The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1874-10-08
THE EARLY DAYS.

NJ" FkoPl1k DRESSED, WENT TO CHURCH
AND DANCED IN TENNESSEE SIXTY
YEARS AGo-NEW AND SURPRISING
STORIES ABOUT ANDREW JACKSON.
Judge Joseph c Guild (Old Joe Guild
as he Is tamiharly called at home is ma
tive OF Houston county, Tennessee. Lately
he returned there after an absence of more
than half Il century, and on the 18th of
August he made a public speech from
which the following extracts are taken:
SOCIAL CUSTOMS.
When I left, sixty years ago. industry
and economy were the handmaids of viz
tue, contentment, and happiness. The wo-
men and girls clothed the family, cooked
the meals, and did the various work. all
eontented and happy, voluntarily laboring
to secure Il competency for the houshold.
Families In those days were not encrvated
and runied by luxuries-what is called
high living and fashion. They were cloth
ed at home by their honest labor, the BOYS
IN their jeans and copperas cotton, and the
girls IN their beautiful stripes Of cotton and
hnscy. Dresses were made to fit their per
sons and develop their natural and beauti-
ful forms. One cannot tell now which is
the girl and which is the dress. l have
looked about over this large assembly to
see If | could not find one of these beauti-
tul striped dresses setting off the rosy
mountain pinks of the present day but
the ancient customs have disappeared since
L have been gone. In that day but few
mothers and daughters ever had a calico
dress, TO say nothing of the silks, cash
meres, muslins, grapes and poplins Of the
present day. In those days we had cur
sugar camps, and made our own sugar cof-
fee was bought at our commercial cities
and only used on Sundays Milk, the
the best and most healthy beverage in the
world, was daily used, and the rose bloom
ed and Played upon every girls check.
There was no calomel doctors bill to pay
We had meeting houses in those days, made
of logs and clapboards We called it 90
ing to meeting. The elegant phrase now
IS to attend church, and 20 in buggieS and
carriages We walked from three to five
miles IN going TO meeting, playing with the
girls all the way. | have seen not further
than FIVE miles from this place frcm fifty
to one hundred ladies walking bare-footcd
to meeting, carrying their shoes and stock
lngs III their hands, and on arriving, sit
ting down along the branch. washing their
beautiful feet, and putting on their stock
ings and shoes, preparatory to going in.
There IS charm III a pretty foot. In those
days our women did not deform their per-
sons with artificial works about the head
in the form Of rats, chignCns, and water
falls. There was no rouge bespatterlng
the rosy cheek, destroying It's natural beau
ty nor were their beautiful forms de-
stroyed by the hoop or the hustle there
was no one taken in by artificial, false ap-
pearances. In those days our beautiful
women had long, natural, black hair,
some auburn, some red, with different
shades Of color They wore 1t plated,
forming a beautiful crescent upon the-head,
and when the stream Of eloquence copiOus-
" flowed over the large assembly, when all
the fires were lit up, l have heard the
plated hair pop ike the crack Of wagon
whip Girls and boys did not wear shoes
in those days until they arrived at the age
Of twelve. The boys helped tend the crop
in the Summer, and went went to the old
Pennyroyal school with the girls in the
Winter In old times we had the favorlte
reel called Mrs McCloud." When the
word was given Hands all round, set-to
and face your partners, giving to all full
space to display their activity and gymastlc
skill in the various steps Of ancient times, L
have seen several sets at the same time,
both girls and boys, cutting the single and
double pigeon wing, which caused thrill
Of excitement and emotions equal to the
brilliant flights of an eloquent speaker.
RATTLEsNAKE STORY.
If it will not fatigue you, ladies, | viii
tell YOU a snake scene Of the olden times
A neighbor. with wife and one child,
built his cabin on a fat rock among the
cliffs. The rock furnished him with sub
stantial foods, impervisous to floods, but
not to snakes. Upon this rock Peter
built his cabin his winter fires were
built in the centre Of the house; the
chimnev-stack of rocks and mud pro
truded through the roof and carried oil the
smoke. The fires being kept during the
winter upon this floor, early in the spring
tbawed the shakes. He and bis wife and
child occupied their only bed in corner,
elevated some two feet from the rock. just
before day he was awakened by the craw-
linc Of snakes over the bed, and their his
sing all over the house lie soon became
satisfied that his cabin was infested with
snakes. 1t was dangerous to attempt to
walk across the rock floor 10 the door, rs
he could not avoid being cnveloped by
snakes, so he whispered to his wife to cover
her head and that Of the child with bed
clothes, and hold them down, and remain
SO until his return, as he was going to es-
cape through the roof Of the house and
br;no her relief bv morning He thus es-