The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-03-23
AmOug the Virginia Girls
Washington Letter in Chicago Times

A young society swell who was invite,
not long ago to go down and visit o fam
lily in the interior of Virginia gives
very interesting picture of the pleasan
customs that are still in vogue in tha
State. When one gets away from rail
roads and towns, he finds things in abou
the same condition that they were about
one hundred years ago. There are mel
in some of the back counties of Virgins
who never yet heard of Jackson's death
and who would be very much startled
it the news was sprung upon them sud
denly.
This young society man was a great
horseman. He took his horse with him.
a high-spirited, dark chestnut gelding
He found upon his arrival that his
ability to ride at onca> made him popular
with everybody. He was surprised to
find that almost everybody rode horse
back. Wagons and carriages were al
most unknown. Young gentlemen going
out to give their sweethearts a treat,
simply swung blanket on their horses,
behind their saddle, where the young
lady rides pillion fashion. He says it
was not an uncommon sight to see four
persons on one horse.
lie proves this to be the case by de-
scribing an actual scene that came un-
der his notice, where an old gentleman
and his wife were riding along comforta-
bly, with two children. The old man and
the boy in front, and the old lady with a
hoy in her lap behind. This system of
riding is very popular among young
ladies and gentlemen in Virginia. The
young Virginian mounts his horse,
dashes up to the saddle-block, catches his
sweetheart by the hand and she bounds
like an agile gael to the blanket behind
him, and then she adds interest to the
occasion by winding her arms around
him, and his good horse starts off at a
jolly pace.
Now, this young swell got along very
well in his visit, until one day he was at
church at one of the country churches,
and young lady who owned a very
comfortable place near there invited him
to go home and take dinner with her.
There were three or four very interesting
young ladies stopping at her house, and,
Of course, he accepted her invitation with
great pleasure; but his hair fairly stood
on end when she said to him: 81 guess
you will have to take one of the girls on
your horse; in dividing up our party one
a 1aact nnupao 10 unu "
The young man in question is not a
heavy weight physic lily. He does not
weigh over ninety pounds. The young
woman who fell to his lot was a bounc-
ing Virginia lass, plump and pretty, who
would weigh at least one hundred and
forty pounds. lie was in haste to get
into the saddle. He watched very care
fully how the rest of the fellows got
their fair companions upon the upper
deck. He was the last man to swing his
horse in line. He had little doubt,
too, about his horse. The horse was
very high-spirited and had never been
ridden double.
He darted up to the horse block and
the young woman was ready. The blan-,
ket was arranged efind after the most
approved fashion. He edged his chest
nut up to the side of the horse-block.
She gave him one hand, and in second
she bounded firmly to her place behind
him and wound her arms around him,
in as firm a hold as the proprieties of the
occasion demanded. She was not the
,nly one that had bounded.
The horse bolted about ten feet in the
air and came down on his fore feet, and,
Is the young fellow said, suddenly be-
came very light behind. The young
nan, although very good rider, said he
would have gone over the horses ears
several times if it had not been for the
young lady, She held on, and he felt
perfectly convinced that if he went off
,he wouldn't, and so she stuck. His horse
fought, SHE'D, jumped and baked, great
y to the amusement of the young
Iady, who very near cracked several
Of his ribs in holding on to him when his
morse bolted to the right and left. 1t
was five miles to his destination. When
,e got off his horse finally, and worked
INTO the farmhouse, three great streams
If respiration slowly trickled down the
'ides Of his face. He was weak and
The lady Of the house asked him how
le liked his trip.
He said that under less exciting cir
he might have relished the
nugging part of it, but beyond that he
was very willing to confess that it was
me of the greatest tests that he had ever
l.. l.; l.fa