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Would Pass Through CityEarly ResidentRecalls SpringMoving Of Indians To Fish//* .j V*M33?41toIBy ETTIK TREADWELL AGKEWA little town on a hill between the Iowa River and Linn Creek lay basking in the spring sun of the 1870s. The snow had gone and everything was coming to life.Suddenly the children playing in the street began shouting, “The Indians are coming! The Indians are coming;”, and sure enough, the Tama Indians had begun their annual trek to the fishing grounds along the Iowa River, north of Albion.ALL DAY they came. Long sleds made by lashing two long poles together with willow branches, carried the baggage and the children. These were hauled by strings of Indian ponies. Alongside trudged the men and squaws with innumerable dogs and ponies bringing up the rear. In the fall they would wend their way back again to their home on the reservation.In the early morning could be heard the lowing of cattle, as the boys picked up the cows and herded them out to pasture north of town, bringing them back in the evening for the milking time.SOON A WAGON would stop in front of your house and you heard a bell calling you to come out and get your milk. You brought out your own container and the milkman filled it from a big can with a tin dipper.Later the Gypsies came totown, colorful in their bright) dresses, and camped in the woods; across from the cemetery, between Center and Second Streets. The men traded horses while the women told lortunes and begged from house to house.WE THINK of the trailer house as a modern invention, but the Gypsies had them long ago, resplendent in red and gold. i On Main Street were the shoe|ishine boys, calling, “Shine, Shine, nicka-nicka, half a dime; Shine, Mister?” Saturday morning was further enlivened by a boy in patched blue overalls, his tousled hair sticking through the holes in his straw hat, ringing a bell as he walked up and down the street lustily calling, “Auction! Auction! Ben Rhoades auction, 21 N. Center St.!”AND WHO DOESNT remember the street fakers? One espe-/cially, who gathered a crowd around him by his unbelievable ability to chew cotton and spit fire.Main Street was enhanced by such advertising signs as barber poles and wooden Indians in front of the cigar stores. One dentist had a glass case in front of his office containing a large set of false teeth that, when wound up, opened and shut all day long. ■PUNCH AND JUDY shows also were a street attraction. j There was the public square, as it was called in those days, always a subject for debate, but never a thing of beauty. Un~sightly hitching posts, for the convenience of the farmers, surrounded the square, with a watering trough on the East side. It took quite a fight to get those posts and the trough removed.THEN ON SUMMER evenings were the patent medicine shows. They were held on some vacant Jot where crowds gathered to hear the concert while an enterprising agent sold Dottles of medicine containing the “elixirof lile.”The Italian street venders delighted the children, by carrying! trays of beautiful statuettes!through the streets. And ped-j dlers, with packs on their backs,! called at the houses, selling silks] and laces from the Near East.THE GALA DAY of all was the Fourth of July celebration, when people from all over the country came in for the day. In the morning was the usual oration by some noted speaker, followed by a parade featuring bands, and hose carts by the volunteer fire departments. In the afternoon were races at the Fairgrounds, with a display of fireworks in the evening.Most popular of all was the Bowery dance on North Center Street Boys and girls danced all day and far into the night, to the music of the Hemp Seed orchestra, consisting of a wheezy organ and two fiddles.WHO SAYS people did not have excitement in the Seventies? Such are the childhood memories of an old pioneer.lt; ASA/..'jA• • *. AI00ITIfIar18fiifotictiiyefocao\ast.caarmlt;w;
Newspaper Details
Marshalltown Times Republican
Marshalltown, Iowa, US
Tue, Jun 30, 1953
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
IA, USA 15 Jan 2019
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