The Portland daily press., 1897-10-05
MRS. sTokEs's COON spARTy.
Dedicates Her New Kentucky Barn with a
Dance.
New York SIM [,

00O DARN Oh AIRS. w. E. D. Stokes.
Pstchen- Wilkes Farm In this county is 6
blaze OF glory tonight. 1t is being dedi.
Gated by what is known as a coon party
1t is decorated with 1000 yards of bunt
ing ana scores of flags. Half the floor
space. is covered with canvas on which the
negroes OF Mrs. Stokess farm and those
ioi iniies around are dancing. They are
bhe sWagger darkies. The other half of the
Darn Is reserved for the dining room. A
0aoie Ito feet long has been spread, or
which supper will be served at midnight
Ihere are nearly 400 darkies at the party.
MIS-. Stokes is known as the "horse
lady by the darkies The new barn in
which the dance is being held is of brick
and takes the place Of the wooden barn
burned last spring, in which Josie B.,
her famous. pacing mare, and twelve other
valuable horses were burned to death.
Joe MINIS, the muIatto horseshosr for
the Patchen Wilkes Farm, tells how it
all came about.
"You see." said George, "It's like dis.
The white folks want to make de negroes
feel good. The boss man (Peter Duryca)
comes to town and he says to me, George
we want to give you colored folk big
ball in the new barn when it's done. ]
want you to give me list of the colored
people that ought to be invited tole
him all / knowed, an he done sent all
Of 'em invertations. We wus gwine ter
have the biggest kind of er time, but de
newspapers got onto it, and by printin'
abo ut dem prizes got de boss man mad,
an don't know what'll happen. I aiii'
er gWtne ter tell you no more cause you
done print dat give 1t away"
Peter Duryea, who is partner in the
farm and is its manager, left nothing I'M
done to make the ball a success in every
way. he went to the leading caterer OF
Lexington and contracted with him to
furnish supper for the guests. He also
engaged "Jones's celebrated colored Or
ohestra" to make music for the dancers.
1t Is great orchestra. 1t has five mein-
bers, and they are all "born musicians. y
One Of them Is blind. Another is very
fat and weighs 260 pounds. Another has
crooked leg, and the other two have
their share Of earthly affections. But
they make good music for darkeys to
dance by. They play breakdowns, reels,
and clogs, and the buck negroes dance
until the dust rises from the floor In
dancers while talking about the newest
steps tonight, said:
Tain't no use fer any white trash to
come here and try to teach us niggers
how to dance, cause we've been dancin'
all our lives, and I think the niggers
aroun' dis town know rs many different
steps as anybody. We are Citing new
steps all de time. Now, thar's the KIon-
dixie. It's cold, breezy step and makes
you think the icicles are faIlin' off you;
thar's the Gineral Miles step, when yer
got to walk and dance as proud as pea
cock, mustn't look around just pear like
yer own de earth; thar's de Billy Bryan
step, whar yer goes two steps forward an
three steps back, and keep sickly smile
on yer face all de time; thar's de MoKin
ley step, you go along just easy like. don't
kinder give double shuttle and let de
N usic of de band kinder push you along;
thar's de Pingree step, when yer tries to
dance all de different steps at once, and
one. OF the best steps of all is the 10 Black
burn step. It's peach. Don't make no
difference how yer dance it; it's all right,
just SO you make lots Of noise. If you
keep time to de music, we'll and good, If
yer don't, it's all dc same, fer it brings
down de house,
AL is booked for the winner of the buck
dance tonight He will have to contend
with George Williams, Ben Scott, Bill
Taylor, Jeems Broadus, and half dozen
other expert dancers. AL thinks they
will all fall down on the Gen. Miles step.
Perhaps the leading feature of the en-
tertainment will occur after midnight.
1t ID a cake walk, in which buck negroes
and wenches walk for prize. The bucks
train the wenches to walk, and they
frequently form a partnership which lasts
for years. Dicer Williams began cake
walking seven years ago, having for his
partner Mary Emma Jones. Mary Emma
Is walker from away back, and she and
Dicer won their first contest. They have
Dicer would never have any other partner
except Mary Emma. They will walk to-
gether tonight. Dicer is an authority ON
cake walking. He Ia tall negro, almost
jet black. with slight mustache. He
carries himself we'll. and is as active as
cat. He talked freely to your correspon-
dent tonight about cake walking. He
says 1t is an art, and that 1t requires a
great deal OF study to become ON expert
walker.
eff man can carry himself nice,''
said Dioer, 'tit's no use for him to walk
for. a cake. He's got to look stylish, and
he's got to throw sperit into his work.
He must hold his shoulders back, throw
his head up, and look like ne didn't care
whether the world came to an end or
not He mustn't let his head droop
down like sick turkey gobbler, but he
mus keep rared back, walk straight, keep
hisself goin and not 60 too fast. But
there AIM no use tryin to walk fer
cake unless you have a good woman with
you. Mary Emma Jones is the best
walker ever seed. She amt
never gwine to give down. She's been
walkin' fer seven years with me, and
we've never been beat but twice. I tell
yer, she's a hummer. She makes mon
keys out of them other gals and they
can't help 1t. She's SO proud looking,
looks just like q queen, and when she
comes marching down the hall thar can't
nothing head her. You want to watch
us tonight. IT we don't make dem other
iarkies' eyes look like saucers, rs fish.
Win, of course we gwine to win. Not.
hin else to it. You jest watch u.s."
Dicer then cut pigeon wing" and
went of to find Mary Emma.
Mrs: Stokes has become deeply interest
I'd in Kentucky negroes. When an 'sUn.
JIG Iom Cabin" troupe, largely COM
posed OF negroes, showed at the opera
louse last week, she and Peter Duryea
1ad the best box in tho house, and she
seemed charmed with the negro songs
and dann0c SSHeS