For the month of August, there is no actual holiday, but there is an entry in our 1913 book nonetheless.
Perhaps we can categorize this one as a ‘holiday’ in the sense that it is a play day story!
Our reading words for ‘A Long Play Day’ are
errands startling journey tribe piazza station Dakotas signal telephoned
Without further ado, here is our story.
A Long Play Day
Ted was up bright and early on Saturday morning. Was not Saturday a play day, when boys and girls could have fun?
It did not take him long to eat his breakfast. The errands for his mother were soon done.
Then with his Indian suit on, the feathers hanging down his back, and his bow and arrow in his hand, he started to meet the rest of his tribe. Ted called his tribe the Dakotas. He had heard about them in school.
He opened the kitchen door and ran down the steps. With a loud war whoop he dashed through the yard, startling poor pussy who was taking a morning nap on the piazza. He nearly upset his sister’s doll carriage, dolls and all.
Behind the barn was an orchard, and under one of the apple trees the tribe was gathering, one by one — Ted and Tom, Rob and Billy, four brave young Indians.
Billy had brought a new fish line which his father had given him the night before. After much talk they started for the pond, in Indian file, one behind the other. They had hardly reached the pond when splash went a big raindrop on Ted’s nose.
No fishing to-day! It would never do to spoil their Indian suits and gay-colored feathers.
Away they ran, each Indian to his own home.
As Ted took off his Indian suit and put it away, he wondered what he would do next.
Up in the playroom his little sister was busy playing dolls. Ted watched her a minute, but thought himself too big to play with girls’ toys.
In his own corner he had a wonderful track, with switches and a signal, a bridge and a train of cars. He wound up his engine and sent it on a long journey round and round the track.
Then he hitched on a freight car and filled it with blocks for lumber. With the lumber he was planning to build a station.
Ted liked this game, and when the station was done, he invited his sister to let one of her dolls have a ride.
Dolly was a little bit large for the car. With a smile on her face she started on the journey. I am sorry to tell you that dolly’s journey ended in a wreck. Poor dolly hurt her arm, but she never winked nor cried, but smiled as sweetly as ever.
Just then mother came to call them to dinner. Before dinner was over, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. Father telephoned that he was coming home to take a little girl and boy to the park.
“That must be you and I, Ruth,” said Ted. “Come, let us get on our hats and be all ready.”
I can hardly begin to tell you of the good time that they had in the park. They saw some boys playing baseball, and in another part saw some people playing tennis.
As they walked along, the little squirrels came out ot see them, and Ted and Ruth fed them with peanuts.
I think they liked the bears best. It was all that father could do to get them away from the bears’ den, so they might get home in time for supper.
As Ted and Ruth walked home with their father, they both agreed that it was fun to watch bears play and to see them eat their supper.
It was a tired and sleepy boy who said to his mother as she kissed him good night, “Mother, this has been the best play day I have ever had.”
*****
A few thoughts about the above cute story:
First of all, I love it. It embodies the sweetness of childhood, and I think we can all relate to the story somehow. Second, I was a bit surprised that there were bears in the park, and that the father let his children look into the bears’ den. This is said in such a casual way as if it was the norm to see bears in the park.
This is when I realized, they did not go to the tiny park down the street with swings and other like amusements, but they probably went to a National Historic Park! This book was published and geared toward students in Massachusetts, and there you will find many parks of the sort. Black bears are common there, and of course this would have been a well known fact to the children who were reading this story. I found this fact very cool, as whenever someone talks about going to the park, I have always pictured a tiny town park. I guess that comes with being a ‘city’ girl.
Next, they say that the father could hardly pull his children away from watching the bears, so that they could get to supper in time. Supper? Hadn’t they already had dinner? Well, apparently they are using the word dinner in place of ‘lunch’. According to Oxford English Dictionary, dinner is the ‘main meal of the day, taken either around midday or in the evening’. I have always said ‘dinner’ meaning the last meal of the day. I thought it was kind of curious that the father was taking the children out to a park after dinner, I mean wouldn’t that be a little late for a trip to the park? But it makes sense in the context that they had breakfast, dinner (or lunch), and ‘supper’ which probably was a lighter meal than some might have as their last meal of the day.
I know this all may seem such a silly ramble to you, but I find regional variations in speech fascinating, especially when it is a story from over 100 years ago.
See you next month when we talk about our September holidays!
