Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1919-10-16
CHAPTER i.

|NAh6 lOIlulCbg anu AAAC oBlAAhNNLNO
the Ambersons began then. Their
plendor lasted all the years that saw
heir Midland town spread and darken
pto city, but reached its topmost
uring the period when every prosper
us family with children kept New
bundland dog.
In that town in those days all the
yomen who wore silk or velvet knew
III the other women who wore silk or
lelvet, and when there was a new
purchase of sealskin sick people were
lot to windows to see 1t 60 by. Every
body knew everybody else's family
horse and carriage, could identify such
silhouette half a mile down the
street, and thereby was sure who was
going to market or to a reception or
coming home from Office or store to
boon dinner or evening supper.
During the earlier years of this pc
tiod elegance Of personal appearance
was believed to rest more upon the
texture of garments than upon their
Shaping. A silk dress needed no re-
modelling when it was year or so old;
1t remained distinguished by merely
remaining silk. Old men and COVER
Enors wore broadcloth; "full dress" was
broadcloth with "doeskin" trousers;
land there were seen men of all ages
to whom a hat meant only that rigid,
tall silk thing known to impudence as
IA "stovepipe." In town and country
these men would wear no other hat,
and, without self-consciousness, they
went rowing in such hats.
Trousers with a crease were consid-
Aered plebeian; the crease proved that
the garment had lain upon shelf, and
hence was "ready made" these be-
traying trousers were called "hand-
me-downs," in allusion to the shelf. In
the early eighties, while bangs and
bustles were having their way with
women, that variation Of dandy known
as the "dude" was invented: he wore
trousers as tight as stockings, dagger
pointed shoes, a spoon derby"
Psingle.breasted coat called chester
field" with. short tiaring skirts, a tor
/ turing cylindrical collar, Numbered to
! polish and three inches high, while
his other neckgear might be a heavy,
puffed cravat or a tiny bow fit for a
dolls braids. With evening dress he
wore a tan overcoat so short that his
black coattails hung visible, five inches
below the overcoat; but after a season
or two he heightened his overcOat till
II touched his heels, and he passed out
of his tight trousers into trousers like
great bags. Then presently he was
seen no more, though the word that
had been coined for him remained in
the vocabularies of the lmpertinent.
Surely no more is needed to prove
that so short time ago we were liv-
ing in another agel
At the beginning of the Ambersons'
great period most Of the houses of the
Midland town were of a pleasant ar
chitecture. They lacked style, but also
pretentiousness, and whatever does
not pretend at all has style enough.
They stood in commodlOus yards, well
shaded by leftover forest trees, elm
and walnut and beech, with here and
there a line of tall sycamores where
the land had been made by filling
bayous from the creek. The house OF
a "prominent resident" facing Mill
tary square or National avenue or Ten
nessee street, was built of brick upon
a stone foundation, or Of wood upon o
brick foundation. Usually it had q
"front porch" and a "back porch; =
often a 'side porch" too. There was
a "front hail." there was "side hall,
and sometimes a "back hall" From
the "front hall" opened three rooms
the "parlor," the "sIttlng room" and
the '1ibrary;;" and the library could
show warrant to its titIe--for some
reason these people bought books
Commonly the family sat more in the
library than in the Sitting room,
while callers, when they came for
maIly, were kept to the ''parlor," Q
place Of formidable polish and discom
fort. The upholstery Of the library
furniture was little shabby, but the
hostile chairs and sofa Of the "parlor'
always looked new. For all the veal
and tear they got they should have
lasted thousand years.
Upstalrs were the bedrooms; "moth
er and fathers room" the largest; 9
smaller room for one or two sons
another for one or two daughters
each Of these rooms containing
double bed, 'washstand," bureau,
a wardrobe, a little table, rocking
chair, and often chair or two thai
had been slightly damaged down
stairs, but not enough to justify either
the expense Of repair or decisive
abandonment In the attic. And-therC
was always a "spare ROOM" for vlsi
tors (where the sewing machine usu
ally was kept, and during the seven
ties there developed an appreciation
Of the necessity for a bathroom.
At the rear Of the house, upstairs
was a bleak little chamber. called "ths
girls room" and IN the stable there
was another bedroom. adjoining tbs
hayloft, and called "the hired mans
room.r House and stable cost sever
or eight thousand dollars to Guild. anC