The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-01-25
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAZZ z. HOUSE
Crrom PhiladelphIa Public LedeAf.)
NEIGHBORHooD NOTES
Society at Rowdens Ford.

deal to dances at Rowdens Ford. The
Ford was the eastern outlet of the
folk who lived in the big bend of the
| river and, as it brought the church,
the drug store, the circus and the
Fourth of July celebration four miles
nearer to the community, it had a
considerable patronage when the water
in the river was low. The Rowdens
Forders were careless lot. much
given to continuing by night and
horse-trading by day. In the Doane
tneighborhood it was considered bad
form to attend the Rowdeps Ford
functions. There was too much fist
fighting and too much easy familiarity
with the Demon Rum Rowdens Ford
was distinctly de classe, if you get the
idea. No Doane girl would have
risked her reputation by attending a
social function at the Ford But the
boys were less particular. They had
no reputation to maintain, no stand
ard of conduct to justify. Most of
gayeties of the Ford neIghborhood and
derived a certain distinction from the
contact.
The leader of society at Rowdens
Ford was the Moses family. and its
supremacy was undisputed. The Moses
family consisted of a father and
mother and six grown sons and daugb-
ters and lived in a three-room house.
Once a week during the winter season
the Moseses gave a dancing party.
In the summer the intervals between
the rags" as they were derisiyely
called in the Doane neighborhood,
were longer. But despite the apparent
poverty of its, resources, the Moses
family kept something going on the
year around. In a social sense the
Moseses saved the situation for many
of us. 1t wasn't much trouble for
them to entertain All they had to
do was move the kitchen chairs into
the front" room and the table and
cupboard out into the back yard The
decorative effect was obtained by plac-
ing a chair for the fiddler on top of
the cook stove. 1t was delightfully."-
simple and unaffected hospitality, and
was offered at a price that was no
more than nominal. The. Moses fam
lily could arrange to give party in
fifteen minutes, and frequently did SO.
Dancing parties at Rowdens Ford
lasted from o'clock in the evening
Until 4 or o'clock the next morning.
Sometimes, if no hard feelings had
been engendered and the necessity of
stopping the dance to keep down
fight did not arise, the guests stayed
until sunrise. Those who participated
in the terpsfchorean exercises were
assessed twenty-five cents apiece. But
it frequently happened that a guest
who did not chance to be devotee OF
the terpsichorean art could get into
fight for nothing. And SO the parties
attracted many nonpaying guests who,
not infrequently, became innocent and
unfortunate bystanders. When a guest
I,a
received a number, and when dancing
began the numbers We're called, four
at a time in rotation. When a guests
number was called he secured q part
ner and took his place on the floor
If a good many numbers had been sold
the guest was unable to dance very
often: but inasmuch as he could al
Wys step outdoors and listen toSa vio-
lent argument or watch fight nobody
suffered from ennni.
Nothing but the old-fashioned
square dance was countenanced at
Rowdens Ford. The dances of the
present day had not then sprung into
being. but the waltz was regarded as
an affectation and the two-step was
derisively referred to as a town"
dance. Familiarity with the waltz or
the two-step subjected a map to sus-
picieh and, in some instances to open
contempt. A girls reputation would
have been irretrievably lost, for Row
dens Ford had it's code of social ethics
and adhered to it. The artistic fea-
ture of the parties at the Ford was
the jig-dancing of Lee Rowden- Mr..
Rowden disdained shoes, and upon a
social occasion wore fine boots with
small high heels. Into the tops of
the boots he tucked his trousers lie
was very slender, graceful man, and
when called upon invariably responded
without much urging. He was also in
great demand for calling the figures
of the quadrilles, in which delicate ac-
complishmeHt he was a finished per-
former. The arrangement was that
he received his number free for call
ing half the dances. Inasmuch as
Mr.. Rowden was married man with
a wife and several small children, the
financial arrangement was very Salts
factory to him.
At Rowdens Ford the three-foot
vein of trouble lay very near the sur
face of the ground, and one needed to
be very careful lest he disturb it.
Guests from adjacent neighborhoods
always planned to get their mum hers
in sequence in order that they might
be in contact with each other should
the lode be uncovered 1t was consid-
cred a wise, precautionary measure to
remove ones coat before beginning a
dance 1 was not very popular at |
Rowdens Ford The real aristocraey |
Of the neighborhood-the Moseses, !
the Rowdens and the Braziers-were
my warm frienls and still are. No in |
cident sufficiently unpleasant to dis |
.urb the intimacy ever arose. But the |
others were suspicious of me because |
[ hab-tually wore a derby hat and be-
cause some of my enemies had circu- |
10 nnrt Ia ant IN ,-fi
in town, where 1 danced both the /
waltz and the two-step.
The last party I attended at
Rowdens Ford turned out unpIeas-
antIy, and 1 never again felt the urge
10 go back. 1t was an unusually eiab-
orate affair, in that the payment of |
25 cents extra entitled the guest to
partake of the supper served IN the |
bedroom upstairs The supper was I
optional, but the Doane boys. who /