the cooler climate of old Kentucky or Virginia, or farther north to
Saratoga, Long Branch, or some one of the then attractive resorts. They
travelled in state, frequently bringing the family coach, and never
without a retinue of servants. What a sensation they made! And money
flowed like water. The young men, rich and idle, paid court to pretty
girls, sure of a welcome from both parents and daughters, for to marry a
Southern planter was to achieve a social victory for all time to come.
The mechanical and athletic age had not yet dawned. The accepted escort
must be a professional man, or else lord of a domain such as I have
described. Pride and prejudice blinded judgment, and the aristocracy
of merit alone was unappreciated.

And yet the Southern woman, even of great wealth, could not afford
to be idle. She was not, save in exceptional cases, the useless,
half-educated, irresponsible creature she has been represented. Some
there are always and everywhere whose lives are given over to fads,
fancies and frivolities. But the true mothers were priestesses at the
home altar, and kept the sacred fires bright and burning. Their duty
was to keep others busy, and to direct and oversee the vast domestic
machinery of the home.

Their views were somewhat narrow, for as yet the bright sun of woman's
emancipation was barely peeping over the horizon. Their minds did not
grasp the vexed questions of theology, politics, or economics. They
accepted the faith of their fathers, and shifted all burdens to stronger
shoulders. They were eminently religious and charitable. Ways and
means were at hand, and they did not bother their brains with isms and
ologies. Regular attendance upon the nearest church, and reverence for
the clergy, were prominent in their creed.