The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-01-26
Cost Of 222240 lbs. bar iron.


1t must be remembered that this time
113C-40l the country was sparsely settled
rough and uncultivated; still inhabited by
many Indians; thickly covered with forest
except where broken here and there by
plantations, each of which formed a small
settlement of itself with its numerous
slaves and dependents. Thackeray's de-
scription of the Eirginians of that day was
doubtless as applicable to their neighbors
in Maryland. He says "there were scarce
any towns-the establishments of the
gentry We're little villages in which they
and their vassals dwelt, many of them We're
rather needy potentates, living plentifully
but in the toughest fashion, having numer-
Gus domestics whose liveries were often
ragged, keeping open houses and turning
away no strangers from their gates; proud,
idle, fond of all sorts of field sports as be-
come gentlemen of good lineage"
Philadelphia, then was a small town,
while the site of Baltimore had just been
laid out January -. 1880. New Castle,
Delaware, was place of much more i'm
portance in every way than Wilmington.
Lord Baltimore's family and the Roman
Catholics ruled on the west, the Penns and
the Quakers on the east and Swedes and
Dutch were sprinkled between.
The ladies' of those days could not step
into palace car and be whirled into New
York in four or five hours, there to inspect
at Stewards or Claflin's the elegant fabrics
of modern wear, but were compelled to
spend perhaps the same length of time riding
on horseback over rough roads to the little
store where were displayed to them the
latest arrivals of goods from London and
Bristol. Many old invoices remain to show
what kind of articles were there shown
them. Firft osnaburg, dowlaS, and silesia,
varieties of kind of coarse linen, of
which vast quantities were consumed, espe-
cially for clothing the slaves. Shaloon
was a worstered stuff made at Chalons, in
France, whence its name, grogram was a
rough sort of cloth. OF finer stutfs were
mohar and camblet, soft fabrics made from
Angora goats wool, and padua-soil, or
padisuay. as they called it, silk manu-
featured originally at Padua. Besides
these were callimanco (our preset calico
tainse, garlix, steccy, duroy (or corduroy
permission, allipeen and other stuffS with
equally unfamiliar names, now almost
obsolete. Large handkerchiefs could be
bought, called, very appropriately, tapsails;
smaller ones called niccarees, or carridaries
romalls and bandannoes, and beladine silk
ones for Sunday use. One grand dame,
having sent to London for fashionable
head dress received cap composed of two
and a quarter yards of lace, two yards
silver wire ribbon, and three flowers, for
all which she paid four shillings. Riding
on horseback being almost the only mode
of travelling, there were saddles in profu-
sion. Knowing the irresistible passion of
the sex for ornament the merchant i'm
ported side saddles which must have seemed
almost Gorgeous in the eyes of the natives.
One costing four guineas, was of leather
with large blue cloth cover, double trim
med and lowered with mohair lace, &C
companied by curb bride with silver bit
and bosses and ga supertine riding whip,
cloth housings, trimmed with mohair and
silver embroidered flowers" Thus equip
ped we can imagine the fair Maryland girls
of the period riding forth conquerng and
to conquer"