Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1908-03-06
AmuSementS
in the Country
con With the Dance; Let Joy Be
unconfined.w

districts is the country dance. One
reason may be because 1t 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 cid
ers may Join. Still third cause doubt
less gives 1t popularity in that 1t Is
set to music, and requires the inspir-
iting notes OF the fiddle to give 1t any
semblance of a terpsichorean celebra-
ton. But when you come to analyze
the inmost and truest essence Of the
country dance, you will find that 1t Is
one of Cupids most potent rustic OBJ
servances, and that 1t brings the coun-
try bellies and beaux together from
many miles around, and is, in its last
analysis, the solid stepping-stOne to
matrimony.
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
| ly welcomed, unless something has
happened whereby their sweethearts
are not able to be present. 1t Is all
right for superfiuous girls to come, as
some OF the girls with escorts may
prefer to sit out" "set," rather than
dance continuously. In this way the
superfiuous girl has an opportunity to
dance. But literally speaking, there
are no strictly superfuous girls at
these dances. There are, however,
usually one or more extra men, with
out girls, and unless such man has
a good excuse for not bringing a 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 Id minutes to
dance, and from three to five squares
of four couples each will fill the ordi-
nary country room, unless 1t be a
hall where the dance is given. Usu-
ally, square" dances, quadrilles, 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 "ealling." The science of calling
requires either very good memory,
and some ingenuity, or BOTH and 1t Is
the delight of the good callers" to
take hold of set that thinks 1t
hat he Haoll
ed" and tangle 1t up with something
new in the way of terpsiehorean evo
buttons.
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 nc
country fiddler OF reputation but does
keep the most perfect time-and cal
the figures, too, requires a sort O
mental ambi-dextrousness and manua
celebrity equal almost to the genius o
the Italian baritone who sings an op
cratic solo and eats spaghetti at thu
] same time. These first class country
{ fiddlers do, however, play and call" a.
r the same time, and very often thei
bodies and heads sway and swing
Q and their right feet slap solidly Oh
!" the floor marking the time, and TO
hours they will roll their heads AM
n stamp their feet and swing the boV
Il with the real enthusiasm which mark
Q the masters of the art.
No genuine country fiddler stand
up at his work. He requires straight
backed chair, without arms, and h
y generally lunches" up little an
usually keeps time with the heel G
his right foot, tapping of the time a
he plays. Some fddlers hold thei
instruments away down on the arm
. apparently paying no attention to tn
strings, and saw away at the tunei
calling off" In a monotonous, sint
song tone Others hold the violi
+ sideways, their faces set close to tn
n instrument, and bowling straight u
2 and down.
The best country fiddler we ha
ever heard, the best, think, in tn
II world, lived few miles from us. HI
7. family had been fidd1ers since tn
u time of his great-great grandfathe
n and his mastery OF his instrumeI
10 made our city friends sit up and TAX
n, notice. 1t was not merely that h
20 time was absolutely perfect; that b
bowling was really marvellous; thi
OF his lingering was superb, and h
80 mastery OF the most difficult instr
ment known to man was easy, grac
IL full, and powerful: nor was it that
never played the open strings for
NJ note, but combined the open striI
In and the same note on an upper stffr
az thus gaining in volume-but the
was the touch, the fire, the born I
10 dividuality there. We heard other q
dlers, and good ones. play the san
tunes that this man did. But WIN
he grasped his violin and set 1t sid
le- ways and high to his cheek, seized q
bow firmly and began. then you kne
that what you had heard before "
I'D only the unreality Of the thing itse
and that he had somewhere in him