[Ads-l] Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
Peter Reitan
pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM
Sat Sep 5 21:15:10 UTC 2026
I misread the 1888 obituary. That was his wife. He died in 1890, born 1801.
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
Sent: Saturday, 05 September 2026 14:10:13
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Subject: Re: Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
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Poster: Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
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Findagrave.com says he was born in 1801.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22546484/pressley-bolar-ruff
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Peter =
Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
Sent: Saturday, 05 September 2026 13:59:12
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Subject: Re: Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
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Poster: Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
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Apparently from his youth, but it's not specified. The segment is entitled =
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"Old times as seen through the eyes of P B Ruff." He refers to a building b=
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uilt in 1804/5 a few paragraphs earlier, but the story of dancing was not d=
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ated. According to an 1888 obituary, he was born in 1819, but according to=
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his recollections written in 1888, he studied medicine in 1829.
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapir=
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o, Fred <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, 05 September 2026 12:43:43
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Subject: Re: Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
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Poster: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
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Thanks, Peter, this is very interesting. Does the Annals of Newberry book =
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indicate the time-period he was recollecting ?
Fred Shapiro
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Peter =
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Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
Sent: Friday, September 4, 2026 14:51
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
I found a description of the game of walking for the cake, as practiced in =
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Newberry South Carolina, which is about 40 miles from Edgefield.
The description is in a book of recollections of the old times by residents=
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of Newberry, called Annals of Newberry. The story appears in Part II, fir=
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st published in 1892, in a recollection by a man named Dr. P. B. Ruff, who =
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died in 1888 (as found in newspapers.com search). The book is available o=
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n HathiTrust.
Ruff's recollections begin on page 483. In one part he discusses a place a=
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long the Broad River, called the Dutch Fork, which he says was settled almo=
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st entirely by Germans. He says that they were very fond of dancing. On p=
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age 488, he describes a wedding dance tradition which he calls "walking for=
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the cake."
"As soon as the bride and groom were married, which was generally about twe=
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lve o'clock, then the young folks would walk for the cake hanging up in the=
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house, nearly as large as a grindstone, with a gold finger ring in its cen=
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tre. Each young man would take a partner to walk for the cake, there being=
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generally about a dozen couples. In walking for the cake they would walk =
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around the house, and the man who started in front had a walking stick in h=
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is hand, and when he would get around the house to the place where he start=
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ed from he would give it to the man next behind him, and he to the next whe=
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n they again came round, and so on until they heard the firing of a gun, wh=
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en he, in whose hands the stick then happened to be, won the cake."
This game is similar to a game I've seen described elsewhere, referred to a=
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s the "Strauss-Cake," which was also said to be of German origin. The "Str=
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auss-Cake" game is more like musical chairs. In the Cooper's Clarksburg Re=
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gister, February 16, 1853, page 2 (which I found on Chronicling America, al=
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so available on newspapers.com), described it as:
"A fine cake is prepared for the occasion, and during the evening the floor=
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of the dancing-room is marked off into squares and each square numbered - =
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one of which is designated as the "Strauss-Number;" a clock is set to strik=
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e in a few minutes, and then the company promenade round the room to music,=
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and the couple who happen to be on the Strauss-number at the time the cloc=
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k strikes, wins the cake. . . . The custom is of German origin, and contri=
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buted no little to the hilarity of the company."
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapir=
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o, Fred <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, September 4, 2026 3:52 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
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Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Subject: Most Amazing Cakewalk Fact
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I forgot to mention the most amazing thing about the cakewalk evidence. T=
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he Edgefield, South Carolina mentions of "walking for the cake" are not onl=
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y a quarter-century older than any other cakewalk evidence. They actually =
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state in the 1840s that the custom was already "ancient" at that time.
Fred Shapiro
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