Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-11
By MARK SULLIVAN.

week. One dispatch recorded an efIorJ
tn revive the county fair" at Lancas-
ter, Pa, after desuetude blamed
largely on the lack of interest OF moo
ern housewives in canned goods and
fancywork." .
Another item was about an "old-time
fiddlers'" convention at ParKeSbur2,
Pa. designed to revive interest in t!gS,
reels. hornpipes quadrilles and what
are now called country dances or
barn dances" Both these latter terms,
bv the way, are inexact. The country
dances" were really contra dances"
so-called probably. because the couples
stand opposite each other. Originally
the phrase was French, "contre danse."
Because one Of the favorites in this
class of dances was called Dancing IN
the Barn." the whole group came to be
called barn dances"
In any event, one wishes well to the
folks at Parksshurg, who Will recall ior
a day the old-time "figger caller" who
directed the dancers to salute your
partner" swing partners" balance
all" "chassez down the middle" and
NiamorouS variety Of calls"
This Parkesburg venture should In
&erest Henry Ford. He is making SIM
tlar effort. and taking laudaDle pains
about it. for which one likes him, A
Eestful incident of the present writer's
recent experience has consisted OF hear
Eng accounts OF visits to Henry Ford
bv various persons high placed in poll
tics and literature. They go to Detroit
on very serious missions, prepared Tor
exalted conversations. Henry invites
them to a quarter of his establishment
where an orchestra plays Money MUSK
and Virginia Reel" and Pop Goes the
weasel "'Haste to the wedding" THE
Wind That Shakes the Barley" and
other enhancing tunes Mr.. Ford's In
terest by no means stops with main
tanning the orchestra: he dances and
enlists his guests to tread measure
with him. Some very exalted VISITORS
to Detroit have had amusing and en-
.ioyable experiences.
1000 Per Cent Value Increase.
Another news item that makes vivid
the quick passing of recently familiar
features of American life is this in the
New York Herald Tribune:
PENN YAM, N. Y. July Is (F0.-One
Of the last members of vanishing tribe
of wooden Indians has been purchased
for 500 by an antique dealer here.
wear ago the hand-carved Indian was
sold by a Montour Falls tobacconlst
for $40.
A 1000 per cent increase in value
in the process of antiquation. So quick
" does change come in America that
before one knows it, an institution or
a familiar detail Of the surface OF life
becomes antique. I know a man not
yet SIS years old. who has had expe-
riences illustrating this rapidity OF
change, the speed with which obso-
leScence and antiquity overtake familiar
objects. This man as boy lived on
a farm in Eastern Pennsylvania. At the
behest of his mother he used to walk
a mile TO the village store and there
purchase what was called butter
crock" a bit OF coarse pottery, gray
in color and decorated with blue fig
ureS He paid for such crock 10, IS
or 20 cents. That was some As years
ago. Within the last five years the
same man has been offered the same
kind Of crocks--in antique shops-at
IS to SIS each.
President Hoover was IS years old on
August 10. AS a boy he played around
the shop Of his father. who was black
smith. It Is doubtful II there is in the
length and breadth Of America today
any blacksmith shop of just that type.
II there is such one, the community
fortunate enough to possess 1t ought
promptly to take steps to preserve 1t.
Such shop will in time be as deserv-
ing of place in the Metropolitan Mu-
scum in New York as the examples OF
Colonial rooms and handicraftS which
the museum now has.
Red Schoolhouse Passing.
The little red schoolhouse," cele-
brated In scores of songs and poems,
biographies and by patriotic speakers, Is
passing fast. The one-room school
everywhere, whether red or white,
whether brick or wooden, is succumb-
ing by hundreds every year to the con-
Solidated school" to which boys and
girls are brought in buses. Some lit
erary person ought to collect an an
theology of the songs and poems about
the old-time country school. The best
known, Of course. is Winters:
Still sits the schoolhouse on the hill, !
ragged beggar, summing.
II the wooden Indian has entered the /
category of antiques and becomes valu- !
able. what will be the next to reach !
that category?
How about the red and white striped /
poles which were once the universal !
sign Of shops where BARRIERS shaved and !
cut hair, but did not bob? How about |
those glass bowls filled with colored !
water, several Of them one above the !
other In vertical column, which were |
once the signs of "apothecary shops" |
before they became drug stores
which sell very few drugs but much !
coda water, tobacco and lipSticks.
Will the still familiar oil lamp, the
kerosene lamp, become as rare, as much |
an antique as the candle mold already
has been for some years? The electrifi- |
cation Of America Is going on with furi-
Gus rapidity. The extension of wires to
farms In a large way is just beginning. |
Within time incredibly short substan-
TALLY every farmhouse in America will |
be wired for electricity. Will we then
pay $40 to $40 or more for old-faShioned |
lamps as antiques?
Probably the lamp will last q good |
while yet. An electric light is immov-
attic and there will always be need for a
lamp that can be carried about. Yet |
can one be certain that the oil lamp |
will survive? Many of the readers of |
this article live In city houses wired for |
electricity. In such houses do they not |
rely wholly on electricity? Is any oil |
lamp to be found today in any city !
house that has electricity?
Another More PerishabIe.
Examples Of passing things. wooden
Indians, iron deer and the like, can be |
preserved. But there is another thing |
more perishable. About many old-time |
institutions there is lore. AS a rule, |
little Of 1t is In print anywhere. 1t re- |
sides only In the memories of men and |
women fast aging. Such lore should be
taken down before 1t passes forever from |
the earth. At this moment the writer |
happens to be particularly interested i'll
two incidents of American life that were |
common not many years ago, but are
now, I think, one with Ninevah and |
Tyre the institution known as the little
German band and the German peddler. |
(Peddlers were of more than one ma
were not most Of them |
German? German at least in language |