Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-01-20

chairs, peggin. churn, skillet and
a frying pan.
After the revolution there was bet
ter furniture, but il was by no means
elegant. The old inventories are very
exact and minute, and have eXamin-
ed hundreds of them; out of the cities
there were in the best homes but few
articles of furniture and they were
very plain. On one page Of my note
book / find one estate, which had one
bed, one loom, some tools, rife,
mare and colt, horse, fax wheel
and a cotton wheel, one hdd. of tobacco
and one negro.
A second, 179S, had four negroes, one
dresser, five chairs, three horses, two
hackles, one looking glass, six cows,
one flax wheel, two sad irons, one ia
Bile, one griddle and two beds.
In 1893 another had one-half of bed
and a bedstead. Bible, Prayer book.
spelling book, still and 50 gallons of
brandy With the exception of the
Dorchester settlement and some sea
island estates the same scantiness of
furniture was found in lower Georgia,
and find the same thing true in North
Carolina and in Virginia. / regret to
spoil the charming story of those who
write historical novels, and to show
the descendants of the barons of the
James or the Potomac, dwelling in
such humble homes with such scant
furnishings, but really these old barons
in Virginia were very few, and were
confined almost altogether to one sec
ton of that state, and the most re-
markable thing about them was their
fecundity and the immense number of
their descendants. If one will, howev-
er, remember when he tries to get a
view of the homes of Wilkes that il
was 200 miles to a seaport from the up
country counties. and that the plan
tiers who had independent means, had
no money to buy furniture, and no way
to have 1t conveyed to their homes, he
will be Better able to understand the
condition of things.
TABLE OF THE EARLY GEORGIAN.
The story of the table comforts of the
frontiersmen and of the settler of 20
years afterwards is not a refreshing
one. At first, If he was not a good
woodsman, there was real. danger Of
want, but If he had a good dog and
was a sure shot, he supplied his lar
der with game, but this source Of sup
ply could not be relied upon. As soon
as he could get his patch cleared he
looked to the corn field for his bread,
but while he was getting it ready he
was mainly carniverous. There was
only a limited supply of corn bread,
but the settler soon began to gather
his harvest. The COWS gave him milk
and butter. though few had churns.
The woods gave him venison and
smaller game, and on these viands he
fed his children, who were many for
the early years. The corn was made
into hominy with ashes, beaten in a
mortar into meal until mills were
I,o1r frf1 ach
cakes, hoecakes and Johnny or Tommy
cakes. Strangely enough. 1 find no
mention in the early Georgia inventO-
ries of bacon or lard. but there were
few hogs until the 'varmints were
killed out, and this accounts. perhaps,
for it. The beef was dried in the sun
or over a fire, and when tSsre were
hogs they were killed when small and
eaten fresh. In the low country rice
and potatoes were the bread staples.
and but little meat was used. It was
not until about 1890 in the upper coun-
ties that any stores were established.
The nearest market was Augusta, and
sugar and coffee were out of the reach
of the people. Then there were few
families who used these luxuries. BY
1856 the roads from the east had been
opened, and the Virginia people of
larger means were able to move in
their wagons and had fixed their
homes in Georgia. There was now a
rapid increase in creature comforts.
and before the end of the century the
tables were spread with great profu-
sion. Then old Virginia people brought
with them well trained servants and
as they had no market for their farm
products, they furnished their tables
very generously. There were lambs
and kids. sucking pigs, hams turkeys
and now the wheat patch furnished
the flour bread they needed, but
these gentry, who had coffee and SUI
gar and negro cooks were a compaF-
atively small number. The most Of the
people still lived in single-roomed cab
ins and on bacon and corn bread and
milk.
DRINKING HABITS.
The frst-comers were in the main a
sober people but they were so from
necessity and not from any total alb
stinance principles. They did not
think 1t a crime or even a INSIDE
meanor to drink rum, which was the
national beverage, IL they could get
it. but 1t was not made in Georgia,
but in the West Indies, and in New
England, and they could not procure
it. As soon, however. as the stores in
Petersburg and Washington were
opened, the rum barrel was tapped
and then if there was money to buy