Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-10-21
Regions Yet Untouched by Nineteenth
Century Innovations.

Century innovations
The genuine, untouched Nirginian of
to-day has often been declared to be
the most complete survival of fgh
tccnth century England now in exist
cncc. There are certain eighteenth
century customs and phrases and man
ners in common use here that have
not been heard of in hundred years
in England.
one of the quaintest is custom of
the road which died out in England
when the post road and the travelling
chariot went out of vogue. In those
days it was considered almost an at
front for one traveller in a carriage to
drive past another going the same way.
The travelling class was made up gen
orally of the rich and leiSurCly, and as
they bowlcd along in their coaches, 10
have another cOacn dash by and give
back its dust, and perhaps incite the
coaChman to Il race, was consider Ell
highly indccorous. TO take ones
dust was a common expression Of CON
tempt. The custom was not without
its uses in its day. But will it I've be
licved that at the close of the lime
tecnth century this etiquette ot the
road is rigidly maintained, and that
among well-bred people each cqupagr
has to take the gait of the SlOWCSt!
True it is, some iconoclasts and out
siders drive past their fcllow-travellcrs
without conjunction, but .hey, there
fore, prove their claim to be called
iconoclasts and outsiders. When it is
very pressing case, an apology is
called out, such as Pray excuse me-
but my horse is restless" or Il am in
haste to catch the boat" or something
of thp kind RIlt n lriyn ,.IItllnSSII,
ahead without Il 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 ancestors in
practice, sought a proud seclusion for
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 another and not
find Il single handsome residence on
the public highway. There was another
and Il very practical reason for abjur
ing 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 en-
joyed to the full. The people who had
undesirable homes We're always willing
to beStoW their company 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 Il family
meant the entertaining of two coach
horses, Il coachman and a maid; for
the negroes went visiting with the
white people, and enjoyed it quite MS
much. Hospitality was one of their
great virtues, and is still; for these pCo-
pie excel in social virtues, and this
particular virtue costs little. 1t only
meant the killing of half Il dozen more
chickens for dinner, when there We're
hundreds, perhaps, scratching about
the poultry yard; and the gardens We're
oycrgroWn with vegetables, for which
there was neither sale nor conSump-
ton. There We're ice-houses full of ice
and meadows full of cows, and ice
cream was manufactured in a big tin
bucket, turned about in keg of ice
and salt. 1t took two women and Il
man and Il boy to make 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 Il place that was briCkCd up
and looked like Il gigantic well. This
was finished at the top by Il circular
roof. The sides of the mound We're
graded and turfed, and made nice
places for boys and girls to roll dowr
when the short, slippery grass was wet.
Boston Evening Transcript.