The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-11-26
STICKING TO THE OLD.

In some respects Americans are a very
conservative people. With all the push
and hustle they sometimes cling tena-
ciously to the habits, laws and regula-
tons Of olden times, and We have just
noted two instances of 1t in States and
people SO widely separated as those OF
New Hampshire and Virginia. In the
former state one section Of the Constitu1
ton adopted many years ago, reads thus:
an all cases where sums of money are
mentioned in this Constitution, the VaIue
thereof shall be computed in silver al SIX
shiilings and eight pence per ounSe.
In another part OF the sai'ie oo'
ton there is a section which fixes the
compensation in dollars for the members
of the Legislature, and curious corre-
spondent wants to know how the present
money standard is made to accommodate
itself to the shillings and pence require
ments of the first provision Of their Or
ganic law.
The people who inhabit the grand old
conservative, especially in their Legisla-
| ture, as they are in New Hampshire. A
| long while ago. when some Of US were
very much younger than we now are.
people wrote with quill pens, and one of
the essentials to a scholar who had any
| writing to do was a-pen-knife with which
to make and men his pens. AS the law
makers were supposed to know how to
write, and as it was necessary to have
them properly equipped, the State not
only supplied them with ink and paper,
but with quilts. and with pen-knives to
trim them with.
The quill pens have long since gone the
way of many other obsolete things be-
longing to other days. but among the
Stationery furnished the lawmakers
the pen-knife is still an item. and each
member Is supplied with one, although
nothing but metal pens are used. They
don't make pens any more but they some
| times trim their nails and some Of them
probably pick their teeth with the knives
given them by the State in obedience
to ancient custom. And we notice, too,
that The Richmond Dispatch favors hang
ing 10 the CUSTOM S8yiNBs
Well, the members serve for very mod
est pay, and perquisites are dear to us
all. The State can afford this annual
distribution of pocket knives. It's a
custom not to be honored in the breach.
Indeed, we shouldn mind II they brought
back the quill pen and the snuff box;
yea, and the legislator with Queued hair
blue swallow-tailed coat and brass but
tons, and knee breeches, and buckles on
shoes.
II There's an Ancient of days" for you,
and would-be resuscitator Of the GUS
| toms of the Cavaliers. We would ride
some miles-on a pass-to see n legisla-
| tive body decked out in the styles which
| prevailed when Patrick Henry was
laundering treason to the assembled wis
dom of Virginia, and Governor Dunmore
was leaving level coat-tail behind him
as he made tracks for the nearest Eng
llsh war-ship. Possibly the style of dress
| then used was necessary to impress the
common people with the highness and
dignity of those who had been selected
to make laws Cor them, hut there Is no
such need now and the members would
make themselves objects Of ridicule.
| They would be much more appropriately
dressed, in accordance with the spirit of
the present day. if they would wear foot
ball uniform. That would put them in
the head of the procession in the vulgar
eye. Furnishing them with pen-knives is
merely a survival but what The Dis
patch suggests would be a retrogres-
sion.