Summer had its celebrations

Doris Bergstrom
Posted 11/20/02

There was pleasure as well as work in the summertime. Alys Johnson writes in the Swanson Family History of a birthday celebration. My grandmother's claim to fame is that she was born on the day of the summer solstice - Mid-summer's Day, a day of celebration in Sweden. She enjoyed this distinction. Her eyes lit up and a particular smile of pleasure spread on her face when we reminded her of this day.

A surprise party was arranged for Grandma one summer. "Early in the afternoon there was a knock on the door and one by one Ma's friends came. As buggies became passe and the automobile became the more common mode of transportation, a husband or son would take their wife or mother to the party because none of the women could drive a car. Few women Ma's age and older ever did learn to drive. Each woman brought a cake.... Talk about delicious cakes and icings all made from scratch. Mrs. Billing's sour cream filling was especially good . . . .Ma was beaming throughout the whole affair."

Before they bought a car, trips to Milaca were made with the horse and buggy. Alys writes, "We drove to Milaca with our cream cans in a buggy. Usually we had two cream cans that we covered with blankets to keep them cool in summer. The creamery returned our cream cans to us filled with buttermilk that we fed the hogs. In summertime when the men were busy in the fields, Annie or Esther would take the cream to town. I would go along with them for the ride. Since we lived five miles from Milaca it would take us a good part of the day. We often bought doughnuts to eat on the way home."

It is noteworthy to ponderómany women who never learned to drive a car thought nothing of hitching up the horse and buggy and going to town. Aunt Annie never drove a car. My mother, Esther, however, learned to drive a Model T and then the Chevrolet. She drove most anywhere.

Andrew and Christina Peterson sold their farm in 1915 and moved to Milaca. The Swansons usually stopped to visit them when they went to town. Alys tells of one Fourth of July, "Pa took us kids to town in the two-seated buggy. He tied up the horses at Grandpa and Grandma's and gave them some hay. Then we walked downtown for the festivities. There always was a parade. There were people everywhere, everyone happy and excited. There was a platform erected for a program presented to those who wished to hear. We sat and drank pop from glass bottles while we listened to speakers and music. Pop back then wasn't very good and we poured most of it out on the ground. Ma stayed home; she never seemed to care to go to any events. When we got home, we always told her everything that happened."

A special treat after accomplishing some major work, such as haying, might be a day of fishing at Lewis Lake southwest of Mora. Alys relates, "Ma and Gertrude packed a big dinner and a lunch. Charlie drove our car, Sundfors (a neighbor) sitting with him in the front seat and Pa, Gertrude and I in the back. Our brass front Ford chugged along on the dirt country roads. We rented boats from the Blomquist resort, got our worms and fishing gear and were soon pulling in sunfish. We were told that if we kissed the hook we were supposed to get a fish right away. It worked sometimes. After dinner we fished again. We caught a lot of fish, then had lunch and went home. It was a good day and a reward for all of us."

On Sundays, children were dressed in their 'good' clothes, particularly if the family had company, though it meant that their play was curtailed so they did not soil their 'Sunday best.' The men dressed up, too, often wearing a white shirt and even a tie when they went visiting.

Horseshoe was a game that the men enjoyedóand so did women. Grandpa's horseshoe pits, 30 feet apart, were out by the garage. Measuring and checking the exact lie of the tossed horseshoes warranted serious discussion, as did the winning tally of 21. The clinking of horseshoes against the metal stakes might go on all afternoonóuntil they were called in for lunch. Alys states that they also played horseshoe in the evening after chores were done.