Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-08-30
VIRGINIA GENTLEMEN.

p,ish Visitor to the Old D0min-
iou-What the "Aristocracy"
Meant Among the F. Il. vs.
A Plan tatiOn Of the Olden
Time.
Pail Mall Gazette.
Cabs what the Southern peo.
nile call an "Old time Virginia gentle
man." and when he if gathered to his
fathers when crowds OF carriages and
horsemen, footmen and country folk,
and neiyhbors from all quarters collect
to,e;hcr to pay their last respects to the
representative of an honored name, and
when the slow hearse moves up the hill
behind the house to where, within
nickel fence, clump OF cypress trees
look down on the tombstones OF three
or four generations OF his progenitors,
the local papers will lam ent the sever
inc Of one more link that bound them to
the past. They viii eulogize their de.
parted friend las man OF justice and
fine sense, OF high-toned principles ana
polished courtesy, kind to his servants
charitable TO the poor; constant at.
tendsnt at the Episcopal Church, OF
which he was a member; an ardent
SPORTSMAN and once owner OF fine
mack of foxhounds;" and finally, as "a
scholar and man Of culture" These
latter attributes must not BE- supposed
10 imply that the colonel would have
been exactly in his element in an Ok
ford common-room, but they may be
taken as a roundabout way OF stating
that the deiunct worthy was a gentle
man" by birth and education, in contra
distinction to mere farmer. his es-
tate, large one-some 1000 acres-les
in one of the remoter light land coun-
ties. The whistle OF the railway en-
CINE, even in the still weather that her
aids the coming storm, is not yet heard;
and that he has TO haul his tobacco
twenty miles to market troubles his old
fashioned soul but little. He is far re-
moved from what may be called the ris-
ING portion OF the State, where along
the foot of the mountains a thicker pop
ulation and richer soil attract settlers
from the North and from England, and
streams OF visitors and summer resi-
dents from the extreme South and the
great cities. The Blue Ridge, indeed, is
scarcely visible, even in the clearest
weather, from the highest point on his
plantation.
The colonel's brother-in-law owns the
adjoining estate, which consists OF l.5OO
acres, while the property on the other
side belong to relative who has lived
i'm Richmond since the war, and is larger
thaa either; so that his immediate
neighbors are soon counted up. The
representatives OF these three estates
have been, in fact, yeritable kings OF the
fore ST since time shortly previous TO
the Revolutionary war, when the great
grandfather of the colonel came mp IRON
the seaboard counties, for reasons I'M
known, and bought the entire neighbor-
hool iOr the sum Of ESQ, as the title
deeds, with the signature OF the royal
governor OF that time appended, show.
Local tradition, however, assigns that
hardy pioneer a captaincy in Col. Blu.
lords regiment OF horse that
was raised IN those parts, and formed
part of Lees Light Horse Harry's) cav
airy, which disputed under Gates IN L
remember right the fords OF the Roa-
noke river with Lord Rawdon and Tar.
leton's division OF CORVALLIS army, and
finally forced them back to Charleston,
South Carolina. This Tor q beginning
The "only a hundred years ago, follow
ell by three generations OF respectable
and educated property-holders, whose
sons have followed one another to Will
liam and Mary College, or the UNIVERSE
ty of Virginia, or occasionally even to
Harvard, and have been lawyers and
parsons and soldiers, stamps the colonel
according to the social verdict OF Viz
yinia-as man OF good family.
PURELY AMERICAN ARIsrocRAcY.
III there are any who suppose that the
aristocratic claims OF tina higher classes
of Southern society are based nowadays
10 any appreciable extent on English
antecedents they make agreat mistake.
For the houored names OF Virginia, just
az those OF New York, OF Maryland or
New England may or may not be able
10 boast OF descent from the younger
son. and perhaps the scapegrace son OF
an English country squire; but 1t can
not be supposed by English readers that
the illustrious names that have adorned
the Senate and council boards, or led
the armies OF their State and nation, can
receive much additional lustre from
such fact. Neither does American So
ciety often trouble its head upon
the subject, except in individual
instances as a matter Of most private
interest, or when curious historians or
antiauarians, insist on making the Wild
est pedigrees, based often on mere pro-
liabilities, or on the similarity OF not
uncommon names, for their greatest ma
tional heroes. In New England certain
ly denser civilization and keener
intellectual life have, from motives OF
curiosity, stored up in its museums and
libraries and picture galleries IT'S relics,
both public and private, Of the past. But
Virginia has been specially neglectiul In
such matters. The very site OF James
town has, | believe, been lost. 1t can
not be wondered at, then, that the
colonel does not know and does not
very much care who the grand
father was who carved the family estate
ont OF the forest primeval. At the same
time he presents what ut first sight may
appear to English eyes the anomaly OF
possessing distinct pride OF family oil a
peculiar kind-the pride OF having lived
as ladies and gentlemen as long as any
body in the country cared to go back, IN
contrast to the rapid accumulation OF
position common to all Democracies-of
a family without quarterings, who mos
tentation could not elevate in the opin-
ion of its own section, but whom one
unworthy representative might destroy.
Ii is doubtless this last possibility that
makes In America what would appear
10 the inhabitants OF older countries
shor, hereditary career for family so
much respected. Something more than
even a mere harmless existence is re.
quired in its successive representatives
to maintain position, while individual