's time to husk corn, they try to arrange such gatherings. All these festivals end with a dance in the evening, the young people joining in the fun with jigs and hornpipes. The host is expected to make sure that at least one of the guests can play the fiddle, if he can't do it himself. In all cases, the invited guests apply themselves with truly American diligence to the task at hand as long as it's light, only the setting sun brings on the fun and frolic.......
"Martin" 1866
by Friedrich Gerstacker
from In The Arkansas Backwoods |
