ocean and others from the large American cities, bringing with them
manners, customs, furniture, and wares, of which the like had never
been seen by the oldest inhabitant.

And thus were gradually introduced the methods and appliances of a
more advanced civilization. The pioneer and his wife, hearing of these
things, would occasionally "go to town" to "see the sights," and would
there discover that there were many useful and convenient articles for
the farm and kitchen which might be procured in exchange for their
corn, bacon, eggs, honey, and hides; and although the shrewd merchant
was careful to exact his cent per cent, the prices asked were little
heeded by the purchaser who was as ignorant of the value of the
commodities offered as he was delighted with their novelty and
apparent usefulness.


DRESS.

The subject of dress is approached with reluctance and its description
diffidently essayed. But the task has seemed mandatory as the manners
of a people can not otherwise be fully understood. The stately,
ceremonious intercourse of the sexes, the stiff and elaborate walk of
Loudoun men and women of Colonial and post-Revolutionary times is
traceable almost solely to the costuming of that period. How could
ladies dance anything but the stately minuet, when their heads were
veritable pyramids of pasted hair surmounted by turbans, when their
jeweled stomachers and tight-laced stays held their bodies as tightly
as would a vise, when their high-heeled shoes were as unyielding as if
made of wood, and their trails of taffeta, often as much as fifteen
yards long, and great feathered head-dresses compelled them to turn