New Years 1907

New Years 1907

To the Editor of The Jumplicate, Scott City, Missouri

Happy New Year!

It was a joyous crowd of partygoers that rang the school bell loudly at the first New Year's party ever held in Fornfelt (Scott City) to welcome in the New Year of 1907.  The party was held in a new school building.

The school building was on the west side of town.  The principal and his wife lived in two rooms upstairs in the school.  In these early days there were not many pupils so only two teachers were needed to teach the classes downstairs.  The principal who came from Charleston. He taught the upper grades, and an older woman from Jackson taught the lower grades.  In later years the school had many pupils and became the grade school that the people of the town were proud of for excellence of teaching and achievement.

At this time, New Year's Eve, the principal and his wife had invited all the young married couples and a “grass widow” * to a party.  There was music and dancing.  The musicians with a guitar and violin furnished some lively music.  It was called old-fashioned fiddle tunes.  There was a popular new dance called the Two-Step that everyone was dancing.  The “grass widow” was cheered by watching her friends dancing the two-step.

At midnight everyone stopped dancing and went to ring the big new school bell.  The bell had not been permanently installed but the problem was soon solved and the bell was rung loudly and clearly for all to hear that the New Year had arrived.  The party was over and about 1 a.m. everyone went home with the hopes that the new year would be better for everyone. 

 Sincerely, Edna Drexler

· A grass widow is a woman whose husband is away for a  period of time.