The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-23
SOCIETY HALF 4 CENTURY AGO
Ancient and Modern Beaux and Bellies
Contasted.
"a Fayetteville Mans .FulI Dress" OF
! Fifty Years ,Aso-An Old Time
wedding on 'sHayTnoumt'-RivaI
Claims Of the Reel and the German.
How tire Country Boys Helped Out
The Cripple.
For The Messenger.

For The Messenger.
Not long ago it was my good for
tune to be a guest of a very recherche,
elegant and dainty entertainment, and,
belng an old man, after paying my re-
spects to the host and hostess, and te
those assisting in receiving with d
compliance in other o~bservances i'm
good FORM was permitted, without
nIuch demur on the part of the gay
folks assembled, to seek a somewhat
secluded corner, and he a "looker-on
i'll Vienna" Beautiful, striking and
ornate as this drawing room scene was,
1 contrasted it with pictures which ply
memory passed in review of society
half a century ago.
| say nothing against the aspect Of
a social gathering in this fifth year of
the twentieth century. Indeed, | thinks
1t probable that it has reached a hien
point in it's artistic finish, only weak
ened somewhat by d tinge of artificiaIi-
~ and a lack of the picturesque. L
know OF no more correct or tasteful
made costume for the parlor or the bail
room than a mans full dress of today,
especially as it is considered good style
to wear little or no jewelry. Of the
tOilettes of the woman | am not COM
petent to speak. Certainly the SIM
pie, clinging robe enhances the grace
of the remale form; and, 6r the rest
] hasten to declare positively that they
know how to be as lovely as their
mothers and their grandmothers.
Here is a fairy faithful pen-and-ink
sketch Of q Fayetteville beau of 1855
4 full dress. He wore what was cali
the Shanghai" frOck-cOat of fine
-d1clOth, black, brown, claret or
TX bOttle-green, double-breasted,
y shOrt-waisted, the tails reaching
thickness; black or dark gray trous-
rs, fitting moderately tight on teh legs;
jAyle~ or dOuble-breasted Marseilles
9 Haistcoat u very low; heavily pleat-
Nd or rufled shirt, surmounted by Il
}om turn-down collar, with an embroi-
deIed or lace cravat. He was shod in
1}in-sOled very high-heeled calf-skin
!. bots. The women wore silk dresses,
iped, in delicate colOrs, and full in
skirt though crinoline had reached
passed its full enormity a year or
before. Etrusean jewerly and
giles at h wrists were much in
the hat was wide and dropping
re Grim, with Il fringe of lace.
if a great change has been
pught in the style of dress, it is still
eater in the character of entertain
fnent. Here, too, the twentieth century
people have no Call to be ashamed of
their setting and environment, for par
Tor and dining-roOm furnishings are
dainty, effective and elaborate, and a
pink" or "blue" tea of 1905 is a far
more graceful function than a kettle
drum of 1855. Nor is it probable that
any combination of figures can a a
more striking or charming picture On
the ball room floor than the german
for the golden youth now cOnfine
themselves to his dance, as the only
swell" offering to Terpsichore.
Now and hen the newspaper re-
porter announces, half alphabetically,
"a very quiet but pretty home mar
riage" in some private parlor; but Gus.
tom is ineXOrable that the thing to do
is to be wed in the church, with pyra-
mids of wax candles, ribboned aiSles,
flower girls, ~ring-bearers, maid Of
honor, the chancel banked in rare eXot-
lie plants, the color scheme white and
green-all to the strains of Mendels-
sohn's Wedding March. Now, there is
beauty in al this, elegance, fin de Sic
Gle culture: but, my word for it, the
good, wholesome fun was with the
folks who dispensed their hospitality
and took their round of pleasure in
the fOrties and fifties.
the winter of 1859 Il marriage
NAx place in a prominent family on
Haymount, the western suburb of
Fayetteville. Two or three days be-
fore, there came a snow, followed by a
sleet, locking the whole earth in the
clutch of a pitiless freeze. 1t became
necessary for a force of men, with
axes and tubs of boiling water, to cut
II melt away the ice from the veran-
das, from the brick pavement to the
front, and ever from the heavy iron
gate at the entrance. But neither cold
nOr ice was a bar to the eXpectant
guests, who brayed winters vigOr with
merry heart, to find within the portals
Of the welcoming home golden cheer
and ruddy hospitality.
"A man might then behold,
Blazing in parlor and hall,
Good fires to curb the cold,
And meat for great and small:
The neighbOrs We're kindly hidden,
And all had welcome true:
Zen the poor from eht gates were not
chidden,
When the wedding song was new
Hundreds thronged the spacious
rooms, where great fires of oak and
hickory reared up the chimneys, and
walls and ceiling were gaily decked Ill
wreaths and garlands Of holly and
ether evergreen. The drawing-room
was richly decorated in flowers. but
otherwise the marriage ceremony I'M
der the great central chandelier was
impressive from its very simplicity.
The old-fashioned kitchen with its
wide dressers, and the commodious
pantry, with its rows of shelves-the
R<sqses whence came the bewi;-