The July 5 column of \u201cYour Town and My Town\u201d contained a partial review of an old book from the office library of the late J.M. Fronefield. Today\u2019s column continues with the story of social life along the Main Line 80 years and more ago, as it has been described in \u201cThe Old Main Line,\u201d written by Joseph W. Townsend in 1919.<\/p>\n
It was in the 80\u2019s, according to Mr. Townsend, that Philadelphians, seeking to escape the heat of the city\u2019s summer, began to come out west of city line. The Wildgoos boarding house near Haverford College was one of the favorite resorts and one of which Mr. Townsend evidently knew a great deal personally. It was probably very much like Wayne’s Louella Mansion and the Bellevue Hotel, though these two did not reach the height of their popularity until a slightly later date.<\/p>\n
\u201cWildgoos boarders were,\u201d according to Mr. Townsend, \u201ca jolly, good-natured crowd, living all summer like one large, happy family. Rooms could be engaged only for the entire summer, and were in such demand that there was always a waiting list.\u201d However, to modern youth, the pleasure of that kind of Main Line summer life would probably seem very dull, with no automobiles, no movies and no sports as young people know them today. Even in Philadelphia itself there were only two or three theatres and these featured neither comic opera nor musical comedies.<\/p>\n
Most of the houses in the country had only coal oil lamps and candles for illumination in the evening. Weather permitting, this part of the day was usually spent on the porch or on the lawn. On stormy nights, summer boarders were crowded into the parlor for music or games. Among the latter was one of \u201cFamiliar Quotations,\u201d played like \u201cAuthor.\u201d According to our Main Line historian, \u201cthe game consisted of cards having about 100 quotations from both ancient and modern authors and was a liberal education in itself to those who played it, making a lasting impression of the best thoughts of the best authors. Proceeds from the sale of the game went to the \u201cSanitary Fair,\u201d held in Logan Square during the war\u2026 selections were made by a well-known Philadelphian woman, Mrs. Lydia Hunn, the grandmother of Mrs. Charles Baily, of Strafford. Mr. Townsend comments in his book that \u201cMrs. Hunn must have read everything and remembered the best of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
One favorite evening entertainment consisted of charades, rebuses and conundrums. The latter were most frequently derived from the Bible, as most people were familiar with it. Spirit mysteries were very much in vogue then, as witnessed by the popularity of Planchette, predecessor of the Ouija Board.<\/p>\n
It was \u201ca small, thin, heart shaped piece of wood standing on little revolving rollers with one leg in the form of a short lead pencil. A large piece of paper was placed on a table, with the Planchette board on top of it. As one or more participants in the game placed the tips of their fingers on the board, it soon began to move.\u201d The skeptical Mr. Townsend adds, \u201cand the pencil naturally traced on the paper the semblance of the words that were in the operator\u2019s mind!\u201d<\/p>\n
So much for indoor amusements. As for outdoors, there was driving in the little carriages built for two and designated as \u201cbuggies.\u201d In Mr. Townsend’s opinion, \u201cbuggy driving was more sociable than modern motoring, as the horse did not require constant or undivided attention, having sense enough to turn when the road turned, which the motor car has not. The horse could also be guided with one hand, when the drivers\u2019 intentions were serious and reciprocated. On long drives, the horses had to be rested frequently and roadside berries, with which the Main Line then abounded, were an agreeable accompaniment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Picnics were sometimes organized, occasionally even as far as to Valley Forge, though that was a long, tiresome drive with horses in those days. A popular picnic spot and a more nearby one was the Morris Dam on Roberts road. Wildgoos boarders and neighbors joined in these, some coming from as far as Overbrook. Moonlight hay wagon rides were another form of amusement among the older people as well as the younger. However, all of these pastimes and amusements were for the six days of the week only, for \u201cSunday in the 60\u2019s was very different from that of today,\u201d according to Mr. Townsend. (This columnist might add that in the 30 years since this book was printed, Sunday pastimes have changed still more!)<\/p>\n
On Sundays in the 60\u2019s, \u201cchurch going, walking and visiting were the order of the day. Those who took long drives were often frowned upon by their more religious neighbors. Sunday evenings were mostly spent in hymn singing. There were, of course, no Sunday newspapers. The Pennsylvania Railroad ran but one train and that was from Philadelphia at eight o\u2019clock in the morning. None went into Philadelphia from the suburbs.\u201d Mr. Townsend tells of an early report of a committee of the railway company\u2019s stockholders which devoted five pages to the iniquity of the company\u2019s doing any business on Sunday.<\/p>\n
(Sports in the 60\u2019s, including a reference to \u201cthe gentle croquet mallets\u201d will be described in next week\u2019s column.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The July 5 column of \u201cYour Town and My Town\u201d contained a partial review of an old book from the office library of the late J.M. Fronefield. Today\u2019s column continues with the story of social life along the Main Line 80 years and more ago, as it has been described in \u201cThe Old Main Line,\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1009,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008\/revisions\/1009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}