The record-union., 1893-09-29
OLD CUSTOMS IN VIRGINIA.
The Manners of hundred Years Age
still Found in Some Places.

The Manners of a Hundred Years Ago
Still Found in some Places.
The genuine, untouched Virginian of
to-day has often been declared 10 be the
most complete survival Of the eighteenth
century England now IN existence.
There are certain eighteenth century Gus
| toms and phrases and manners III COM
mon use here that have not been heard OF
IN hundred years in England. one OF
the quainteSt is a custom OF the ROAD
which died out in England when the
postroad and the travelling chariot went
out of vogue. In those days it was con
sldered almost an attront ior one travel
ing in carriage TO drive past another
going the same way. The travelling class
was made up generally OF the rch ana
leisurely, and as they BOWED along III
their coaches, to have another coach oash
by and give back its dust, and perhaps
incite the coachman to race, was con-
sidered highly indecorous.
To take ones DUST was common
ex pressIon OF contempt. The custom was
not without its use IN its day. But Will
it be believed, says the Boston Transcript,
that at the close OF the nineteenth CEN
tury this etiquette OF the road is rlgldly
maintained, and that among Well-Dred
people each equippage has TO take the
gait OF the sioWest? True it is, some
tellow-travelers without compunction,
but they, therefore, prove their claim to
be called iconociasts and outsiders. w hen
1t is Il very pressing case, an apology is
called out such as Pray excuse me, but
my horse is restless,o or II am In haste TO
TO catch the boat" or something OF that
kind. But to drive ruthlessly ahead
without word OF apology is considered
the acme OF ill-breeding.
ElS in mar N world
not interesting, except for their natural
beauty, as the people of wealth, following
their English ancestors in practice, sought
a proud Seclusion Tor their houses. only
the poorest people built their homes on
the main road, and one may travel from
one end OF this fair country to the other
and not lind single handsome residence
on the public highway. There was an
other and a very practical reason Tor aD-
iuring this public highway. Every mans S
house was at the service of every man,
woman and child in the county. An
Arab hospitality obtained and was en-
ioyed to the full. The people who had
undesirable homes were always willing
TO bestow their company upon their more
fortunate neighbors, so that 1t wouldn't
| do to be too convenient to the main ar
| teries of travel. Especially was this so
when visit from family meant the en-
| tertaining of two coach horses, coach
man and maid; for the negroes went
visiting with the white people and en-
! joyed it quite as much.
Hospitality was one Of their great vir-
tues, and is still; for these people excel in
social virtues, and this particular virtue
costs little. 1t only meant the killing of
| half dozen more chickens for dinner,
when there were hundreds, perhaps,
scratching about in the poultry yard; and
| the gardens were overgrown with veg
etables, for which there was neither sale
nor consumption. There were icehouses
| full of ice and meadows full of COWS, and
Ice cream was manufactured in big tin
! bucket, turned about in keg Of ice and
| salt 1t took two women and man and
! a boy to make the ice cream, but it took
that many to do everything. The ice
houses are among the most picturesque
features in the landscape here. A great
mound of earth, thirty or forty feet high,
was thrown up around place that was
bricked up and looked like a gigantic
well. This was finished at the top by
circular roof The sides of the mound
were graded and turied, and made nice
places for boys and girls to roll down
when the short, slippery grass was wet