The Memories of Fifty Years

tlers-Prominence of Virginians-Causes of Distinction-Clearing-Log-Rolling-Frolics-

Lands were procured at the expense of surveying; the soil was virgin and productive; rude cabins, built of poles, constituted not only their dwellings but every necessary outbuilding. Those who first ventured beyond the Ogeechee generally selected some spot where a good spring of wate

forded the best opportunity for descrying the approach of Indians, and the watch was most careful. When those employed in hunting (for every community had its hunters) discovered, or thought they had discovered signs of the presence of the savages, scouts were immediately sent out to discover if they were lurking a

ithful in its discharge as was their master. If he reported no Indians, the work of cultivation commenced, and the sentinels repaired to their posts. These were usually changed whenever the slightest sign of Indians anywhere in the country could be found, lest their posts might have been found and

nucleus was formed, inviting those who sought the new country for a home to locate in the immediate vicinity. Security and the enjoyment of social intercourse were more frequently the incentives for these selections than the fertility of the soil or other advantages. One peculiarity was observable, which their descendants, in their emigration to the West, continue to this day to practise: they usually came due west from their former homes, and were sure to select, as nearly as possible, a new one in the

nough, in time he becomes the great man of the county; and if with impudence he unites a modicum of talent, well larded with a cunning deceit, it will not be long before he is Governor or member of Congress. It is not surprising, then, that in nearly every one of these communities the great man was a Virginian. It has been assumed by the Virginians that they have descended from a superior race, and this may be true as regards many families whose ancestors were of Norman descent; but it is not true of the mass of her population; and for one descendant from the nobility and gentry of the mother country, there are thousands of pure Anglo-Saxon blood. It was certainly true, from the character and abilities of her public men, in her colonial condition and in the earlier days o

at it should be so. In the formation of the first constitution for Virginia, the great feature of a landed aristocracy was fully recognized in the organic law. The suffragist was the landed proprietor, and in every county where his possessions were this right attached. They recognized landed property as the basis of government, and demanded the right for it of choosing the lawmakers and the executors of the law.

appeared at the bar, demanding to exercise his privilege in the choice of his representative. This was done by declaring the names of those he voted for. These peculiar institutions cultivated open and manly bearing, pride, and independence. There was little opportunity for the arts of the demagogue; and the elevation of sentiment in the suffragist made him despise the man, however superior his talents, who would attempt them. The voter's pride was to sustain the power of his State in the national councils, to have a great man for his Governor; they w

legal privileges. As these, and the lands, found their way into many hands, the democratic element began to aspire and to be felt. The struggle was long and severe, but finally, in 1829 or 1830, the democratic element triumphed, and a new constitution was formed, extending universal suffrage to white men. This degraded the constituent and representative alike, and all of Virginia's power was soon lost in the councils of the nation. But the pride of her people did not perish with her aristocracy; this continued, a

account of climate and soil. Those from North Carolina and South Carolina preferred Tennessee, and what was then known as Upper Georgia, but now as Middle Georgia; yet there was a sprinkling here and there throughout Georgia from Virginia

rize its present population. It was said by Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, that bad roads and fist-fights made the best militia on earth; and these may have been, in some degree, the means of moulding into fearless honesty the character of these people. They encountered all the hardships of opening and subduing the country, creating highways, bridges, churches, and towns with their public buildings. These they met cheerfully, and working with a will, triumphed. After months of labor, a few acres were cleared and the trees cut into convenient lengths for handling, and then the neighbors were invited to assist in what was called a log-rolling. This aid was cheerfully given, and an offer to pay for it would have been an insult. It was returned in kind, however, when a neighbor's necessities required. These log-rollings w

s of arithmetic; and it was a great advance to grapple with the grammar of the language. As population and prosperity increased, their almost illiterate teachers gave place to a better class; and many of my Georgia readers will remember as among these the old Irish preachers, Cummings, and that remarkable brute, Daniel Duffee. He was an Irishman of the Pat Freney stripe, and I fancy there are many, with gray heads and wrinkled fronts, who can look upon the

ng at, you whelp?" w

ied: "You will whi

der, as he reached for his well-trimmed hickory, one of many conspic

ghing to think how much

and in my heart. But Duffy was not alone in the strictness and severity of his rules and his punishments. Children were taught to believe that there could be no discipline in a school of boys and girls without the savage brutality of the lash, and the teacher

hom it was his privilege to consider the chiefest of sinners, and to implore mercy for them in language offensive almost to decency. Sometimes, in the presence of persons inimical to each other, he would ask the Lord to

diments of an English education;-such, I mean, of the inhabitants who still live and remember Duffy, Cummings, and McLean. They are

ored its accumulation, and with it came new and more extravagant wants, new and more luxurious habits. The plain homespun jean coat gave way to the broad-cloth one; and the neat, Turkey-red striped Sun

open to settlement. The formidable Indian had been humbled, and many of the wealthiest cultivators of the

Sheroos, and Dearings followed: some to north, some to south Alabama. W.W. Bibb was appointed, by Mr. Madison, Territorial Governor of

isition, but, in its midst, the territory between the Ocmulgee and Chattahoochee was ceded by the Indians, and afforded a new field for settlement, which effectually arrested this e

concerning this new acquisition, bu