THE FARMERS' REGISTE 



Vol. V, 



JANUARY 1, 1838. 



No. 10. 



EDMUND RUPFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRlETOlt 



For the Farmers' Register. 



SKETCHES OF THE HABITS AND MANNERS OF 

 OLIJ TIMES IN VIRGINIA. 



(Fragment of a manuscript.) 



When Mr. M had been a few weeks at 



his new home, it was pro|)osed by Mr. C 



that ihey should ride throii<rh the neighboriiood, 



that M iniirht see the many changes which 



had taken place durini^ his lonii absence of twenty- 

 five years. AccorJuigfy ihey set out, on horseback, 

 that they might tbilow any unli-equented path, as 



well as the public roads. M though not 



curious about the aHairs of others, nor fond of 

 gossip, was glad to learn the present state of 

 thinors around hiin, and their tendencies ; and 



C was well pleased to describe and descant 



on things, of which he had been so long a silent, 

 yet close and accurate observer. 



" First in order then,'' said M , " while 



we are riding through my own land, the theatre of 

 his devastations, you should tell ine of my prede- 

 cessor B , of whom I know scarcely any 



thing, except tlie mischief which he has here 

 committed, and the decay and ruin which he has 

 permitted to take place." 



" B 's course," answered C — , " has 



been similar to that of thousands in Virginia, who 

 have either gone, or are going, afier running their 

 course here, to people the new western states. 

 His father was a miserly skin-flint, who had no 

 earthly enjoyment except that of hoarding money, 

 and adding to his lands. He bought, as you 

 know, your father's land, when it was sold to sa- 

 tisly the mortgage which he held. He died not 

 many years after; and this iarm was part of the 

 large and then productive estate which was inhe- 

 rited by his youngest son. The old man, like 

 many other fathers even less tainted than himself 

 by avarice, never would give to his children any 

 share of his property so long as he lived. He had 

 supported them in idleness and in extravagance, 

 and at a far greater annual cost to himself that 

 would have been the income of a reasonable capi- 

 tal given among them, and judiciously managed. 

 But he could not bear the ihouirht of divesting 

 himself of any part of his capital during his life ; 

 and, moreover, he feared to trust his sons wi;i\the 

 direction of what was to be theirs in the course of 

 time ; until they were, by the consequences of his 

 distrust, actually rendered unfit to be so trusted. 

 Alany young men, who would soon learn to be 

 careful and economical in the management ol'their 

 own properly, will as certainly be wasteful of the 

 funds of others, which thev cannot use otherwise 

 than byspendinrr, and have no inducement, of self- 

 interest, whatever, to economize. Old B 



continued until his death to undergo daily toil and 

 vexation in attending to all the details of his exten- 

 sive business ; and thus, in labor and privation, 

 was acting as a steward for the future enriching oi' 

 sons, whom, while he lived, he kept entirely de- 

 pendent, and poor, though prodigal, idle, and 

 greedv of the father's money ; and, ultimatelv, (as 

 Vol. V— 73 



a natural consequence) anxious for his deatli, as 

 the cnly means of getting more money than was 

 frnidginirly doled out to them Ibr daily expenses. 

 They engaged in no business, because ol theirex- 

 pectations of wealth— and they were extravagant, 

 as well as idle, because as each son could have no 

 more than he spent, it became (as he thought) his 

 interest to spend as much as could possibly be 

 squeezed out of the old man's gripe. Thus were 

 they kept as dependants and paupers — prodigal 

 and luxurious, but not the less paupers — until, at 

 last, death gave to them the long-expected posses- 

 sion of the father's large property. The two 

 oldest sons were then between 'd5 and 40 years of 

 age, and the habits contracted and nurtured during 

 their long state of idle and expectant pauperism 

 had quite unfitted them Ibr increasing or preserv- 

 ing their late-acquired wealth. No man can 

 give up a large portion ol' his life to idleness, and 

 the mere pursuit of sensual indulgence, (which is 

 miscalled pleasure,)withont adding to the sacrifice, 

 his morals, and his fitness to resume proper and 

 business habits. One of these heirs lived just long 

 enough to spend, by gaming and other pleasures, 

 the whole of his property ; and the other avoided 

 the like result, by dying of drunkenness before the 

 work had been half completed. Their sister had 

 married a man who sought her hand on account 

 of her rich expectations* and who ceased to exert 

 himselt; and labor in his previous employment, as 

 soon as he had secured such snug quarters. The 

 old man had given him nothing, except bed and 

 board Ibr himself and a rapidly growing family; 

 and his wile having died a short time before her 

 tather, the husband received not a penny of her 

 long-expected share, which was all secured to his 

 children — and he was left loaded wjihdebts, incur- 

 red on the ground of his expectations of wealth. 



'• Your predecessor was too young, when his fa- 

 tlier died, to have sutl'ered materially by the length 

 of his pauper traiuins. And he was so disposed 

 that he would have made a provident and thrifty 

 farmer, if he had been sustanied by enough of pro- 

 per examples, or had possessed the moral courage 

 to resist the idle and spendthrift habits of this 

 county, and to live for his own gratification and 

 benefit, and not for the service, or to gain the aj)- 

 plause, of the spongers and idlers of his neigh bor- 



liood. Young as you then were, Mr. M , 



you knew what were then the habits of this part 

 of the country ; and which, though much im- 

 proved, still are existing habits in almost every 

 county on the tide waters. Every gentleman's 

 home was open to every visiter who thought pro- 

 per to make use of it, to enjoy the enteriainer's 

 hospitality. Manyyoungmen (whose connexions 

 vvere too respectable to permit their being treated 

 as they deserved,) had no other employment, or 

 means of living, but by sponging; that is, they 

 visited from house to house, wherever there was 

 pleniitiil atid good fare, and that appearance of 

 welcome which hospitality accorded to Ihem, even 

 when they were heartily despised. 'lliose 

 spofisrers, together with many other persons who, 

 though not, like them, destitute of property or em- 



