| Sudie, Sudie, my foot is sore, A-dancing on your puncheon floor. |
Sometimes a young miss limped off to a chair. “Making out like someone stepped on her toe,” Aunt Binie whispered behind her hand, for she knew all the signs of young folks, “but she’s just not wanting to dance with Big Foot Jeff Pickett.” The next moment Dan Spotswood had pulled himself loose from his cross-eyed partner and made his way to the side of his true love who had limped to the corner.
Nor was Uncle Mose unmindful of what was going on. The caller must have a quick eye, know who is courting, who is on the outs, who craves to be again in the arms of so and so. Quick as a flash he shouted, “Which shall it be Butterfly Swing or Captain Jinks?”
“Captain Jinks,” cried Dan Spotswood jovially. For Dan knew the ways of the mountains. He didn’t want any hard feelings with anyone. This dance would give all an opportunity to mingle and exchange partners. Even though Big Foot had tried his best to break up the match between him and Nellie, Dan meant that that fellow shouldn’t have the satisfaction of knowing his jealousy. So he urged the couples into the circle. Dan, however, did see to it that he had Nellie’s hand as they circled halfway around the crowded room before following the familiar calls of the play-party game as they sang the words along with the lively notes of the fiddle. They were words that their grandparents had sung in the days of the Civil War, with some latter-day changes:
|
Captain Jinks came home last night.
Pass your partner to the right;
Swing your neighbor so polite,
For that’s the style in the army. All join hands and circle left, Circle left, circle left, All join hands and circle left, For that’s the style in the army. |
They saluted partners, they stepped and circled, and sashayed, they fairly galloped around the room, much to the disapproval of old Aunt Binie. “I don’t favor no such antic ways. They’re steppin’ too lively.” Her protest was heeded.
The fiddler stopped short. Folks were respectful in that day and time.
“Mose,” the hostess called out to the fiddler when he had rested a little while, “please to strike up the tune Pop Goes the Weasel.”
No sooner said than done. The notes of the fiddle rang out and Uncle Mose himself led off in the singing:
| A penny for a spool of thread, A penny for a needle, |