Decatur County Journal Leon, Iowa Thursday, August 10, 1911 Last Saturday evening as the shades of twilight were gently falling if any one would have looked into the various homes of the relatives and friends of Mr. And Mrs. R.D. HOADLEY, they would have noticed a subdued excitement and hurry and bustle as of some anticipated pleasure and some such remarks as those were frequently heard: "Won't RALPH and NELL be surprised. I do hope they won't find it out until we get there." And among the children some such as these wonder what GLADYS and LOUISE will do. We will have lots of fun when we all get there. Meanwhile in the HOADLEY home all unconscious of the tumult going on round them, they after a busy and hard day's work, for the threshers had been there that day, were quickly and quietly doing their chores with the prospects of retiring early for a quiet night's rest and pleasant dreams, but their dreams, however, were suddenly interrupted by the patter of horses feet and the clamoring of many voices saying: "Arise and let us in." Mr. HOADLEY, or RALPH as he is familiarly called, opened the door and bid us enter, saying in his jolly and pleasing manner, "Come in, we were looking for you." Mrs. HOADLEY very kindly offered us the use of her house, which the guests were not long in taking. The evening was spent in various amusements, including a number of games on the lawn and the way the older ones joined with the younger ones in the spirit of the games, it vividly recalled to our minds a part of the poem "Willie Grey" learned in our childhood, in which the author says that "Men are only boys grown tall; hearts didn't change much after all." Refreshments were served during the evening which consisted of ice cream and cake. The ladies furnished cakes and the gentlemen the cream. There were angel food cake, devil's food cake, brown sugar cake, checkerboard cake, dark cake and light cake, and as the ladies in the vicinity of Good Hope and Van Wert are noted for their culinary art, especially in the fancy cake line there were cakes to tempt the most delicate appetite and the way six gallons of ice cream and the cakes disappeared one would have thought their appetites had truly been tempted. Between 70 and 80 guests were present, who when near the midnight hour, departed for their homes wishing Mr. And Mrs. HOADLEY a long life of peace and prosperity and thinking they were royal entertainers. -------------------------------------------------------- Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert December 6, 2009 [email protected]