The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-12-02
Life in fEae R,sr;.l Districts of Virginia

Life in iEae E,gr;af Districts of Virginia.
Richard Is. Elders paper in LipplncoHS
magazine for December, called GA Day or
Two in South>ide Virginia. contains this
lively sketch Of manners aud customs in the
Old Dominion:
OF course we had suppcr-country with
out supper is body without sou!-but not
- hiscuity and chickeny supper as the
night before, and consequently lad less
tc!iisercnt time of it after | retired. But
why the Southside mind should be afflicted
with the deiirium Of feather beds in August
is a problem which, as we say in Virginia,
"procurcS" NE. r.s
One of the young gentlemen rose from the
table and announced his purpose of sleeping
with the wheat. 1t was in an open shed, and
liable 10 be stolen. When we had lighted
or pipes in the porch | asked the meaning
Of this.
You see" said William, 81 hire ouly two
hands regularly, engaging others by the day
whenever there is Il press of work. My
former slaves lave all left me, and I am ra-
ther afraid to trust these fellows. Besides, !
want my boys TO become Injured to work."
Think OF that! only two hands on farm
o. eleven hundred acres! And in the house,
where the servants used to be in each others
wa. AbIiI WIS DuL OuS NoliisE. MUCH vi
the work was done by the young ladies.
Here was Il change, indeed! But / was Sc
crctly pleased to hear that the boys were
being raised 10 work, and that one at least
OF them was more than anxious to educate
himself at his own cost. 1t was not SO with
SoutEsidc boys in ancient days. and had my
cousins slaves remained the lad would pro-
badly now have been thinking more about
the White Sulphur than about college.
ltook two walks before / left Edgewood-
one to see the old lady who lived at the mill,
and the other to the Knob, mile or more
away. The good old dame at the mill
smoked friendly pipe with me, chatting the
While about her changed circumstances, but
not repining 4 bit. A worthy negro man
moi only attended the mill, but worked the
farm on shares, his wife doing the cooking
and washing.
"And do you really live here alone, with
out Il white male person nearer you than hal
Il niie?"
"Uh. yes" said she, "and get along very
well. People talk about negroes stealing
but have lost only one pig, and Lelieyt
that died or got drowned in the creek. Old
age and poverty, Dick, are my protectors
and very good ones, too. My only fear i,
that the cook will induce her husband tC
move to town, and then | know not wha,
will become OF ne. Poor as it is, | love
my home, and will cling to it as long as life
lasts"
The last sentence put me in Il melancholy
frame, which the walk to the Knob BIZ no
means diminished. There is point on the
road which orerooks the plantations Of the
nei%hhorbood nabobs Of the old days. Vast
i!edS which had been ii cultivation ever
since could remember were rauidy grow
Ing up in pines. Leaning on the tence-it
was a worln-tcnce-l looked on this iucreas.
ing wilderness and fell amusing. most
meek and melancholy musing, which might
have continued till sunset il some wanton
chiSoes had not crept up my broeches' legs
aud recalled NE to the stern realities of life.