POW Escapes With Water Wings

by Anita Mae Draper

When I began my research on lifesavers and flotation devices, I had no idea that water wings existed in the early 1900's, nor that I would discover that a 1917 prisoner of war (POW) would use them in his great escape. According to the UK Imperial War Museum's online display, Swimeesy Water Buoys made of cotton, rubber and metal, were used by Lieutenant G. F. Knight of the Royal Flying Corps to float his food and clothes across the River Ems while escaping Strohen POW camp in Germany in September 1917. 

Swim bag in textile material and metal valve for inflation, before 1926. Source: Digital Museum

Manufactured by Dean's Rag Book Company of London, England, Dean's Swimeesy Buoys were crafted with a heavy cotton material and filled with "vegetable fibers" that may have been kapok. In the center where the wings meet, a metal valve unscrewed to allow inflation. The reverse of the Swimeesy Buoy displayed the manufacturer and instructions for proper use.

Swim bag in textile material and metal valve for inflation, before 1926. Source: Digital Museum

Reference to these water wings can be found in office specialty, dry good, bookseller and stationer catalogs such as the 1907 January issue of Bookseller & Stationer of Canada which contained this brief article on the Swimeesy Buoy:

Stationery & Office Products Catalogue, 1907. Source: archive.org

Soon, Lieutenant Knight's escape was being used by the manufacturer in its marketing campaign when retail showcards such as this one were used to promote the Swimeesy Buoys. Although Swimeesy Buoys were introduced to mimic the colorful wings of a butterfly, a plain white version was also available. 

Dean's Swimeesy Buoys, circa 1907. Dean's Rag Book Co.

Swimeesy Buoys appeared in all sorts of sales literature including The Chemist and Druggist which advertised companies and their merchandise. In the February 24, 1923 edition we find the following information, perhaps written by someone who was fed up with winter:

The Chemist and Druggist, February 24, 1923. Source: archive.org

In the following 1913 glass negative image, J.N. Callahan is shown displaying water wings marked as Coxey's Life Saver and Water Wings. 

J.N. Callahan with life saving device "Coxey's" Life Saver and Water Wings.", 1913. Source: Library of  Congress

Water wings are shown in this next photo of Claudia and Oliver Gardiner learning how to swim in Mary Lake, Ontario in July 1919. As there is no mention of size or manufacturer, we don't know if they are the Swimeesy or Coxey ones. 

Claudia and Oliver Gardiner learning how to swim in Mary Lake, Ontario in July 1919. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives

In 1931, a water wings design made from rubber appeared in Modern Mechanix and were then demonstrated on public beaches in Los Angeles, California. Twenty-five years later, Bernhard Markwitz of Germany invented and developed a swim aid for children after his three-year-old daughter almost drowned in a fish pond, however his final form of armbands didn't hit stores until 1964 when he marketed Swimming Wings. 

I never imagined water wings have been around so long, yet it's another example of how history continues to surprise me.

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

Wooden Playground Swings

Playground swings are found in a variety of materials and styles which I suppose are based on what's available and what the community believes it needs at the time. While some playground equipment has been deemed unsafe, swings are still around despite the danger because they can't be outlawed. The public won't stand for it and although I am not a protester by nature, I will be one of the first in line to protest the removal of the simple swing.

My grandfather built my grandmother a swing when they immigrated from Finland in 1930 and I remember summer visits watching her swing. Mamma was the only adult I ever saw who enjoyed such a pleasure and the sight of her smile as she swung taught me the lesson of finding joy in the little things of life.

As you can see from the above photo, Mamma's swing was BIG and it lasted for years. Not only did I enjoy it while growing up, but I used it whenever I visited with my own growing family. I never asked my husband for a swing, yet one day after we'd been married a dozen or so years he built one using the same principle of Mamma's and that is attaching it to the clothesline pole. As you can see from this next photo taken in the mid-80's, my husband and daughter had as much fun swinging as I did. It was the perfect way to relax after spending hours working in our garden.

We moved a few years later and I had to do my swinging with the kids in playgrounds after that. But you see in the photo how my husband is standing up? That's a lot easier to do on the wooden plank swings than on the newer plastic ones, or even those rubber ones that turn your clothes black. 

My research into old style swings dug up some amusing photos of mothers and their kids, including this one taken in 1910 with, "Mrs. Turner, holding daughter, who is standing in a swing, while looking down at her son holding a kitten." The image is from A Study of Mrs. Turner and her Children, Waban, Mass. and seems to show the mother teaching her daughter how to swing while standing. 

The swing, a study of Mrs. Turner and her children. Made at Waban, Mass., 1910. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

I found a similar photo in Virginia showing the Art Brown Family at the swings. This one clearly shows that this mother didn't see the danger of her son falling on his head, or if she did, didn't think it was serious enough to stop him from doing it. 

For younger children I found this undated glass negative of children in chair-like wooden swings taken at Hamilton Fish Park, New York. Does anyone want to take a guess at the year?

Children in swings, Hamilton Fish Park, New York, undated. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Going back to 1910 is another glass negative showing wooden children's swings in an open-walled shelter from a N.Y. playground.

N.Y. Playground, between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

But the joy of swinging isn't always a solitary pastime as the above image shows. If the saying, the more the merrier is any indication, then the wooden circular swing in the next image from San Augustine, Texas, should be loads of fun.

Schoolchildren on circular swing, San Augustine, Texas, Aug 1939. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC

Or would it? Does a circular swing have the same back-and-forth motion like a regular pendulum-type swing? Surely you can't pump your legs for more motion--or can you? Does it turn in a circle as it swings? Has anyone memories of a circular swing that they'd like to share?

When was the last time you had a good swing? Care to share your thoughts and memories of swinging? 

For the record, my next posts (on the fifth day of each month) will be on tire-type and character swings, lawn swings, porch swings, etc, in no particular order. 

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are written under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details. Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience. Discover more at: 

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com
Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/

Historic Winter Sports - Women's Hockey & Giveaway

As a historic winter sport, women's hockey fascinates me for the fashion as well as the skill of the women and the mark they made on history. However, in researching for this post, I was discouraged by the lack of material proving that women played hockey in the first decades of the 20th century in the USA, and not just in the past few decades. Hence, this post appears biased on Canadian women's hockey, and considering that hockey began in Canada, that seems appropriate, but I have included whatever material I could uncover and legally post without breaking copyright restrictions.

Join me for a photographic journey back into the teams who made hockey history, although for the most part, they have never been considered worthy of induction into any hockey Hall of Fame.

The following 1907 backyard image of a girl on skates holding a hockey stick reminds me of the great hockey player, Wayne Gretzky, who started his career as a boy on his Ontario family's backyard rink.

 ca 1907, Edward T. Curlette and friend skating in flooded backyard, Calgary, Alberta. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives

The earliest known photograph of a women's hockey game is this one taken at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, home of the Governor General, the official regal representative in Canada. The Rideau Skating Club in Ottawa is recognized by both the National Hockey League (NHL) and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) as being the March 1889 location of the first women's hockey game on record. 

ca 1890 - Women playing hockey, at Rideau Hall, Ottawa. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada

2015 Stanley Cup, wikipedia photo

In the above photo, it is interesting to know that the woman in white is Isobel Stanley, daughter of the then Governor General, Lord Stanley of Preston.

Lord Stanley and his family were so enamoured with the sport that he donated a silver decorative punch bowl to encourage competition between clubs. Originally called the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, it has grown over the years with every new victory and is now known simply as the Stanley Cup.

By the early 1900's, women were playing hockey in indoor and outdoor rinks across Canada. 

Even in the Yukon where the focus had been on the recent heady gold rush, pursuits changed to more leisurely past times like skating and hockey. This next image shows a 1904 match between the Dawsons and the Victorias.

Apr 13, 1904 - Ladies Hockey Match, Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada

Calgary's Glenbow Museum Archives has several photographs showing western women as members of hockey teams, and also ones like this early one showing the 1909 Girls High School hockey team of Olds, Alberta. Not only are the hair styles different, but so are the quality of skates. 

1909 Girls' high school hockey team, Olds, Alberta.

The best known skates in the late 19th century were manufactured in the Halifax-Dartmouth area of Nova Scotia by the John Starr manufacturing company. Known as block or stock skates, they were strapped to the boot, and although thousands were sold, skatists complained of feeling insecure while wearing them as they often came loose.

John Forbes, foreman of John Starr, developed a self-fastening skate that could be attached to the skate boot with a spring lever. Called the Star Acme Club skate, it became the favorite of skatists and hockeyists of the time. (Yes, hockey players were known as hockeyists.)

In one of the first marketing brainwaves ever, the Starr manufacturing company paid the 1899 Ladies Hockey Club of Edmonton, Alberta, to be photographed putting on their Starr Acme club skates. 

1899 Edmonton Ladies Hockey Team putting on their Starr Acme Club skates

By 1907, several ladies teams in Saskatchewan, then known as the "Breadbasket of the Prairies" had joined the fun. Several teams existed with exciting names like the Biggar Floradoras, the Saskatchewan Prairie Lillies, the Snowflakes, the Golden Girls and the Old Hens, but I was only able to find a photograph showing the 1907 Prince Albert Tumblers. Although their name is whimsical, they look like serious opponents.

1907 Prince Albert Tumblers, Prince Albert Saskatchewan.  

More information about women's hockey in Saskatchewan can be found in the book, Hockey Heritage: 88 Years of Puck Chasing in Saskatchewan, Brenda Zeman, and the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, 1983

In the early 1900's, Banff in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia, was trying to build its reputation as a place of winter fun. It's annual winter festival brought outdoor enthusiasts from all over to compete in a variety of events. Ladies hockey was one of the first to be included as shown in this next 1911 outdoor rink photo with Mount Rundle in the background.

1911 Women's Hockey Match in Banff, Alberta

In 1916, two owners of men's teams in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association spoke of organizing an international women's league. It didn't come into fruition until Feb 1921 when 3 teams competed. My research dug up images of the Vancouver Amazons, but not on the other 2 teams: the Seattle Vamps, nor the Victoria Kewpies. For more information on these teams, check out the webpage, Women and Hockey Post War.

These next two images of the Vancouver Amazons shows the difference a successful year can make in the world of sports, especially when men buy the uniforms.

1920 Vanouver Amazons Ladies Hockey Team

1921 Vancouver Amazons Ladies Hockey Team at Banff Winter Festival

Meanwhile in the east, ladies' colleges had been in training and playing hockey for years on both inside and outside rinks.

March 1906, Ottawa Ladies' College hockey group, Ottawa, Ontario. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada

Queen's University hockey team, Kingston, Ontario, 1917

One important fact to note about the women's hockey team from Queen's University is that it is the birthplace of the hockey goalie face mask. 

Although many attribute Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens as being the one who made wearing a face mask trendy, and others go back earlier to 1930 when Clint Benedict of the Montreal Maroons wore a mask to cover up a broken nose, the truth is that a woman beat them both to the mark. 

Queen's University goalie, Elizabeth Graham, first wore a fencing mask to protect her dental work in 1927. This is corroborated by an article by Elizabeth's grandson, reporter Stewart Bell, who wrote a National Post article on Dec 14, 2008 which states, 

"I picked up a copy of The Hockey News the other day and there, on page 25, was an old black-and-white photograph of my grandmother, wearing goalie pads and a striped hockey sweater.

It described how, while playing for Queen's University in 1927, grandmother shocked fans by wearing a mask.

"The first hockey netminder interested in saving face looks to have been Elizabeth Graham," the (Hockey News) article reads. "It would appear the father of the goalie mask was in fact a woman."

1926 Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. Courtesy of www.hockeygods.com

Accordingly, there are several other accounts such as this one... "The Montreal Daily Star reported : "The Queen's goaler gave the fans a surprise when she stepped into the nets and then donned a fencing mask. It was safety-first with her and even at that she can't be blamed for her precautionary methods."

But not all hockey was played as part of college or other organized teams. Sometimes, teams played for fun such as this last photo involving a 1921 game of shinny at Dufferin Park in Toronto. 

1921 Shinny at Dufferin Park, Toronto, Ontario

According to the Team USA History of Women's Hockey page, the first instance of American women playing hockey is the entry:
"1920s - College teams form in both the U.S. and Canada."

Unfortunately, there are no links for further information.

As with everything else, the years of the second world war took its toll on sports and leisure. Women were needed to replace the men who were off fighting for freedom. And when the men returned, they needed the support of their wives and families at home. Although men's hockey returned to a schedule, it would be decades before women's hockey returned as a valued place in not only sports history, but also that of leisure and recreation.

I welcome you to share your views and links concerning the early history of women's hockey. 

Giveaway: 

As for the giveaway, we're leaving the land of frozen water and heading down to Austin, Texas for the January 15th release of Austen in Austin Volume One.

You might want to leave a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of Austen in Austin if the thought of four novellas set in historical Austin, Texas, and based on Jane Austen's novels appeals to you. Yes, that would be Jane Austen, Texas-style. Yeehaw!!!

For extra chances of winning this giveaway, share this post on Facebook or Twitter and let me know in the comments below.

Please include your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you're the winner.

The winner will receive the digital copy upon release. 

Deadline to enter this draw - Sunday midnight, January 10th.

Check here for info on the novellas included in the Austen in Austin collection. 

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Anita Mae Draper's stories are written under the western skies where she lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. Anita's first novella, Romantic Refinements, will be released January 2016 in Austen in Austin Volume 1, WhiteFire Publishing. Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com

Hoosier Hysteria and the History of Basketball

by Ramona K. Cecil

About this time of year, an odd malady strikes my state of Indiana. No, it’s not influenza, which is also prevalent now. I’m speaking of Hoosier Hysteria, the moniker attached to the fanatical excitement exhibited by crazed fans of basketball, especially high school basketball.

I must confess, while cheering for my favorite team I’ve never once mused about the origin of this excitement, or even the sport itself. But in a quieter moment I wondered, how did it all begin?

Actually, the ancient Aztecs in Mexico invented a game sometime before 1400BC that had some of the basics as our modern game of basketball. Called ollamalitzli, this sport was not a game for the faint of heart. Often brutal and even fatal, ollamalitzli resembled modern basketball only in that the object was to get a rubber ball through a metal ring at each end of a court. This was accomplished by basically a no-holds-barred free-for-all in which the loser might have to face a sacrificial dagger. Yikes! And we think the NBA can be rough!

Aztecs playing ollamalitzli

The invention of our modern game of basketball is credited to a man named James Naismith, who had never heard of the Aztecs game of ollamalitzli. 

In 1891, James Naismith was a young physical education instructor at the International Training Institution in Springfield, Massachusetts. The physical education department had been charged with developing some sort of physical game the students could play indoors. When the more senior PE teachers failed to come up with such a game, Naismith took a crack at the problem. 

James Naismith with soccer ball and peach basket

At first he envisioned some sort of indoor football, but nixed the idea fearing it would be too rough. He then considered a form of boxball, where players would pitch a football into boxes affixed to either end of the gymnasium. When he asked the janitor for boxes, all the man could produce were some peach baskets. After some trial and error, Naismith settled on baskets nailed ten feet above the floor at each end of the court and a round soccer ball instead of a football. He developed thirteen rules for the game, twelve of which are still in use.

Naismith's original 13 rules for the game of basketball

The next day he introduced the game to his eighteen student, dividing them into two teams of nine.

Naismith in center surrounded by 9 of his students

Basketball being played with basket in 1892

The game was an instant hit, though it remained plagued by some pesky problems. The peach baskets took a beating, so had to be replaced often. This problem was eventually remedied by replacing the baskets with sturdy metal rings to which nets made of cord were attached. But whether played with peach baskets or nets, another problem still remained. Each time a player made a “basket,” someone had to climb a ladder to retrieve the ball.  



                           Early nets that replaced peach baskets. Note the attached

                           string that opened the net to allow the basket to fall through.

Five years later, in 1896, an anonymous player on a semi-pro team got fed-up with this frustrating aspect of the game and simply cut a hole in the bottom of the net. A real game-changer!

But we’ll back up a bit. How, you ask, did basketball come to Indiana and become such a rage in the Hoosier state? Reverend Nicholas McKay, a Presbyterian minister who had been assigned to head the Crawfordsville, Indiana YMCA and had met Naismith and learned about his new game, brought basketball with him to Crawfordsville in 1894. Hungry for a game kids could play indoors during it's cold winters, Indiana was a fertile field for the game of basketball. Baseball and football had never caught on in the mainly rural state where youngsters’ summers and autumns were filled with farming chores. But winter brought more leisure time and basketball fit the bill perfectly.

James Naismith himself is quoted as saying "Basketball really had it origin in Indiana, which remains the center of the sport."

The first basketball game in Indiana was played in the Crawfordsville Terminal Building March 16,1894. In this perfect Hoosier environment, the game took root and grew like weeds in a fallow field until it has become a near religion in the state. 

Crawfordsville, Indiana men's basketball team Circa 1923

Decatur, Indiana girl's basketball team 1920 - 1921

It's hard to imagine anyone growing up in Indiana after 1894 and not having their life touched in some way by basketball. The 1986 movie Hoosiers in which a small rural team battles a much larger school for the 1954 state championship, expertly depicts how the game has woven itself into the fabric of Indiana.

So as Hoosier Hysteria breaks out across the state again, I pause my cheering for a moment to remember how it all began and to pay homage to James Naismith, Nicholas McKay, and yes, even the Aztecs although I’m glad that if my team loses, they won’t be required to pay with their lives.

Ramona K. Cecil is a poet and award-winning author of historical fiction for the Christian market. A proud Hoosier, she often sets her stories in her home state of Indiana.

  

Check out her website at www.ramonakcecil.com

                                                                                                             

Photographs: Early 1900's Romance

Exciting things are happening at CFHS. We're getting a new name that betters depicts our theme—Uniting those who love to write about history with those who love to read it. 

We'll have our big reveal on Sept. 8th.

The first two decades of the 20th century brought tremendous changes on both sides of the Atlantic. People zipped around in automobiles, airplanes, and motorcycles. The rise of women's skirt lengths threw men's heads in a tizzy along with the matrons of society who wanted to cling to the Victorian age. And along the way, young ladies stepped out with a beau--alone, without a chaperone--leaving parents and guardians sitting on tenterhooks until their daughters returned.

Which young ladies had the courage to take on this new world? Which ones threw caution to the wind and went too far without a chaperone? Young ladies of this era needed an inner strength to accept the challenges of this new freedom and come out intact with a good reputation.

That is the basis for this post. Where would a young lady of this era go on the arm of a young man if given a choice?

Let's start with an afternoon outing on a golf course. A respectable sport played out in the open in the daylight for all the busy-bodies who might happen to be watching, ready to report back to anxious parents.

VIEW-8095 - On the golf links, Little Metis Beach, QC,1915 (?). 

Courtesy of ©McCord Museum

A walk along the beach is always relaxing, although maybe not so much if the young lady has the attention of two persistent suitors.

1910 Walk on Winnipeg Beach.
Courtesy of Prairie Postcards at University of Alberta Libraries

Since the people in the above photo are not dressed for swimming, I suspect the large building on the left is probably the Winnipeg Beach Dance Palace and they are taking a fresh-air break. Here's a 1928 photo of what the rest of the Dance Palace looked like:

1928 Dance Palace at Winnipeg Beach.
Courtesy of  Prairie Postcards at University of Alberta Libraries

While we're walking on the beach, some of our young ladies might accept a ride in a row boat, either alone with their fella, with friends, or with someone else doing the rowing so the couple can sneak a bit of hand-holding time. I wonder if the boat is pulled on shore for the ladies to board or if a strong young man carries them through the water.

1910 Boating on Gull Lake, Lacombe.
Courtesy of  Prairie Postcards at University of Alberta Libraries

ca 1890's Boating party near Banff, Alberta. Courtesy of the Glenbow Museum Archives

This next photograph sent me into research mode even though I knew that gasoline motors were being used on boat launches back in the 1910's. Although the hair styles look like they could be the 50's, courageous modern women of the 1920's were cutting their hair in a fashionable 'bob'. Usually you'll see this with tight curls close to the head, but if I've learned anything from researching early photographs of every-day people it's that nothing can be ruled out where human nature plays a part. As for the women's clothes, their is nothing definitive in what they are wearing as we can't tell if they are shorts or pulled up skirts. Therefore, I'm accepting the caption as written.

Young Woman Driving a Motorboat, circa 1920.  Courtesy of 

ourontario.ca and the Magnetawan Public Library 

Perhaps a relaxing time of conversation while watching the sun set on the western horizon is more to the young lady's liking. Other couples within shouting distance would have provided a level of respectability while giving each couple their own space.

View of North Shore, ca.1890's. Cavendish, P.E.I. Courtesy of ourontario.ca
and University of Guelph Library

As day wanes and darkness falls, what could be more fun than a beach bonfire along with silly and amusing antics. But watch out...the dark hides dangers that looked tame in the daylight.

1915 Beach Party, British Columbia, Canada. Courtesy of ourontario.ca and Milton Historical Society

How late would a young lady stay out? I guess that would depend on her circumstances, her intelligence, and her daring. Add in the strength of the influence her parents or guardians had over her. And take into consideration the young lady's ambition regarding a good reputation and social standing.


If you had a chance to leave your chaperone behind and step out with a male companion, where would you have gone?

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their 4 kids. She writes cowboy stories set in the Old West, and Edwardian stories set in the East.  Anita Mae's short story, Riding on a Christmas Wish is published in A Christmas Cup of Cheer, Guideposts Books, October 2013. She is honored that Guideposts Books has chosen a second short story, Here We Go A-wassailing for inclusion in the 2014 Christmas Cheer II book set due out this October.   Anita Mae is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Agency. You can find Anita at   http://www.anitamaedraper.com/