“Yes, don’t you remember what Mrs. Morrow told us about the handcrafts of the Pioneer women? Well, she made up this dance to make these crafts definite. Oh, come, it is easy!” In a moment, Nathalie’s objection being overruled, she bade Fred good-by and was hurried by her partner to join one of the two lines on the floor.
Only a few explanations were necessary, and Nathalie, who was quick to learn, joined her voice to the girlish ones singing:
“Singing, ringing thro’ the air
Comes the song of Molly fair.
Milking, milking Crumple Horn
Down in the barn at early dawn.”
As the song ended, the closed right hand of every Girl Pioneer was held out in front, elbow bent upward. Then came three movements up and down in imitation of the act of churning. This was done three times, as in chorus came:
“Churning, turning, see it splash,
This way, that way, with a dash.”
As the next two lines rang out:
“Skimming skimming foamy white,
Making the butter golden bright,”
the motions were changed to those of skimming milk, repeated three times as in the previous movement, the girls emphasizing the end of each movement by stamping the feet, using first one and then the other. They ended this last motion by each girl placing her hands on her hips and tripping in line with the others lightly down the room in time with the music and then back to place.
A second of time, and each dancer was making the motion of holding a baby in her encircled arms, and while swaying to and fro these words were softly crooned: