USA > Tennessee > Old times in Tennessee, with historical, personal, and political scraps and sketches > Part 36
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Station to Bledsoe's Lick as the fashions of this day would re- quire of a lady going out to visit her neighbors? Why, if the " granny " had worn a pullback, she never could have gotten on the horse; or a bustle, she could not have rode him; or hoops and polonaise, there would have been no room for poor George.
The manners, the customs, and the fashions of people are indicia of their morals and social worth. In the olden times, hospitality was met with everywhere. No traveler was driven from any door hungry, cold, and without protection for the night. The friendless stranger was always welcome to the sim- ple fare of the times, and to rest for the while under the humble roof which sheltered the best blood in the land. Your deport- ment and bearing in society was not then shaped by conventional rules and senseless etiquette, but according to the dictates of common sense and the prompting of kind, generous, and chari- table hearts. Where now is the hospitality of the past? Van- ished almost entirely. There are many who nobly refuse to bow before the idol, but they are strikingly few as compared with the great mass of its devotees. There is too much coldness, too great lack of sociability. These conventional rules are smother- ing sincerity, chilling charity, and blighting hospitality. The first quarrel I ever had with my daughter, was about that rule of the modern society code that requires a lady to withhold her call, under certain circumstances, until she has been called on. The rule I advised her to adopt is this: Visit no woman whom you do not want to see and who is not worthy of your associa- tion, although she may have first called on you; and don't de- cline to visit those whose society is agreeable and whose friend- ship you would cultivate, simply because they have failed to call on you first.
It is astonishing, not to say disgusting, to a plain man like myself, to attend a conventional social entertainment of the bon- ton, high-style, above-stairs gentry. I was victimized at but one of these places, and will never be caught at another. I shall never forget my experience on the occasion, and shall have more to say about it directly. I was chilled as though I had been in an ice-house. I felt as though I was tied to a rail. I advise you to keep out of these ice-palaces.
In the earlier days of this country you met with genuine hos-
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pitality when you visited your neighbor, and were not stifled by conventionalities at any of its gatherings. Pull the door string, and you would the next moment receive a warm, old-fashioned greeting from the host and his wife. A stool was given you to sit on, and a dram passed around. At dinner you would sit down to a feast of bread and butter, of venison and bear-meat, winding up on milk, which was the dessert, and it was all set on the table at once-there was but one course. A pleasant chat went on in which all present would express themselves freely, candidly, and without restraint. While the grown folks were sitting around the dinner table, I, a big yearling boy, was seated with the other children, boys and girls, on the floor, in one cor- ner. There, surrounding a skillet of grease, we sat with chunks of bread in our hands, sopping gravy, drinking milk out of a bowl with wooden ladles (for there were no silver or pewter spoons then)-the boys looking at the girls, and now and then kissing them through mistake. Then there were quiltings and cotton pickings, occasions of conviviality and mirth, where the mountain-pinks danced, executing the "heel and toe," the "for- ward and back," and other figures, with all the charms of native grace and unencumbered nimbleness; while the matrons picked, and quilted, and talked, and gave the men "hankins." I used to hear the old fellows talk about it. These were customs some sixty or seventy years ago, and all were happy and enjoyed life. Go now to one of these higher-life, upper-story parties, and where is the pleasure? where the intelligent conversation, the merry laugh, the pungent wit, the brilliant repartee? So far from affording pleasure, they give an intelligent person acute pain. I promised to tell you about the bonton entertainment I attended, the card to which was brought myself and wife on a silver tray. I can't keep up with their new terms. Myself and wife, . having reached the appointed place, were ushered in by a liveried servant, and conducted into magnificent parlors, with Brussels carpets, embroidered curtains, settees, divans, and sofas. The as- semblage was a brillant one, according to the modern idea. When in Rome, I like to do as Rome does, so I looked around to post myself by observation. I had been used to the custom of seeing men gallant their wives and show them every attention at all times and in all places. But I found that the wife was the last
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individual a man was expected to notice or speak to here. It was vulgar to do so; and for a man to escort his own wife to the table, I saw, was barbarous, and the penalty capital punishment. As they marched into the dining room I looked around and dis- covered that my wife was missing-another fellow had her. So I offered my company to a young lady who accepted. Seated at the table, there was only a beautiful white cloth spread over it ; no meats, no vegetables, nothing for an old fogy to eat. There we sat and waited until finally the servants in white aprons, and looking like fan-tailed pigeons, brought soup. I had much pre- ferred milk, but the man that don't drink soup at one of these dinners is a green-horn. I worried and sweated through this course, after which another table cloth was spread, though the first had not a spot or blemish on it. This was the course of meats, and I noticed that all ate with their forks. In these high circles it is rude to eat with a knife. I reckon that after awhile they will get to drinking soup with a fork. I don't like this style, and would n't trust my hat with a man who would abandon the custom taught him by his mother, for this habit of eating everything with a fork. At this juncture I wished to depart in peace, and felt like Severn Donelson did on one occasion. Severn was fond of a dram, and took several every day. Having fallen under petticoat government, he consented for his wife to call in a preacher and have prayers. The good woman was rejoiced, and invited two preachers and a number of ladies and gentlemen of the neighborhood to attend the meeting. Severn was not ap- prised of the extent of the preparations. He heard a prayer and one lengthy sermon with some degree of patience, though he was becoming somewhat thirsty. Perhaps these gentlemen know how this is themselves. But when the second preacher arose and, announcing his text, proceeded to divide his subject into seven heads, Severn broke out into open rebellion, and rising to his feet, exclaimed, "My God Almighty! is there no way on earth to draw this meeting to a close?" But this fashionable dinner continued through this course, when a third change of the table-cloth was made for the pie concerns. And then came the fourth and final course, of fruit, wines, float, sillabub, and pickles. It is a requirement at one of these dinners, too, not to take any- thing without asking permission of the lady whom you attend.
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At this dinner there sat near me an old bachelor friend, some fifty years of age, who, like myself, had been brought up under the old constitution. I heard him say, " Miss, with your permis- sion, I will take some of that pickle." The next moment he was crushing a pepper pod between his teeth. As he chewed it his face got reder and reder, the jugular veins swelled along his throat, the sweat poured from his face, and tears rolled from his eyes; he couldn't stand it any longer, but true to the rules of the occasion, said, "Miss, with your permission, I will quit this pickle at once," and throwing it under the table, left the room amidst roars of laughter.
I have been talking at random until my picture could be brought. It is here now, and I will talk about it. [The speaker unrolled and held in his hand what proved to be a centennial chart filled with pictures; those on the left representing scenes, customs, habits, and inventions of 1776, while on the right were corresponding pictures representing the same subjects as they are at the present day.] It contrasts the fashions of a hundred years ago with those of the present day. In the center you see the bird of liberty, our same old eagle; on the left is the old conti- nental flag, which our patriot fathers carried through the revolu- tion; while on the right is the stars and stripes, our national colors to-day. [I must put on my spectacles. I don't need them on account of my age; I always wear them, because of a natural defect in my eyes.] Here on the left is a log church ; on the right, a spacious and elegant brick church, with its lofty tower piercing the clouds. I used to go to meeting in an humble log house like this. The most pleasant times I ever had were when I marched to church in my toga, gallanting a mountain pink. Our mothers and grandmothers would walk five miles to meeting. A branch just like this meandered near by our church. As we approached it, I used to run ahead and take my seat on the opposite bank. And here I have seen forty or fifty women at a time wash their pretty feet and put on their shoes and stock- ings, which they had brought from home in their hands. Now- a-days a woman is so delicate that she can't go a hundred yards to preaching without calling out the carriage and greys. I heard more good sermons in those days; more genuine, God-given thunder and lightning eloquence than I have ever heard since.
và À
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There were such divines as Gideon Blackburn, John Newland Maffit, Jimmy Gwinn, and others, real wheel-horses. Sermons were not read then according to the style of the present day. I love preachers, and want them to reform this practice. These coldwater discussions, read from a paper, are too tame. I like Methodist camp-meetings. They create a religious atmosphere that is good for the soul; they revive and regenerate it. At these meetings I have listened to thunders of eloquence; and, as the lightning leaped from head to head, have seen the jerks com- mence ; the hair would become loose, and as the head was thrown from side to side, have heard the long tresses crack like a whip. When these camp-meetings are revived, I intend to go with my tent.
Here is Mol. Pitcher, a heroine of the revolution, who attended her soldier husband to the war, and when he was killed in the battle of Princeton, handled a cannon and assisted in driving back the enemy. Sumner county had her Peggy Bledsoe and other heroines. When Greenfield was attacked by two hundred Indians, and defended by Col. Hall, Neely, Campbell, Morgan, and Abram, the latter a negro, the women did most gallant serv- ice. Seeing the Indians forming for an attack, the men sallied out and gained a fence, from which they fought, while the women kept up a continuous firing from the fort. After an hour's con- flict, the enemy was driven away, poor Abram falling in the fight. And there was Mrs. Buchanan, who assisted in the de- fense of Fort Buchanan when attacked by Indians. Look at the simple and becoming attire of Mol. Pitcher! That was the style of the old heroines and our matrons of long ago, who spun, and wove, and knit, assisted by the lovely mountain pinks. No po- lonaise, or pinbacks, or other newfangled items of female para- phernalia of the present day. No chignons then, nor rats, nor mice, but the beautiful hair-black, auburn, and red (I like red headed women)-was collected in three plaits, gathered in a cres- cent on the crown of the head and held by a large comb. Be- witching curls fell along their rosy cheeks and rested on alabaster bosoms. And what a charm was there in their blue, brown, and black eyes, the indexes of their souls! I could always tell by looking into a woman's eyes if she loved me; I was too sharp to be jilted by them.
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Now over here [pointing to the picture] are women of the present day all wearing pinbacks. One with delicate fingers, or- namented with diamond rings, is running them over the keys of a piano, while another seated in an easy chair is reading a novel. Boys, when you go to select a wife, choose a mountain pink.
Here are the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the greatest body of men ever assembled together. You may search the histories of Rome, Greece, England, France, and other coun- tries, and their equals cannot be found. Their examples should be emulated; and if properly appreciated, this government will last forever. Here we see an old grandmother spinning flax on a wheel, and there the new style of spinning by machinery, and sewing with a machine. Here is the old-fashioned jack plane; there the planing mill turning off six thousand feet of lumber per hour. Here we see various modern instruments, implements, and contrivances-the steam-engine, the railroad, the telegraph- some of which, I grant, are improvements. There are repre- sented domestic animals which are claimed to be improvements on those of the past. As for the cattle, I admit the Durham to be the best stock for beef, but for milking qualities give me a dun Indian cow. I bought one from Isaac Bledsoe many years since, that was superior to any cow I ever saw for milk.
Here are students represented-one of the oldeu time, with few books, sitting on a white-oak, split-bottomed chair, reading by a tallow candle; the other a latter-day student, sitting on a cushioned chair, with a library of books, one of which he holds in his hand and reads by gas light, while he warms himself by a coal fire, and is half the time asleep. Think of the modern sys- tem of teaching children! The scholar is called up at nine o'clock and dismissed at two. They don't whip now, but per- suade the child to learn. I regard this system a failure. And everything is drifting into universities, and while they send forth some great men, I look upon them as hot-houses in which to kill students, or places at which they are to be ruined. All must study Latin and Greek, dead languages, and I venture the asser- tion that there is not one man or boy in this house (I except the ladies) who can read either. Why do they not devote themselves to studies that are useful; to French and German, for instance, and mineralogy and "sockdology?" I have come in contact
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with these college-trained specimens ; have met them at the bar, on the hustings, and heard them in the pulpit. I tell you they are no sharper than other fellows, even if so sharp. You may call me an old fogy, but ponder on what I say to you, and you will find that there is a deal of truth in it.
Here's the way they used to flail out wheat, and ten bushels per day was a man's task. Now this McCormack thresher here will clean out one thousand bushels per day. That's an improve- ment, it is true, but they don't enjoy it now as we used to. Here is a revolutionary soldier, a keen, smart, sharp-looking fellow, with knee buckles and garters. There is trim make and nobody deceived, as they may be now-a-days by this style of covering up the person. When a trade is made I want it to be a fair one, want nobody taken in, and this is not the least of the reasons why I would have both men and women go back to the simple style of dress of the past. Here we have the modern soldier with his spy-glass. I have nothing to say against the soldier of the present day ; the soldiers in the late war on both sides fought well. The world never exhibited armies of more bravery and gallantry. They had all the modern improvements in fire-arms, it is true, but they used them with courage and effect.
Much may be said on the subject of the fashions. Those of the present day display the beauty of the person, accompanied with a refined taste far superior to that of our English ancestors for many centuries back, whose fashions were not less vascillating or more capriciously grotesque, though displaying infinitely less taste than the present generation. Many fashions had their origin in an endeavor to conceal some deformity of the inventor. Hence the cushions, ruffs, hoops, false calves, and other monstrous de- vices. If the reigning beauty had an unequal hip, those who had very handsome hips would load them with the bustle which the other was compelled by the unkindness of nature to wear. Patches were invented in England in the reign of Edward VI. by a for- eign lady, who in this manner covered a wen on her neck. Full bottom wigs were invented by a French barber for the purpose of concealing an elevation of the shoulder of the Dauphin. Charles VII., of France, introduced long coats to hide his cat- ham legs. Shoes two feet in length were invented by Henry Plantaganet, the Duke of Anjou, to conceal a large excrescence
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on one of his feet. Francis I. was compelled to wear his hair short in consequence of a wound on his head, and the style became a prevailing fashion at court. Others, on the contrary, adopted fashions suited to their peculiar style of beauty, as Isabella of Bavaria, remarkable for her gallantry and the beauty of her per- son and the fairness of her complexion, introduced the fashion of leaving the neck and shoulders uncovered, which is still kept up by the young beauties of the present day. The court in all ages and in every country are the moulders of fashion, so all the ridi- cule should fall upon them and not upon the citizens, their imi- tators. Fashions are quite revered in one age, and often extend to another, then disappear, and after a lapse of time reappear, though perhaps in a modified form. In 1735, the men wore no hats, but a little chapeau de bras instead ; in 1745, they wore small hats, and in 1755, they had immense ones, as may be seen in Jef- fries' collection of the habits of all nations. Henry VIII. had his own head and those of his courtiers polled and the beard cut short. Before that time it was thought more decent to shave and wear long hair, either rounded or square; then in the time of Elizabeth, the gentlemen of the court word their hair long, trailing on their shoulders. The fair sex had been accustomed to see their lovers with beards, and the sight of a shaved chin excited feelings of horror and aversion. They were pleased to see the luxuriant beard " stream like a meteor through the troubled air." When Louis VII., to obey the injunction of the Bishop, clipped his hair and shaved his board, Eleanor, his consort, frowned at his unusual appearance and looked upon him with contempt. She revenged herself as she thought proper, and the poor, shaved King obtained a divorce. She then married the Count of Anjou, afterward Henry II., of England. She had for her marriage dower the rich provinces of Pioton and Guienne. And this was the origin of the wars which for three hundred years ravaged France, and cost the French nation three millions of men, all of which would prob- ably never have occurred had Lonis VII. not been so rasch as to crop his head and shave his beard, by which he became so dis- gusting in the eyes of his wife. In the reign of Charles II., two centuries ago, the hair dress of the ladies was very elaborate. It was not only curled and frizzed with nicest art, but set off with artificial curls, then too emphatically known by the pathetic terms
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of heart-breakers and love locks. So late as William and Mary, lads and children wore wigs. Not only wigs but queues were worn in this country in the days of our Revolution, and the hair of both sexes ws powdered. The flagrant follies of fashion must be endured while they rage, and must never appear ridicu- lous to us until they have passed away. Short and tight pants were so much the rage in France at one time as to become a pub- lic offense, and Charles V. was compelled to banish this disgust- ing style by edict, which may be found in Meserai. In the reign of Elizabeth, the reverse of this fashion took place. Then the mode of enormous breeches was pushed to a most laughable excess. The beau of that day stuffed his breeches with rags, feathers, and other light material, until he was puffed up like a bull-frog. They resembled sacks of wool, and on public occasions scaffolds had to be erected upon which to seat the beaus. To accord with this fantastic taste, the ladies invented large farthingales, or skirts extended by enormous hoops. Two lovers dressed in this style, could scarcely ever kiss, or even take each other by the hand. That fashion did not last long. In a preceding reign, the fashion run on square toes, insomuch that a proclamation was issued that no person should wear shoes above six inches square at the toes. Then succeeded the sharp-pointed shoes, lashed up to the knee with gold or silver chains. The Catholics have ever considered the pomp of the clerical habit as not the least part of the religious ceremonies. Their devotion is addressed to the eye of the people. A shameful extravagance of dress has been a most venerable folly. It is said that Sir John Arundel had a change of not less than fifty- two suits of cloth of gold tissue. Queen Elizabeth left no less than three thousand different habits in her wardrobe when she died, which comprised the dresses of all countries. The conquests of Edward III. introduced the French fashions into England. The Scotch adopted them by their alliance with the French court. This was the golden period of cosmetics. The beaus of that day resorted to the abominable art of painting their fares, as the fair ones did. There were the oil tinctures, quintescences, pomatums, perfumes, and paints, white and red. One of the principal cos- metics was the use of the bath and the application of wine. Strout quotes from an old manuscript a recipe to make the face a beau- tiful red color. The person was to take a bath and afterward
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wash the face with wine, and so should be both fair and ruddy. The Earl of Shrewsbury, who had the keeping of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, complained of the expense of the Queen in bathing in wine. White wine was used for bathing, likewise sweet milk, to preserve the whiteness and beauty of the skin. Our venerable beauties of the Elizabethan age were great co- quettes, and the mysteries of their toilet are curious and interest- ing. The inventions of the extraordinary fashions of 1670 were watched with a jealous eye by those strict Puritans, most of whom emigrated to America. They went too far in the opposite extreme. When the courtiers wore enormous wigs, they cut their hair short ; when broad plumes were used, they had round black caps and screwed up their pale religious faces; when shoe-buckles were revived, they wore strings. It is not worth noticing the changes of fashion in the olden time, unless to ridicule them. Modern American fashions, copied from France and Italy, chastened and made beautiful by the refined taste of our women, are a great improvement on ancient English fashions.
I am afraid of tiring you, but I wish to refer to a memorandum of entries taken from the minutes of the first conrt beld in this county, and perhaps in Middle Tennessee. The first session of this court was held the first Monday in April, 1787, with Daniel Smith, Isaac Bledsoe, David Wilson, Wm. Hall, and George Winchester as presiding justices. The officers were, David Shelby, Clerk; John Hardin, Sheriff; and Isaac Lindsey, Ranger. I have here a number of orders, but will only read a few of them. "Ordered that eighteen yards of linsey be applied to clothing the three oldest children of Wm. Bruce." How far would eighteen yards of cloth go now, towards dressing one girl, much less three ? Six yards was a big pattern for a gown when I was courting. And two and one-half yards of cotton coperas goods were ample for a pair of breeches, with one gallows thereto attached. To answer the requirements of the pin-backs, the polonaise, the bustle. et id omne genus, twenty-seven yards of ordinary goods and forty- five of the finer fabrics are necessary for a dress. And there have recently been hoops; but I killed them off in my Erin speech. Here's an order for the clearing of a roud for pack horses to the Blue Springs, whence the salt supply was obtained. At the Oc- tober term, 1787, other interesting orders were made. I have
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here the order directing that corn, bacon, pork, venison, bear and buffalo meat be received for taxes at stated prices and delivered at the nearest military station. One shilling was fixed as the poll tax, four pence on every hundred acres of land, and the same to build a court-house, prison, and stocks. What do the tax- payers of to-day think of this? The first criminal prosecution was that of the State v. Basil Fry, for stealing a pair of leather leggins. He was reprimanded for this offense against the peace and dignity of the State. Ephraim Peyton was fined twelve shil- lings for profane swearing and Sabbath-breaking. He is the same man who, with John Peyton, Billy Read, and Major Blackmore, had a bloody conflict with the Indians on Defeated creek, in which all of these gallant old fellows were wounded. Here's the order granting Andrew Jackson license to practice law. This is Old Hickory, the greatest man that Tennessee, and perhaps the world, ever produced. I wish I could read and comment on all these orders, but I haven't time and must hurry on.
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