Jo Mobberly remembers May Day in late 1800s
VILLAGE VISTA MARCH 1970
Josephine (“Jo”) Roberts Mobberly, who was born in the Pea Ridge area in 1877, was featured in the August 1975 issue of the Village
Vista as being the Village’s oldest resident at that time as she celebrated her 98th birthday. She passed away two years later at age 100 in October 1977. The following is an excerpt reprinted from the March 1970 issue of the Village Vista, which includes an essay she wrote when she was in her early 40s, around 1918:
Caves, Springs Drew Tourists in the 1880s
Long before the turn of the century, the area now known as Bella Vista was popular with residents of Bentonville and many of the larger towns in the surrounding areas as a spot for fun and recreation. Mrs. Josephine Roberts Mobberly, born in 1877 and today one of the present Bella Vista Village’s oldest and most enthusiastic supporters, wrote the following reminiscences from her childhood, around 1918, about the day they celebrated the “Queen O’May” with picnics, speeches and exploring the woods. (Editor’s Note: For more information about May Day and the May Queen, see www. almanac.com/content/ what-may-day.)
“Joyous the sound that ran through the woods while we played by the babbling brook and twined together with flowers, the fern and the cowslip to crown the ‘Queen O’ May.’
“The boys hung from the lofty oak, the cable-toe that swung far out over the vale and stream just to make it the more daring….
“And, oh, those stirring speeches … that echoed and re-echoed through the hills that day! Eloquent? Yes, and full of vision, too.
“We were only school folk then but, as I remember, were as brave a set as ever went to battle. And oh, that dinner when it was spread! Not a box of sandwiches, dear, but a full big basket heaped and rounded up. What of? A whole baked hen, a big round of country ham, a stack of pies, a great big yellow cake, rich with butter and eggs, large loaves of bread — the best bread — Mother made it.
“The carving was all done after the table linen was spread. Then everybody got busy. The boys brought fresh water and helped carve the meats. The girls sliced the bread, cake and pie. And what fun we had when we spread that glorious feast! Then we all sat around and waited on each other. We were all friends (or sweethearts).
“…After rambling through the woods, exploring a cave or two, and the refreshing time just spent … we were all resting languidly under the long arms of the great trees that spread a dense shade beneath. The sound of water was heard as it rippled over the shining pebbles. The birds twittered above us and shyly flitted from limbto-limb as if to welcome us to their great wildwood.
“The wilted bouquets and the trophies brought from the cave all bespeak the spirit that enchanted the day. The speeches were vivacious and far-seeing, optimistic of the very things we enjoy today. The railroads, the highways that did not exist then in our part were all enthusiastically pictured. I remember it was said they would be built of the stones that lay on the hillsides of today. ‘We will see it; we are a progressive people.’ I thought ‘How long, oh how long will this vision be.’ They spread on canvas everything we have today except the automobile, the flying machine and the radio. True, there had been a dream of the horseless carriage, only a dream; even that has been realized, and now I am forced to wonder what glories lie in the near future for this generation.
“I do not think, as some, that this word is finished or coming to an
end soon, but that we are living in an infant world. There are glories for you that have not even been dreamed of, and as time goes on, this old world will unfold as never before to a people prepared and made ready, and it is ours to do. Have experienced in past years an almost miraculous progress that we, of the now, should unfurl to these, our young hopefuls, a more sure vision, and it is mine to realize a truth I did not know that day. However, it is not a new language, but a new seed in a new soil, as it were. It is not to the mighty, it is not to the strong, but to the gentle God-fearing man, who holds the secret of progress in the hollow of his hand….
“The world is young today. To solve the true spirit of progress is to solve truth. That will mirror to you ten thousand brakes that are clutching the wheels that are striving to move onward and upward, of which if we were to speak, there would be no end.
“Now we have returned from this day in the woods. On our return we sang in one chorus the words of Stonewall Jackson, ‘Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees,’ and whatever trophies we may have brought thus far, we lay at your feet, in full confidence, together with hope, that you will strive lawfully and gain much.
“They tell me that this wildwood of rolling stones, rippling streams and singing birds of yesterday is none other than the beautiful
landscape of Bella Vista today.”
(Editor’s note: The rest of the article reprinted from the March 1970 Village Vista is as follows:)
From 1893 to 1896, Mrs. Mobberly … took part in many teenage parties in the area known as North Cave Spring (the spring just east of the present Bella Vista Trout Farm, which now provides water for the Trout Farm pools and raceways). During that time, she and her friends came regularly to the cave area in the spring, summer and fall seasons….
To reach the popular area, picnickers from Bentonville took a route east of the present Highway 71, down Braithwaite Hill, fording Little Sugar Creek at the “two streams” crossing, the location of the present Wishing Spring Dairy. Then they traveled east of the creek until they reached the North Cave Spring.
Visitors came from as far north as Joplin and Neosho, Mo., and as far south as Fayetteville, Ark. In lieu of air-conditioned buildings, the natural air conditioning of the spring
and overhanging bluffs made it a desirable meeting place for young and old alike. Horse and buggies often filled the valley to the location of the present Highway 71, old-timers recall. Editor’s note: If today’s readers would like to see more of the scenery described in this 1970 article, they may sign up for the next Bella Vista Historical Museum’s Historic Sites Tour which will be rescheduled at a future date. Contact Dale Phillips at 812-899-2049.