Betsy Ray meets the little girl who will become her lifelong best friend, Tacy Kelly, when Tacy’s family moves across the street. On the chilly March day that they move in, Tacy wanders outside to take in her new surroundings, and Betsy excitedly dons her cold weather clothing to greet her. But Tacy is shy, and sprints back into her house when Betsy calls out to her, asking her name. Betsy is stung and retreats home.

Tacy then peeks her head out of the front door to quickly shout “Tacy!” Betsy doesn’t realize that that Tacy actually is calling out her own name; it is one that Betsy has never heard, so she remains confused and hurt. But the misunderstanding turns out to be the only quarrel that Betsy and Tacy would ever have. “And of course it did not count,” Lovelace explains. “For they weren’t friends yet” (p. 7, Harper Trophy paperback edition, 1993).

That is remedied in short order. Betsy and Tacy become friends at her fifth birthday party in April. At the party, the chidren play games like pin the tail on the donkey, march around the house to the sounds of Betsy’s mom playing the piano, and Betsy opens her presents, the most special (and iconic) of which is the small glass pitcher with a gold plated rim from Tacy.

Today, this children’s birthday party might happen at a venue, like a jungle gym or an arcade. A game of musical chairs might be played or a dance party might commence, set to the sounds of recorded music, probably from a playlist stored and played on a digital device. Birthday presents would likely be something fun to play with or to wear.

But Betsy quickly realizes that the real gift of the day is her brand new friend. She and Tacy remain side by side throughout the party, hands often clasped, and Lovelace informs the reader that this would be the case ever after. For Betsy had received the nicest kind of present: “the present of a friend” (p. 14, Harper Trophy paperback edition, 1993). And that is the same now, exactly as it was then.

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For more on birthday parties in the early 1900s (including a charming children’s photo), see: https://www.rheaheraldnews.com/lifestyles/article_743b172c-c1ac-11e3-b54b-001a4bcf887a.html