, 1875-09-04
EXTINCT CHARACTERS.
some Of fhe PecuIiarIfies that Virginia
has Lost.


| has IOsts
Before the war Virginia was famous for q
great number of marked and queer characters
They abounded throughout the State. Every
city. every towhi every county, and every
neigbborhOod had them. They were worthy
to sdorn and illustrate comic almanaos No,
only were they queer in their dispositions,
manners, notions, and talk, but they were
queer in appearance. Eecentrieity was e1-
pressed on every pant of them. Many OF
them had such faces as are seen on old-iash-
ioned door knockers or Umbrella handles. II
the whole number could have been taken i'll
groupe they would have formed colleo-
ton that would have been the wonder of the
world. Some had hooked noses, hollow
cheeks, sharp eyes, and pointed chins. Some
had noses like Bardolph and mouths that
could take in whole dish at a mOuthful If
it was to their taste, just hse the old Vir-
ginia country fre-places, that could take in
a half-cord of wood at a time Some were 50
fat that they might have sat for pictures of
Falstaff. They ''larded the lean earth as
they walked" However variant in appear
ance, nearly all of them had two things in
common-the love of liquor and the love OF
country. We put liquor first because The in
spiraticns Of patriotism were generally the
results of liquor. The writer has before him
as he writes the picture of seven such char
acters that he once saw at a fish-frJ-all liI-
ing within range of five miles They were
indeed strange lot. Some Of them had
considerable property, Others h.l none, but
lived upon their friends. When they tired
of one house they would go to another, and
they went to no houses that did not furnish
good grub and plenty Of liquor
But there were queer characters of differ
ent sort, who cared nothing Tor high living
-men who had some pet theory that they
were everiastingly preaching up. Then there
were the neTs-mOngers, who would 20 to the
country store, gather Up all the news Of the
! neighbnrhood and start off to give 1t circula-
| ton. There were men who did Iothing but
fish al day along; others who speat their
! time III hunting squirrels and othgr varmints.
There were people who went through a range
in gossip. The peddlers were universally
distrusted, but us universally welcomed, for
they had the very articles that wefe needed
III every household and that could not be
procured at the neighboring store. Every
neighborhood had It's pet begg.r, as well es-
tablished as was Edie OchIltree, I" the Kings
! be3esmen."
Nearly all these odd characters have dis
appeared. In those good old lines of which
We speak, almost everybody was we'll off,
and society could afford to maintain a small
army of these queer people. who afforded
general amusement They were like stroll
ing players, going from place to place, and
welcomed wherever they went
Where are they now? l; is the rarest
! thing to see one nowadays They have dis
appeared, and NO one can tell where they
have gone. They certainly we're not killed
in the war, fox they were non combatants.
| Perhaps their accustomed grub failed them,
and they died Of starvation and broken hearts
-" fracted and corroborata," as Pistol said
Of Fals;atf
Such characters are tbs products of a
plethora Of prosperity, of the " canker Of a
long peace. In times Of difficulty and
poverty there is no place for them War
and trouble eradicate eccentricities, smooth
down sinuOsities, and reduce people to
common level. Those who cannot undergo
the process Of assimilation pass out Of sight
and die Of. There is no room for them
The time may come-we hope it will
when some of those characters may reappear.
They break the monotony of life, and some
of them are not only embellishments to society,
! but supports TO It.
One character, higher than all the rest
stands out from the canvass character quite
common half century ago, rare just ante
/ rior 20 the war, and now e1tinct-that OF the
real old Virginiau, the cock of the walk IN
| his neighbOrhood, whose virtues were integ-
/ tity, hard headedness, and love of State,
and whose characteristic embellishments were
( u rufied shirt, gold-hesded cane, blue
/ coat with brass buttons, and a buff wsisteoat.
/ Those respectable and Influential o!d codgers
were au'ocrAts. They ~'eze generally msgis-
tra,es, frequently members OF the Assembly,
and were authority IN all neighborhood and
county matters. They had true grit, and
would have died before they would have sur
rendered their rights in the territories
" They believed in the resolutions of '9S-99, ="
drank the best brsndies and wines, and
.chawedr - excellent tobacco. Their preiu-
dies and opinions were immO7able, aud their
self-reliance and self-rcSpecs were such that
they would scarcely have deferred to Kings.
As politicians they were as bitter as SCOT.
Some were wings and some democrats. The
former read the Richmond Wig as they did
their Bible, and believed every word it con-
tafaed. The latter swore by the Richmond
ENQUIRER az the great sheet-snchor of the
country. Those good, brave, hari-headed,
hospitable old gentlemen have become extinct,
like the mastodon aud the dodo.
~>---<os---~-~--~---
IT is only by thinking that a man can
know himself. Ye, all other knowledge
without this is splendid ignorance. Not a
glance merely, bat much close examination
will De requisite, for the forming of true
opinion of your own powers Ignorance and
self couceit always tend 10 make you over
rate Eour personal ability-as slight degree
of knowledge may make timid mind pass
upon himself too humble a judgment. 1t is
only by thinking, and much impartial ohser-
vgtion, that a man can discover his real dis