The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-09-10
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on 'ileSe plantations they lived in
oaronial style, entertaining their friends
with unbounded hospitality, and spent
their time in feasting, drinking, danc,po.
aambllng, horse-racing, hunting. and
u~ w. anor amusements, and under
this sort o! reglu.~, "'iuei
it did not kill them of felop@o' when
some of the most remarkable char HE,
know TO American history. Women
and horses were the products OF which
they were most proud, and they GER
tainly produced the finest specimens of
both. They were characterized in
their relation to women by a spirit of
chivalrous devotion hardly surpassed,
if, indeed, it was ever equa!ed IN the
best period of knight errantry. Wo-
men ruled the roost and the rougher
sex as well. Each was a queen reg
nant over all the male gender. Both
sexes were we'll educated and both
fond of politics and religion after a
sort. They were proud and sensi-
tive race. possessed of abundant per
sonal courage, quick to take ofense
and wipe it out in blood, but endowed
with many of the softer and more
amiable traits of character. 1t cost
comparatively little to furnish their
tables, The woods and water teemed
with luxuries, and do so even unto this
day. The only necessities that cost
money were clothing, groceries and
liquors, for they raised their own to-
bacco. The negroes, who, of course,
did all the work IN the house and on
the plantation, were like Topsy-they
Jest growed, and cost but a trife to
keep, and, when necessity compelled,
were readily converted into cash to
replenish the exhausted exchequer.
But the was changed all that. Such a
mode of living as the planter had in
dulged in for more than century was
no longer possible, though it would
have come to an end before this if
there had been no war. The game
was ausgespiell when slavery was ex.
cluded from the virgin Territories, and
the market for slaves restricted. There
was no longer a ready sale for the
Maryland and Virginia product, and
the masters would in all probability
have been driven to voluntary eman
cipation from sheer inability to Longer
support their human chattels on a sol
that was becoming rapidly impover
isned.
While the abolition of slavery was q
positive advantage to the whites il
these States, it still left them in a de
plorable condition, mainly because o
the want of ready adaptability of cir
cumstances that led the Yankee wht
took load of shoe pegs to market
for which there was no demand, tt
sharpen the other end and sell then
for oats. They seemed unable t.
adjust themselves to the new order O
things and persisted in following ths
method to which they had been 81
long accustomed, though all the con
dtions for success had been changed.
remember paying visit after tn
war by Invitation to the residence of
gentleman living on the Patuxent rive
for few days shooting. My hos
was a character in his way. He wa
bachelor and lived in a some .wha
dilapldated house OF four rooms, wit
negro servant woman. The princi
, pal room was decorated With an In
grain carpet, In the centre of which h
had worn a large hole by kicking t
call his servant. He owned farm {
25o acres of productive mari land tn;
, he had inherited, and out of which
! barely managed 10 obtain a vel
meagre subsistence, and on which h
: persisted in cultivating for its success
A full culture had disappeared with 81
very. l tried to show him the advan
age of adopting different methods ar
S changing his crops, to which he r
: pied that he was too old dog to lea
new tricks.