Cinderella has arrived at the prom all in her finery. Prom time means a lot of girls get transformed into a Cinderella of sorts. Even an ugly duckling can become a swan with a few strokes of the make-up brush.
And as your child gets ready to leave, the ultimate warning.....be home at ???? (whatever time you set). Some parents aren't so lenient and the curfew is as soon as the dancing is over....but some do the Cinderella curfews and a few let the young people stay out all night.
I can imagine how some of the conversations go when a daughter leaves for the night:
"Since your date has no car and no driver's license, you will not, and I repeat, will not let him drive our car! That car is valuable and will turn into a pumpkin or will entirely disappear (remember I have the other set of keys) at Midnight so you absolutely have to be home before then. And, I don't mean 10 after midnight either, I mean at the stroke of midnight, you must be home.
And, I want to repeat again, he absolutely cannot drive our car. Be sure to wipe your shoes when getting into the car so that you don't get dirt on the carpet. You will go straight to the Prom site after picking him up at his house and straight home afterwards after leaving the prom site and then dropping him off. Don't plan on stopping to kiss or make out as I've installed cameras in the car and I will know about it.
Ok Cinderella girl, have fun at the Prom, and don't let anyone, I repeat anyone kiss you. And don't forget the car turns into a pumpkin at midnight and don't forget I have the other set of keys and don't forget, don't let your date drive the car.
As your Cinderella ponders all of this, she might wonder if it's worth it! And might be hurt you don't trust her.....but I'm sure we've all had these type of instructions given to us and we might have even issued similar ultimatums ourselves at one point or another. The joys of being a parent.
Old Menard County
(taken from the History of Menard and Mason Counties 1879)
Agriculture:
The soil is adapted to agricultural pursuits in a very remarkable degree. Not only in the bottom and table lands is the black loam deep and rich, but the uplands are also equally productive. Of the 310.4 square miles, or 198,675 acres of land in the county, there were in 1878, 168,282 in cultivation, against 134,173 acres in 1870. Of this, 63,286 acres were in corn, yielding 1,875,096 bushels. The same year, 1878, there were 8,987 acres in winter wheat, yielding 125,149 bushels; 891 acres in spring wheat, yielding 6,244 bushels; 8,352 acres in oats, producing 263,666 bushels; 10, 168 acres in timothy meadow, yielding 14,542 tons of hay; 303 acres in Irish potatoes, producing 15, 620 bushels; 1,469 acres in apple orchards, yielding 56,157 bushels of apples. The acreage of grain raised in 1878 was not as large as usual, from the fact of the extreme wet weather in the early part of the season, preventing the cultivation of large amount of the flat and low bottom-land. Beside this, winter wheat has been such an uncertain crop for some years past, that little attention has been paid to it: but the yield per acre of what was sowed last year being so fine that the acreage the present year is almost double that of 1878, and the quality and yield are both much better. There are a variety of crops raised beside those named above, but those given are the most important.
The county is well supplied with the various kinds of stock, and for many years great pains have been taken to improve the quality by securing the best imported breeds. For a number of years, there was great profit in feeding cattle and hogs for the Eastern markets, and many of the cattle raised on the rich pasture-lands of "Little Menard" were shipped to European ports, and proved to be as rich and savory as the boasted beeves of the Old World. For a few years past, however, farmers have found but little profit in this department of labor, and raising cattle and hogs as a business is falling into desuetude. The price of pasture and the cost of raising corn, together with the Western competition in prices, render the cattle business very uncertain and dangerous, while the prevalence of hog-cholera for several years past, renders the business of hog-raising so dangerous that but little attention is given to it. In 1878, there were 5,961 head of cattle fatted in the county, the aggregate gross weight of which was 2,104,900 pounds. There were 1,089 milk-cows kept, from which was sold, beside the home consumption, 43,890 pounds of butter, 225 pounds of cheese, 15 gallons of cream and 2,300 gallons of milk. The same year, 18,902 hogs were fatted, the gross weight of which was 4,664,546 pounds; besides these, there were 22,495 hogs, big and little, died with cholera during the same year, the aggregate weight of which was 1,514,421 pounds. The sheep of the county yielded, in 1878, 19,689 pounds of wool. Of the horses, mules and asses in the county, we have no statistics later than 1870 that are reliable. There were then 6,840 horses and 921 mules and asses. Since that time, or six years, the attention of farmers has been turned largely to the improvement of the breed of horses. For this purpose, large sums have been expended in importing, from various portions of Europe, studs of the finest horses. The most popular breeds are, perhaps, the Norman and Clydesdale. In this short time, a marked improvement is observable in the stock all over the county.
The total valuation of farmlands, at the last census, was $7,944,895. The total farm products were estimated to be worth $2,237,505, and the livestock was valued at $1,617,389.
Quote For The Day
A woman is like a tea bag. You never know
how strong she is until she gets in hot water.
--Eleanor Roosevelt
Do you remember the Maypole dance you did as a kid. Do kids now days do those kind of things??
I remember on May Day, on May 1, a celebration used to be important to us kids in town. Me and some of my friends used to make cones from old wallpaper and put flowers we plucked from our yard as well as our neighbor's yard (she didn't care). We then took these cones of flowers around to the old people in town. We would put the cone of flowers on the porch and ring the doorbell and run like the wind. I think we were supposed to use baskets but we didn't have any so that was the reason we rolled the old wallpaper into cones....this idea was from my mama who loved to help us do these kind of things.
I also remember using some kind of paper streamers that we attached to an old clothes line pole and we would each take a streamer and go around and around the pole singing at the top of our lungs. This idea was another one from my mama who said this was a May Pole.
I think the old customs have been lost. I remember telling my kids about these things we did but I can't remember if they did them. I'm sure they didn't carry on with these.....they live in the city where things like this aren't done for fear of something bad happening.
I would love to see someone leave a cone of flowers on my porch. It would mean the old custom had not been lost!
I remember on May Day, on May 1, a celebration used to be important to us kids in town. Me and some of my friends used to make cones from old wallpaper and put flowers we plucked from our yard as well as our neighbor's yard (she didn't care). We then took these cones of flowers around to the old people in town. We would put the cone of flowers on the porch and ring the doorbell and run like the wind. I think we were supposed to use baskets but we didn't have any so that was the reason we rolled the old wallpaper into cones....this idea was from my mama who loved to help us do these kind of things.
I also remember using some kind of paper streamers that we attached to an old clothes line pole and we would each take a streamer and go around and around the pole singing at the top of our lungs. This idea was another one from my mama who said this was a May Pole.
I think the old customs have been lost. I remember telling my kids about these things we did but I can't remember if they did them. I'm sure they didn't carry on with these.....they live in the city where things like this aren't done for fear of something bad happening.
I would love to see someone leave a cone of flowers on my porch. It would mean the old custom had not been lost!
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