New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-07-02

1T has had its full share Of the sorrows
that are the common lot, has still been
q happy one. To the general reader the
eYneriences of her later years are of less
interest than are those Of her youth IN
the Old South before the Civil War. All
intimate accounts of the manners, Gus
toms and beliefs Of that region IN the
first half Of the last century are pre-
cious to the student OF social history
Those were the days when family lie
IN Virginia was Of the patriarchal Sort
when, as our author says, strong men
whom ecquaintances never accused OF
cant or suspected Of sentmentahty
vent TO evening prayer meetings, ana
accounted Il a delight TO hear two SER
mons on Sunday; laid pulpit teaching
to heart. practised determination, and
wrote love letters TO their own wives
It was the time Of funeral sermons
preached very often months after their
subjects were laid in the grave L act
ually knew" says Mrs. Terhune, of one
funeral Of a wife that was postponed by
11ntoward circumstances until, when q
sympathizing community was convoked
20 listen TO the sermon, the eX-WidoWer
sat in the front seat as chief mourner
with q second wife and her baby beside
him. And the wife wore a black gown
with q black ribbon on her bonnet, out
Of respect TO her predecessor To the
slave a funeral sermon preached for a
relative was an exquisite consolation
tasted 10 the fun when the drive TO the
church was taken in the masters car
rage. Those were the days when the
mistress Of the house visited every part
Of her establishment daily before she sat
down TO the fine sewing in which she
carefully Instructed her young daugh-
tiers. Conventions We're strict, yet there
was much simplicity Witness the
glimpse Of Chief Justice Marshall walk
ing home from the old Richmond mar
ket with & brace Of ducks over one arm
and a string Of gatherings swinging
from the other
SLAVERY was not a thing about which
intelligent Tirginians in the Dos had
many illusions. Many Of them esteemed
il "a great SIM TO remedy which they
were helpless. Mrs. Terhune remem-
-+bers that her Puritan father, after con-
sl,Itation with his wife, resolved to free
their slaves and send them to Liberia at
his own expense The scheme failed
through the obstinate refusal OF the
slaves TO leave master, home and coun-
Try for freedom in a strange land. They
chung 10 my mothers knees and prayed
her with wild weeping, not to let them
go. They had blood relatives and dear
friends here; their children had inter
married with men and women in differ
ent parts Of the country; their grand
fathers and great-grandfathers had felt
them no legacy of memories that would
draw them toward the far-off country,
which Was but the echo OF an empty name
70 their descendants There is some
thing in what they say, said the master
10 his wife. Z cannot see that anything
is left for Us TO do except TO keep on as
we are and wait for further indications
Of the Divine Will" The possibility OF
instruction was haunting menace. In
a chapter on this subject Mrs. Terhune
2 says:
s1n often asked why, If our family ser
wants We're really ana warmly attacne "a 10
Us We should have let the "pugbear poi
son our pleasures and haunt our midnight
visions. To the present hour am COLI
o Z
that StOps my breath for a second, at the
sudden blast Of a hunter norm IN the
country. Before I was Gig ht years OLD
had heard the tale OF Gaprels pro!ecte,1
instruction and Of the bloodleT outbreak
Of rYlurderous fury led by Nat Turner, the
petted faVorite OF e trusting nlasler-I4caIo
thar the signal OF attack in both cases was
TO be q trumpet blown long and loud
Again and again, on my visits 10 country
plarrations j have been thrown into i
paroNySua of terror, when awakened fronl
Sleep IN the dead Of night by the sound
OF the horns carried by coon hunters IN
rheir rounds OF the woods nearest US
could not have been over ten when On Il
visit 10 ',Letne, a homestead occupIeQ ,, .OL
Z while by Uncle Carus, was raIloI;ls
in the garden soon after sunrise, picking
roses. and let them fan from nerVeiess M
gers al the ringing blast OF e trumpet
blown long and loud" from the brow OF a
neighbOTing hill As II peaied louder ana
Longer until the blue welkin above me
repeated the sound [ fed as fast as my
freezing feet would carry me, TO the deep
est recesses Of the graveyard at the foot OF
( raSpberries bushes higher than my head
There ] lay. wet with the deWS or the
past night and my face and hands scralcneo
20 bleeding, until the winding horn grew
faint and fainter, and the bay or a pack
OF hounds told me what q fool panic had
mace OF ne. We always thought or the
graveyard as al asylum in the event or q
rising. No negro would venture to enter II
by day or night.
The brief stories of such risings re
-hearsed by Mrs. Terhune justified the
e terror Of the child If slavery was a
great sin as a sanity Virginia matron
sadly acknowledged. il was also a Fear.
Anecdotes of the picturesque figures Of
our early history were preserved by the
little girl who heard them from her
elders. There is charming little story
Of Iafayette's visit to Richmond in 1874,
when a small schoolgirl, not more than
eight or ten years old, was appointed to
recite poem written for the occasion
THE midget went through the task
bravely, but with filing eyes and trem-
bling limbs. Her store Of Fictitious
courage exhaled with the last line reeled
of from the red lips, and with a scared.
piteous look into the benign face brought
upon level with hers by the table upon
which she had been set, like an ami
mated puppet, she cast herself upon the
great mans decorated breast and wept
sore. He kissed and cuddled and soothed
her as he might pet his own grandchild,
and not until she could return his smile
and hc had dried her tears upon his
laced handkerchief did he transfer her
IL other arms.
There we're "reminiscences of Wash
ington slill to be heard IN the Gays OF