Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-02-26
THE BANJO'S ORIGIN.
AN INSTRUMENT WHICH REsEM-
pLED 1T KNOWN ~ 1891.
Another Authority Recalls the
"uanJor" Nearly Ninety Years ASo.
rusormation wanted About the
Game Of IS and Other Pastfmes.

To the Editor or the Dls-atch'
Anropos Of the banjo discussion. the
following may be Of interest. In snort
manuscript description OF virginia
written in ia by an Englishman who was
a tutor IN the family OF Colonel Churchill.
OF Middlescx, IT Is stated that the ban
ior'' was the favorite musical instrument
of the negroes. Jefferson, In his notes on
Virginia n7sD says: '1n music they one
negroes are more generally gifted thah
the whites with accurate ears for tune
and time. and they have been found
capable of imagining r small eaten.
And a foot-note he adds, The instru-
ment proper TO them is the banjor, Which
they brought hithor from Africa lmas-
ing small catches with banjo accimpa-
nment was long a favorte amusement
among them. y gentleman who was Dorm
in 1895 and died a few years aG' 'oii
mo that among the earliest rccollecilona
of his childhood was OF the dciEHt
afforded the children on his Srandialhet
plantation in Chesterfield county ny the
occasional visits Of a negro man VINO ne
longed Ia the Randolphs, OF IdSkah"e'
but whose wife was the cook al my mar
rator's home. This man during ms VISITS
To "wifes house would play me bahj'
and sing, words evidently OF MS own
or some other negro authorship. AFTER
more than sixty years the gentleman
spoken of could recall fragment OF one
which was an especial favorite, beginning.
"Ole Colonel Tom Is dead an gone,
There's no more fun at Tuckahoe.'
White and black. we were music ana
fun-loying people lang syne. Inc same
gentleman sometimes told me or the
christening Of his youngest sister, When
the carriage sent to Richmond brought
back Parson buchanan inside. and Sy.
Gilliatt. the famous fiddler. outside. After
the Parson did his religious offices he
sat down TO cards. while Sy kept the
younger people dancing until daylight.
How the people loved dancing Six or
seven hours of quadrlles and reels. with
an occasional mnuet was an ordinary
nights performance. The most inveterate
cerman-goer could not surpass a party
OF young ladies and gentlemen, who, the
roads being too had for vehicles. rode on
horseback ten miles to a party, and swan
their horses through a swollen creek on
the way. This was an Incident which
used To be told with great pleasure by
good old lady. who not long since went
to her rest And great was the amaze
ment Of the youngsters Of our generation
that grandma" should ever have done
such thing.
THE GAME OF IS.
When the Dispatchs correspondents set
tie the banjo question | shall be glad To-
have them give the information IN regard
to a few small matters. When did the
game OF "js" become extinct IN VIZ
ginia? Elves courts ware frequent IN
every county. one especially noted was
at Coles Tavern. a few miles below
Midlothian. Colonel Frank Taylor. In his
diary (circa 1890 speaks of playing 1s
at Orange Courthouse. and | have been
told Of a great match at the game, be-
Caroline and orange. for 500 aside. An
other thing l wish 10 ma out Is the
meaning Of school butter" cat least that
is the way we pronounce ~, which was
once such a term of insult TO the coun'
try school boy. Judge longstreet' IN
Georgia Scenes. shows that the words
were used seventy years ago In Georgia,
in the same way they were in Virginia
and suggests that they meant that the
sneaker was the SCHOOLS better but
this is too much in the 'all-eggs- under
the-grate" style OF etymolOgy once in
vogue, and Will hardly do. Still another
matter is about the origin and spelling
OF the name OF the game Of ball which
was pronounced "churmaney." The game
itself Is identical with the old English
FOUNDERS" and whence the word pro-
nOunced "vench" or ''vench any" sort
of veto at marbles? Some one with
taste for the subject might write some
interesting papers on the popular games
and amusements and folk lore OF "Old
Virginia" Among the most favored
games were cat. the same which Bunyan
once thought would ensure his spiritual
damnation; prisoners -base. which Is men
toned by Shakespeare: fox In the war
ner" (doubtless a juvenile corruption
Of warren. in which one person. the
fox, was placed between two parallel
bases and attempted to catch any OF the
crowd OF hares, who ran from one base 10
the other. And such a writer might tell
us the origin OF the childish custom OF
emphasizing a statement by saying Il
cross my heart II Is So" II this is, IA IL
seems TO be. a survival of the old Catholic
method Of making the sign OF the cross.
II is very curious indeed. for outside OF
the towns there were in Virginia prior
to the war practically no Catholics, and
the form OF words must be traced back
to pre-reformation times.
STORIES AND TRADITIONS.
Even the history OF some well-known
old stories and traditions might be in
Guided in such articles as suggested. For
instance there Is the Well KNOWN ACCOUNT
of how old John Warden, the Scotch law
yer. was once, for some offence compelled
to ask the pardon OF the House Of Dele
gates on his Blended knees, how he SAID:
81 beg the pardon of tho Hoose." and'
rising. brushed the dirt from his knees
and, giving a significant glance around
at the members added: And a damned
dirty hose il IS" Now the Gentleman's
Magazine describes an exactly similar
incident and words as being used before
the House Of Commons about lIE by
Sergeant Murray, a brother, | believe, oil
Lord Mansfield. And then there il an
other story which tells how some promi-
nent Virginian Jefferson. according 10
one accounD returned the bow OF negro
and when asked by a little grandson why
ne did so said he did not wish the negro
10 be more OF a gentleman than ne was
But n book on the negro, published In l'h'
and review in the Annual Register Tor
that year, accredits Governor Gooch win
being the white man engaged In this
contest Of Centility. W. VI -