Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-01-08
INDIANS AND AFRICANS.


conviction that Christmas, as it "comes bn.s
! gnfsszs 4 year. ''seoght to be time of rgjoiss
ing. Under the new order of things-in the
year 1683-while so much has changed, this
African sentiment has undergone none
whatever. The simple and childish race,
acting invariably from impulse and habit,
still cling with obstinate tenacity to the old
Christmas legend. While the skepticism
of the Latins and Teutons, 50 intelligent
that they doubt all things, laughs at faith,
the poor African, with no intelligence what
ever, we are told, will not abandon his -
With him Christmas is still what it was in the
pious middle age-asolem mystery as we'll
as joyful reality. With the rejoicing of
the season is inseparably connected in his
mind what this rejoicing arises from. This
is shown in the African hymns which still
linger in the memories of the aged. The
present writer had in his household an old
nanny nearly century old, and has
often listened with very deep feeling to
these words crooned in her low voice
"Oh, chillun. Christ is come
TO heal you of yo danger;
Pray that you may be reconc1ed
To the Child thai lays in the Munger"
Our friends, the Agnostics and other su-
perior people, might have laughed as they
listened. l confess for my own part that
the words italicized, with their strange and
subtle suggestions of mysterious sanctity,
caused in my mind anything else than dis
position to laugh.
THE OLD vIRGINIANs.
To return to the old Virginians,s from
whom the Virginians of to-day inherit what
eyer distinguishes them from the rest of the
world. They loved Christmas, and well
coined the day with joy which is difficult
to realize. The age ofdoubt had not come,
and the blessed nativity was not subject
of merriment. They were true descendants
of the country people Of England; clung
obstinately to the habits which time out of
mind had characterized their ancestors,
and would have 'sthe time of Xmas diff
ferent time from all the rest of the year -
We may 60 back in fancy and see the old
race at their diversions in the ancient family
seats on the banks Of the James, the York,
or the Rappahannock, which still seem to
ring with the mirth and laughter of the
dead Christmases of the eighteenth century.
Time has seemed to pass by without laying
its finger On many Of these haunts of the old
race Roosevelt" " the home of the Pages,
standing in lonely solitude on the York;
.'Stratford," the residence of the Lees, on
the banks of the Potomac; "Saratoga," on
+ the Shenandoah, ,-'Oee Nelson Iiofs1e. y IL
Yorktown, and many more in the Tide
water and the Valley. These old localities
revive the merry diversions of a forgotten
generation when hall and cabin rang with
revel at the dawn of the Christmas season.
The planters were cavaliers, as we may see
by the flowing locks of the old Page and
Nelson portraits, and that of Edmund Pen
dleton, the most uncompromising of church
men. They clung to the immemorial fes-
tivals of the English Church, the first of
which was Christmas; and throughout Vir-
ginia tie homes and churches were festoon-
ed with evergreens in honor of the day.
THE q CHURoHEs.
At two seasons these ancient churches
were beautiful with decorations Easter
with spring flowers, and at Christmas with
cedar and pine. Tile good fashion is still
observed, and in many of the old houses Of
worship-St. Peters in New Kent, where
| Washington was married, Christ church,
Alexandria, where he attended service, COM
| ing in his coach from Mount Vernon, and
in numerous others the descendants of the
elder Virginians continue to welcome Christ
mas with evergreens if not in every case
the Easter season with the flowers which
would seem appropriate to US.
THE FIREPt tAcEs ROAR.
Thus everywhere and in every manner the
honest Virginians were determined to divert
themselves and to set aside Christmas from
all other seasons as aday of pure enjoyment.
For the time all was to be goodwill, and
that ennui, which Bossuet says lies as the
basis of human life, vas to disappear under
revelry and the sound Of laughter. While
the happy time lasted care and trouble were
to be forgotten-by the indented servant and
the African in his cabin, as by the lord of
the manor in his hall. Here, in the great
manor-house of the ''nabob" of Tidewater
Virginia, the Christmas festivities reached
their grand elimination. The family clan
has assembled, of every age and both sexes,
the great fireplaces roar, Lighting up the
queer old furniture; old hounds, stretched
in front of the blaze, seem to know that
Christmas has come; on the board the wax
lights shine; there is the clink Of cups and
glasses; the good old vintages, which gave
nobody heahache, cheer the heart; and
the lord of the manor raises his glass, and,
with smile on his ruddy face, drinks tc
the general joy of the whole table.
THE DINNER.
| OF this GROWING event of the dsy, tic
Christmas dinner, Washington Irving gives
US sketch, for what he says Of the old
English ceremony will apply to Virginia.
In the ancient English manor house where
he dined on Christmas day: "The parson
said grace, when the butler entered the hall
attended by a servant on each side with a
large wax light and bore a silver dish, on
which was an enormous pigs head decorat-
ed with rosemary, with lemon in his
mouth, which was placed with great formal
ity at the head of the table, loaded with
good cheer and country abundance. A dis
tinguished post was allotted to ancient
sirloin.' and one could not but notice pie
magnifcently decorated with peacock 5
feathers, in imitation of the tail Of that
bird This the squire confessed, was not a
pheasant pie-there had been such NOR
tality among the pheasants this season that
he could not prevail upon himself to have
one killed" As an appetizer to the feast
the honest squire, intent in bringing back
the good old English times, offered his
guests a rich compound of ale and nutmeg
'1in huge silver vessel of rare and curious
workmanship, being the wassail bowl sc
renowned in Christmas festivities.
/ THE TURKEY.
i If we make due allowance for the differ
ence in edibles between England and Vir
genia, this is a picture of the Christnaf
dinner in the Old Dominion. That 'but
ler' in black dress and face as black Ger
tainly oficiated-the present writer even
remembers him in the callow days OF child
hood, with his white hair and imposing
dignity, and if the s'pigs head' was absen
its place was taken by something better
the Virginia ham. The peacocs and pheas
ant abounded in Virginia as in England
but the great roasted turkey at the bead Q
the table was more attractive, and "s9ci
and the rich Indian corn, was fine
than the roast beef of old England. As t
the "wassail.' that abounded beyond al
question in the old Virginia manor houses
The modern advocates of entire abstinenc
have even made the fact reproach. i
tho earlier times the famous tippleI was n