Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-10-13
OLD CUSTOMS IN VIRGINIA.
The Manners of 1G0 Years Ago Still |
Found in Some Places.

L
The genuine. untouched Nirginian Of
today has often been declared to be the
most complete survival of eighteenth
century England row in existence.
There are certain eighteenth century
customs and phases and manners in
common use here that have not been
heard of in Il hundred years in Eng
land. One of the quainteSt is Il 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 considered almost an af-
front for one travelling in a carriage
to drive past another going the same
way. The travelling class was made I'D
generally of the rich and leisurely, and
as they bowled along in their coaches,
10 nave another coach dash by and
give back it's dust, and perhaps incite
the coachman to race, was considered
highly indecorous. To take ones
dust was common expression of
contempt. The custom was not with
out its uses in its day But will it be
believed, says the Boston Transcript,
that at the close of the nineteenth
century this etiquette of the road is
rigidly maintained, and that among
well-bred people each equipage has to
take the gait of the slowest? True it is
some iconoclasts and outsiders drive
past their fellow travellers without
conjunction, but they, therefore, prove
their claim to be called iconocklSts and
outsiders. When it is very pressing
case. an apology is called out such
as Pray, excuse me, but my horse is
restless 'or l must haste to catch
the boat" or something of the kind
But to drive ruthlessly ahead without
i word of apology is considered the
acme of i'll breeding
! The roads in this part of the world
are not interesting, except for their
natural beauty, as the people Of
wealth, following their English ances-
tors in practice, sought proud seclu-
sion for their houses. Only the poorest
people build their homes on the main
road, and one may travel from one end
! of this fair country to the other and
not find a single handsome residence
on the public highway. There was
another and a very practical reason
for abjuring this public highway.
Every mans house was at the service
of every man, woman and child in the
county. An Arab hospitality obtained
and was enjoyed to the full. The peo-
pie who had undesirable homes were
always willing to bestow their COM
pany upon their more fortunate
neighbors, so that it wouldn't do to
be too convenient to the main arteries
Of travel. Especially was this so when
Il visit from a family meant the enter
t,lining of two coach horses, a 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 virtues, and is
still; for these people excel in social
virtues, and this particular virtue costs
little. 1t only meant the killing Of half
a dozen more chickens for dinner, when
there were hundreds, perhaps scratch
ing about in the poultry yard; and the
gardens were CyergrOWn with yege
tables, for which there was neither sale
nor consumption. There were ice
houses full Of ice and meadows full OF
cows, and ice cream was manufactured
in a big tin bucket, turned about in
key Of ice and salt. 1t took two WomeT
and a man and boy to make lcs
cream, but it took that many to de
everything. The ice houses are among
the most picturesque features in th'
landscape here. A great mound O.
earth, thirty or forty feet high, wa
thrown up around a place that was
bricked UP and looked like gigantic
well. This was finished at the top b.
!, circular roof. The sides of tn
mound were graded and turfed, AL
made nice places for boys and girl
to roll down when the short, slipper.
grass was wet.