The Opelousas courier., 1889-12-28
rhE MODERN STONE AeE..
AEany Implements Made or This Material
SIN Used In Virginia.

kEany Implements Made or This Material
Still Used In Virginia.
All over our country we find many in
tereSting relics Of the Indians. Stone
spearheads, arrowheads, hammers, Chi
ssis, knives, scrapers, ETC., together with
pottery, some Of burned or baked clay,
soma cut from soft stone, as slate, s~teatite,
etc. Similar remnants Of the soacalled
stone age oe mankind are found in nearly
eEeyy portion Of the globe, and, besides
thcic interest as curious suryivals Of a
bygone time, they aid us toward a dis
co7ery Of tho prehistoric man. 1t is
hardly Of Less interest, or of less historic
or scientific value, to note how the stone
age still survives among us to no little
extent.
Here in Virginia, for instance, many
people still ecad their slaughtered hogs
in hogsheads or barrels, as our barbarian
proQehitors boiled their meat in skins, by
heating stones and putting them into the
water until it ID hot enough for the pur-
way pre- roundish, hard, and very heavy
black or brown modules. sometimes
called NEGRO heads or iron stones,
although they are compressed lava, up
heayed In strata through c~revices in the
rock crust Of the earth at remote periods
of geological time.
We sometimes encounter stones that
are followed out in the center often to a
socket, and these not infrequently are
treasured by their finders as an ancient
Indian stone for MASKING or grinding
corn, with the aid of q stone pestle; yet
they are nothing more nor less, for the
most part, than discarded stones once
used by our rural brethren for their gates
TO swing upon-many gates in all parts
OF the commonwealth being still thus
pivoted.
Many q housewife in remote country
regions still has her stone weights, more
or les rough, but honest; wherever the
old Kentucky rifle fingers there is likely
to be found GtiIl q set of soapstone bullet
molds; our log cabins jet have rough
store and clay chimneys, where they are
NOS OF mud and sticks; in manya humble
household q thin rock, not always
smooth, Is the utensil for baking corn
bread, and the stone ssmash trap" is
familiar TO all our country boys. The
stone pipe, believed by many to have
gone out with the Indian, is made and
used today by many colored folks and by
no few white folks. Whenever soap
stone, or ste8tite, is found, not only the
stone pipe, but many other articles sup
poae9 ta be archaic, are still manufac-
tursd end put to service by the ingenious
and thrifty. Tip such localities stone
pans, Stone .taoughs for children, etc, are
still common. Some day they win be
dng UP and attributed to the indiana, or
sven to theig predecessors. IA little in
Quiky and investigation would show
much more Of the stone age still here
than we have adyerted to.
~ A not rare to see stone sinkers In use
tor lines and nets Ia fishing; the flint is
not yet superseded wholly by the match;
there ara CLOCKS Iii the land yet run by
stone weights; stone novels, with dirt
roofs, are not unknown In u noun
taiHa; the cclored rufian, and sometimes
the white one, carries d stone I'M q stock
in9, along with his razor, when on the
waxpSthj nla1zy' d cider press and tobacco
press are 6tM made effective by stones
sWsWag At tho end 6E their leYer; and our
sEpnll boya are sl Iii their stone age
whepeysF they can give their natures fun
md 2ree play.
we are not I'D far Ok from the stone
Rge man as some imaginej many Of the
~sEnpappaents and ratirA Supposed to be
prehsSoric. Rnd doubtless so III many
cases have their modern duplicates, and
IN songs INSTANCES are iii ia use among
u-C0Fs Petersburg Index-Appeal.