Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-08-29
FORTY YEARS AGO.
4 Reference to the Way fnings We're
Done III 1910. or Thercahants.
NcwNntkGrArhtc.


"IeS. said the man who wasn't
afraid OF telling his age. sou Young
fellows of thirty-tive don't really know
how old We Of forty.fve are. Iou can't
realize the changes which have come
over this land in So short time. Look
at our railrosd system, even that in our
own peighhorhoodS, Eorty-one years
ago travelled with my father up the
whole north side OF Long Island from
Greenport N carriage The mail was
three days getting Is New York. A
single railroad track extended from
Jamaica to Brooklyn, We crossed
from BROOKLYN 10 New York in horse
ferry.boat They were playing King
John in the old Park Theatre. Fanny
Ellsler was the star of the ballet, and
one-horSe cabs, with y step and door
behind, piled ON Broadway. The Astor
House was III It's glory, ami ! saw the
unfinished walls OF Trinity church,
My father took n paper called the Ia.
press and the J1NNdI Of Commerce, out
Of which vainly sought for something
to interest four-year old boy. cam
not recollect but one sentence in either
Of those pauerS. 1t read at intervals IN
very big letters, Arrival ct the Great
Western from Europe. and it seemed
to me rs II no ocean steamer, save the
Great Western crossed the Atlantic for
years and years. Besides these head
lines, they used on each arrival to yet
out n wood cut OF the vessel. A man
who had been to Europe in those days
was somebody. Noted ministers used
to so, and they always on returning
wrote books on their travels. II would
he good plan to compile ministerial
library OF travel in Europe and Asia
A man with beard ana mustacho then
was At once II curiosity and monstrosity,
well recollect hearing one of our
village magnateS IrNvely advising u
young New York doctor To shave oil
these appendaSes. They were clean
shavers in those days and almost every
body shaved themselves. The razor
case and strap formed part Of
every mans travelling equipment. Hi
nols was the farthcst western state,
letter postage was ten cents, tho
knickerhoeker was the sterling maya
zine of the time, Sam Hicks and Mai.
Jack Downings letters the only very
funny reading, gentlemen wore swallow.
tailed coats at all hours, tomatoes were
called love apples and suspected Of
being poisonous, all temperance people
were known as 'Washingtonians, cir.
cuses travelled with very small negro
minstrel bands who sung Jump, Jim
Crow fiddles made n row among the
older people when introduced i'll country
church choirs. the Mothodists wouldn't
tolerate cross in evcrgreens on Christ
mas or anything else or at any other
time, everybody chewod and Spit and
built their houses with Greclan porticos,
photographs were daguerreo,ypes and
would rub of the plates, whale oil the
only lighting fluid, all shirt collars stood
up, doctors bled and gave calomel for
almost everything, lung fever hadn't
turned into pneumonia, nobody had
put n caudal appendage on our first
parents, all schoomasters came from
Connecticut and licked with cowhide
girls hadn't learned To skate, mar
worth u million was rich, the Demo
Gratis were called Ioco-focos,' and sc
i were Ilt ilHlNutsi VIC ITtSuyltTHIif
preached down the Methodists and
Episcopalians, the country papers
abounded in advertisements Of runaway
apprentice boys bound out to serve UNI
I'll of age. represented pictorially by a
young man making tracks, with his
bundle on u stick over his shoulder
Good butter was only n shilling pound
good cigars three cents apiece. Rum
was the favorite drink, the best ofliquor
six cents glass. Infart damnation
predestination and election were favor
tie pulpit topics, Eclipse the fastest
horse in America, Bunker Hill monu
ment a big thing il st done, nobody lee
tured, round dances hadn't come over
lager beer was unknown, general train
ings were held yearly, the muskets hac
flint locks, every householder was re
quired by law to keep two leather buck
cts ready in case Of fire, ladies wore
bustles. gentlemen strapped their panta
looms under their boots, trousers wer,
cut with horizontal inst,al Of perpen
dicular flaps in front, and Henry Clay
and Daniel Webster were the creates
men in the United States. tell 20,
those we're times, now"