The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-11-19
SOUTHERN DeMEs &c EGO 0 MY

South, ana ~ iioAA .eais fSf . -. $500
HOWARD MILLER, Elk Lick, Pa, whose
xyritings has found place i'll the columns OF
.ho Dispdtca before. The southern citizen
uil, End good deal In the practical ideas
presented by MIR. Muller that is entitled TO
his consideration as wisely suggestive. We
would vary some Of the views expressed 20
give them greater accuracy; but we must must
all confess that there is plainly desire on
the part OF the writer to be both Just ana
fair in the statements made by BIN. IL
should not be forgotten by MIR. MILLER
and those who read his article that climate
accounts in part for many sectionai ollef-
ences upon which he anitnadyerts.
The great truth. however, which ne en-.
deayors to impress upon bis readers-that
the southern people must pursue more
economical system to accommodate them
selves to their changed conditions one TO
which they cannot shut their eyes. We do
not believe that they desire to do So ana
we are satisfied that they are steadily, ana
probably as rapidly as may be, conforming
themselves to the circumstances OF the
times
The Impressions OF the vast majority OF
neopse I'm the North respecting the home
and interior life OF the South are drawn
from works of fiction and the perusal OF the
fugitive newspaper or nagazine-Wrlt
who has drawn largely on his imagination
in the presentation Of his I" facts"
The average man OF intelligence VINO
has never been south OF Mason ana DIXON,
If called upon to describe the typlcai soutn-
ern home, would call up mansion Wild
long porcLes, large rooms furnished with all
Tho hiic-o-brac the markets OF the world af-
ford. and the owner sallow-skinned gem
tle,nan in black broadcloth, with body
servant Just behind to keep the flies off him,
while the latent devil that was in him only
needed spark TO result in confiasratlon
OF passion that would get the "black rascal 4"
we'll Iashed for some fancied misdecd.
The women OF the household are, ac-
cordipc to our dozen or more popular books
of romance, either dignitied matrons or
rayisbinsly beautiful young ladies, who
have done Europe and have all the accom-
plishmeuts OF the literary and musical mar
ket. Now, we will be charitable enough to
suppose that for the sake OF the moral char
acters OF the writer's OF such books the con-
dition Of things rs represented actually eX-
listed in days gone by, but he who would
find such state OF affairs now should start
out as did Diogenes in search OF an honest
MN.
Before the war-that great point in south
ern history-tbere were two classes Tex
Guiding slaves) one Of which owned the
land. were we'll educated and comfortably
surrounded, and the other (bY far the larger
class) owned nothing and knew nothing,
and were tolerabIy good for nothing. The
latter class were not Us comfortably sur
rounded as the small farmer OK mechanic
North, nor did his family have the free
school advantages, and thus the State per-
petuated his kind.
The houses Of the better class, especially
in Virginia, have certain architectural Pc
culiarifies commoner South than North.
For instance, there are many with porch
and huge pillars, q la Mount vernon or
Monticello-a most useless arrangement TO
the mind of man from 9ankeeland-and
then the chimneys are built outside the
house. Where there are four OF these the
resemblance to a huge straddle-bug on its
back is most striking.
EVERYTHING within the homes Of a major
itv of people South indicate condition OF
things now obsolete. In other words, the
war stripped them OF their convertible pro-
perty, and honest poverty. is everywhere.
The furniture and fittings are OF decade
or two back, and the general warmth OF
tone, the pictured wall, the carpeted floor,
the glowing fire in the CRATE, are all want
ing, and q gloomy feeling is present. Car
pets in the South are not as common as ut
the North, and couple of young ladies,
whose parents were wealthy, coming from
Louisiana to Pennsylvania to school. re-
marked this popularity Of carpetcd floors
everywhere thing they had not known
ut home.
Do not infer that carpets and paintings
are unknown South, for they do have them, |
but they are not found in the same per-
centum OF homes as in the North. In those
portions of the South where the two sec |
lions have had an opportunity Of coming |
together, there is little difference. Thus !
the tourist down the Cumberland Valley, !
in Pennsylvania, may continue his journey |
UiG Harper's Ferry into the Shenandoah |
and not find things much changed by lati- |!
tude. It is when you get into sections re-
moved from railroad communication that |
you find everything different.
The speech Of the two sections is widely
different. 1t is most difficult to describe the
differences, for outside the provincialisms
characteristic OF every section Of the in
habitable globe there is set, an accent,
not to be described on paper. The words
are mouthed more, and OF course the New
England dialect is rs observable to the Vir-
ginian rs theirs to us.
AN American graduate Of Yale, an Irish
man OF Trinity, and an Englishman Of Ok
ford, would all be masters OF the English
Language, yet child might observe their
differences OF accent and pronunciation.
The writer accounts for the southern accent
from the speakers contact with the former
slave.
The editors of the city papers, the Gov
ernor and the State officials generally, have
not the southern popularity we write OF,
and along the great thoroughfares the cha
racteristic accent is not heard.
In the real Virginia home, away from
the great crowd, the peculiar phrases and
the southern dialect is observable.
Perhaps no more nonsense has ever been
written than concerning the cuisine Of the
South. The grand lay-outs OF culinary tri-
umphs recorded by the romancing scrib-
bier are all either history or fiction, for they
do not now exist. Take Ford's Hotel at
Richmond, the CarFolton at Baltimore, and
the Astor OF New York. aud the dinners do
not differ sufficient to excite comment. The
cooks are Observation-Disclosures in their
line-and in the country the food is pre-
pared by slouchy negress, detailed or hired
for the work. Food Of good quality is IN
abundance, and OF great variety; yet the
preparation confded to some coiored wo-
man, in 3 back shed, without stove and |
only the embers TO cook on, In every in. !
stance coming under the writer's notice, is |
in inferior TO the product OF the intelligent
farmers wife OF the northern hills. There
DC n unndafSfl < lack az in fha |