Mistake of Good Fellows
Aids Romance of Cupid

Wrong Family on Flats Gets Christmas Gift and Courtship Begins. Pretty Young Anna Peplosky Weds Janek Moravicz After Short Wooing. Presents distributed by the Good Fellows [on] Christmas eve on the river flats were Cupid's instruments in leading Janek Moravicz and Anna Peplosky to the marriage license clerk and later to the altar. Confused by the darkness and the lack of house numbers, the Good Fellows' agent delivered some Christmas packages at the Moravicz home, when they should have gone to the Peploskys', across the street. The Peploskys were newcomers on the flats, having come to the United States only a few months ago and moved into the home on the flats but three days before. Not a soul there knew them, although they had been discussed among the old-time residents. Hardly had the Good Fellows' wagon gone, when Janek noticed the card on the package bearing the name and address of the family for whom it was intended. "Peplosky," he read. "Father," he said, "it must be for the new family. I shall go over and see." When the door opened in answer to his knock, he was confronted by a dark-eyed, dark-haired girl of 20 years. Janek stammered, explained his errand, delivered the packages and started to turn away. "Oh, thank you. But you can't go without a cup of tea and a poppy-seed biscuit on Christmas eve," said Anna. And she took Janek into the house, introduced him to her parents, and he stayed for more than one cup of tea. Each evening thereafter found Janek at the Peplosky home. Anna liked his visits, and when he proposed the trip to the court house for the marriage license Anna consented. And her parents had no objection, for Janek was [the] driver of a brewery wagon and earning a good living.

Bohemian Flats, a flood-prone neighborhood on the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis, in 1894. (Hennepin County Library)