Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-06-28
1UNDRED YEARS AGO.
How OUR GRANDPARENTS LIVED,
WORKED AND DRESSED.


Fashions Did Not Change I'm Those Days
so Often as They Do Now--whcn tho
Women Really Made Their Own Clothes.
Henry Clay's Jeans Breeches.
The costume of the pioneer belle was not
elaborate, and when she left the parental
cabin for home of her own no Saratoga
trunks were required for her wardrobe. She
wore the larger portion of it. In later years
we read that Henry Clay used to drive to
Washington city in MS family carriage with
his wife and daughter, and take their ward
robe with them for winters stay at the ma
tional capital. Now the luggage of such a
party would half fill baggage car
In this day of diversified industry, when one
labor saving invention crowds another off
the stage in endless and rapid succession, one
can scarcely comprehend the patient, perse-
vering effort required of the pioneer house
wife in the discharge of the ordinary duties
of the cabin The lack of costly furniture,
handsome carpets, fragile bric-a-brac and
expensive hangings did not lessen her care.
She was both mistress and servant, matron
and nurse, housekeeper and charwoman,
darymaid and cook Neatness was not less
wife, and her split broom and scrub brush
found ample service in keeping floor and fur
niture clean and white
DIVIDED LABOR.
The labor pretty well divided between
the sexes. The men, the early writers tell
us, "hunted and brought in the meat; they
planted, plowed and gathered the corn,
grinding 1t into meal at a hand mill or
pounding it into hominy in the mortar,
which was occasionally the work of either or
the joint labor of BOTH But with these
offices the labor of the women was scarcely
begun. Custom and necessity united to lay
upon her the care of providing for every
household need that the rude agriculture of
the period did not supply, and in all the null
hilarious duties which engaged her skill and
energy she labored unsided by labor saving
machinery And so she MIXED the cows in
ali weather, while sturdy men and bows
watched an operation too effeminate to enlist
their services. She churned the butter, car
ried the tubs TO spring quarter or half
mile from the cabin, or caught rain water in
troughs and barrels from the caves for the
washing made her own soap; washed
picked, carded and dyed the wool; pulled,
broke and hacked the fax; spun the thread
and wove the cloth; contrived and made the
garments; reared her children, nursed the
sick, sympathized with the distressed, and en-
Outraged the disheartened laborer at her
side. In all this, and above it all, woman
was the tutelary saint of the frontier.
The first cloth made in Kentucky was in
ZIG, by the wife of William Poague, who
that year joined the settlement at Harrods-
burg. She brought with her the first spin
ming wheel ever seen west of the mountains,
and she spun thread from the lint of the net
tie, which grew abundantly in the new coun-
try, and upon rude loom contrived by her
husband she worked it into cloth. This she
called linen, but by adding ''fillingn spun
from buffalo wool she made cloth she
called linsey woolsey. Considerable of such
cloth was made here before the introduction
of sheep, and before the people began to cul-
tivate fax and hemp.
These are no fancy sketches drawn from a
romantic Imagination, but true of pioneer
life, and the world is not half a century older
since much of that described above could be
daily witnessed in Kentucky
A DUEL OVER JEANS
The spinning Wheel the looa and the reel
have disappeared, except as relics. Ut is
fashionable now to have our grandmothers'
old wheels, bedecked with ribbons and Cew-
gaws, conspicuously displayed in our parlors
and librariesl A suit of country brown Jeans
Is never seen now, except when the revenue
IN n HlOOnSllnerS from
the mountains. But following the period Of
buckskin breeches every man wore home
made jeans and linens. | have seen the lats
Governor John l. Helm on public occasions,
where he took a conspicuous part, dressed in
a suit of Jeans
The celebrated duel between Henry CLAW
and Humphrey Marshall in 1901 grew out OF
Marshall sarcastic criticism of Clay for wear
ing jeans clothes. Marshall aristO-
crat socially and federalst politically He
believed Clay's republican ideas and pie
beian tastes affected to give him prestige
with the people, and he gave his ''stinging
pen and bitter tongue" full swing at him,
until Clay could no longer endure his biting
sarcasm, and he challenged him. The result
Of the duel was nothing more serious, said
Col. Sam Major, writing of the affair, than
"a slight wound to Mr.. Clay's jeans breeches
inflicted by Marshall's Mantonn
One of the early writers describing the
times i'll the first quarter of the present CEN
fury, says: Fashionable young men wore
tight bodied, swallow tailed coats, with large
high collars, butt or white vests, stockineU
pants, high top boots, wrinkled or fair, with
a tassel in 'front.' high short collars reaching
to the ears, and few wore ruffles Gold
watches were uncommon, but a bulls eve
with metallic fob chain, seal and KEY was
usually SpOrteu The fashions didn't change
then often as they do now The same bon
net or hat was worn for years. Men wore
their hats eight or ten years, and yet, not
half worn out, would barter them TO the hat
ter in part pay for of the latest
style.
THE same bonnet was worn as long the
trimming perhaps changed every two or
three years Calico was the prevailing ma
terial for ladies fine dresses, such as were
worn in making calls, attending religious
meetings or evening parties. The more ell
dsrly wore bombazne. Six yards were
amply sufficient for pattern. An article
called homespun wool, or cotton and wool
was usually worn about the house when en-
gage1 in ordinary domestic duties There
were social parties in those days, but there
was some regard paid to proper hours for
meeting and dispensing. The company as
sembled at early candle lighting ara went
home at reasonable bedtime and had no ice
'ream or oyster suppers w. II. Perrine in
Louisville Courier Journal.
The Benign Witchery of Candle Light.
Their are so many women who have passed
their first yolIth who amman at tho halle n,