The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-10-24
new school of Tragedy.
OLD CUSTOMS IN VIRGINIA.
The Manners of q Hundred Years Ago
sim Found in Some Places.


The genuine untouched Virginian of to-
day. says a correspondent has often been
declared to be the most complete survival
of eighteenth century England now in eX-
fstence. There are certain eighteenth CEN
fury customs and phrases and manners in
common use here that have not been heard
OF In hundred years in England One Of
the quaintest is custom OF the road Wnlcl
died out in England when the post road
and the travelling chariot went out O.
vogue.
In those days 1t was considered almost
an affront for one travelling in carriage
to drive past another going the same way.
The travelling class was made up generally
Of the rich and leisurely, and as they
BOWED along in their coaches TO nave
another coach dash py ana give ,,I PACK itS
dust and perhaps incite the coachmah 70
a race was considered highly indecorous.
To take ones dust was common eX-
preston of contempt. The custom was not
without its uses in its day. But will II b
believed that at the close Of the nineteenth
century this etiquet of the road Is rlgidly
maintained, and that among weL-bred
people each equipase has 10 take the gait
Of the slOwest?
True it is, some iconoclasts and outsid-
eFs drive past their fellow travellers WITH
out cCmpunction. but they, therefore,
prove their claims to be called iconoclasts
and outsiders When 1t is n very pressing
Pray, excuse me, but my horse is rest
;ess,' or Il am in haste to catch the boat,
or something Of the kind. But TO drive
ruthlessly ahead without word OF apology
is considered the acme of ill-breeding,
The roads in this part of the woriCf are
not interesting, except for their natural
beauty, as the people of wealth, following
their English ancestors in practice souBnt
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 the other and
not find a single handsome residence on the
public highway. There was another ana
very practical reason for abjuring this pub
lie highway. Every mans house was at
the service of every man, woman anC child
In the country.
An Arab hospitality obtained and was
undesirable homes We're always willing 10
bestOW their company upon their more
fortunate neighbors SO that IL wouldn't do
to be too convenient TO the main arteries
of travel Especially was This 50 when
visit from family meant the entertaining
Of two coach horses, a coachman and
the white people and enjoyeS 1t just
much. Hospitality one of their great
virtues and is still, for those people excel
in social virtues. and this particular virtue
1t only meant the killing of a half dozen
or more chickens for dinner when there
were hundreds, perhaps, scratching about
overgrown with vegetables for which there
was neither sale nor consumption. There
were icehouses full of ice and meadows
featured in a big tin bucket, turned about
in a keg of ice and salt ii took two
women and man and boy to make ice
cream, but it took that many to do every
thing
The ice houses are among the most pic
turesque features In the landscape here A
great mound of earth thirty or forty feet
high was thrown up around place that
was brickeG up ard looked like a gigantic
we'll This was finished at the top by a
circular roof. The sides Of the mound
We're graded and turfed. and made nice
places for boys and girls to roll Gown when
the short, slippery grass was wet.