SOCIAL LIFE IN OLD VIRGINIA BEFORE THE WAR [Illustration: “_Tall lilies, white as angels’ wings and stately as the maidens that walked among them._”] Social Life in Old Virginia _Before the War_ BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE _With Illustrations by_ THE MISSES COWLES [Illustration] NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS M DCCC XCVIII _Copyright, 1897_, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS. University Press: JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U.S.A. List of Illustrations PAGE “_Tall lilies, white as angels’ wings and stately as the maidens that walked among them_” FRONTISPIECE _The Plantation House_ 9 “_Shining tables with slender brass-tipped legs_” 12 “_There the guns were kept_” 13 “_Bookcases filled with brown-backed, much-read books_” 15 “_The flower of all others was the rose_” 18 _Tobacco_ 20 _A Typical “Mammy”_ 23 “_The little girls in their great sun-bonnets_” 26 “_Busy over their little matters with that ceaseless energy of boyhood_” 27 “_The test of the men’s prowess_” 29 _The Exclusive Property of the Mistress_ 33 “_His thoughts dwelt upon serious things_” 47 _An Old Virginia Sideboard_ 53 “_She was never anything but tender with the others_” 59 “_The Butler was apt to be severe, and was feared_” 63 _The Lady and the Ox-Cart_ 67 _An Old-fashioned Grist-Mill_ 73 _A Colonial Stove_ 79 _Dressing the Church_ 85 “_At last the ‘big gate’ is reached_” 91 _The Virginia Reel_ 97 _A Negro Wedding_ 101 _A Typical Negro Cabin_ 105 Introduction Which none need read unless he pleases.