Their every-day life ran on in the quiet of their plantations as calmly as one of their own rivers.

The English trader would come and go; the infrequent stranger would be received and welcomed; Christmas would be kept in hearty English fashion; young men from a neighboring estate would ride over through the darkening woods to court, or dance, or play the fiddle, like Patrick Henry or Thomas Jefferson; and these simple events were all that made a ripple on the placid stream.

Much time was given to sports, rough, hearty, manly sports, with a spice of danger, and these, with an occasional adventurous dash into the wilderness, kept them sound and strong and brave, both in body and mind.

There was nothing languid or effeminate about the Virginian planter.

He was a robust man, quite ready to fight or work when the time came, and well fitted to deal with affairs when he was needed.