Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-02-26
AmuSe71entS
II, the Country

in the Country
ION With the Dance; Let Joy Be
Unconfined."
Chief of all amusements in the rural
districts is the country dance. One
reason may be because it has been
handed down from generation to gen
GRAFTON; another reason is on account
OF 1t being recreation in which the
young, middle-aged, and even the eld-
ers may join. Still third cause doubt
less gives it popularity in that it is
set to music, and requires the inspir-
lting notes Of the fiddle to give it any
semblance of terpsichorean celebra-
ton. But when you come to analyze
the inmost and truest essence of the
country dance, you will find that it is
one OF Cupids most potent rustic OBJ
servances, and that it brings the coun-
try bellies and beaux together from
many miles around, and is, in it's last
analysis, the solid stepping-stone to
matrimony.
We had dances at the house, and
went to dances in the neighborhood.
The country dance, as an institution,
has It's laws, as fixed as those of the
Modes and Persians. Certain allow
ances are made for ignorance or mis-
haps, but the etiquette of such gather
ings is strict, and any attempt to over
look formalities, will either set you
down as lacking in proper sense
OF the fitness of things, or as wilfully
disregardful of the rights of others.
and in either case, a person to be con.
demned.
You are expected, for instance, to
bring your girl to the dance. Fellows
who come as free lances expecting to
find some girl at the dance who has
come without an escort, are not usual
~ welcomed, unless something has
happened whereby their sweethearts
are not able to be present. It. is all
right for superfluous girls to come, as
some of the girls with escorts may
prefer to "sit out" "set," rather than
dance continuously. In this way the
superfluous girl has an opportunity to
dance. But literally speaking, there
are no strictly superfluous girls at
these dances. There are, however,
usually one or more extra men, with
out girls, and unless such a man has
a good excuse for not bringing girl
along, he is generally unwelcome, no
matter how many extra girls there
may happen to be.
1t Is rare that the same partners &C.
cupy the same "sets" dancing togeth-
er for any length of time. Partners
in one "set" may be opposites in the
next "set," and there is a constant in
terchange going on. Sets" generally
occupy about ten to Is minutes to
dance, and from three to five squares
of four couples each will fill the ordi-
nary country roon. unless it be a
hall where the dance is given. Usu-
ally, square" dances, qusdrilles, old
fashioned lancers, and The Virginia
reel are danced, and very often quad
rifles only; the monotony of these
being done away with by the variety
In calling" The science of calling"
requires either very good memory,
and some ingenuity, or both, and it is
the delight of the good callers" to
take hold of a "set" that thinks it
knows any figure that may be "call-
ed" and tangle it up with something
new in the way of terpsichorean evo-
lutions. ~
Sometimes, and, in fact, quite often,
the fiddler himself "calls'' the figures,
and when he does he has his hands
full. To keep exact time-and no
country fiddler of reputation but does
keep the most perfect time-and call
the figures, too, requires a sort of
mental ambi-dextrousness and manual
celebrity equal almost to the genius Of
the Italian baritone who sings an op-
cratic solo and eats spaghetti at the
same time. These first class country
addlers do, however, play and "call" at
the same time, and very often their
bodies and heads sway and swing,
and their right feet slap solid1y on
the floor marking the time, and for
hours they will roll their heads and
stamp their feet and swing the bow
with the real enthusiasm which marks
the masters OF the art.
No genuine country fiddler stands
up at his work. He requires straight
backed chair, without arms, and he
generally 'hunches" up little and
usually keeps time with the heel of
his right foot, tapping of the time as
he plays. Some fiddlers hold their
Instruments away down on the arm,
apparently paying no attention to the
strings, and saw" away at the tunes,
calling Off, III a monotonous, sing
song tone. Others hold the violin
sideways, their faces set close to the
instrument, and bowling straight up
and down.
The best country fiddler we had
ever heard, the best, I think, In the
world, lived a few miles from us. His
family had been fiddlers since the
time of his great-great grandfather,
and his mastery of his instrument
made our city friends sit up and take
notice. It was not merely that his
time was absolutely perfect: that his
bowling was really marvellous; that
his lingering was superb, and his
mastery of the most difficult instru-
ment known to man was easy, grace
full, and powerful: nor was it that he
never played the open strings for a
note, but combined the open string
and tho sarno nofe m an ,,nner atrino