The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-12-19

begin, and might be kept up almost indefinitely,
though for his part Washington never went be
yOnd a 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, drunk until
after the ladies had left the table, and beautys
health ever pledged in this fashion while she
was present But when the men found them
selves alone. it the proper thing for young
gentleman to get upon his feet-which it is to
be hoped were still steady-and to say, Il give
you Betty Lomax, the beautiful girl in West
moreland county," Or perhaps it might be Susan
Lee of Rappahannock. Such toast was custom
arily drunk standing-with all the hOnOrs, the
phrase was.
Indeed, Christmas was a great day of festiv-
fty in the Virginia of that epoch. Breakfast was
at eight nine o'clock, unless it had been de-
cided go a-hunting sin the morning-in which
the meal eaten by cande-light. If there
fOX-hunt-a sport of which Washington
very fond-the host a brilliant red waist
coat trimmed with gold lace, and the ladies who
rode beautiful in scarlet habits. On such
occasions Mrs. Washington would go out in her
chariot and FOUR keeping close to the hunt
as the roads would permit. Not until 1885 were
the Mount Vernon kennels abolished and the dogs
sold.
Those were days when meals were ample, but
not multiplied Eating, when undertaken,
mere frivolity, but serious business. This
Christmas dinner at 8 80 p m; there had
been lunch and there was no supper to come.
After dinner there games-blind mans buff,
hunt the slipper, and the like-with much romping
and more or less kissing sprig of mistletoe
hung up in convenient place, andjf a girl
happened to be kissed under it by a 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 men of WashfngtOn's day in old Virginia.
Nobody joler fellows than they were
If they loved fercely. they proved their sincerity
by marrying early; and, when of them
so 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 gentlefoik were freely
confided to the servants. Black Tom knew
that Mars James "gofng after Miss Sallie
Lee and would talk the matter over with his
young master. And it 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 was accomplished. But the
Master Of the Reve1S, though he himself had been
sufficiently ardent in his youth, in later life
eager sympathizer with such follies.
Though Mr.. Washington took no part in the
rOmps that followed the dinner, he heartily en-
jOyed the fun Occasionally he relshed 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 were small.
There were two young people at 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 names were,
but everybody knew them Jacky and Patsy.
Patsy died in 1773, when just budding into wom-
anhood. while her BROTHER married young and
had four children, two of whom, George and Mel
lie Custis. were 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 E.
Lee.
On Christmas there was dance to which
all the neighbOrs for many miles around were,
as a matter OF course invited. The party began
before eight, and over by ten o'clock.
Young ladies' beauty in those times was not
spoiled by late hours For music there was a
single fiddle, played by old slave on the place
white-haired negro who kept the time and
helped the tune by pounding on the floor with
his big foot.
All the young ladies low-necked dresses,
making brave display Of pretty shoulders, and
the men were in knee-breeches and silk stockings.
Mrs. Washingtons gown, cut V-shaped and filed
in with ruching, of French silk but the
manufacture, being at Mount Vernon, where
no fewer than sixteen negro women were kept
FROM THE HEART.