When we were young, an exciting evening consisted of:
- Sitting around the old oil lamps telling ghost stories.
- Going to a movie which cost 25 cents.
- Walking three miles to the village looking for boys.
- Raiding a garden or an apple tree.
We really enjoyed the taste of August apples. My mom told me that Basket Socials were very special events in her day. They were held every now and then to raise money. The girls would use their favorite receipe to make a pie or a cake to take to the party. The pies and cakes would be auctioned off, with the men doing the bidding. When a ladies’ pie or cake was chosen, she would get to sit and eat with the man who paid the money. This was an exciting evening, especially if the lady had her eye on some man. She would wait, with her heart beating, hoping that he would bid on her cake. A dance always followed, mostly lancers, and a great time was had by all.
An elderly lady told me a story about an exciting event that happened close to her home. She was not there but heard about it. A fellow passed away in the community and a large crowd gathered at his home (wake house) to pay their last respects to a fine gentleman. Some drinks were passed around, possibly home made, to help drown out their sorrow. Needless to say, some got a little tipsy and they felt so bad that the corpse couldn’t have a drink. They hated seeing him missing out on all the fun so they decided to take him out of the casket and let him join in with the crowd. They stood him up and danced around the room with him. It turned into a party instead of a wake but a good time was had by all. My guess would be, they felt they might as well make something good out of a bad situation.
