10 Years Ago
Week of February 20, 2014
SUGAR GROVE
Fashion and Manners Have Seen
Many Changes
The world of women’s fashion has changed dramatically since the post Civil War era. A short item featured in the Page Valley Courier stated:
“For ladies only—Hoop skirts are now entirely discarded by fashionable young ladies. Round hats are exceedingly fashionable for all who are young enough to wear them. Satin ribbons for sashes now come in all colors, with double faces. The width is all the way up to 29 inches.
The new favorite shade for full dress is a warm tint of salmon, known as a melon, or more properly speaking, cantaloupe color, which lights well and suits a variety of complexions.
A new material for ladies’ dresses is to be seen on fashionable promenades. It is a silken fabric of a bronze hue, and when closely fitting, it gives the wearer the appearance of a bronze statue coming down from its pedestal for a shopping excursion.”
The hoop skirt had become so large by 1860 that women were encumbered trying to get through doors, sit properly, or move around in general. By 1866, the hoop skirts began to diminish, and by 1870, the bustle appeared, combined with lots of pleats and ruffles in the back.
Dresses tended to be much slimmer, narrower and closer fitting than fuller at the hem due to the petticoats. Because of all this heavy fabric pulling downward on the dress, the bustle was introduced to help support the bulk of this fabric. The bustle, sometimes called a “false rump” allowed for an abundance of fabric sewn into all manners of ruffles in the rear. This profusion of cloth in the rear allowed for fashionably small trains brushing the floor. The bustles, which were composed of pads, springs, ruffles, wire or curved boning, were mostly homemade. They often had the appearance of a stuffed pillow under the dress.
The attire complimented the correct behavior. There were 20 thoughts about correct behavior as was desired, taken from the Rockingham Register around 1875.
- Loud and boisterous laughter.
- Reading when others are talking.
- Reading aloud in company without being asked.
- Talking when others are reading.
- Spitting about the house, smoking or chewing.
- Cutting fingernails in company.
- Leaving church before worship is closed.
- Not listening to what anyone is saying in company.
- Commencing to eat as soon as one can get to the table.
- Receiving a present without an expression of gratitude.
- Correcting older persons than oneself, especially parents.
- Whispering or laughing in the house of God.
- Gazing rudely at strangers.
- Leaving a stranger without a seat.
- A want of respect and reverence for seniors.
- Making oneself the hero of one’s own story.
- Commence to talk before another has finished speaking.
40 Years Ago
Week of February 23, 1984
Masks Being Displayed In Pendleton Schools, Library
Have you ever seen a mask carved from wood, or a beautifully beaded mask for a horse?
These are just two of the interesting and unusual masks in an exhibit being displayed for Pendleton County students now through March 31.
“Masquerade,” as the exhibit is called is a collection of masks from Africa, New Guinea, Great Britain and the American Indians. The masks belong to Huntington Galleries in Huntington and are part of the galleries’ traveling exhibition program called Art Reach. Included with the exhibit is a trunk of various masks which the students may handle and try on.
Students will learn from this exhibit that masks down through the centuries have been used for ritual, ceremonial and protective purposes.
“Masquerade” is sponsored by the Pendleton County Committee for the Arts with assistance from the Arts and Humanities Division of the West Virginia Department of Culture and History.
50 Years Ago
Week of February 21, 1974
Great Boulders
Common In Area
whose woods are these…
(A Weekly Column of Wilderness Lore by The Woodlands and Whitewater Institute Staff Spruce Knob Mountain)
“There is a look of wisdom in you stones./ Great boulders basking in the noonday heat./ Their grimness lightened by a fringe of sweet./ Fern or moss or green-gray lichen tones.”
(Excerpt from “Boulders” by Charles Stork)
One can find the great boulders of which this poet speaks in the mountains of West Virginia—whether one drives along the winding mountain roads, or fields filled with boulders and pebbles.
Most of the rocks in the mountains are either cream-colored or gray limestone, or, gray or red sandstone. The most noticeable differences between the two, in purely visual terms, is that sandstone contains sand-size grains and is often easy to crumble, whereas limestone is harder and it is very difficult to see the individual grains at all.
The majority of the hills and valleys in the mountains of West Virginia are caused by limestone which lies below the surface. Any steady flow of water over limestone will slowly eat its way into the rock, just as sucking on a sugar cube will slowly dissolve it. In the same manner that the sugar cube will fall apart, so the limestone will collapse, causing such features as caves, small valleys and sink holes.
The name for the type of topography involving large areas of limestone is karst. Derived from the Slavic word “Krs” meaning crag of stone, it refers to a countryside full of hills and valleys, caves, sink holes, and many streams. These features are formed by water dissolving away the limestone and leaving large holes. The hills represent areas where the water has not been able to weaken the limestone, so no valleys or sinks are formed. All of us are familiar with the small sink holes we find in our fields, but many of us do not realize that some of our “hollows” are enormous sinks.
If you have seen a local topographic map, you may have noticed the numbers of areas with concentric circles, like a bullseye on a target. These circles indicate either a hill, a valley or some depression. Any series of circles without hatched lines show valleys.
One of the most interesting characteristics of karst topography is the changes that occur in land formations. As long as there is enough water to dissolve away the limestone, above the ground there will continue to be slumping (this is when areas of soil on a hillside are loosened and slide down the hill in a minor avalanche fashion), and below the ground new caves will continue to be formed. The formation of caves takes thousands of years, but one can watch the development of a slump feature and perhaps even a sink hole. Because of the amount of rainwater and the fact that West Virginia has such well-developed karst, changes in land features will continue to happen in our mountains.
60 Years Ago
Week of February 27, 1964
100 YEARS AGO
By LON K. SAVAGE
Editor’s Note—The following is one of a series of articles on the Civil War. Each weekly installment covers events which occurred exactly 100 years ago.
Kilpatrick’s Raid
On Richmond Is Flop
Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick was not yet 30 years old, but he already had made a reputation as a great cavalry officer of the Union army. One hundred years ago this week, Kilpatrick set out on one of his most famous and most unsuccessful exploits.
Kilpatrick led a cavalry raid on Richmond, the capitol of the Confederacy, while the city was guarded by the whole of General Robert E. Lee’s veteran army. He made it all the way to the city’s outskirts, and there the raid collapsed, a spectacular flop.
The idea of Kilpatrick’s raid originated in Washington, and it went like this: Kilpatrick was to set out from the Union lines along the Rapidan River in east-central Virginia, cross the river and head straight south for Richmond, skirting the east side of Lee’s army. Simultaneously, General George A. Custer (the man who would become famous for his “last stand” in the West after the war) was to move southwest, on the other side of Lee’s army, to divert Lee.
Once in Richmond, Kilpatrick was to wreak havoc on supplies and communications and attempt to free Union prisoners on Belle Island in the James River.
All started well. On the night of February 27th, Custer, with 2,000 cavalrymen, moved out of the Federal encampment. Next night, Kilpatrick crossed the river with another 4,000 men and started south at full speed.
Near Fredericksburg, Kilpatrick divided his force. Col. Ulric Dahlgren, with 500 men turned westward, to loop around Richmond suburbs, five miles from the central city, and ran headlong into a line of Confederate troops hastily assembled to resist his advance. Skirmishing broke out, and Kilpatrick’s men stopped.
Dahlgren, meanwhile, was having trouble, too. He had looped around west of Richmond as planned, but his hope to cross the James River was frustrated when he could find no ford. Therefore, he turned left and moved in on the city from the west, along the river bank, burning grist mills, barns and boats as he moved. He arrived in the western outskirts of the city on the afternoon of March 1 where he, too, ran into a line of resistance.
Both Kilpatrick and Dahlgren fought until nightfall and then gave up. Kilpatrick headed east toward the coast and federally-held Fort Monroe; Dahlgren started northwestward but his men became separated. Three hundred of his men caught up with Kilpatrick and made their escape. Dahlgren and the other 200 made their way 25 miles to Aylett, where Confederates attacked them and Dahlgren was killed. The rest fled.
Confederates later reported finding on Dahlgren’s body a paper stating that his men were to burn Richmond and kill President Davis and his cabinet. The newspapers caused a sensation and brought prompt disclaimers from Federal officials in Washington. The whole truth of the paper has never been established.
Next week: Grant is promoted.
SERVICEMEN
- FORT BENNING, Ga.—Pvt. John L. Gillispie, son of Mrs. Georgia M. Huffman of Brandywine completed a 12-week infantry mechanic course at the Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Ga., early in February.
He entered the Army last August and completed basic training at Fort Gordon, Ga.
- USS EVERGLADES—Roger L. Hedrick, fireman, USN, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arlin Hedrick of Franklin, is serving aboard the destroyer tender USS Everglades, operating out of Charleston, S. C.
Everglades departed February 8 for a tour of duty with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean area.
- LACKLAND AFB, Texas—Airman Eugene C. Frye, grandson of Mrs. Margie Bowers of Franklin, is being reassigned to Lowry AFB, Colorado, for technical training as a United States Air Force aircraft weapons systems mechanic
- LACKLAND AFB, Texas—Airman Nathan R. Propst, son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth B. Propst of Moyers, is being reassigned to Keesler AFB, Miss., for technical training as a United States Air Force communications-electronics specialist.
ARMY WILL DRAFT
12,000 IN APRIL
WASHINGTON — Twelve thousand men will enter the Army in April in response to a Department of Defense request to the Selective Service System.
The procurement objective in April for enlisted men who have had no prior service is 18,500, 12,000 of which will be drafted.
The April call-up will bring the total number of inductees requested of the Selective Service to 2,946,450 since the September, 1950, call.
70 Years Ago
Week of February 25, 1954
State Conservation
Commission Sets
Hunting and Fishing Dates; Daily Limit
On Trout Cut to Eight
A cut in the daily creel limit on trout was the only major change from last year in fishing regulations and opening hunting dates set last week by the Conservation Commission.
Bag limits and closing dates of hunting seasons will be set by the commission at its April meeting.
In most cases, the commission attempted to follow closely the recommendations made by the sportsmen’s groups at eight regional meetings held earlier this year.
The season on rainbow, brown and brook trout was set for April 24 through September 6. The daily limit on all species was dropped from 10 to 8 in streams and 6 to 5 in impoundments. As last year, there is no minimum length for trout which can be kept.
The season limit on trout remains 60.
