Come on it's Lovely Weather for Sleigh Bells and Skating Parties!

Winter sports have been popular in America for hundreds of years. But in the 1800s and early 20th century, winter pastimes not only provided fun and exercise, they also served as much-anticipated and enjoyed social gatherings. One of the most popular pastimes of all was ice-skating, described in an 1886 newspaper as “Our National Winter Exercise.” Frozen ponds and rivers were always busy in the winter, and nighttime skating parties like those described in Kate Douglas Wiggin’s Rose O’ the River were favorite amusements, especially for young people:

“Never had there been . . . such wonderful skating. The river was one gleaming, glittering thoroughfare of ice from Milliken’s Mills to the dam at the Edgewood bridge. At sundown bonfires were built here and there on the mirror-like surface, and all the young people from the neighboring villages gathered on the ice.”

Homemade Cheer: Christmas During the Great Depression

From Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol onward, so many stories have been written about people managing to make Christmas merry even under the direst of circumstances, be it fire, flood or famine—or more often, a simple lack of funds. But during America’s Great Depression, this challenge wasn’t confined to storybooks—it was a challenge that nearly everyone faced.

“For many thousands of people this is going to be a different Christmas,” wrote the editor of Successful Farming magazine in the December 1932 issue. “It is fellowship, love, understanding, sympathy that is most needed this year. All the tinsels and lights, all the extravagant show, cannot take the place of the real spirit of Christmas. This should be predominately a children's Christmas. And that need not be done extravagantly [as] the greatest happiness comes from the simple things of life.”

On Location: Winter in Woodstock

And then, all of a sudden, in the early, brisk winter twilight, Woodstock—happened!

Climbing out of the train Stanton stood for a second rubbing his eyes at the final abruptness and unreality of it all. Woodstock!

What was it going to mean to him?

In Molly Make-Believe, Eleanor Hallowell Abbott's charming novella about a young businessman who falls in love with his anonymous pen-pal "Molly" while recuperating from an illness, Carl Stanton’s quest to track down the elusive Molly eventually takes him to the town of Woodstock, Vermont. His trip (and the reader’s) through the town is swift, but just a few words of description—“[a] transient vista of village lights; a brief, narrow, hill-bordered road that looked for all the world like the aisle of a toy-shop, flanked on either side by high-reaching shelves where miniature house-lights twinkled cunningly”—paint an enticing picture of a charming, old-fashioned New England village on a snowy night.

Would You Like Some Milk with That Serial?

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, magazines were a large and thriving industry. But the word “magazine” referred to something quite different than the shiny, advertisement-filled publications found on racks today. Around the turn of the century, popular monthly magazines such as Everybody’s, McClure’s, and Munsey’s ran from around 100 to 150 pages, sometimes including thirty or more stories, articles, and poems, and cost ten or fifteen cents per issue. Though fiction has largely disappeared from today’s magazines, in those days it was a staple—besides publications that combined fiction and nonfiction, there were many all-fiction magazines, some devoted to specific genres—love stories, adventure stories, Westerns, mysteries, and more.

Memorable Melodies: Miss Thomasina Tucker's Repertoire, Part II

As promised, here's Part Two of Miss Tommy Tucker's Repertoire! In the opening story of Kate Douglas Wiggin’s Ladies In Waiting, our heroine, aspiring singer Thomasina Tucker, finds that her repertoire of old-fashioned ballads and folk songs doesn’t always go over well with audiences, some of whom prefer more modern or sophisticated music. But happily for Tommy, it does succeed in helping her win the heart of one particular listener, the solitary and lonely Fergus, whose melancholy soul is touched by and opens up to her passionate voice!

Our first post covering some of her famous tunes focused on those of Irish origin, and here we have ballads of Scottish and English birth. Be sure to check out our article about James Hogg, the Scottish poet known as "The Ettrick Shepherd," who is widely credited with penning our first selection!

Prince Edward Island: What Other Island is There?

“When I’m on Prince Edward Island in the summer I always understand an old Scotch Islander I met once in Winnipeg. He was always talking of ‘the Island.’ Somebody once asked him, ‘What island do you mean?’ He simply looked at that ignorant man. Then he said, ‘Why, Prince Edward Island, mon. What other island is there?’”

~ from Kilmeny of the Orchard

Lucy Maud Montgomery's Birthplace

Not many authors can claim to have single-handedly put their home on the map. But when most people hear the name Prince Edward Island, the first thing likely to come to their minds is Lucy Maud Montgomery. Her Anne of Green Gables series made her famous around the world and made Prince Edward Island one of the most beloved literary landmarks ever. Is there anyone who hasn’t longed to live in Avonlea after reading those books?

Memorable Melodies: Miss Thomasina Tucker's Repertoire, Part I

In the opening story of Kate Douglas Wiggin’s Ladies In Waiting, our heroine, aspiring singer Thomasina Tucker, finds that her repertoire of old-fashioned ballads and folksongs doesn’t always go over well with audiences, some of whom prefer more modern or sophisticated music. But happily for Tommy, it does succeed in helping her win the heart of one particular listener! His first assumption that she must be Irish undoubtedly comes from the fact that many of these songs have an Irish origin.

My Love’s An Arbutus
The lyrics to this lovely song are by Alfred Perceval Graves (1846 – 1931), who also penned many other Irish ballads, including the well-known “Father O’Flynn,” and the melody is traditional. Piano/vocal sheet music may be downloaded for free here.

Memorable Melodies: The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo

“The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo,” the song with which George Amberson Minafer loudly serenades his family in The Magnificent Ambersons, was written in 1892 and remained popular for a number of decades afterward, so it was most likely familiar to the readers of Booth Tarkington’s novel in 1918, and perhaps to moviegoers who heard it sung in the 1942 film adaptation as well. There’s a colorful story behind the song, which is believed to be inspired by a real-life gambler who succeeded in spectacularly breaking the bank at the famous Casino Monte Carlo in Monaco. (In roulette, “breaking the bank” means winning more chips than are available at the table.) Here's a clip from the 1942 film:

Memorable Melodies: Home Again, Home Again From a Foreign Shore!

Although the song “Home Again” was written around 1850, when author Mary Jane Holmes quoted it in Dora Deane in 1858 she referred to it as an “old” song. Perhaps it already seemed older than it really was because of its enormous popularity. A quick search of Google Books reveals that it was quoted or referenced in dozens of books, magazines, and even plays over the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Mark Twain mentioned it in his Life on the Mississippi. It was played, sung or quoted to celebrate countless homecomings in real life as well as in fiction. American journalist Mildred Aldrich (1853–1928) remembered going to meet friends returning from summer vacations in Europe, with bands playing “Home Again” and the crowds of people singing along as the ship docked. Only the first line was quoted in Dora Deane, but all of the lyrics fit the story and the scene beautifully:

Home, Home on the Range, Where the Deer and the Antelope and the British-Owned Cattle Play...

The American West of the 19th and early 20th centuries was a place filled with colorful characters and fascinating stories. The new opportunities of the West attracted people of all classes and nationalities, in search of fortune, adventure, or escape. Even as seemingly unlikely a figure as an English aristocrat, such as Sir Redmond Hayes in Her Prairie Knight, was by no means a rarity on the plains of Montana.

In the 1870s and 1880s, when the cattle boom was in full swing, many wealthy Englishmen saw the ranching business as an excellent opportunity for investment, and American ranchers welcomed the capital the English could provide. “[English] drawing rooms buzzed with the stories of this last of bonanzas,” wrote John Clay, a Scotsman who eventually became a highly successful ranch manager himself; “staid old gentlemen, who scarcely knew the difference between a steer and a heifer, discussed it over their port and nuts.”

Meet Vintage Reader Contributor Elisabeth Grace Foley

I’ve been an insatiable bookworm ever since I learned how to read. I’ve been fascinated with history for as long as I can remember, too, so it’s only natural that when I began to write, I wrote historical fiction! My particular interest is American history of the later 19th and early 20th century—the American West, the Civil War, the Great Depression and WWII, and I’ve also become interested in the turn-of-the-century period.

My favorite genres to read are Westerns, classic mysteries, and both historical fiction and nonfiction. And I especially love old books—both the classics and the obscure forgotten gems. Since getting my Kindle and discovering the public domain treasure trove available there, I’ve found so many new favorite books and authors I might never have heard about otherwise. That’s why I was thrilled to discover the Legacy Vintage Collection, and I’m even more thrilled to be a part of The Vintage Reader. The only thing better than discovering delightful new reads is sharing what you’ve found with other readers!