The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-02-11
The Quaker Wilmington Of To-day.

The Quaker Wilmington OF Today
From the time of its settlement Will
mington (Del.) was essentially a QuaN
ker CONN unity. Ii was founded by
English Quakers; it wal peopled by
English Qua, ers; and AS Quak rs marry
and iDtermATTy almost exclusively
aIrOng themselves for to marry other
wise means, or did mCan, expulsion
from the sOcieiy-traditiOns, manners,
customs and peculiarities Of old Eng
lish life have been han ed down from
generation to generation, as carefully
preserved as an old quilted petticoat in
lavender. Broader contact with the
worlds people has rubbed away much
of the bloom Of q%uaintness during the
last two generations; but the chronicles
of the old town, redOlento of local flavor,
still preserve in a series of sketches the
queer lie of the old settlement. Even
yet many old. fashioned customs are
extant in the modern city, such, for in
stance, as the " curbstOne markets"
The country people lrOm the %neighbor-
hood bring their produce to town in
carts, dearborns and market-wagons,
which stand with their tail boards TO
the pavement, while a row OF benches
placed along the curb disp avs their
wares-butter as yellow as gold and as
sweet as a nut, milk, eggs, sausage,
scrapple, vegetables and poultry, all
fresh from the farm. Up and down, in
front of this array of benches, the town
folk crowd and jostle, inspecting the
marketing and driving shrewd hargains
with the country people. Rain or
shine, on every Saturday and Wednes-
day, the line OF farm wagons stands
along the pavement. In the hottest day
of summer, when the sun beats down on
straw hats and shirt sleeves, in the cold
est day of winter, when the snow drifts
in binding sheets up the street, these
good folk come to town to turn an nom
est penny. In summer time the wagons
stand on the east side of the street, to
avoid as much as possible the morning
sun, for markets. over by noon; in VIM
ter they shift TO the west side, so as TO
gain the warmth as soon rs possible. On
market-days the itinera vender OF pat
emit medicines and the auctioneer OF
cheap goods do a thriving business at
the principal street corners.
During the spring and early summer
the markets are gay with flowers, some
times ranged tier on tier in n gaudy tab
leau Of color and fragrance newly trans
ported from the greenhouse, sometimes
tied in homely nosegays of hOmely flow.
ers-daffodils, lilacs, and pinks, pied and
plan. Around these stands gather q
group OF feminine folk, and in many a
market. basket butter and eggs contest
the place with n bouquet, or jostle
against a fower-pot in which blooms
some sweet blossom, or are decked with
q bunch of the water-lilies which bare
foot boys offer at every corner. Then in
the season come the fruits in their natu.
raj order, lree from forcing-houses,
from the cary strawberry OF spring
to the apples Of late autumn, each with
a freshness and %ripeness only too rarely
found in our larger cities.
IT has been only a few years since the
old town bellman was a dignitary OF
considerable Importance, as be walked
along the stony streets ringing his bell,
its measured rhythmical clang.te.ciang,
clang-te clang keeping time with the tap
of his club. foot on the cobblestones.
There is little about the Wilmington
of the present day that is different from
other towns where the Quaker element
predominant, but one hundred years ago
II was the oldest, the quaintest, the
homeliest old town one could find in the
countryside -RarDer'S Magazine.