The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1918-12-20

begin and might be kept up almost indefinitely.
though, for his part Washington never went be-
yOnd second glass of wine, and it his usual
custom to leave the table within few minutes
after his wife had gone.
ToastS, in those days, never drunk until
after the ladies had left the table and beautys
health pledged In this fashion while she
was present. But when the men found them
selves alone, it was the proper thing for young
gentleman to get upon his feet-which, it is TO
be hoped, We're stiH steady-and 10 say. Il give
you Betty LomaX. the most beautiful girl In West
moreland county," Or perhaps it might be Susan
Lee of Rappahannock. Such u toast was custom
arily drunk standing-with all the honors the
phrase
Indeed, Christmas a great day of festiv-
ity in the Virginia of that epoch Breakfast was
at eight nine o'clock. unless 1t had been de-
cded to go ahunting in the mOrning-in which
case the meal was eaten by candle-light. If there
was foX-hunt-a sport of which Washington
very fond-the host q brilliant red waist
coat trimmed with gold lace. and the ladies who
rode were beautiful in scarlet habits. On such
occasions Mrs Washington would go out in her
chariot and four" keeping close TO the hunt
Il the roads would permit. Not until 1873 were
the Mount Vernon kennels abolished and the dogs
sold.
Those days when meals were ample but
not multiplied. Eating when undertaken
was no mere frivolity, but serious business. This
Christmas dinner at 30 p. m; there had
been no lunch, and there supper To come
After dinner there were games-bind mans buff
and more less kissing. A Sprig of mistIetoe
was hung up in convenient place and if a girl
happened to be kissed under it by young man
she did not faint call for help In fact. it
might be suspected that she did not seriously OBJ
ject
Never. and nowhere in this world were there
more capable and expert makers of love than the
young of Washington's day in old Virginia
Nobody ever joer fellows than they were.
II they loved fercely they proved their sincerity
by marrying early; and, when one of them was
unfortunate TO lose his wife, he would in
variably marry again. Marriage considered
just about the most important duty of life and
the love affairs of the gentlefOlk freely
confided to the servants. Black Tom knew
thar Mars James going after" Miss SaIIie
Lee, and would talk the matter 18th his
young master. And it was the same way with
the girls
SO it may easily be imagined that on a festive
occasion such this Christmas celebration a
good deal of incidental lOve-making some of it
serious enough, accomplished. But the
Master of the Revels though he himself had been
sufficiently ardent in his youth, in later life
no eager sympathiZer with such follies.
Though Mr. Washington took part in the
romps that followed the dinner, he heartily en-
joyed the fun. Occasionally he relished a game
of cards. and probably this Christmas evening
he INDUCED IN some such amusement In company
with the older people, while the young folks
scampered and romped He played for money,
but the stakes small.
There two young people Mount Vernon
in those days-the and daughter of Mrs.
Washington by her first husband It is easy TO
imagine the part they took in the rompS on Christ
day. John and Martha their were,
but everybody knew them Jac1y and Patsy.
Patsy died in 1878, when just budding into wom-
anhoOd, while her brother married young and
had four children, two of whom. George and Mel
lie Custis, adopted by Mr.. Washington. To
George he left the famous Arlington estate oppo-
site the city of Washington. which afterwards
fell by inheritance to the wife OF Gen Robert Z
Lee.
On Christmas there was dance, to which
all the neighbors for many miles around We're
as a matter of course invited. The party began
before eight. and was over by ten O'Clock
Young ladies' beauty in those times was not
spoiled by late hours For music there was
single fiddle played by old slave on the place
"a white-haired negro who kept the time and
helped on the by pounding on the floor with
his big foot.
All the young ladies' wore lOw-necked dresses,
making a brave display Of pretty shoulders, and
the men were IN kneebreeches and silk stockings.
Mrs. Washington's gown. cut Y-shaDed and fllea
in with ruching. OF French silk but the
clothing she ordinarily eff domestic
manufacture, being woven at Mount Vernon, where
no fewer than sixteen negro women were kept