Caldwell-Daviess County MO Archives History .....THE COUNTRY DANCE IN CALDWELL AND DAVIESS COUNTY IN THE 60S AND 70S 
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THE COUNTRY DANCE IN CALDWELL AND DAVIESS COUNTY IN THE 60S AND 70S
	Narrator:  Mrs. Mahala Smith, 85, Hamilton

     The country dance of earlier days was quite an institution, but an 
institution which often brought a result of brawls, drunkenness and sometimes 
of murder.  The ordinary country dance, as the now old folks knew it, was very 
informal and was quite an innocent way for young folks to amuse themselves.  
The narrator has been to a plenty and knows it for a fact.
     The way of getting ready for a dance was like this:  The people who gave 
it moved all the beds out of the front room and sent word around that they 
were going to give a little dance that night.  The news spread like fire, for 
entertainment was scarce.
     When seven o'clock came, fellows and girls came for 10 or 15 miles around 
on horseback.  No one waited for a special invitation but considered it their 
right to go.  The young men, more often than not, carried a bottle of whiskey 
in one hip pocket and a revolver in the other, not for any specific purpose, 
but it was the style.  Both these things led to mischief.  In the dance room, 
often there were not enough girls to go around and the boys would quarrel over 
partners or fuss if their own girl whom they had brought should dance with 
another fellow.  Sometimes one quarrel would last over to the next dance and 
come to a head.  The whiskey might heat their heads or one fellow might 
accidentally jostle another or step on another young buck's boots.  All 
immediately became an insult.
     It is not strange that this innocent pleasure became into sad disrepute 
among strict parents many of whom were unwilling for their sons and daughters 
to learn to dance.  Some one said that there were three classes of people in 
early times; those who went to dances; those who thought it was wrong to go to 
dances, but went to play parties where they skipped to singing; and those who 
thought that play parties were a type of dances and would not go to them.
     The dances were usually square dances, the French Square or cotillion as 
Mrs. Smith's father called them.  The fiddler called the dance.  His first 
command was "All Run Away" and the boys all caught a girl and ran to the point 
of starting.  Then he called "Alamand Left" and "All Sashay" and "All Run 
Away, First lady dance to the man with the red shirt, swing your gal.  The 
second lady balance to the gent with the gray pants, Swing her around," and so 
on down the row; the while every man and girl were bumping the floor with 
rhythmic toe or heel.
     The fiddler who could keep his dancers laughing was much in demand, and 
he must also keep them in a hurry, so when the dance was over, every one was 
in a sweat.  No one knew exactly what the next call would be for the fiddler 
could vary it by his own originality.  Occasionally, some one else besides the 
fiddler would call off the dance.  It was an art in itself.
     Near Hamilton, dances were held in several country homes in the 60s and 
70s, narrators have told of them at the Clampitt Hotel east of town, and at 
a "red house" in the Simpson neighborhood south of town.
     Interview  1934.


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