The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-03-05
OLD TIIlEs.
Afp'0 "Reminiscences of Fifty Years.

a sweet little girl from Marietta writes
me nice letter and begs me to vr;te
sbhin,eething tor the children-just for the
never look upon flock of happv.
wen raised children without wonde,;no,
they knew how we'll off they are-boS
lnuch better of than their grand parents
were some fifty or aixty years AGO.
Wouid like TO see old father time set his
cloce back n half century iust for n
week and put everything like it was then
ana would walk around and have lo,s
OF iun out OF there little folka. I dom,
oel'eve they could sland II a whole wrry
| put II would do them good to try. In the
afst place, they would have to get ont of
tneir comfortable houses with plas,ered
walls ana large glaas windows and coaI
CRATES, and get into smaller houses with
ABOUT Two rooms 10 front and back sbed
| room, that had no fireplace and no cell.
ing and window with wooden shutter
aud In that shed room they would have
70 sleep, and the wind would come ain.
| ping In all night and kiss their faces ever
go nice. They would have TO take off ali
their pretty clothes, and wear country
Jeans and iinsey, and they would have TO
90 70 the shoemakers and have some
coarse, rough shoes made of countrv
feather and no high heels nor boz toes
nor buttons. But they would be good
and strong, and two pair would last anv
ooy or girl q whole year-one pair would
10 them If they CREASED them now and
then and went barefooted during Summer
as we used TO do-ail the store stockiues
would have to be dispensed with, and the
elastic too, and they would put on some
gofd warm ones that were knit by hand.
and be tied up with rag-no nice hats
from the milliners. with pretty flowers
and gay ribbons flying, but the girls
would have to put on home made bon.
nets nicely quilted, and the boys have to
wear home made wool hats or seal. skin
caps that would last two or three wears.
and stretch bigger as their heads grew
bigger. There would not be found
store in the whole State where ready.
made clothing could he found-not n
coat, nor pair of pants, nor shirt, nor
a skirt: nor doll, nor hardly toy of
any Kind. ! suppose that snme few
thlnga for children might he found in
Augusta, or Savannah, or Macon, but the
country stores wouldent have anything.
not even candy or oranges or q box Of
ralsiDe' A boy could find dog knife or
barlow, and be allowed about one a
year. but the little girls couldent even
mud thlmble ANAL enough nor pair
of sclssnrs. Children we're not of much
consequence then, especially girls.
l would like to see the clock set back
for one week and see the boys cutting
wood and making fires, cutting wood half
the day Saturday for Sunday, and Sun
day morning sitting down to learn some
more OF the Shorter catechism about jus.
tihcatinn, and sauctification, and adop.
lion, and some more verses in the Bible.
and that poetry in the primmer about
In Adams fall
We sinned all.
The cat doth play
Aud after slay.
XerIeS must die
And so must /,
Zacbeus, he
Did climb tree
His Lord to see
! would like to see one of thes .)oys |
wake up some cold morning and when he |
tried to make O fire and stirred around |
among the ashes to find coal, he could. |
cot find one, and what then? Not a |
match in the wide, wide world, for there |
was none invented. Wouldent he be in |
u fix7 Well, he would have to run over
to the nabors, if he was town boy. and |
borrow chunk. If he was q country
boy he would have to walk mile or 80.
maybe, and nearly freeze to death before
he got back, and If it was raining his
chunk would be apt to 60 ont on the way.
| would like to see these boys and girls
sludying their lessons by the light of one
tallow candle. No gas, no kerosene, no
oil of any sort-only one Pickering light |
"f candle, or maybe only lightwood
blaze in the fireplace reckon they
would study hard and study fast and 20
to bed soon and get up early in the morn
lug andtry it. again. INould like to see
them sit down to write letter and find |
nothing but an old goose quill for pen
mot steel pen in the world. l would |
watch the poor fellow as hs tried to make
pen out of the quill, and after he had |
cut 1t to point see him try to split il in |
the middle with his knife, and split il too |
far or not far enough, or on one side and |
then throw 1t away in despair.
1t would all be fun to US old folks, but
It wouldent be fun for the boys or the
girls to be set back. But there are old !
people living now who do the same old |
things and live the same old way. Col
onel Campbell Wallace still uses the |
quill pens and makes them himself, and |
.wish you could see how nicely and how
quickly he can do It. Our school teach
ers had to make the pens for all their
scholars, and 1t took about half their |
time, for they had to mend them oftener
than make them. Wben the frat. split
wore out he had to split it again and
trim il down to O new point. His knife |
was always open and ready. Poor man
He died before :ae stisl pens were in
vented and never got the good Of them.
But We were used to these ways and |
never thought hard of them. Judge |
Lester ueed TO run over to our houis of a !
cold morning aud eay TO my mother:
Please mann, lend me a chunk OF FIRE,
aud used 20 go over to bis house and |
do the same thing. But we didn't let it
90 out nfteu. We Ene~ how TO cover up
Bre in the ashes 90 ns 10 keep It till morn.
ing. remember going overito Forsyth |
County once when an old Iudian lived |
there by the names of6aWnee. He didn't |
20 OF with the rest OF. the Indiana, but |
lived on mountain called Sswnee's |
Mountain, and he had some grand SONS
about our age. George Lester and Cicero
Strong were with me, and We gave an |
Iudian boy some money to show us how |
they got FIRE when their fire went opt.
He took two dry hickory sticks about q
foot long and as. large as my thumb and |
q little bunch of dry. grass, sud started