Stovepipe Melody of 1922

Dust off your bowlers, gents
And leave behind all your laments
Take the blinders off yer horses
And set them runnin' on the courses
'Cause Stovepipe Sally's on her way
For the Mountain City Summer Parade!

Yo ho ho and a bottle of fun
Here comes the Pirate Posse
In their poofy shirts and wild west six-guns!
Our parades don't need to make sense
Step right into the novelty tents

Just a penny gets you inside
Too see weird sight from far and wide
Just a nickel gets you out!
Just a nickel gets you out! 

Alice Etsell

Mom just sent me this photo of her grandmother, my great-grandmother, Alice Etsell washing clothes on the Etsell farm near Virden. The shed in the background survived for many years; in fact, Sean and I saw it back in 2009, shortly before it was destroyed. Mom thinks this photo was taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s - almost a century ago.