Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1875-12-11
AHundredI Years Ago.

a hundred years ago, there is a natural
interest to know how they lived. We
want to see more of their ways than
can be learned from formal orations,
and We gather eagerly the relics of that
day in. order the mere completely to
understand their lives. .t,....
So far as mary material advantages
90. they were certainly far behind their
successors to-day and d.this fact is quaint
ly emphasized by John Phoenix, when
he says of Washington that, although
for the time in which he lived q very
distinguished man, his ignorance is per
fectly incredible. "He never travelled
on a steamboat, never saw railroad or
locomotive engine; was. perfectly ig-
norant of the magnetic telegraph, never
had a daguereotype, Colts pistol,
Sbarpe's rifle or used a friction match.
He ate his meals with an iron fork,
never used a postage stamp on his let
! ters, and knew nothing of. the applica-
ton of chloroform to alleviate pain or
the use of gas for illumination. q. .
And yet Washington and his associ-.
ates, whose deficiencies are thus quaint
" pictured by the humorist, had some
advantages which, with all our boasted
improvements. we seem to miss III
these later days. u.
1t is indeed not wholly without rea-
son that we lament the disappearance
of those gentlemen and ladies of the
old school who went out with powder
ed hair, knee buckles and brocade
dresses. Their picturesque faces linger
among us on the canvas of Copely, but
their living forms, like their manners
and customs, have long since disappear
ed.
"The apparel" as has been said,
''often proclaims the man" and we may
add woman, aud certainly the costume
of the days Of the revolution had
picturesqueness which is wanting to
our more extensive luxury. The wigs
and gowns and bands of the clergy
gave them 4 notable appearance i'll the
pulpit, and the cooked hats which they
wore in the streets distinguished them
from their brethren of to-day, whose
white cravats sometimes make it diff
cult to discriminate between them and
hotel walters or ordinary diners-out.
The gentleman in those days wore
when he went out-a wig, white stock,
white satin embroidered waistcoat,
black saith small clothes, with white
silk stockings, a fine broadcloth or vel
vet coat At home, instead of his wig.
he had on q velvet cap, and sometimes
fine linen one under it, and his coat
gave place to a gown, frequently of
colored damask linen with silk and fan
cy colored leather slippers.
Ladies wore those elegant silk and
broclde dresses which are still so much
adnil,L, and their hair, dressed with
powder and pomatum, was elevated
much higher above their heads than
the most of soaring and ambitious locks
Of their fair descendants to-day.
In those days a gentleman's snuff
box was as indispensable as the cigar is
now, and courtesy was shown in taking
the weed in this form with friend.
The houses in those days, with their
spacious halls and ample freplaces and
stairways, were very suggestive of
solid comfort. In the spacious mausion
of Sir Henry franklin, on Garden
Court streets, in this city, from whose
windows his widow, royalist to the
last, witnessed the fight on Breeds
Hill, the great stairway was SO wide
and easy Of ascent that the county col
lector used to ride his pony over it.
Bright brass audirons, tie use of
which has lately been revived, were
common in revolutionary times, and as
long ago as Governor Eudicotts day
they were features of a luxurious house
hold. The punchbowl was also no
table article in families of substantial
l:ieans, and its contents were custom
airy treat for company. .....
Rings were given as presents at fun
erals to pall bearers and particular
friends, and the Rev. Andrew Eliot, of
Boston, who died in 1878, left mug
tul of those articles which had been
presented to him on such occasions.
Hotels on the scale Of our modern
caravansaries were unknown, but there
were tavcrhs and coffee houses where a
good deaf of solid comforts could be
secured. Such are some ofthe manners
and customs of our revolutionary an
cestors, whose stately courtesy and
dignity covered so much of genuine
nobility and worth that we cannot but
feel interested in whatever distinguished
them from their descendants Of to day
Boston Globe. ...' ..' ~