Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-11-10
CLAY CHALLENGED CHOATE,
KCntuckian Danced breakdown and
,Choate Out o Pigeon Wing.

SENi SI1NIEClNS1E.O ~ SttoHl Es
Kcptuckian Danced breakdown and
| .Choate Out q Pigeon Wing.
In the long ago antobellum days,
when southern aristocracy made it's
summer headquarters at the noted
Virginia Springs, where tho planters
came up from the Carolinas, Ken-
lucky, Georgia and Mississippi in
their carriages, with great baggage
trains and a retinue of servants, and
when they came the 1st of Juno and
staid until frost fell, those were gay
old times at the mountain resorts,
when life was worth the pain Of liv-
ing.
Beginning with the first register
in 1906 and coming on down to 1860,
one finds succession Of historical
namos. There are tho Sumters, the
Pickenses ana tho Hamptons Of the
Carolinas; the Clays and Marshalls
and Crittendons of Kentucky; Cor
win and Ewing and Trimble Of Ohio;
tho Choates and Webstors and
Picrces of New England; Dickinson,
Marcy and Dallas Of the middle
states; Cass and Douglas and Benton
from tho then far west; the Floyds,
Cabolls, Prestons and n galaxy Of
bright names from Virginia; the
CAROLS from Maryland, and a host
of others whose names have render
ed American history illustrious.
Here these old notablcs camo in their
| shadbellied coats and sideboard col
lars, and a proper, dignified time
they had of it as they mingled their
sulphur water and mint juleps to,
gether and talked politics. 1t was
away back in 1882, when there must
have boon something in tho wind of
Importance to tho Wing party. On
q musty old page Of tho hotel regis
ter Of that year, in that fino, almost
fominino handwriting that is fa-
miliar to all, we find this inscrip-
ton, 1T. Clay, Kontucly," while
among tho next days arrivals are
Rufus Choato, Massachusetts; Thom-
as Corwin, Ohio; William G. Rives,
Virginia, and Millard Fillmore, New
York.
Those were the days when tho
making of julop was an art as well
rs domestic accomplishment. The
night before Nh. Clay's departure
from tho Springs he gave q banquet
in his cottage to his friends. For
tnnntoly thore 10 still . living eye
| Witness to that entertainment, and,
If his description can be relied upon,
it was q gala event that transconds
all modern blow outs. Old Unole
Jimmie Patterson, tho venerable
| gatekeepor, who has been an attache
of tho White Sulphur from time i'm
memorial, was tho floor servant on
tho row in which tho Clay cottage
was located and helped to sorvo the
banquet. Ho says that tho deport-
mont of tho host and tho guests was
eminently proper until about the
hour Of midnight, but from that
time Of the night until tho morning
dawned there waa high old time
! on the premises. When tho cloth
had boon removed and the Powhatan
pipes wore brought in-the degener-
ate practice Of cigar and cigarette
was not in vogue in those halcyon
days-somo one callod for music,
and messenger was sent for ne
gro fiddler, who soon appeared with
his old fashioned instrument. The
old fiddler started in with "Money
Musk" and thon played "Sugar In
tho Gourd," but whom he touched up
"Mississippi Sawyer" Mr.. Clay step.
pod into tho middle Of tho floor and
gave them a Kentucky breakdown.
This was fair challenge for Mr..
Choato, who followed with New
England pigeon wing. When the
old negro struck the chord of "Old
Virginia Never Tire" the courtly
Rivos, aftorward minister to Franco,
felt that tho reputation of the Old
Dominion was at stake and, shedding
his coat, executed the double ehuffle
with q skill that would mako o min.
strcl man envious. And thus the
fun grow fast and furious until the
gray dawn peoped over the noun
tain tops.-Louisvillo Courier Jour
nal.