xt71c53dz220 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt71c53dz220/data/mets.xml Hall, John W. 1922  books b9297692h1432009 English N/A : N/A Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Tales of the mountains. text Tales of the mountains. 1922 2009 true xt71c53dz220 section xt71c53dz220 
UOLUME

i

TALES
OF THE

MOUNTAINS
A C omplete D irectory of the

EASTERN COAL
M otto-. " Laugh a nd the

K ET1TUCKI] FIELDS
IPorld L aughs I Pith TJou."

P ublished B u

H A Z A R D B O O K CO., L exington, P R I C E 50 CENCTS.

K q.

ii

  
JESSE

MORGAN,

Pres. V . Pres.

J. A. R O A N , Cashier. D. H . G O O D L E T T E , A s s t . C a s h i e r .

C. G. B O W M A N ,

T he First National Bank
Capital Surplus Resources over $ 100,000.00 $ 50,000.00 _ $1,500,000.00

HAZARD

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

KENTUCKY

WE SOLICIT YOUR BUSINESS

  
H azard Hardware C o
i ncorporated
W holesale a nd R etail

MINE AND MILL SUPPLIES Furniture. Undertaking and Embalming BUILDING MATERIAL
S U C H A S D O O R S , W I N D O W S , R O O F I N G , L O C K S , E tc.

Old Hickory and Studebaker Wagons The Great "Majestic" Range The "Caloric" Pipeless Furnace

H azard Hardware C o.
HAZARD, D ay P hone 503 KENTUCKY N ight P hones 138 and 112

  
SOMETHING MORE TO A SALE THAN P ROfiT
T hat t here is something m ore to every instrument s ale than the financial p rofit, w hen the sale of an i nstrument is followed b y satisfaction on the p art of the customer, is s hown by the fact that t he seeds of future sales a re sown
AMONG T H E CUSTOMER'S NEIGHBORS A ND FRIENDS

A nd w e have endeavored to make each customer a f riend b y giving F i r s t : E x t r a Q uality for the Price P a i d ; and S econd: Our Guarantee and Exchange Agreements; T h i r d : T he Granting of L iberal a nd Convenient Terms of Payment, and F o u r t h : O ur Determination to Have E very C ustomer a Satisfied One. T hese are some of the reasons why we solicit your b usiness, and why we feel we d eserve y our patronage.

OURS

IS T H E M U S I C

BUSINESS

W INCHESTER MUSIC COMPANY
J . T . P H I L L I P S , M anager
238 MAIN STREET HAZARD, KENTUCKY

P H O N E 336

  
Let Us Feather Your Nest
WITH OUR

BEAUTIFUL FURNITURE
AT REASONABLE PRICES CHINAWARE STOVES PIANOS, PHONOGRAPHS RECORDS S tring Music o f A l l K inds DRESSERS DINING ROOM SUITES

RUGS,

PARLOR a nd BED ROOM

SUITES

SUITES

WE

HANDLE

EVERYTHING

IN

FURNITURE. MUSIC and QUEENSWARE

Ideal Furniture Company
HAZARD, UNDERTAKERS KENTUCKY A N D EMBALMERS

  
T HE F IRST NATIONAL BANK
    of     WHITESBURG     K E N T U C K Y

Capital and Surplus . . . $75,000.00

GIVES

PERSONAL TO

ATTENTION

I TS C U S T O M E R S , OR S M A L L

LARGE

STANDS

F O R PROGRESSIVENESS t ogether

WITH

SERVICE A N D S A F E T Y

Interest Paid on Time and Savings Deposits

WE SOLICIT YOUR BUSINESS

  
BY J . W. H A L L A uthor of
"My N ative H i l l s , " "Evolution of The Mountains"

" T h e C ommonwealth of M a n , " " A T r i p to The B ullhole," " U n c l e F r a n k , " "Passing Etc. The

B u c k , " " A T r i p to H a z a r d , "

A COMPLETE DIRECTORY OF T H E EASTERN K E N T U C K Y COAL FIELDS     With     E xtracts f rom_the G eological Reports, Forestry, O i l Development, E ducation, Superstition, and Religion o f the Mountains
V olume 1. HAZARD BOOK CO., LEXINGTON, K Y .

  
C opyrighted b y J . W . H a l l L exington, K y . , 1922.

  
T ALES OF THE MOUNTAINS."
INTRODUCTION D ear B o y s : I n o ffering you this series of booklets, we wish to make the f ollowing p ages a n invitation to you to return to your native h ills. O f course, everything is not l ike i t was when you went a way. But the old town is s till g lorious, w ith t he June sun and w insome faces, and we are doing our b est to preserve some of t he old landmarks, so you w i l l k now the place when you get b ack. S ay, b oys, you w i l l r emember the old man, F r a n k ; w ell, h e is just as big a l iar as he was when he was young and, if a nything, h e can smooth them over w ith a t hicker veneering t han w hen you used to know h i m . The big bear tales stick out f rom his old map just as amusing as when he tackled that big g r i z z l y w hich climbed the old oak "snubble," w ith h im hanging to its t ail. T he fish has grown in his mind to large dimensions, and the happy hunting ground just swarms w ith e lk, d eer, turkey and w i l d d ucks. A n d , believe me! the ducks are s till flying off w ith h is lakes, and he is s till j umping the M i s sissippi r iver at one l e a p ; and his famous v iolin, " o l d S trad," is still i n tune. The big peach orchard which he planted from t he seed taken from the deer's back is s till b earing. T he big b eech w hich shaded the old " s w i m m i n ' " hole w hen we were boys   and where, if you remember, we heard t he first strains of " o l d S t r a d , " d escriptive of the "sourwood m o u n t a i n "     s t i l l s preads its shadows across the placid water, j ust as i nviting as when we wet our first pair of new b reeches a nd r eceived a g ood t hreshing when we returned to the house. T he influx of population from the west, and from far beyond the Alleghanies, is pouring into the mountains in the same fashion as when they first f ell u pon the Aborigines, cut d own the forest, built birch c anoes, a nd plowed our granite h ills. T he blue smoke from the old s till i s s till c urling its way i n s piral r ings a bove t he ivy and l aurel, w hich camouflage its w hereabouts. The big log house where we first went courting, a nd where the " o l d m a n " rolled pumpkins under the bed to scare the children out to supper, is s till s tanding. B ut o ur native h ills h ave grown so big they have "busted" w ith b igness. Great coal tipples, power plants, railroad depots a nd terminals, b edeck t he landscape in every direction. Y our o ld playmates you left behind have caught the " influ-

  
2

T A L E S O F T H E MOUNTAINS

e nce;" a nd if any of them happen to get a finger greasy, he gets u p the next morning and goes to boring for oil. A n d s ay, boys, this is the place to make your " j a c k , " and to reclaim some o f the lost fortune you bartered away for a r ailroad t icket to that l and j ust a l ittle f arther o n     w h i c h you f ound to be a rainbow w ith a s ilver s tring t ied to its t ail. " W e are "rushing the c a n " for your "home c o m i n g ; " and no longer ago than yesterday I saw a big guy plastering a big s heet of paper on pap's barn, which said that Douglas F a i r banks and B illie B urke w ere coming to see us. A n d I have b een wondering ever since if B illie is any k i n to Uncle Steve. A n y w a y , I a m going to t ell U ncle Steve about it, and have h i m b ring t he gals down to the show just to see if they favor B illie. I s aw in the papers the other day where some o f you b oys h ad m arried black-eyed Susans of Turkey and France, and we sincerely h ope t his is another newspaper mistake. Woolen s tockings and babies s till p redominate here; and, as this is l ocust year, we are awaiting your r eturn. A n d you may bring a ny n umber of desirables w ith y ou, as we feel that the contrast c ould not possibly injure them   for we are s till s peaking t he purest Anglo-Saxon language in the w o r l d , and the only b astard E nglish s poken among us was brought here by the n ewcomer, or by the college chap who went off to school and g ot a bove h is " raisin' " a nd forgot which end of the cow g ets u p first. B oys, t here are s till h ere in this section a few of the vanishing r ace of old American men who, by their f aith i n work, t heir c ourage and straight shooting, won the revolution and s everal s ubsequent wars. But such men have b ecome s carce in A merica n ow. New breeds have come i n and the old breeds h ave been changed by changing conditions. But this is one s ection of America in which the old race breeds true to types a nd, m ore than that, s till l ives almost as it lived when the h ighlanderte t hrew down their axes, took ,their r ifles, w ith p owder-horn and shot-pouch, and went out to exterminate G eneral F erguson's command at K ing's M ountain. J ohn F ox's sheep pasture, on Kingdom Come, has been t urned i nto a large mining camp. The lonesome pine has been s awed into lumber and converted into a beautiful bungalow. A n d t he lonesome cove r esounds w ith t he rattle of " B u r m i n g ham m achinery and the roar and bang of enterprising facturs." A n d " String-town-on-the-pike" has b ecome t he " P e a r l o f the M ountains," a nd when she washes her f ace i n the r ising s un she looks l ike a p earl button on a "tow s hirt." S unlight i s being t a x e d ; moonshine is on t a p ; w i l d c ats a re prowling a r o u n d ; blue sky is on sale, and your old job is w aiting f or you   so h urry u p and get your name in the pot before the b ell r ings for supper. THE AUTHOR.

  
T A L E S O F T H E MOUNTAINS

3

MY HIGHEST AIM

I w ish to give you a w elcome e ntertainment. I want my b ooklets to be a m essage of love and g ood w i l l to you, no matter w here you l ive. I w ant to make you feel that we are friends, a lthough w e may never m eet i n the flesh. Though we may not a gree always and on a l l questions, yet surely we can agree on t his o ne: T hat l ove is the moving s pirit of this w o r l d ; that there are j oys as countless as sorrows; that mercy is far loftier than justice, a nd that to give and forgive is the one joyful recreation a fter each and every day of work and fight and strife.
W H A T LIFE SEEMS T O M E

I f eel w ithin a n impulse, perhaps that Divine impulse, w hich h as moved a l l races in a l l a ges a nd in a l l climes, to record in enduring form the emotions that s tir w ithin. I m ay m odel these emotions in clay, carve them in wood, hew them i n s tone, or f orge t hem in steel; I may weave them in textiles, p aint t hem in canvas, or v oice t hem in song   but, whichever I d o, I must harken always to the song of the l ark a nd the melody of the forest and .stream, and respond to the color of the rose a nd the structure of the l ily, so that my creation and labor m ay be in accord w ith t he universal laws of order, fitness and h armony. Moreover, I must make my creation g ood a nd honest and true, so that it may be a credit to me and' live after I a m d ead, revealing to others something of the pleasure which I f ound in its making.
THE CREED O F SCIENCE

T o love justice, to long for the right, to love mercy, to pity t he suffering, to assist the weak, to forgive wrongs and remember benefits, to love the t ruth, to be sincere, to utter honest w ords, to love liberty, to w age r elentless w a r against slavery in a l l of its forms, to love wife and child and friend, to make a h appy home, to love the beautiful in art and nature, to c ulti'vate the mind, to be f a m i l i a r w ith t he mighty thoughts that g enius has expressed and the noble d eeds of a l l the world, to c ultivate c ourage and cheerfulness, to make others happy, to fill l ife w ith t he splendor of generous acts and the warmth of l oving w ords, to discard errors, to destroy prejudice, to receive n ew truths w ith g ladness, to cultivate h ope, to see the calm b eyond the storm and the dawn beyond the night, to do the best t hat can be d one a nd then be resigned   this is the religion of reason, the creed of science. This satisfies the brain and A eart.   Robert Ingersoll.

  
4

T A L E S O P T H E MOUNTAINS

L O O K I N G US O V E R

T he principal occupation of the world's ablest thinkers d uring t he past few years has been to come u p into the mountains to look us over, and to see if they can find a reason for o ur being here at a l l . They examine our teeth to find out how o ld w e are, just as if we were some k ind of a horse; they make us jump up and down, and stand on our heads, and run around a t ree   and then write b ooks a bout us, in which they speak of the mountains as being a "phenomenon," something that may p ossibly grow up some d ay and amount to something. T his i s the great and glorious time, when the mountains a re being patronized by a l l the world   seeing that we have so m uch r a w material out of which the finished product may be m ade. P ersonally, I l ike m ost of the big men who come u p here. I h ave met and talked w ith a n umber of them, and in private l ife t hey seem much l ike t he rest of us. I secretly c onfess t hat I h ave never met any of them that I thought knew how to run h is a ffairs any better than I run mine. R emember t his: T he biggest man that you can think of is n ot much more or less than you are yourself. W e are a l l h u man b eings, but many of us don't know it. It is an easy matter to come u p here and t ell us how to run our business, and get p aid f or it in g ood r oyalties in the bargain. S ome "brought-on" fellows say we have "hot a i r " merchants here; but if we have any more "hot a i r " merchants h ere than are produced in other parts of the country   judging f rom some of the specimens who c ome u p here   then I w i l l g ive up my season ticket to the movies and settle down into a l ife of obscurity. P erhaps the truest thing that might be said of us is that w e have no sense of humor. Think of i nviting a l ot of p eople f rom below to c ome u p here and t ell us how to run our business; of feeding them up on chicken and dumplings, of giving t hem the best b ed room to sleep i n     a n d then of making it p ossible for them to live in luxury a l l the rest of their lives on royalties we pay to them for t elling us how crude we are. Can y ou beat it? N ow, I l ike t hem a l l     b u t I am undeceived by them. M r . N ew-comer does not know how to bathe a baby any better than I d o, and I ' l l bet him a pair of moccasins that in a f a i r c ontest m y chances of bringing the baby out of the bathtub alive at t he end of t hirty m inutes w i l l be better than his. Y es, t hey come u p some of our best p eople, ing t hat our " w i m m e n " n otice they a l l say. The here and, after being dusted off by go away in a cloud of glory, announcare "lovely." T h a t is the one thing I country may be rotten. Our language

  
T A L E S O F T H E MOUNTAINS

5

m ay be atrocious; our vulgarity may be intense; may be somewhat "whapper j a w e d ; " our manners may be loose b ut t here are just two things about us that are quite a l l r i g h t     o ur girls and our money.
TALES OF T H E MOUNTAINS T he O l d Hearthstone

" W h e n I t ake down the ole fiddle A n ' r osum up the bow, I find the sweetest music I n t he tunes of long ago. T her's a k ind o' mellow sweetness I n a g ood t hing growing o l d ; E a c h y ear that rolls around it L eaves an added touch of gold. " W e love the ole fren's better T han w e ' l l ever love the n e w ; W e get the greatest comfort W h e n w e, wear the oldest s hoe. A n ' I find the greatest pleasure B y h ickory coals aglow, A -listenin' to my parents t ell T he tales of long ago." O ne bright morning in September I left the railroad station a bout ten miles from where I was born (born, of course    h ad to be born somewhere), and my parents s till r eside. I r ode h orseback to the old home, which s till r etains much of its a ncient simplicity. T he same old black pine tree, growing on top of the big b uck mountain, l ifting i ts head majestically a bove t he surrounding f orest, seemed to nod a w elcome s alute to my coming. F r o m t he top of this mountain the big, B l a c k and Cumberland m ountains loom up against the southern sky in quite magnificent grandeur. Some of the most cherished memories of my e arly c hildhood are connected w ith t his mountain; I learned to r ead b y a firelight made from pine knots which I had gathered a long the side of this mountain. N ext m orning, going to the barn to feed the horses, I f ound the old hand-mill standing under the shed, upon which I h ad ground out many a t urn w hen a boy. A f t e r looking a bout the old place to see if possibly I could find some v isible m arks of my b oyhood d ays, I found that there were many w ounds up on the rocks and trees s till s tanding   which I had

  
(i

T A L E S O F T H E MOUNTAINS

i nflicted b y throwing rocks at some s pot, or at a l i z a r d r unning u p their sides. O n r eturning to the house I went up into the garret loft a nd l ooked at the old cradle in which I had been rocked when a b aby. This cradle was made from a bee-gum, bursted open i n t he middle, one side of the gum having boards nailed on e ach end and extending about twelve inches beyond the sides, w hich s erved as rocked and prevented the gum from turning o ver. But mother says that one day, while she was sewing a nd I w as yelling a l ittle l ouder than usual, she rocked the g um too far and spilled me out onto t he floor, skinning my nose. I n ext went down to v isit m y grandfather, and while there he showed me his old bark-dyed hunting s hirt, m ade from the f iber of the w i l d n ettle, and dyed w ith c opperas and white w a l nut b ark. The w i l d n ettle grows in abundance here, and the n atives gather the stalks, and when dry, break them in a wooden device called a flax-brake. M y g randfather and I went out that afternoon to gather p awpaws and, after eating a l l we wanted, grandfather tied h is h unting shirt up at the waist w ith t wo straps, fastened behind f or that purpose, and,placing about half a bushel of the r ipe a nd yellow f ruit i n the b osom of his s hirt, t ook i t back w ith h im and spread it out on the kitchen roof to mellow. M y g reat-grandfather c ame u p in the afternoon, and I i nterviewed h im about the primitive doings of his generation, a nd h ere is what he told m e : It w as about one hundred miles to the nearest store where p owder and lead could be purchased. A n d sometimes the h unter's supply of ammunition b ecame e xhausted. But the bear w as caught in a trap made from split l ogs a nd set by a trigger; b y tying a bait to the trigger, a hungry bear would walk into t he trap and, by biting at the bait, would loosen the trigger; t hen t he pen-like trap would f a l l , a nd M r . B ruin w ould find h imself a p risoner inside the trap. T he deer was b agged i n a more unique way. The hunter w ould find a cliff where the deer was wont to shelter from the r ain o r snow and, going a bove t he cliff, would drop a large r ock from the top of the cliff and o bserve w here the rock would s trike. T hen he would place grass or salt in the dent made by t he rock, and when the deer would gather around the grass so p laced the hunter would tipple another rock onto t he heads of t he deer below. M y great-grandfather claimed to have k illed t wo deer w ith one stone placed in this way. T he w i l d t urkey was caught by building a pen and d i g ging a t rench along and underthe pen, slanting up l ike a s tairw a y ; the turkeys would follow corn or bread dropped along t he trench intothe pen and would then walk around w ith t heir

  
T A L E S O P T H E MOUNTAINS

7

h eads up, and would never discover the passageway by which t hey entered. F ish w ere caught w ith a seine made from the bark of the n ative p awpaw, or the fishermen would b uild a s luice in the s hoal b elow a large hole of water, swarming w ith bass, and t ake a long, white pole and wade into the hole of water and, b y thrusting the white pole about through the water, scare t he fish out of the d eep w ater into the shoal below, where they c ould be easily thrown out on dry l and. N early a l l farming implements were made of wood. The w heel-spindle was h i c k o r y ; the plow stock had a w ooden c oulter. C ooking stoves w ere unknown among those primitive pioneers. T he cooking was d one o ver an open fire. A p ole was p laced across the chimney, a bove t he mantel, and an hickory w ithe w as tied around the pole; this withe was made from a f orked hickory switch, one prong being used for the withe and t he other prong cut off so as to make a h ook on which to hang t he kettle. W i t h t his rig the housewife had to be careful not to allow too big a fire, l est the entire outfit take fire and burn u p. T he tableware was also wood; the tray was made from t he native buckeye; the sifter was a dressed deerskin, stretched over an hoop> w ith h oles burned in it w ith a h ot a w l ; the c orn was ground by cutting an hole in a large poplar log, t hen p lacing a pole through the forks of a nearby tree and a ttaching a s wing-pole to a lever, which was operated by l ifting t he lever up and down, thus pounding the corn into m e a l ; t he meal was baked into bread by sweeping the hearth w ith a b room made from sagebrush, then placing the dough on the h earth a nd, when dry on top, by covering w ith h ot ashes and c oals, w ith a s hovel made from an oak board. This old-time s hovel-board was used to punch the fire, b ake the bread, bang t he cat, dog and pig, and sometimes the s hirt-tail b oy had an o ccasion to envy this instrument of torture; also this board was s ometimes used by the housewife as a weapon of d efense w hen b eing punished by the old man's gunstick. S ome e conomy w as used in the construction of those p r i m itive h ouses, which were b uilt of l ogs of the dimension of 18x20 f eet, a nd contained but one d oor; a fireplace was in one end, five or more f eet w ide, finished off w ith a s tick and clay chimney. The one room was used as a s itting p arlor, a cooking a nd s leeping apartment; a bedstead was placed in one corner by making a single leg, placed in an hole in the puncheon f loor, and long enough to fasten to the joist, and constructed f rom a forked pole   another pole passing through the forks a nd e xtending through a crack in the w a l l ; a cross r ailing w as t hen p laced on the first p ole and extending through another

  
s

T A L E S O F T H E MOUNTAINS

c rack on the semi-opposite side of the house; boards were p laced w ith one end resting on the pole, and the other through a c rack in the w a l l . T he mattress was made from leaves, s hucks or sage g rass; this bed was made sufficiently high to a dmit a nother stead called a trundle bed   being pushed under t he other during the day, and then pulled out into the floor as a sleeping place during the night. This trundle bed could be used to advantage during the day by the cat and puppy, w hen t h^ir r oom was needed around the fire on a cold day.

A V ISIT T O U N C L E L I S H

U ncle L ish c ame a long in the afternoon, and would have me go h ome w ith h i m ; and, as he was an old-timer, I was glad of the opportunity. He lived up in the head of a small branch, i n a s mall log house, w ith a l arge d oor i n each side looking east a nd w est. T he evening sun cast a flood of golden light through its w estern portal, as we were met by A u n t Bets, and the children a ll e xcited and gushing w ith w elcome a t seeing me. A fter t he usual exchange of greetings and asking after e ach other's welfare, I was taken over the place and showed t he corn, the h ogs a nd cattle; a l l of these were common, but one thing in particular excited my admiration, and that was m ore than four acres of ginseng, which had been in planting f or more than forty years. Nearly a l l the bunches of this f amous weed were golden yellow, and the owner r e m a r k e d : " I e xpect to get some m oney out of my 'sang' some of these d ays." I said, "Uncle L ish, y ou w i l l h ardly believe me when I t ell y ou that your garden of ginseng is already worth more t han $ 20,000.". Then he answered, " W h y , I would be glad to get four hundred for it"   seemingly not realizing the value of t his p articular four acres. O n r eturning to the house, Uncle L ish s topped at the crib a nd, t aking from a crack two ears of corn, he g ave a l oud c all, a nd s a i d : " N o w , I want to show you my p i g s ; " and, opening t he gate, he let through nine fine shoats, which followed us into t he house. A s the beautiful porkers filed through the d oor, U ncle r emarked, "Bets don't want me to feed my pigs in the h ouse, but she's got a consarned gang of ducks that is right in t he house the minute you open the d oor.. I f ther's a thing on ' erf' I hate it's a duck; no one can t ell h ow much they eat. I ' l l I 'll t ell y ou what I done t he other day. I went and shelled off half b ushel of corn, and I called them five ducks out thar up in the floor here, and I fed them that whole half bushel of corn, and t hey eat every grain of i t ; and I jest shet the d oor a nd grabbed t hem five ducks, and crammed them into the half bushel, and

  
T A L E S O F T H E MOUNTAINS

9

    p r a y I m ay die   that half bushel wuzn't over two-thirds full." A n d w hile t alking he was shelling the corn on the floor to the pigs, and by the time he got through passing sentence o n the ducks the music of the popping and cracking of corn b y the pigs had flooded the room and, passing out at the large d oors, was echoing against the nearby h illside. A f t e r the pigs h ad f inished their supper, they were driven back through the g ate into the field. A bout six o 'clock i n the evening supper was announced, a nd t he chicken, e ggs, p ork, potatoes, honey, butter, m ilk, s oda b iscuits a nd corn f l a p j a c k s     a l l piled profusely b efore u s     w ould h ave made the city table look l ike t hirty -cents. A f t e r s upper Uncle L ish c alled the five g irls i nto the big r oom and s a i d : " N o w , gals, get the fiddle, 'banjer,' and k nitting n eedles, and give your old cousin some h omespun music." A n d t he way the " g a l s " did up the "Sourwood M ountain," " Sugar H i l l , " A rkansas Traveler," " B o a t i n g up the Sandy," a nd m any other mountain reels, would have graced any stage i n v audeville. A f t e r t he music, he s a i d : " N o w , old cousin, I ' alius' l ay d own early, and get up early, and Bets and the 'gals' wants to go to a big funeral meeting up in the gap tomorrow; and if y ou w i l l go w ith us, I w i l l h itch u p the mules and the wagon, a nd w e w i l l a l l go and hear the old Baptist 'preach infants in h ell, n ot a span long.' " W e retired about nine o 'clock a nd, after a g ood n ight's s leep on a big feather bed, I was awakened by Uncle L ish c a l l ing u p his h ogs, a nd the quacking of ducks, and the lowing of t he c attle   all o f w h i c h brought to my mind many recollections of my b oyhood d ays.
A F U N E R A L M E E T I N G IN T H E R E M O T E P A R T S OF T H E MOUNTAINS

I t w as October 1, a beautiful, frosty Sunday, morning; a nd, i n g ood m ountain fashion, we got away for meeting by 7 :30 o 'clock. O ur vehicle was an ordinary farm wagon, g uiltless of springs; the b ody w as bright blue and the seats a r eal r e d ; o ur team was a very big and a very l ittle m ule, w ith " b l i n d s " t hat were bright r e d ; our harness was of heavy leather and chains. The day was a not-to-be-forgotten one; the g oldenrod and the clematis, in their grey old a ge   made b eautiful b y the s parkling f rost   the forest glorious in its autumn c oloring, w ith t he sturdy, grey tree t runks, f or balance in the p icture. A s we wound our way up the stream, a t hin s kim o f i ce "scronched" under our wheels, the sun shone gloriously,

  
10

T A L E S O F T H E MOUNTAINS

a nd t hat wonderful Sunday feeling and a great p eace l ay over t he l and, a nd the joy of l iving s urged in our hearts. T his c ountry is t hickly p opulated   too much so, in f a c t ; f or the amount of ground level enough to f a r m , w ith a ny a d vantage, is very s mall. T he houses are almost invariably c lose o n the streams, and nestle picturesquely by the w a t e r ; w ith t he h ills r ising a round them are corn fields on end; the cliffs p reclude even goats; and on these ridges and shaggy cliffs t he forest is undisturbed, a s a r ule, so the sky line is a beautiful t imbered one. A s w e wound slowly up and up, men and women passed us on horseback, going faster than w e ; often there were two on a horse, when the two were a man and a woman. This was to be a pretty meeting   a funeral meeting to be held at the g raveyard on the mountain top   and the perfect day called out a g ood a ttendance. A r r i v i n g at the top, the spell of the p lace and the occasion lay hold on our s pirits. I n a cleared s pace on the top of one of the beaver mountains   and, therefore, in a gap of the surrounding mountains   lay the l ittle g raveyard, s urrounded by a close p icket fence. Above the g ate some w hite boards, clumsily put together, held this i n scription, b adly lettered: " G o d Bless Those W h o Sleep H e r e . " A close t hicket of young trees grew to the f ence on one side, a nd a bove g reat oak, chestnut and beech trees spread their s hadows over to the grave of " L i t t l e L u c i n d a , " w hose funeral w e had come to hear. The fallen tree trunks and great boulders w ere moss covered; the mountain ivy showed green among the g ay autumn leaves, and the sky was a veritable azure. I n t he cleared space in front of the graveyard, logs (with b ark s till on them) had been arranged for seats, w ith a s mall o pen space in the middle, where stood a table w ith a w hite c loth, on which a bucket of water and gourd was placed. The p reachers sat in front of the table, on their private log, facing t he graveyard. The crowd f a r outnumbered the seats, reaching i nto the hundreds, and overflowing onto the ground to the o utlying l ogs and on to the stake and rider fence   as to the m asculine p art of it. G roups a rranged themselves on the ground, in the angles of the fence; the others scattered in knots on the h illside. T here seemed an army of mules and horses hitched in the t hickets a nd along the fence; the woman's saddles were covered w ith some b right color, the men's showing a gay blanket a nd m any bridles, w ith b right red blinds. Every a nimal h ad s addlebags, a carpet bag, or some e vidence of dinner to c ome. T he young women's and children's dresses were of many c olors. The old women were a l l in black, w ith t heir black c otton sun bonnets, or else quilted woolen ones, and w ith t heir s hawls a nd their white or colored k nitted " half-handers."

  
T A L E S O F T H E .MOUNTAINS

11

V e r y m any of the women carried bright bunches of autumn f lowers for the grave, and some of the men had stuck a crysanthemum in their button holes, or even jauntily in their hat b ands. S itting t here in the gap, a mountain rose d irectly before a nd one directly behind us; and on either hand there s pread out b efore us a panorama, ridge after ridge, in a l l the g lory of autumn coloi'ing and b rilliant s unshine. It would be h ard to find a more picturesque scene i n the old world, or one m ore v ivid i n coloring   both as to humanity and nature. T he preachers were three, who had come to " f u n e r a l i z e " o ver " L i t t l e L u c i n d a "     a s one affectionately called her. She h ad b een dead nearly two years, was the mother of six c h i l dren, a nd died at the age of twenty-three. Topography and c ustom have fixed the conventionalities of life in this country; d eath is hideous   unsoftened by our veiling of sentiment and c onvention; p eople a re put in a box and put in the ground, w ithout r itual of any k ind e xcept s inging and prayer   but the f amily " a i m s " to have the funeral preached at a pretty meeting w hen the preacher and the weather are propitious. T he first preacher was an half Indian, who apologized for h is i gnorance   but, w ith t he n atural e loquence a nd emotions of his race, rose to the occasion and rambled and ranted in "sing s ong" in a way that I found s till c reditable, after being absent f rom my native haunts so long and after hearing the two white m en. He said he was not much acquainted w ith t he family, a nd b egged t heir pardon if he stepped on their feelings or t heir toes b y being ignorant of them and their ways and their f ailings. H e ended his harangue by saying he had "collected" a h ymn, and p roceeded to line out " I A m a Lonesome Dove." T his h ymn told of the "lone d ove" h aving lost his mate and, f urther, " M y children cry, no mother by to take them on her k nee, etc." I f elt uncomfortable, knowing the man had married again, a nd he and his new wife were present   but found, when n umber two of the preachers arose, that I need feel no responsibility, a nd that in this t ruly s imple life the pretense that stepmothers are really_ mothers does n ot exist. N umber t wo wore no col