The Enquirer ran this little tongue-in-cheek slice of life in the fall of 1890:

Anna Rooney singing - Enquierer - Sep_5__1890_
Bremen Enquirer – 5 Sep 1890

(Note the spelling of “serenade” as “cerenade”. This was common at the time, as were “drouth” for “drought” and “draught” for “draft”.)

Here’s a 1910 recording of the 1889 jingle the girls were singing, a song so popular it inspired a comic strip and film….

Click the image to start the video.

The song was not popular with everyone at the time….

Annie Rooney parody - Enquirer_Fri__Nov_14__1890_
Enquirer – Nov 14, 1890

Here’s Bremen around that time….

1888 Corner of Plymouth and Jackson - looking east
1888 Corner of Plymouth and Jackson – looking east

And here are some German township young ladies and girls from around that time (surely not the same charivari troupe, but likely dressed more or less the same)….

School disc 9 c1895
School disc 9 c1895