St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-25

| carry out of the yard-and started back
| to the city to carry out his generous
intentions. The load grew burden
some. but he struggled on and
| reached the outskirts of the city-aw-
| fully tired-juSt before daylight. Here
| his generous work began. He deposited
/ one of the birds on Elder NiellS front
/ porch, left one Tep0Sing on Gov. Ram
| sey'S premises, took the third 10 Gen.
| Si5ley. and gave two to his landlady.
| Then he went to bed amt slept the sleep
| of the innocent. He had done generous
! act to his neighbOrs-and to this day he
| cannot be made to understand that he
/ did any wrong to Judge Baker. his re-
ply always belng-"N by, he had twenty,
! and | only took five-l was very mod
! crate: and if the judge only knew the
strong temptation had to 20 back and
/ get team and take the whole cabnOdle,
he would commend me for my powers
| of self-cOntrol."
! This story has never been told before
| in print, but it is true, ana simply shows
| how generous our pioneer settlers were
| lin the expenditure of nervous force for
/ the comfort of their neighbOrS.
! Even in those lOmg-agO days there was
| considerable style, and the fOreshadow-
| ing of the elegancieS of our modern
L
parties were given during the holiday
| season in the capital city, to which the
newspaper reporter was invited and
| fed bOuntifully at the second table on
| cold turkey and CHI m agne cider in
| consideration of his g.V Ig the blowout
a good write-up in the Pioneer, Mime
sOtian or Times of the next morning.
! The remnant OF these ancient beauX
and bellies of that lOng-agO periOd-now
| grown fat, rheumatic and unintertst-
| ing-are to be met with meandering
| about the streets. and
ARE EASILY RECOGNIZABLE
by all the old settlers. What beauti-
full girl she was thirty years ago." was
the mental ejaculation, as lady, poorly
| dressed, with cane in her hand,
! passed down Seventh street few days
ago. In IS she was Juno in beauty,
with a beautiful home, innumerabIe
suitors, and every gift that fortune
could confer upon her. Now poor, neg
lected, fat, coarse, old and faded.
Now. get you to my lady'S chamber
and tell her, let her paint all inch thick,
to this favour must she come"
But in the rural districts in those
daNs the social circle was essentially
democratic. In the country eSpt c ally,
where there were usually long distances
between neighbOrS, tie social side of
our common human nature became so
starved that when the long-delayed
gatherings did occur, one WAS not in
clined to be too particular as TO the
''claSs" that made up the party of
merry-makerS. A smooth floor. plenty
of room. a good fidder-theSe were the
conditions precedent to good time. A
walk of six mileS-thiS was in December,
1S59-once brought me from 1.-The farm
to Cannon Falls. it having been given
out that there was to be ball of unus-
ual proportions given at the hotel in
that village. Entering, an uDaccuS-
toned volume of harmony Saluted the
ears. There were two fiddlers,a bass vol
and a piano in full swing, and the
dining room floor was of such generous
proportions that three full S is Of dane
erS could be accommodated at the same
time. The ladies were dressed with
dazzling brilliancy, and it is distinctly
remembered that three of the gentle
men wore white kid gloves. Every
woman in the house was inSanely bent
on dancing with one of those tops (the
augurated). The white kids and swal-
lOW-tailed coats captured the girls, and
every time the call rung out, Ladies'
choose partnersG" those three fellows
were the first ones to be picked up-and
always 10y the very beSt-loOking women
in the room.
it was soon learned that they came
down on the stage from st. Paul. The
landlord had ambitiOuSly sent for Rus
Munger's band, and he was the fellow
who was doing the calling of, while
saving industriOuSly on the big fiddle.
1t was also learned that Munger got s.
for himself and $50 for each of his fid-
dlerS, besides stage fare both ways, for
his services. His music and his calling
were firSt-rate, though some of the
changes were rather intricate. having
BEEN RECENTLY IMPORTED
by Mr.. Munger direct from Paris. But
what business had he to bring down
from st. Paul those fellows in swallow
tail coats, white vests and kid gloves, to
capture the vain Imagination of the
girls? Mr.. Munger doubtless got his So
from the landlord for services rendered,
but he did not carry back with him on
the stage to st. Paul the love, affection,
or even the esteem of the young men of
the surrounding country. 1t is not pos
sible to be entirely positive as to the
personality of the three Well-dressed
young men, but The BOrup, Sam Racquet
and Jim Hill were the names they went
by. and it is not probable that any of
them have ever been more courted by
the female sex than theyWere during that
holiday season just thirty years ago.
After the lapse of all this time, however,
they are informed by one who was there
and knew all the collateral surround
ings. that it was their clothes, and not
their good looks or their wealth which
made such triumph possible.
In the matter of home and church
decorations for the holiday season there
was but little difference between then
and now. EvergTeens were in demand,
and the enterpriSing settlers in the
vicinity of the upper st. CrOiX would
load teams with small cedars and spruce
trees and drive down to the towns, cities
and villages in the southern part of the
state. One winter a fOrehanded Nor
wegian, somewhere up in Mile Laes
county, brought down fOur-hOrSe load
of fish, with eyergreenS for Christmas
trees piled on top. The weather grew
warm, and the foliage of his trees some
| how got ineXtricably mixed with the
slime of the piekerel and black bass.
| The Brown Church" at Mortified got
| one of those trees, and all the waters of
| Cannon river would not wash away the
| piscatorial perfume. Every bag of
/ candy, every wax doll. and every ging-
| ham dress that hung as present upon
| that tree carried away with "a very an
cient and fish-like SMELL"
1t will not be out of place in this
article on Ancient Holidays" to recall
| the cold New ears of 1864. 1t was in
augurated by blizzard of approved
proportions on the night of the last day
/ of the year 1863, and when the morning
| of the new year dawned the spirit Their
| mOmeterS in st. Paul recorded 80 deg
below zero. In the meteorological his
tory of the state. think there is no
parallel to the sudden and extreme
change in the temperature that took
! place at that time. In twenty-fOur hours
the thermometer recorded q change of
nearly or quite so deg-from 80 deg
above to 30 deg below. The suffering
| and loss of life
WAS SIMPLY HORRIBLE.
Parties of pleasure-seeker lost and
frozen upon the bleak prairies, children
frozen in their beds. stage driver
| dying upon the box with the reins in his
/ baI fold