1912 ~ Braiding the Maypole ~ by Ruby Elmira Knudsen Parkin ~ Knudsen Chronicles

Spring was a wonderful time; we anticipated it because we could stop wearing the long underwear we called "woolies", and avoid the usual weekly doses of senna tea or castor oil.  When I was eight and nine, there were always Primary and May Day dances in the afternoon, and I always had a lot of fun.  One May Day, all the girls were getting new black patent leather slippers to wear for the big May Day dance.  Of course, I wanted a pair too and thought it would be impossible to have fun if I didn't have new shoes like the rest of the girls.  But Mother couldn't afford them, so I just didn't get them.  I went to the dance sadly, but I had more dances than any of the other girls, in spite of their pretty shoes.  Through the years I have always remembered that things like new shoes just don't matter as much as we think they do, and it's more important to be pleasant and friendly.

Maypole

On May Day, the first day of May, all the children in school took lunches and walked several blocks up past the Mill to a big field where we played ball and other games.  We stayed most of the day, arriving home about three or four o'clock.  After the game, there was a musical play and the braiding of the Maypole.  The City Band played for us to dance around the maypole, and there was also a concert.  It was a big day, and one I usually loved.