Winter Festivities
by
Ann Cameron
(From: 'Power Town', a work in progress)
Winter had its highlights too. Around Christmas there was usually a concert and dance held at a farming community about four miles on the other side of the river from our town. These were people of a largely Scandinavian background, hard-working, who only occasionally took time for a change of pace. On one occasion when I was about twelve or so, Uncle John took a team of horses and a sleigh and about four or five other people. I was allowed to go too.
The sleigh box would have been filled with hay, and blankets and quilts were piled in around everyone. The air was crisp and the stars were bright and everyone joined in a singsong as the horses plodded along. When we reached the other side of the river and looked back, we could see the powerhouse shining like a jewelled box against the backdrop of a blue-black night sky. These were the days before "rural electrification", as it would be called, filled every farm and hamlet with a yard light.
We arrived some time midway into the concert and, as it was coming to a close, the smell of coffee wafted in from the kitchen. Our appetites had been sharpened by the night air, as were those of our hosts and hostesses who had probably done most of next morning's chores before leaving home.
By then it was nearing midnight. A real feast had been prepared! Following it, chairs were briskly cleared off to the sides and dancing exploded! There were polkas and schottisches and square dances mingled with the popular dances of the day. They followed one another with scarcely a pause, the music seeming to increase in volume as the night wore on, until it all ended abruptly when our hosts had to go home to milk the cows at five o'clock.
Someone nearby would have put Uncle John's horses in their barn. Then would come the long ride home again, silent this time, nobody making any effort at conversation. Some settled down immediately to sleep. Nothing broke the quiet of the pre-dawn morning except the crunch of the sleigh's runners on the snow and the occasional word from Uncle John up front, to the horses.