- By Louise Bement
In Ludlowville torchlight processions were held during presidential years just before the election. The march was introduced by drummer boys wearing fancy home-made paper caps , vigorously beating snare drums, in time or out; it didn't matter. Behind them came two men carrying a billowing banner on which were enlarged pictures of the presidential candidate and his running mate. Then followed a line of old and young men holding signs with slogans of the party and its candidates. They alternately shouted and sang silly, unkind, and usually untrue quips about the opposing representatives. The fascination of it all was not alone in the lights, the noise, and the marching. It was also in the ridiculous incongruity of the presence of those dignified members of the church and community tramping along so pompously and shouting those foolish sayings. Trailing behind them, as close as they dared, were the little boys of the village imitating the swagger before them, and catching and repeating as much as they could of the shouting."Tippecanoe and Tyler too!"