The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1874-01-15
TIPToN.@ lowA..a aJANUARY 10 1s74.

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imagination. It l.. hard to 90 bacl
to the good old days your grand
mother talks about about-that gold
en- age, when people were not rosstes
alive in . sleeping coach, but gsntl,
tipped over topping cliff by I
drunken stage-driver! a. -. "a
Grand old times were thosel in
which boys politely took on their hats
to preacher or schoolmaster, solscing
their fresh young hearts afterward BY
making months ct the back Of his
great-coat. Blessed days! in which
parsons wore stiif, white stocks, and
walked with starched dignity, and
yet were not too good to drink peach
brandy and cherry bounce with folks ;
when Congressman were 30 honorable
that they scorned bribes, and were
only kept from killing one another by
the exertions of the sergeant t-arns.
Ii was in those old times Of the be.
ginning Of the reign Of Madison, that
the people of the Hissawachee set.
tlement, in Southern Ohio, prepared
to attend the corn -shuckin' down at
Cap'n Lumsden's.'
There is a peculiar freshness about
the entertainment that opens the
gayeties Of the season, The shuck-
ing at l1umsden's had the advantage
of being set off by dim back ground
of other shuckings, and quiltings,
and wood-choppings, and apple-peel-
ings, that we're to follow, to say moth.
ing Of the frolics pure and simple
parties alloyed with no utilitarian
purposes.
Lumsden's corn lay ready for
husking, in Whitley brown ridge
five or six feet high. The captain was
not insensible to considerations Of
economy. He knew quite well that
it would be cheaper in the long run
to have it husked by his own farm
hands; the expense Of an entertain
ment in whlskey and other needful
provisions, and the wasteful handling
of the corn, not to mention the obi
z gation to send hand to other husk-
Jugs, more than counter-balanced the
gratuitous labor. But who can re-
sist the public sentimen, that requires
a man to be gentleman according
to the standard of his neighboFsr
Captain Lumsden had the reputation
of doing many things which were op-
pressive, and unjust, but to have
'shucked' his own corn would have
been to forfeit his responsibility en-
tir,ly. It would have placed him on
the pa iah level Of the contempt Bile
Yankee who had bought
a place farther up the creek, and who
Jared to husk his own corn, practice
certain forbidden economies, and
even TAX, pay for such tr,aes as but
ter and eggs, and the surplus veal Of
a calf which he had killed. The pro-
priety of 'ducking' this Yankee had
been matter of serious debate. A
man .as tight as The bark on beech
tree, and Yankee besides, was next
door t.. horse thief. ~
So there was a cern-shuckina. at
Captain Lumsden's. The women
folks turned th.. festive occasios in
to far her use by stretching quilt
OF the frames, and having the ladies
of the party spend the afternoon
in quilting and gossiping-th'
women blushing inwsrdly,
and sometimes outwardly, with hope
and fear, as the names Of certain
young men were mentioned. Who
could tell what disclosures the even-
ing froic might produce? For,
though circumstances alter cases,
they have no power to change human
and the natural history of the
delightful creature which we call q
young woman was essentially the
same in the Hissawachee Bottom
sixty odd years ago that it is on MUIR
'ay or Beacon Street Hill in these
modern times. Difference enough of
manner and costume-linsev-w woolsey,
with rare calico now and then for
the dropping Of 'kercheys
BY polite young girls-but these
things are only outward. The dainty
girl that turns away from my story
with disgust because the people are
80 rough, little suspects how entire
y Of the cuticle is her refinement
how, after all, there is touch of ma
ture that makes Polly Ann and Sary |
Jane cousins-german 10 Jennie, and
Hattie, and Blanche, and Mabel.
1t was Just dark-the rising full
moon was blazing like a bonfire
among the trees on Campbell's Hill,
across the creek-when the shucking
parry gathered rapidly around the
captain ridge Of corn. The first
corners waited for the others, and
spent the time looking ut the heap,
and speculating as to how many
bushels i, would 'shuck OUT Cap
tain Lumsden an active, eager man,
under the medium size, welcomed
his neighbors cordially, but with GER
tain reserves. That is to say, he
spoke with hospitable warmth to
each newcomer, but brought his
voice up at the last like a whip
cracker; there was q something in
what DIR. Rush would call the vanish
Of his enunciation which reminded
the person addressed that Captain
Lumsden, though he knew how to
treat = man with politeness, Is be-
came an old Virginia gentleman, was
no a man whose supremacy was to
be questioned for moment. He
reached out his hand with . sHowdy,
Bllls' 'Howdy, Jeems? how's your
mother gittin, eh?' and Hello, Bob,
thought you had the shakes? Got
out At last, did you?' Under this
superficial familiarity q certain re-
serve OF conscious superiority and
finty self-will never failed to make
itself appreciated.
Let us understand ourselves.
When we speak Of Captain Lumsden
as an old Virginia gentlemen, we
speak from his own standpoint. In
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