The people of Tidewater have developed and practiced these traits of honorable character in their dealings with one another, and with strangers within their gates, which approach as near to the "Golden Rule" as can be found in the same aggregate of population anywhere else in the United States.

Without fear or trepidation, one is able to travel during the darkest nights over the lonely public roads, notwithstanding the many favorable spots within the dense woods which could be found suited to commit dark deeds, free from the sight and hearing of all but a dastardly villian and his victim.

These people are proverbially courteous to one another and to strangers. The abrupt manner often so prominent in many other sections of the United States, and especially in the densely populated communities, is not in evidence in Tidewater Virginia. When they meet, they take time to greet each other, and the frequent and sociable answer to the personal inquiry is "I'm tol❜able, thank you.”

The most common manner of salutation with the "black mammy" is: "Howdy Sis' Jane," or, addressing one by the Christian name only, and the answer may be: "I'm right smaht pohly, thank de Lawd. How is yo' ?" "Sistah Jane means by her reply that she thanks the Lord she is not worse than poorly.

The negro men are usually less serious in their greetings, and will frequently answer such inquiry in a mirthful tone: "I'se right smaht an' sha-ap fo' an ol' man, thank you"." This manner of reply is more frequently heard from the younger men. The old man may tell you of the miseries in his body and limbs, with a precision which would do credit to a practitioner of medicine.

There is an ease and grace about Virginia hospitality which cannot be imitated. It is acquired only as the infant acquires the use of its limbs-step by step-in long and patient practice. It is devoid of the profuseness of "company manners,"

which wearies both guest and host. If one is accepted as a guest he is "at home" during the visit, whether it be within the log cabin in the Forest, or the colonial brick mansion on the river's shore.

The social life of these people prior to the Civil War was most agreeable. Among the wealthier classes, invitations to come and dine with us" followed whenever an extra fat lamb was found among the flock, or when a goodly supply of wild birds, wild ducks or geese fell before the hunter's gun.

The custom of "spending the day," which might mean a week or more, was of common occurrence amongst those of leisure. Well trained servants, and abundance of home raised food products lessened the burden of entertainment.

When ladies met and saluted each other in the usual form, they completed their greeting by an invitation to each other to come and spend the day and bring your knitting." or an invitation to "a quilting" followed. Since the Civil War, knitting by hand is fast becoming one of the lost arts of the grandmothers. The quilting was one of the many friendly and social features of country life, in which young and old participated. A home-made quilt in which the neighbors joined to fashion was a work of art and patience combined. It was composed of scraps from wedding gowns, and other garments, cut into all manner of shapes and devices. Each scrap had its own history in connection with the wearer of the original garment from which it was cut. Some "patches" in the quilt were cut to represent hearts, birds, animals, and such devices as might suit the fancy of the worker. Monograms were tastefully and artfully worked with silken threads, with the date added in which the work was done. From such a quilt could be built up a memory history of good neighbors and friends. The male members of the respective families attended the quilting in the evening in time to partake of the bounteous supper and the dance which followed.

Quiltings were continued until after the Civil War; they have now become a memory only of "old times in old Virginia."

In the salt water sections "oyster roasts" and "fish-frys,” were amongst the social pleasures. These festivals were conducted upon the shores of some river where the oysters or fish were procured. Such entertainments were frequently conducted during political campaigns, or for church aid.

The professors of voice culture throughout the nation should bring their pupils to this section to hear the human voice from the lips of a Tidewater Virginia lady. Virginians are remarkable for the modulated sweet tone of their voices. But nowhere in the United States is the human voice so charming to the ear as in the lower peninsulas. The women especially, have such an easy, graceful, and charming tone and flow of language as to be captivating. One would surmise that it would be an impossibility for such people to utter a harsh, violent scream under any provocation. Excessively vulgar conversation, or viciously vulgar epithets, even when in angry moods are seldom uttered by any class of these people.

There never was in Tidewater Virginia a class of people such as is known and classified-sometimes humorously, and often seriously-as "poor white trash." The " poor white trash" are supposed to be those persons who lived in certain isolated sections of the late slave holding States, remote from the improved and enlightened communities, and are said to be devoid of education and common information, crude in manner of address and means of living.

There are no islolated sections in Tidewater Virginia, in the sense referred to here. The several counties are small, and narrow in breadth of territory, and therefore few homes can be located far from the regular routes of travel, or from the villages where the respective seats of justice are located.

The frequent and genteel intercourse of these people with

one another at all public festivities, political speakings, religious services, etc., keep bright and smooth the otherwise dull and rough edges of human nature, which are said to be the outgrowth of absolute isolation and seclusion.

There is little envy or jealousy between the classes of rich and poor. They mingle on an equality during all public occasions. The "Golden Calf" was not originated, neither is he "tethered" in Tidewater Virginia. The individual is respected because of his good qualities, and not because of his worldly possessions. The learned judge of a Court carries his head no higher-in distain of his less favored fellow man-than does the "Forester," who can neither read nor write his name, but is a decent citizen. Neither of them have disdain for their fellow man unless the individual forfeits his self respect through his own seeking.

Wealth is a comparative term which changes with the years of prosperity and adversity.

Before the emancipation of the negro, persons in that section who had several hundreds of acres of land and servants to work it, were classed as rich and independent, though the total values of all their possessions were less than the sum of fifty thousand dollars. Following in the order of property values were, "the well to do," "the fairly well to do," and "the tolerably well to do." Beyond these grades of riches were many whose whole possessions would value less than one thousand dollars; nevertheless, such persons were enabled to live upon and reap many more comforts from these meagre possessions than could be had elsewhere for many added hundreds per cent. greater values of property.

The Tidewater Virginia farmer who is out of debt, and possesses one or two hundred acres of "tolerably good land," convenient to a salt water stream, of which he can add the products to his table, is more independent of the world than the city dweller who is possessed of countless thousands of

wealth in stocks or bonds, liable to become "dead sea fruit " upon his hands.

The rich and the well to do persons usually sent their children from home to be educated at such institutions as the University of Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute, William and Mary College, and to the many other colleges and prominent academies which were established in the State in the 19th Century. When the students completed their education, they returned to their homes, some to enter the prefession of law, or medicine, or to engage in pursuits other than labors which tended to harden and make callous their fingers and palms. The white man of Tidewater Virginia, if possible to prevent, did not often endanger his health by hard, manual labor, neither did his servant, the negro, "befo' de wah.”

The young men of the present generation resident in Tidewater do more manual work than did the "cavaliers of the olden time;" and will grasp a plow handle, or other implement of honest toil which gives assurance of prosperity. Many of them are successfully conducting extensive fisheries for fertilizer of the soil, and others are engaged in the canning of oysters, fruits, and other commodities that had no market value there prior to the Civil War because of the absence of transportation facilities to reach a market.

Tidewater Virginia people are conservative to the verge of stubbornness. They must have time for full deliberation before they act. They "feel the jerk on the fish hook," and determine whether it be a "bite," or "a nibble" before pulling it up.

The many fishery and canning and lumber industries, and other industries which originated since the Civil War were introduced, encouraged and successfully maintained by nonnatives long before the Tidewater people could be induced to make investments therein.

The conservatism of these people was inherited from their forefathers. The early colonist preferred the independent