Society Cotton Picking Party
These two articles describe a somewhat unique society event -- the upper crust of Waco picking cotton at Glen Katherine, the Padgitt family home, located about six miles west of Waco on the McLelland Crossing road.
Waco Times-Herald
September 25, 1898
IN SOCIETY
Waco's Upper Tendom in Dishabille -- Picking Cotton for Prizes -- The Winners and a Good Time
The most unique society event of the year was the cotton picking party yesterday at Glen [Katherine]. The swells were there arrayed in overalls, jumpers and straw hats, the belles gowned in calico dresses and poke bonnets. The object of the event was to have a high-old country time, and pick cotton for prizes.
Like everything else done under the supervision of Miss Padgitt, this affair was successful if not recherche. It would have done your eyes good to see the toniest of Waco's young bloods hauling a sack of cotton across a forty-acre lot, and picking sand burrs out of his socks at resting spells.
R.W. Beaumont was the official weighmaster, and he decided that Bayless Earle had gathered a greater weight of the staple than any other young man, and therefore he was awarded the gentleman's prize of a silk umbrella.
Miss Ione Johnston developed the deftest fingers among the ladies, and to her was given therefore a cut-glass perfume bottle, and a mermaid's mirror.
Ned Marshall and Miss Lula Carroll gathered in the booby prizes, along with their small sacks of cotton, and are the proud possessors of a silver handled dust brush and a pickaninny picture in a gilt frame, respectively. Ned will understand from this that if he expects to lead the procession he must hereafter "git up an' dust."
After the awarding of the prizes the weary toilers were regaled with buttermilk and hoe cake, and the day's frolic ended with a dance, the music for which began with the Arkansaw Traveller, and wound up with Sugar in the Gourd. Souvenirs of the occasion were miniature cotton bales.
The society editor will descibe the affair de rigueur, next Sunday.
---------------------------------------------------------
As promised, the Society section of the Times-Herald carried a complete account of the cotton picking party in its Sunday edition
Waco Times-Herald
October 2, 1898
SOCIETY
Glen Katherine, famed for a series of charming affairs this summer, never appeared more attractive than on the Saturday evening of the "cotton picking." The grounds were hung with lights revealing the flowers in the parterres, the hammocks swung between trees and all of the picturesque details that have been added to this well-kept summer home.
To the west of the house the observatory, recently erected to command a view of the surrounding valley, arose from a grove so thickly swung with Japanese lanterns as to resemble a swarm of fire flies gathered at its base. The frame work, Moorish in design, was outlined with lights that shone brightly visible from the valley below. An orchestra was stationed at the top.
The house was filled with the same air of cordial hospitality, and the airy rooms showed every detail of the same dainty interior as on the evening when they were first thrown open, and the social world in regulation evening dress glided over the polished floors through the mazy evolutions of a german.
The style of decoration was somewhat altered, however, cut flowers being replaced by cotton plants, while the stylish young hostess moved about the rooms in a red calico “veiled” in a long checked gingham. Little Miss Lottie Padgitt was a quaint old fashioned figure in a sweeping calico dress and long gingham apron.
About 7 o’clock strains of the orchestra were drowned by the rumble of wagon wheels and by the whoops and yells of the coming guests who were greeted by the assembled Padgitt family with a “hey Rube” and a “ho Rube” and a cordial handshake.
Some of the guests, while conforming to the terms of the invitation, the girls coming in “gaudy gowns” and the men in “hickory shirts,” still made the incongruous error of arriving in rubber tired buggies, but no parties carried out the idea completely.
Messrs. Cameron and Thorpe in blue overalls and checked jumpers and Misses Alexander and Yates gowned in gingham and coiffed in bandanna handkerchiefs appeared in a wagon canopied o’er with not the freshest of wagon sheets.
The last to arrive, in an old wagon drawn by a jaded team, was a regular “40 cents a hundred” crowd, the men in blue overalls, jumpers and big straw hats, the girls in paroda waist dresses, high necked plaid aprons and sun-bonnets. Closer inspection revealed the identity of Mr. Cross with Misses Killough and Orand, Messrs. Charles and Tom Padgitt of Dallas, with “the Johnsing girls.”
Cotton sacks were immediately distributed and partners found by means of original verses or puns on the various names. The signal to begin work was a blast blown by Mr. Padgitt on a cow horn. The cotton field, white in the moonlight, was soon busy with pickers until another blast, a half hour later, finished the contest.
Messrs. Beaumont and Eikel weighed the sacks on a pair of cotton scales and declared Miss Ione Johnston the winner of the ladies first prize, an elegant cut glass perfume bottle on a cut mirror; the gentlemen’s first prize was a handsome silk umbrella, won by Mr. Newt Williams. Miss Lula Carroll carried off the booby prize, a picture of a picaninny in a gilt frame, and Mr. Ned Marshall as a booby winner owns a silver handled dust brush. The prize for best pickers among the married ladies and gentlemen were won by Mrs. W.R. Clifton and Dr. Black, being a handsome needle book for Mrs. Clifton and a soap sachet for Dr. Black. The prizes were presented by Miss Padgitt in happy little speeches.
The evening finished with square dances. A menu was served from long tables: Hot gingerbread, pumpkin pie, sandwiches, fried pies, buns, hard boiled eggs, potato custard, fried chicken, buttermilk, sweet milk, watermelons, coffee and cider, in which the “Ruebens” drank in sentiment at least to the “Rachels;”
Here’s to the maid in the cotton gown;
What e’er may be the style in town,
To the mind of man in jumper and jeans
She’s the girl of girls and the queen of queens.
Those who took part in this original affair were:
Misses
Orand
Ione Johnston
Johnston
Killough
Aileen Gardner
Eubank
Willis
Carroll
Beasley
Alma Baker
Alexander
Yates
Friend
Stella Sheperd
Ruth Smith
Minnie Smith
McKenzie of Bryan
Henderson of Bryan
Parrott
Marshall
Downs
Messrs.
Charley Padgitt of Dallas
Tom Padgitt of Dallas
Williams
Cameron
Thorpe
Gregg
Chas. Smith
Calhoun
Daffin of Ennis
Ross
Bayliss Earle
Cross
Lee Davis
Baum
Dr. Frank Ross
Foster Fort
Mr. and Mrs. Will Seley
Hallpike
Eikel
Beaumont
Chatham
Hamilton
Hobson
Dr. and Mrs. Black
Waco Times-Herald
September 25, 1898
IN SOCIETY
Waco's Upper Tendom in Dishabille -- Picking Cotton for Prizes -- The Winners and a Good Time
The most unique society event of the year was the cotton picking party yesterday at Glen [Katherine]. The swells were there arrayed in overalls, jumpers and straw hats, the belles gowned in calico dresses and poke bonnets. The object of the event was to have a high-old country time, and pick cotton for prizes.
Like everything else done under the supervision of Miss Padgitt, this affair was successful if not recherche. It would have done your eyes good to see the toniest of Waco's young bloods hauling a sack of cotton across a forty-acre lot, and picking sand burrs out of his socks at resting spells.
R.W. Beaumont was the official weighmaster, and he decided that Bayless Earle had gathered a greater weight of the staple than any other young man, and therefore he was awarded the gentleman's prize of a silk umbrella.
Miss Ione Johnston developed the deftest fingers among the ladies, and to her was given therefore a cut-glass perfume bottle, and a mermaid's mirror.
Ned Marshall and Miss Lula Carroll gathered in the booby prizes, along with their small sacks of cotton, and are the proud possessors of a silver handled dust brush and a pickaninny picture in a gilt frame, respectively. Ned will understand from this that if he expects to lead the procession he must hereafter "git up an' dust."
After the awarding of the prizes the weary toilers were regaled with buttermilk and hoe cake, and the day's frolic ended with a dance, the music for which began with the Arkansaw Traveller, and wound up with Sugar in the Gourd. Souvenirs of the occasion were miniature cotton bales.
The society editor will descibe the affair de rigueur, next Sunday.
---------------------------------------------------------
As promised, the Society section of the Times-Herald carried a complete account of the cotton picking party in its Sunday edition
Waco Times-Herald
October 2, 1898
SOCIETY
Glen Katherine, famed for a series of charming affairs this summer, never appeared more attractive than on the Saturday evening of the "cotton picking." The grounds were hung with lights revealing the flowers in the parterres, the hammocks swung between trees and all of the picturesque details that have been added to this well-kept summer home.
To the west of the house the observatory, recently erected to command a view of the surrounding valley, arose from a grove so thickly swung with Japanese lanterns as to resemble a swarm of fire flies gathered at its base. The frame work, Moorish in design, was outlined with lights that shone brightly visible from the valley below. An orchestra was stationed at the top.
The house was filled with the same air of cordial hospitality, and the airy rooms showed every detail of the same dainty interior as on the evening when they were first thrown open, and the social world in regulation evening dress glided over the polished floors through the mazy evolutions of a german.
The style of decoration was somewhat altered, however, cut flowers being replaced by cotton plants, while the stylish young hostess moved about the rooms in a red calico “veiled” in a long checked gingham. Little Miss Lottie Padgitt was a quaint old fashioned figure in a sweeping calico dress and long gingham apron.
About 7 o’clock strains of the orchestra were drowned by the rumble of wagon wheels and by the whoops and yells of the coming guests who were greeted by the assembled Padgitt family with a “hey Rube” and a “ho Rube” and a cordial handshake.
Some of the guests, while conforming to the terms of the invitation, the girls coming in “gaudy gowns” and the men in “hickory shirts,” still made the incongruous error of arriving in rubber tired buggies, but no parties carried out the idea completely.
Messrs. Cameron and Thorpe in blue overalls and checked jumpers and Misses Alexander and Yates gowned in gingham and coiffed in bandanna handkerchiefs appeared in a wagon canopied o’er with not the freshest of wagon sheets.
The last to arrive, in an old wagon drawn by a jaded team, was a regular “40 cents a hundred” crowd, the men in blue overalls, jumpers and big straw hats, the girls in paroda waist dresses, high necked plaid aprons and sun-bonnets. Closer inspection revealed the identity of Mr. Cross with Misses Killough and Orand, Messrs. Charles and Tom Padgitt of Dallas, with “the Johnsing girls.”
Cotton sacks were immediately distributed and partners found by means of original verses or puns on the various names. The signal to begin work was a blast blown by Mr. Padgitt on a cow horn. The cotton field, white in the moonlight, was soon busy with pickers until another blast, a half hour later, finished the contest.
Messrs. Beaumont and Eikel weighed the sacks on a pair of cotton scales and declared Miss Ione Johnston the winner of the ladies first prize, an elegant cut glass perfume bottle on a cut mirror; the gentlemen’s first prize was a handsome silk umbrella, won by Mr. Newt Williams. Miss Lula Carroll carried off the booby prize, a picture of a picaninny in a gilt frame, and Mr. Ned Marshall as a booby winner owns a silver handled dust brush. The prize for best pickers among the married ladies and gentlemen were won by Mrs. W.R. Clifton and Dr. Black, being a handsome needle book for Mrs. Clifton and a soap sachet for Dr. Black. The prizes were presented by Miss Padgitt in happy little speeches.
The evening finished with square dances. A menu was served from long tables: Hot gingerbread, pumpkin pie, sandwiches, fried pies, buns, hard boiled eggs, potato custard, fried chicken, buttermilk, sweet milk, watermelons, coffee and cider, in which the “Ruebens” drank in sentiment at least to the “Rachels;”
Here’s to the maid in the cotton gown;
What e’er may be the style in town,
To the mind of man in jumper and jeans
She’s the girl of girls and the queen of queens.
Those who took part in this original affair were:
Misses
Orand
Ione Johnston
Johnston
Killough
Aileen Gardner
Eubank
Willis
Carroll
Beasley
Alma Baker
Alexander
Yates
Friend
Stella Sheperd
Ruth Smith
Minnie Smith
McKenzie of Bryan
Henderson of Bryan
Parrott
Marshall
Downs
Messrs.
Charley Padgitt of Dallas
Tom Padgitt of Dallas
Williams
Cameron
Thorpe
Gregg
Chas. Smith
Calhoun
Daffin of Ennis
Ross
Bayliss Earle
Cross
Lee Davis
Baum
Dr. Frank Ross
Foster Fort
Mr. and Mrs. Will Seley
Hallpike
Eikel
Beaumont
Chatham
Hamilton
Hobson
Dr. and Mrs. Black
posted by Muley at 10:50 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home