Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1879 — OLD-TIME REMINISCENCES. [ARTICLE]

OLD-TIME REMINISCENCES.

Aristocracy and Its Opposite In tlie South Compared. BY W. W. Tn delineating the leading characteristics and peculiarities of the different sections dealt with in these chapters concerning Southern life, it must be borne in mind steadily that the difference in traits between the people of the highlands and lowlands was, to the most casual observer, very marked, even of the people of the same State. Where the habits of the one, from their mode of living, were very simple and unpretentious, of course causing an absence of rigid etiquette, or indeed of what may be considered etiquette at all, the other class, with their large plantations their hosts of servants, their formal dinner parties and so on’ made all this the occasion of a code of politeness and exaction of deference, if possible, very far removed from the free-and-easy life experienced in cabins Hud oftentimes in hunting camps among the hills. One of the plain and obvious results of this was that in any after-dinner quarrel growing out of too much jollification or too much sensitiveness, or in a row on court-day upon some occasion of public speaking and partisan heat, while the mountaineers not in possession of those expensive and deadly luxuries—Colt’s revolvers—would proceed ou the instant to settle it by what they euphoniously termed “ skull-dug-gory,” the lowland gentlemen would just as unhesitatingly proceed to settle like differences with the bowie-knife or the pistol. “Honor” was always “ pricking them on,” until the result was that they were more seusitive uud fearful concerning public sentiment than they were of what might promise to bo a deadly combat with, possibly in some instances, their best friends; . aU( t the cases are numerous enough where, out of such hasty and mistaken action, not infrequently resulted tragedies winch seemed in the end quite as deplorable to the victor as the vanquished in some bloody street-fight. I remember one of these, a cowinding match and subsequently a street fight, between two young men, lawyers, who had been like brothers, the quarrel springing out of something perfectly trivial in its nature. The result of it was that one of them was shot dead by the other on the street, and although, as usual where influential friends stood ready to avert from the slayer the penalties of the law, that did not trouble mm, he all his life carried a Nemosis in Ins own soul that amply avenged the murdered man. An old neighbor told me that the slayer would never sleep without u light in his own room, and that a constantly recurring dream through life was tlyit his victim had him down, while the blood from the fatal wound in his forehead was flowing over his slayer and suffocating him; a hideous niffhtmare than which the imagination of Dante could liardTy conjure up anything more terrible. As for law and its extreme penalties in such cases, it must be acknowledged that a horse-thief, if caught, stood a much better chance of punishment. He lias killed his man,” was a phrase that in many sections of the lower country carried with it something of deference to the individual thus indicated, and I shall never forget the aspect of matters in a court-room once, in a county in Tennessee rather noted, with others adjoining, for its lawlessness in avenging of individual wrongs or ins?ase5 ?ase wa « one of aggravated, cold-blooded murder, the man who did the deed being a noted desperado. Herculean in size and ferocious in aspect, he had fancied a deadly insult in some trifling remark made by an unthinking young fellow who had been drinking and so the ruffian, taking the law into jus own hands, procured a doublebarreled shot-gun, charged it heavily MUth buck-shot, and, hearing of the arrival of his victim in the village some weeks afterward, coolly hunted him down, and, in the most dastardly wav, emptied one barrel, with fatal effect, into his body. A comrade of the murdered man offering to help his friend into an adjoining house, lie, too, was threatened with the other barrel by the burly ruffian, and, as he told me afterward “seeing the devil in the villain’s nev< r talked so pretty in his life, fortunately with Borne effect, for the gun was lowered and he was suffered to help his poor friend and to go unhurt himself. Well, the court-room v here this trial took place was a curiosity. Not more than eighty or opp frupdred people were

present, so little was the event a startling one in that quarter; the greater part of the spectators were inside the bar chatting and laughing with the lawyers and overlooking their shoulders and their documents; the Sheriff was walking up and down the court-room smoking a pipe, and. the Judge, a notorious sloven, although reputed an able jurist, with long, unkempt hajf, shirtcollar open and cravatless, and with the wild, dissipated look of one who had been drinking all night, was walking up and down nervously on the little platform which was his oatlook on the proceedings. As for the prisonei be seemed in no wise concerned, nor, as it afterward resulted, need he have been, for he was never brought to even nominal punishment. As for the other mode of settling personal difficulties—the hill country method—nothing could be more plain and summary, “Walk with me, sir;” and the ground reached, possibly behind the Court House or some vacant lot close by, all the preparation besides that was needed was the stripping off of a butternut-colored or blue linsey hunting shirt, when a mixing up of limbs, a thumping and pulling of hair, and anything else done that could make a chap “knock under ” was entered upon with fierce vigor, but in a promiscuous manner that utterly defied all rules. No boxing, no “science” here. But if, after getting out of wind, in a fierce attempt to throw each other, one could get the other down, and the thumb or ekr betwixt his teeth, until the pressure would make him sing out “enough,” the victor let him up, or he was pulled off, and a dose of “tangle-foot” did the rest; the feud would end there. It was such eases as those first-above noted, however, or those close akin to them, that gave many portions of the South a reputation for a lawless disregard of life; such as in the long run has proved of the most serious detriment to its substantial advancement; and I have only given those two cases out of many with which I became acquainted, in order to indicate the marked difference there was in the modes of settling personal difficulties between individuals of the same section, but of different manners and habits, growing out of difference of locality and diverse ways of living. As for fighting, per se, and from something like an admiration and love for it, there is no denying the soft impeachment, abundantly enough exemplified, however, by the demonstrated alacrity with which they entered upon the late war. And a funny illustration of the readiness for a “scrimmage,” no matter with what or whom, at almost any time, I had indicated to me one day in Tennessee, when a rough-looking feliow, sturdy, bushy-headed and truculent looking, fell in my way, who I was assured had in a fair fight and on as small a wager as a quart of whisky, whipped a full-grown bear! It seemed that Bruin belonged to a menagerie passing through that section, and some one, in the presence of the bully, haviug chanced to vaunt the bear’s “ boxing abilities,” all “stuff and humbug,” he said, he “could himself whip the bear in a fair stand-up fight.” The wager was made, and although, sure enough, the bear was a good fighter, yet the human brute managed to get in so many savage licks on Bruin’s nose— his weak spot—that he was fain to turn tail at about the seventh or eighth round and fairly quit the field. As for other occurrences nearing upon social standing and appreciation, or that stamped one or another community as peculiar, there was freedom of action and sentiment tolerated sometimes upon occasions that would have seemed to an outsider quite remarkable. For instance, in a certain polished community down there, the best hotel in the place was for many years kept by an excellent colored man, who, adding to the fact that he could keep a good hotel another good characteristic, that he knew how to raise his own family carefully and respectably, had thereby won the respect and esteem of the numerous guests who had had the benefit of his establishment, and among these the lawyers of the place. In the peculiar condition of things then existing there, for it was a long time previous to the war, this was a good deal for one so situated to accomplish; and the test of this esteem came when, his dauglitor being about to get married, it was determined by his aristocratic friends, the lawyers and numerous others, to compliment the young lady with a ball. Well, the affair went off pleasantly, the leading lawyers dancing with the guests of their host, and the whole occurrence was a signal instance at that time of how far prejudice and habit could be overcome upon occasion. But the real fun of the thing, perhaps, came out some twenty years afterwards, when an old merchant of the same community, who when the grand frolic was given was rather obscure, being called as a witness in court, and in connection with some issue of the period when the ball took place was asked “whether he attended that colored ball?” “No, may it please the court,” was his reply, “I didn’t belong to the aristocracy at that time!” Speaking of “aristocracy,” perhaps there is no State in the Union where anything like exclusiveness, pretension, or what is comprised in the expressive term, being “ stuck up,” has been less tolerated than in Kentucky, for, however there have been iu that State men of commanding talent in national affairs, it was a treat to see statesmen like Crittenden, Clay, and others there consorting with their plain constituents at home, there being no mistake whatsoever about a hearty and appreciated reciprocity of feeling such as was innate, sincere to the last degree of sincerity. And, in illustration of that sturdy dislike of anything like “putting on airs,” a story is told of a Kentuckian who, upon one occasion, found himself in a Mississippi steamer below Louisville, and who felt glad of a chance to rebuke a bit of assumption as trifling as it was ridiculous. As most people know, there isn’t much to amuse people on a trip as monotonous as that usually experienced on a Mississippi steamer; and, as every occasion is seized upon for a little fun, it behooves every sensitive man to be on his guard not to furnish it, or to take good-naturedly, if he can, what falls to his share. In this particular instance, a certain Gen. C., of Philadelphia, was making a tour West and South; but, when he got on the boat in question, to his regret, and perhaps disgust, he discovered that the forks on the dinner table were not silver, but only steel. Having a traveling case with him, he took out of it a silver fork, and, taking the steward of the boat into his confidence, told him to put the fork away, and, when he got seated at the table, to hand it to him. The steward was nettled at the imputation upon his table furniture, and, betraying his mission, it reached the ears of Ahe Kentuckian in question. Going ashore at the first wood-yard where the boat landed, he procured a forked stick about a yard long, trimmed it up, handed it also to the steward, and awaited events. Some of the other passengers were also posted, so that when dinner was served all were on the alert to see the fun. Having achieved a seat, for in a crowded steamer that feat could not always be accomplished at the first table, the little General was obliged to ask the Bteward to “bring him that fork!” At once it was brought, and, with a low bow, laid beside the Gepprjd’s plate,

Thereurxm the Kentuckian called out loudly * for his “fork!” The movement by the steward being also repeated in due form, the passengers rose up and gave three cheers. The little General couldn’t stand that and the laugh which followed, for he had no ability to pass it off as a good joke. He went to the Captain and complained of it as an “insalt;” bat all the comfort he got was to be told that he “really was too big a man to travel on that little boat—that in walking about on it he might overset it, and, therefore, he had better go ashore at the first opportunity ;” and go ashore he did! The first Kentuckians were certainly anything else than aristocrats, and the “ burgoo soup ” gatherings of their descendants, designed to keep np the remembrance of hard times in the outset, were evidence of the spirit and feelings which prevailed on that soore. Upon these occasions a grand hunt was instituted, the game brought in, and, if deer, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, squirrels, or what not, was all consigned to one hnge kettle to make one great olla podrida; and, with mussel-shells procured from Green river for spoons, calabashes for soup-bowls, and pieces of bark for plates, the descendants of the pioneers, the wealthiest and humblest together, nsed to sit under thp trees and try to remind themselves of the “ pit whence they were digged.” It would have been a sight worth witnessing to note the advent of a silver fork at one of those gatherings. And, indoed,it did not take that kind of reminder to stamp the memories and hardships and adventures of the past in the minds and hearts of those who followed and profited by them. Such names as Lost Kettle creek and Greasy Bock spring, with numberless others quite as significant, have served to mark, step by step, the adventures of the first comers, since most localities were designated, in their simple way, with the occurrence indicating some incident in their travels and eamping-plaoes. Lost Kettle creek, for instance, speaks fully for itself; but Greasy Rock spring is said to have gotten its name from the numbers of hunters who, in their greasy hunting-shirts, laid themselves down on the rock there to get a drink, and of course leaving the marks of their long-worn and greasy costumes on the spot. The constant use of bearmeat, more oily than bacon, conduced much to the condition indicated. Speaking of “ hears,” “ reminds me ” of something, as our illustrious and lamented statesman used to say. On one occasion, one of the pioneers from the eastern portion of the State, who was down at the State capital at Frankfort, attended a grand Legislative ball. Of course, when he returned, his wife and the neighbors wanted to know all about it, as it was reported “ fashionable,” and they had but an approximate idea of what that could be. “ Well,” said the old gentleman, when I first came to the State, a good many of our people dressed in bea7’-skins, but they wasn’t the wimmin, they was the men. But times must be harder now than they was then, for the prettiest girls I saw at the ball down there were dressed m beautiful bare-skins —sure.” [Alluding to the bare necks and arms, which, however fashionable, quite “ obfuscated ” him.] Chicago, 111.