424 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS
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reg
the
19
Tour 18 in
hai
junction with US 23—Hindman—Somerset——Columbia—Glasgow—
junction with US 31W-68; 274.6 m., State 80.
Hard-surfacing throughout being completed (1939). alle
Limited accommodations except in larger towns. his
3111
This route passes through a region of primitive beauty and grandeur, ha]
where stillness fills the valleys that are shadowed on all sides by blue- ’
green mountains. Some of the patches of cultivated land—mostly corn- by
iields—lie on steep slopes between stands of virgin timber and end on Cr,
the rims of steep cliffs; others huddle along the streams below. Cr,
Far back from the main roads and almost hidden in the coves or on ;
mountain sides are dilapidated log cabins, which usually consist of a (5,
single large room and a lean-to, with puncheon floor, a heavy plank _
door, a large stone chimney, and one window with a single sash. Often LB.
there is a narrow porch in front. Built long ago of green timber, the do
average cabin has shrunk and sagged until there is hardly a square joint,
a perpendicular face, or_a level place in the structure. Puncheons have 1
warped, leaving wide cracks in the floor, and the rived shingles have QL`
curled and been patched repeatedly. The limited amount of clothing m'
not in use hangs from nails and pegs on the walls between bunches of .
dried beans, strings of peppers, dried apples, and gourds. There is th,
usually an almanac in the cabin, but no clock, for "What does a man
want with a clock when he has a good crowin’ rooster?" A kerosene inc
lamp, frequently without chinmey, or a twisted rag stuck into a bottle mg
of hog grease, furnishes illumination. Tables and chairs are home- Sul
made, and beds are few—regardless of the number of people in the KE
family. In the yard stands an ash hopper for running lye to make m?
soap, and a large iron kettle for boiling clothes and soap, for scalding O1]
hogs, as well as for a variety of other uses. PN
The woman of the mountains leads a difficult life, while the man is WE
lord of the household. Whether he works, visits, or roams through the ‘
woods with dog and gun, is nobody’s business but his own. If he con- tht
verts the corn that his family laboriously cultivated on the steep moun— Ea
tain side into whisky, his wife never thinks of asking "the law" to I
force him to keep it for family support. A spirit of personal inde-
pendence and belief in his rights as an individual are distinctive traits Wg
of the mountaineer. He is entirely unable to understand any inter-
ference in his affairs by society; if he turns his corn into "likker,” he
is dealing with what is his. In spite of extreme poverty and an envif0¤· su;
ment beset with trying, often hazardous conditions, the mountain€€f