The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-02-03
SOUTHERN MANSIONS.
CONTRAST OF THE OLDEN WITH
 THOSE OF PRESENT.
The Former Very Large, Square and Two Storled With Vast HaIl--Latter Narrow and Contracted.

Narrow and Contracted
 The old ante-bellum Southern man. sion was very large square and two storied, with a vast hall running full length through the middle on both floors. A broad and heavy piazza, be- low, and above, ran across the front and around either side until it met large wing rooms, opening one into the other. These rooms were usually calle the east and west rooms. The negroes called the east or west rooms, as, the case might be, "the kumpney rooms" Another long piazza ran across the rear of the masion. Be- yond this piazza stood four two-room negro houses, two on either side, facing each other. These were the houses of the domestic or house servants, the servants who waited about the man. sion. The plantation or field negroes lived half mile further back, at "the quarter" On large plantations, in those days, the spot upon which or around which the cabins of the field hands were built was called "the quar- ter.'' And we remember well that the white child in those days knew no greater joy or privilege than to be al lowed to go to 'the quarter" and play with thte little negroes, the pick aninnies, who wore only one gar ment, and that a very short one. This was a typical Southern mansion and home in the old days. Of course, many Southern residences were even larger and handsomer than this. Indeed, in those days the lower country of South Carolina, the country within radius of 50 miles from Charlestown, was thickly dotted over with veritable palaces, English masion houses, with baronial estatess attached. We have travelled in many lands and seen much of earthly grandeur, but really we have never seen any grandeur grander or more beautiful than that of our own ow-country of South Carolina before the war.
 Now speaking of old-time Southern mansions what is the contrastto this in these days? Even in the country now we see small compact dwellings, painted red and blue, and green and yellow, ring, streaked ad striped with hooks and corners and angles and bias places and zigzag piazzas and bulging-out places, mad snking-in places, and pointed turrets and star ing bulls eyes, and blazing sun-bath rooms. These modern compact houses cover only half the ground of the old time Southern mansion, but yet they have twice as many rooms. The two great, lofty front rooms, with the low-cut windows, and the great hall, v and the endless straight piazzas of the old-time Southern houses, that could \ ne virtually thrown into one area, if cohsary, are not to be found in our ' ha@alses-~ Ne know many newly-built and beautiful houses now adays with no space to dance even a very small german or an attenuated Virginia reel, while in the old-time Southern mansion, when the entire space was made available, all the dancers of the Midway Plaisance of Chicvago or Atlanta, including the couchee-couchers might have found ample room for their peculiar and most astonishing exercise.
 And apropos of the modern mansion with all it's hooks and corners, and an gles and bias places, we have recently found out one of it's chief and most alluring advantages. During the past fall, we were invited to a private ger man in one of the elegant new houses in neighboring town, and in the course of the evening we were invited to play waltzes forthe german. As. we sat, a lonely and pitiful captive at the piano, as we often are, very sweet pretty, modest, pink-cheeked little girl and her "best boy" a handsome boy and good boy sat quite alone in a corner behind the square piano. And they seemed to be quarreling fiercely Indeed we began to fear that the an gry boy would actually strike the poor little girl. They seemed to think that we had gone to sleep ove rthe waltzest we were systematically humping out but we had not, and when we arose from the piano. being very intimate with both boy and girl we said to them softly: What is the matter? What k the cause of the Kilkenny time yor seem to be having?' Whereupon the little girl answered quickly and impul sively: "Mr. B., Charlie is prfectly fur. ious with me because I won't sit out with him. Mark the phraise, sit out. He says this is the best house he evel saw for sitting out. And so it is | is a. perfectly lovely house for sitting out, but I am not going to sit out with hin-~or anybody else-for the last thing I promised mamma was that I would not sit out with anybody" TheT Charlie as red in the face as a blood beet in spring time and with snappnG eyes, cried out: "Oh, yes, you will-yes you will--when the right 'feller' come: and asks you" "Oh Charlie, aint yot ashamed? You know I wouldn't No, wouldn't! I would die before I would sit out; for mamma saysthat when z young girl sits out, especially if she il tolerably good looking, people vii talk
 Yet nevertheless, an hour later when we went to an extremely darl and remote angle to find our overshoes where we had hidden them-old peo ple will hide their overshoes-it is al
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