Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-02
Traits Of the Old Time Southerner
That Still Abide.
BE DID NOT WEAR A MUSfACHE
In All Things He Held His Word of
Honor Precious.
HIGH TRUST IN WOMAN


Wells. over whose quiet rest in the heart OF
Louisiana magnolias have drowsily nodded
FOR many MINDLESS summers He belonged
TO the old regime-the clean-shaven regime
the ante-bellum regime. the slave holding
regime, the dancing, singing fighting re-
gime. the aristocratic regime. Fors non
mutat genus, said the Latin-chance does
not change The kind. His type exists in the
south today. IL is not anywhere else and
most OF all places. not on the stage. Look
ing odd times at the black-must &C he'd,
staggering caricature who treads the MINI
ic boards and says "sah" and "suh." 1
long for three things: To kick the actor,
to kick the dramatist and TO find some man
able and willing to tell the people who and
what southern gentleman U.s. He is dis
tinct enough to be painted. and I believe
tnat MS painting would pay. Ii IL time
that We had him rs he is-a creature essen
TALLY different from the buffoons of Hoyt
or the serio-comic fiasco given us by Clay
Clement
The southern gentleman was and is n
man above the middle height with clear
cut features. As In ninety-nine cases out
OF hundred he has not a drop of foreign
piood IN MS veins he looks like a trans
planted Englishman-an Englishman modi-
ned by some centuries of climate and ethe-
riaiized by less commercial mode OF life
Long contact with nature has made him
mai VI DfOau views ana or healthy In
stfncts He does not know the value of a
dollar 50 well as he ought but to balance
that defect. he is utterly unacquainted with
tne many shady ways of getting a dollar
ne Is well educated in a literary way and
Is not infrequently a llnguist. He carries
nlnseil unobtrusively and leaves the swag-
ger TO the negro out for a Sunday holiday
He Loves the Open.
He and the New Highlander who Is his
antithesis In many things. speak the best
English 10 be found on this side of the At
iantic The accent is somswhat soft and
slurring, and there is something too much
OF vowel elision. but II has a pleasing
sound. and he does not burr his RS. untiI
they rattle like castanets. as is the case in
many parts of the west
The southern gentleman comes of apricul-
tural stock. He is used to woods and fields
and horses and dogs. He is devoted to the
chase and he is a good shot. Except In
cities he does not bestride the bicycle but
he sits his saddle with a sure grace: he
has the huntsman's seat-toes inland he
rides from the knee. not from the stirrup.
Woodcraft he esteems a noble craft, and
the art of venery as one of the fine arts.
His physical and mental appetites are born
OF the fresh air and they are sound. He
has poetry in him, as what country-bred
people have not?-and he finds much of IL
in animated nature. The song of birds, the
clear belling of the deer. the saddening cry
of wild fowl in the night, all speak TO the
soul of him. Though its liquid and varied
notes have been familiar to him since in
fancy. he is never tired of the mocking
bird, music that pours from green thrones
through all the moonlit nights. Host. host
ess and guests in a southern home will fire.
quently drop all conversation and move to
the front veranda TO listen to the wild triils
and roulades and bravuras of the match
less minstrel in gray.
The southern gentleman is honest 1t is
a boast handed from father to sen that his
word is as good as his bond, and surely
there could be no prouder boast. All of mis-
recent education in a commercial way has
not been able to grind this out of him.
Instances are not infrequent of the sur
render or homesteads in payment of debts,
in proof of which existed only verbal obli-
cations. The homestead. il should be re-
memhered, rs protected from execution by
law in every state of the south. The SOUTH
erner regards an execution proof debt
he regards "A gambling debt-one that must
be raid at any sacrifice since IL is not re-
coverable by legal process. Where the
honor of a family Is involved women will
sell their jewels to wipe out the obligation.
Heroic fn business.
Business in the south is transacted I'm
great degree by word OF mouth. There are
such things as promissory notes. but they
are not common. 1 am speaking here of
the country communities. and not of the
large cities. There is no marked differ
lanta and Boston. Indeed. since the close
of the war and the inserting of the immi-
grafton tide the south has been much COM
mercialized. The type has not changed.
That would be work of centuries. But
methods of life and modes OF thought have
undergone modification. This may be bet
ter for the country at Large. We hear much
of the glory and beauty of the new
south. But doubt that II Is better for
the upper classes Of the people. A happier
man than the old southerner never
breathed.
Mark Twain declares that Walter Scott
Is responsible for the civil war. He means
that much reading of ''Ivanhoe'' and The
Talisman" made the young men mad. They
dreamed Of riding with visor down and
lance In rest for the honor of the name and
the rescue of beleaguered damsels. He is
mistaken. The popularity of Scott was an
effect, not a Cause. The poems and prose
Of the wizard of the north were popular
because the southerner is by birth and
breeding chivalric. He was so before Scott
was born aud will remain SO while the
same blood 10 In him. At least / hope he
WILL This chivalry finds its most notice.
able outlet I'm the southerners attitude to-
ward women The female of his species is
on pedestal. Now and then in the old
days she struggled bravely 70 get down.
but he would not let her. He objects TO
the new woman, not because he fears her
competition. but because he thinks she In
not true to ferself.
His 0aIIantry.
The southerners feeling for woman is a
queer mixture Of passion and respect. He
regards her as something to be loved, to be
cherished. to be protected. He cannot get
over the belief that she Is fragile and he
cannot be convinced that she is able to
Withstand hard knocks. To him all women
are pure until demonstrated otherwise and
they are to be treated with deep respect
They are made Of finer clay and are in
fact, superior order Of being
1t Is one Of the strongest tributes TO the
worth OF southern motherhood that SOUTH
ern sons grow up In this belief. and 1t never
leaves them II a man fmprudentiy at
tempt to decry womanhood to a southerner
that southerner's mind instinctively goes
back to his mother. and he Is apt to en-
force his disbelief with the strong arm
Marriages are very happy In the south and
there are few divorces. Indeed in the low
er Carolina there Ia no such thing as d.
vorce- Rctrayais are rare. Suits for breach
of promise are practically unknown. Inva-
sions OF the household seldom occur A
southerner who sued a man for damages
for alternating his wife's affections simply
could not live in the country. In every
southern home stands the silent sentinel OF
the nreside-the shotgun. This may be
against the law, but IL keeps things qufet