Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1860-10-26

went on merrily, if not rapidly; jokes
flew back and forth, sometimes empha-
sized with apple seeds, and sometimes
with something softer. Rustic awkward
ness in company was happily overcome,
for there was place for the hands, and
the hands had something to do. The
tongues were unloosed, first about the
work and the company, and then about
something that might have been very
hard work, under other circumstances.
Wholes in the pan were halved, and dis
consulate halves, out of it, were eventu-
ally made whole. Work and wooing
went together in those good old times,
when the kitchen was better known than
the parlor, and the presence of the cold
folks at home" did not spoil the freedom
and frolics of their children.
The last apple being pared, and the
last festoon hung up duly in its place,
there was resort to fortune telling
The rind of the apple being passed three
times round the head and dropped, inva-
riably gave the first letter in the name of
the successful lover. AS the coil of rind
almost always made an s, or something
that squinted that way. it was easy to
worm the secret out of the most bashful
swain, and point out to him his intended
Sarah or Sophia. These prophecies of
the farmers freside sometimes turned
out utalarmingly correct, and were followed
by wedding occasions and new homes
The huskings in the long evenings of
the harvest moon were larger gatherings,
and not usually cheered by the presence
Of the fair until supper time.
| "From many a brown old farm house.
And hamlet without name,
Their milking and their home tasks done,
The merry huskers came. ~. s..s.
Swung o er the heaped-up harvest
From pitchforks in the NOW,
Shone dimly down the lanterns
On the pleasant scene below; aEj
The growing pile of husks behind, t-
She golden ears BEFORE
And laughing eyes, and busy hands,
And brown cheeks glimmering DER.
Half hidden in a quiet nook ~ -.:
Serene of look and heart, ..-..
|, Talking their old times over,
.s The old men sat apart; q .E Z
| While up and down the unhusked pile,
Or nesting In its shade,
AT hide -and-seek, with laugh and shout,
The happy children played" --
In the warm frostless evenings, such
as we often have in this month, the scene
was not laid upon the rn-foor, but un-
der the open sky, the full moon giving
plenty of light to the huskers. When
the work was done, the company ad-
journed to the house, and tea, coffee,
cakes, and cheese, were served up in rus
tic style. These s'bees," as they were
sometimes called, were kindly in their
influence They often helped a short
handed neighbor in his harvest, and were
harry -vei~l esathaziraess--T Th4a--..rvttrrn
dances, already becoming too poplar
among our rural population, are poor
substitutes for these primitive and sim
pier, but more natural and enjoyable fes-
tivities of the olden time. For these
there needed no display of expensive
dress and dazzling jewelry, which are too
often the regalia of idleness aud vice.
The ''apple paring,'' and the "husking
bee, +" are pleasant October memories with
us. With little remodeling to adapt
them to the changing times, they ought
to be perpetuated among the cherished
institutions Of farm life With our
bountiful apple crop, and almost uupre-
cedented yield of corn, in all the North
and East, we shall have ample material,
and joyful occasion 'to show; up these
institutions.