, 1886-10-21
/. TIE AMTE-zELLUN DAYS.
oId-crne TTosrita1itv of southern Plant
,r,-Sacizl E.Fr ia Virginia.

Old-riIue IIusPitalitv at southern Plant
,r,-Soci=l E-.Te ia Virginia.
Persons arr st.1l alive who saw the
rroGi-aI -uv!e oI living and the reckless
hospitality Of the planters III those days,
when IN the Charleston and Sea Island
rnan-lons the guests constantly enter
raine.I were only uutuumbered by the
svarrus Of servant: when 1t was not IL
coner1ious and syar"ciy oStentatlouS that
the cnurtlv company, which had the fine
and free manner of another age, should
dine on gold and silver plate, and when
all that wealth and luxury could suggest
was lavi5hed in a prlaCely magniticence
that was almost barhariC in its profuslor.
The young men were educated III En-
Gland: the young women were reared
like helpless pviu re-soS. with servant
for every want and whim; it was day
Of elegant accomplishments and
defcrontial manners, hut the men gained
like Fox and dr.uk Ike Sheridan, and
the duel was the ordinary arbiter of any
difference Of opinion or Of any point Of
honor.
The agricultural life of Virginia appeals
with scarcely less attraction TO the inagi-
nation Of the novelist. Iir. ThaCkeray
caught the flavor Of il in his "Nirginians,"
from an actual study Of it III the old
houses, when it was becoming faded
memory. The vast estates-principal-
ities in size-with troops of slaves
attached to each plantation; the hospital
i,v. less costly but rs free as that of
South Carolina; the land in the hands of
few people, politics and society con-
trollcd bv q small number of historic
families, intermarricd until all Nirginians
OF a certain grade were related-aH this
forms a picture as fcUdal Ike and foreign
To this age as can be imagined.
The writer recently read the will of a
country gentleman of the last century in
virginia. which raises 4 distinct image
of the landed aristocracy Of the time.
1t devised his plantation of 5000 acres
with ITS slaves attached. his plantation of
/. 500 acres and slaves, his plantation of
200 acres and slaves, with other farms
and outlying property; it mentioned all
the cattle, sheep and hogs, the racing
stec5s, the several coaches with six
horses that drew them ian acknowledge
ment Of the wretched state of the roads,,
4
main. All the slaves are called by name,
all the farming implements were enum-
Grated and all the homely articles of
furniture down 70 the beds and kitchen
utensils. This whole structure of n
unique civilization is practically swept
away now, and with it the peculiar so
cial life it produced
The family was the fetch. In this
highly social caste the estates were en-
tailed to the limit of the law, for one
| generation, and this entail was com
monty religiously renewed by the heir.
1t was not expected that . widow
would remarry; as = rule she did not,
and it was almost a matter of course that
/ the will of the husband should make the
/ enjoyment of even the entailed estate de-
pendent upon the non-marriage of the
/ widow. These prohibitions upon her
! freedom of choice was not considered
singular or cruel in a society whose chief
gospel was the preservation Of the family
name.-Charles Dudley Warner IN
| Princeton Review.