The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1908-02-22
Copyright. 1907. by Joseph b sowle..)

Inc urSt Ting necessary IN SettiuS ]
ready for dance is to clear the room
for the dancing. AS the kitchen is al
most always the biggest room in a
farm house, this necessitates the TAX
ing away of the stove and the stove
pipe, and removing any tables and
chairs in the room. The ones who are
not dancing stay in the other rooms
until their names are called for the
sets" and only the fiddler, king Of
the ceremonies, is allowed to sit in
the room where the dancing is going
on. This rule is broken sometimes,
but no well-regulated dance cares to
have the floor interfered with by in
yading chairs or spectators. Dresses
are too apt to catch in chair, or the
sweep of Swing your pardners" be
interfered with when there is any
thing in the way of chairs or seats
in the room. The fiddler. of course,
must be comfortable, for the stress of
saving away on, "Arkansaw Travel
ler," THE Goose-Kick," "Whar Did
You Come From" Don't l Wish
Was Out of the Wilderness" "The
DEVILS Dream" Prairie Queen"
Speed the Plow," THE Cuckoo"
Money Musk" Turkeys in the Straw
The Irish washerwoman," "Joe-Dad's
Hornpipe," and dozens of other tunes
with and without names, for hours at
a stretch, requires lots of muscle and
good staying lung power for the call
Ing" besides.
The boys who "get up the dance"
as it is termed, usually select the
names of the men or boys who are to
occupy places in the SETS" and they
announce these names, and the par
ties selected begin at once to get
busy in hunting up partners. When
the sets" of four couples are all fill
ed, the set" for the dance is then
ready and the caller commences on
his work, as the fiddle gives the sig-
nal for hostilities. First four for
ward and back" drones the caller, ri
tlddy, UNI tiddy, e, tee, tee,' goes the
fiddle; "cross over" shouts the call
Ter, "tiddy um, tiddy UNI, tiddy ee, tee,
tee." continues the music. Second
couple forward, cries the caller, It'd
die iddle um tum, tee, ee, ee,' follow
the piercing notes of the violin. All
is now hustle and confusion" as the
chronicles would say. Plenty Of bus
tie, however, and no confusion to
speak of. 1t is rhythmic, shufiing,
measured and inspiriting. Ladies
change" tiddy UNI tum, tum," Swing
your partners" and a sudden swirl of
skirts and figures follows the COM
mand. Salute your partners" and
the men bow to the girls. Ri. ri, It'd
dy,-tiddy UNI, tee, tee," and figure
follows figure and "set" follows "set,'
| the "calls" being given at regular in
tervals. marking the end of the pre-
vious figure.
The picture, as an entirety, is typi
cally American; the accessories as
plain as possible. Merely a country
kitchen, devoid of ornament, low-ceil
| inged and bare of wall, and lighted
with usually two or three bracket
lamps against the walls. If the night
is warm, the male dancers may be in
|
proprieties. Everyone Is dressed in
their best, and for the most part, the
men are fine physical specimens Of
manhood. The pretty girls are not al
ways so eagerly sought out as they
might be, unless they are good dane
ers. To be able to intuitively grasI
the intricacies of new figure" t.
be on the alert, to keep perfect time
to the calls and the music, is some
thing more of a desirability than {
mere pretty face in these countr,
dances.
The lights wink on the wall, ant
the steady pounding of the dancers
feet makes weakened window-fast
enings creak and jar to the time KEEP
by the violin and the dancers. In thu
other room gossip among the women
/ folks, crops and neighboring AFFAIR."
among the men, fill in the time unit
the next "set" is called Sometimes
the girls and boys wander out into thu
yard and watch the dancers through
the windows, or sit on the porche
waiting until their time comes to joiI
the ''setr."
As rule, and good one, babies ar
barred from the dances, although it 4
no uncommon sight to see bah,
placidly sleeping in some inner room
while its mother trips the light, fan
tastic toe in the kitchen adjoining
But wherever possible infants are lef
at home with the rest of the family
as 1t Is no "child's play" to start Il
at nine in the evening and keep it u
persistently until say five o'clock tn
next morning. did see woman a
one dance years ago on the prairies
dance the "sets" out with wide-eye
baby staring at the other dancers
She was a graceful girl. at that, an
manipulated her goggle-eyed infan
from arm to arm and from set" I