Document text
Lrl'r-A
Award's no.
11062
Date received
/67, e -0
Consignment no.
Shipped from
41-eza4
Label
Amount
WPA L. C. PROJECT UNIT
(or Type)
Porin--3
Place of origin_l•Date 40.01.
Project worker.4"/-
Project edltor.......
Remarks
Project #1655
W. W. Dixon,
Winnsboro, S. C.
ALICE BUCHANAN WALKER
82 YEARS OLD. (WHITE)
Mrs. Alice Buchanan Walker is a cultured gentlewoman, a widow, who re-
sides in a handsome two-story house on South Congress Street in the town of
Winnsboro, South Uarolina.
*I am a lineal descendant of Thomas Woodward, the regulator mentioned in
the Colonial accounts of the early history of the State under the royal char-
ter. Captain Woodwood was Captain of Rangers in the Revolutionary War. My
grandmother was Anne Wyche Williamson, a niece of Colonel Thomas Taylor, who
figured prominently in the early history of the State. The late circuit judge,
Osmond W. Buchanan, was my eldest brother. My father, Dr. Robert Buchananlmar-
ried Rebecca Woodward, and I was born in Winnsboro, S. C., June 20, 1856.
"I learned the alphabet and how to read in our home at my mother's knee.
My first school attendance was in a private school taught by Mr. Mrs. Josiah
O'Bear. Mr. O'Bear was the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church on East Lib.
arty Street, Winnsboro. I next attended the school for young girls,taught by
Mrs. Catherine Ladd in the old Priscilla Ketchin brick house still standing
on Congress Street and now used as an apartment house. Later, I studied Latin
and mathematics under a very rough teacher, Mr. Benjamin Rhett Stuart. I at-
tended Columbia College and was graduated at this institution, taking first
honor in the literary department and in music. Professor Samuel Jones was
president of the college when liras graduated. For years afterward, I was in-
vited to play at commencements and to assist in the school plays and charades.
llUb2
2.
"My parents did not permit me to see the Yankees nor anything of the
confusion in the town caused by Sherman's 'bummers', but the glare of burn-
ing homes and the sky -piercing flames from at. John's Episcopal Church awed
and terrified me greatly.
'Twelve hundred slaves followed the Yankee army from this locality under
the belief that they were to be given forty acres of land, a mule, and a much
cow. In crossing over to the Lancaster County side of Catawba River on flat
boats and rafts, many of these Negroes were drowned. Many found their way
back, naked and half dead from cold and hunger. All our slaves went off under
this delusion except two Negro boys, Henry and (Jason. The Yankees had killed
or driven off every animal on my Grandfather Osmond Woodward's place, except
three cows and one old horse. They destroyed all vehicles but a rockaway.
Reason and Henry promised to do the milking, till the garden, and peddle the
milk, butter, and vegetables with the old horse and rockaway vehicle, if al-
lowed to stay on. I have kept the old kitchen table that they made. It has
been repaired once or twice but it still stands and is in use in my kitchen
this morning. I would like for you to see it. Both Negro boys grew to man-
hood. Reason stayed here and became a good carpenter, but Henry moved to Ar-
kansas.
"Among the young ladies of my society and set were the daughters of
Col. James H. Rion, Kittle, Florida, and Maggie Rion, Deborah Wolfe, Annie
Beaty, Sallie, Hattie, and Annie McMaster and Ella, Lill, and Marion Elliott.
"You ask about the style of dress? The old hoop skirt was before our
day, but corsets and bustles were worn. White was the prevailing color for
hose, and we wore black shiny slippers with moderately high heels. The head
3.
dress? The hair was worn high on the head, on a chignon. Earrings in the
ears and gems in the hair were part of an evening dress.
"Hats? We were partial to the flat, wide -brimmed, leghorn hats. A
wreath of flowers encircled the top of the brim and long streamers or bands
of ribbon floated from the sides and could be tied under the chin. The winter
hats were more gorgeous. They were trimmed with ostrich plumes and feathers.
There was a hat called 'white chip hat', which was adorned with bright colored
feathers. Girls and ladies wore more jewelry then, than nowadays.
-Nearly all elderly women had an outdoor bonnet made of gingham cloth, with
splints in it to hold its form and to keep it from flapping down over the eyes
and face. Al]. the girls in our set rode horseback. They wore a riding habit.
The back part of it came down to cover the saddle ,and the skirt part was a
guarantee that her male escort would never get a glimpse of the hosiery covering
her lower extremities. A riding party was a gay party, and sometimes we secured
Major woodward's pack of hounds and went fox hunting with the men.
We had many dances in the Thespian Hall on Washington Street. Jazz music
had not come into favor when I was young. The big apple, the Charleston, the
fox-trot, and the two-step were unheard of in my generation of fun and frolic.
The polka, the gallop, and the waltz are what we learned and enjoyed at our
dances.
"The boys in our set, as I remember them, were T. W. Lauderdale, J. F.
McMaster, Creighton McMaster, Willie Calhoun, Preston Rion, and my husband,
David V. Walker.
"On the 2d day of May, the Gordon Light Infantry always gave a prize
drill and picnic. There were speakings and the presentation of prizes. That
night the annual military ball was given. This was the social event of the
4.
year. Many visitors from Columbia and the surrounding towns attended.
"Mrs. Ladd's school for girls gave many concerts. I remember I sang
'Buttercup in Pinafore' at one of the concerts.
"Visiting? There was much more social visiting in my girlhood days
than at the present time. People from the town visited such homes in the
country as Major Woodward's and Mr. E. P. Mobley's and General E. G. Palmer's
at Ridgeway.
"One of the visits the Rion girls always looked forward to with keen
pleasure was a visit to the home of Dr. Baruch, in Camden. On these visits
to Camdem, we saw the splendid exciting horse races. We also attended a ball,
where we made many acquaintances and friendships. Some of these friendships
have endured throughout the years.
"Yes, freckles were the terror of many a girl's social days. A girl
whose skin was susceptible to these little turkey egg dots, washed her face
every night in buttermilk and wore a gingham bonnet out in the yard. Her
hands were ever encased in gloves, however hot the day. Yes, all women and
girls carried a smelling salts bottle with them. I think the affection went
out of style about thirty years ago.
"Women were sometimes worshipped for the abundance and length of their
hair. It was a custom to save every strand as it clung to the teeth of the
comb, and, when the strands became sufficient in number, a switch was made
of them and replaced in the coils of the living hair.
"Courtesy and gallantry of men toward girls and women? Now let's see
if there is a real lack of it nowadays. If so, let's try to discover the con-
tributing causes. what you complain about may be a superficial appearance
rather than a deep rooted intentional disregard of the difference of sex.
5.
Aristocratic society before and after the 'Jar was composed of planters,
lawyers, physicians, and the clergy; bankers were next admitted. Shop
keepers or merchants came later. This society got its ideas from Scott's,
novels. Woman were ever on a pedestal and would have remained there for-
ever had not Don Quixote been written; woman suffrage cane about; the pub-
lic school system established; and coeducational facilities provided. Again
the industrialization of the State, cotton mills, women bookkeepers and ste-
nographers make the old style of gallantry absurd and out of date. bout, wher-
ever and whenever the girl is worth it, there still abides, deep down in the
heart of every gentleman, the same chivalry of the male for the female as it
exioted in the days of Sir Walter Scott and his Ivanhoe."