The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-02-28
The Social and Intellectual Life
On the Old River Plantations.

sight and industry to prepare for so
! many mouths unheard of in this day
OF canned vegetables and fruit. In the
Ole time the preserving and picking had
10 be done i'll the tOrrid summer heat,
and it was Il pretty sight to witness the
bright c0ppercolOrcd kettles Simmering
over furnaces under the open Sky. with
roses cianbCrlng everywhere overhead,
and the mistress in her delicately tinted
gown forming q strong contrast to the
maid in her bright cotton coat" both
busy and anxious for success.
The negroes were fond of bright colOrs,
and, as their clothes were of white home
spun, many were the recipes for I'M
fading dyes which were handed down
from mother to daughter, many the
quaint patterns for the quilts which were
precious and carefully transmitted.
The pride Of every housewife was to
be well plcnshcd with silk and calico
Quilts, which bore certain names, ac-
cOnling to the arrangement Of The pieces.
The old negroes boast now that "Olc
miss taught them to make Il wheel Of
fortune" or Il tree OF life or perhaps
"a lob cabin terms which puzzle the
uninitiated but which mean peculiar
kinds OF patchwork.
Before the war, much of the weaving
work had. on the larger plantations, been
discontinued, but, for some reason, the
blanket did not seem to have the same
power to Supplant the homemade quilt
as the millWOVen cotton did the home
made haud-lo0m weave. Indeed, the day
Of those household treasures is not quite
over in the remote districts. Her life
among her dependents | trust, has been
demonstrated to have been no lotus
eating existence.
Added to these cares and lab0rS, the
mistress Of Il plantation household must
be the refining element of the lives OF
her husband and children, nor was the
duty 81 sinecure under the opposing in
tlucnce of life Of isolation and cOntln-
ned intercourse with Il lower race; yet
these solitary women preserved and
fustcrcd the sentiment OF cntvaiIY in
their boys and implanted q maidanly
m0desty and stern sense OF duty in their
girls which seems to their descendants
a nober work than the formation Of
philosophical theories or the making of
books.
magazines Southern Women Read.
Their lives were as barren Of pleasures
as they were rich in vital interests. once,
or at most twice, Il week, the cotton boat
of the place brought the mail and the
newspapers, carrying an echo OF that
outer life with which they had SO little
Intercourse. Occasionally boxes OF new
books would come from New Orleans or
some approximate town. Almost every
family TOO The Eccctic Review or Lat
tells Living Age, one or two of the Eng
fish quarterlics, generally RlaclWo0d. and
these gave them intellectual 1oOd without
which stagnation must inevitably have
come.
There were fashion papers and maya
zines, tOO-fOr was there ever 4 woman
without Il desire to conform to he siall-
dard OF loneliness of her sex?
After the fashion plates, gowns We're
fabricated which seemed counterparts of
those portrayed in the cOlorcd plates, but
the FIRST visit to New Orleans or to Il
watering place revealed the appalling
difference between the thing as it was
and instructive as Sclf-hclp.
Ideal Net i,bc DDS.
The chief source of enjoyment was III
association with their ncighhors. Like
every little community. the intimacy be-
tween the families OF the adjoining plan
tations was close, and only ceased to cX-
ist when some Montague and Capulet
sent over a boundary Il pOachm% negro
q stray horse on Il runaway match, inter