xt7sf7664h2c https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sf7664h2c/data/mets.xml Thompson, Samuel Hunter, 1876- 1910  books b92f4421t4702009 English Eaton & Mains; Cincinnati, Jennings & Graham  : New York Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Appalachians (People) Tennessee, East --Social life and customs. The Highlanders of the South. text The Highlanders of the South. 1910 2009 true xt7sf7664h2c section xt7sf7664h2c 
  
L IBRARY

G ORDON B . T A T U M

  
  
%

  
  
  
T H E HIGHLANDERS OF T H E SOUTH
BY

SAMUEL

H.

THOMPSON

NEW

YORK:

EATON

&

MAINS

C I N C I N N A T I : J E N N I N G S Ic G R A H A M

  
C opyright, 1910,

by

E A T O N & MAINS

  
TO MR. J O H N W. FISHER AND MR. JOHN A. P A T T E N , WHO, WITH IN T H E FIELD, OTHER HAVE, LOYAL WITH SERVTHE

LAYMEN

M ONEY A N D THROUGH PERSONAL ICE, AIDED THE HIGHLANDER OF

S OUTH, T HIS LITTLE V O L U M E IS CIATIVELY DEDICATED.

APPRE-

  
  
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

F r o m Whence They Come W here They L i v e T heir Characteristics T heir Manners and Customs W h a t They D o T heir Service W h a t They D o N o t K n o w T he Problem O ther Denominations T he Methodist Episcopal Church T he Progress of the South U n t o the Last .   

13 19 26 29 34 3 44
8

54 65 69 72 79

5

  
  
ILLUSTRATIONS
T he Home Place A G enuine "Razorback" A n O l d Church in which Methodists Continue W orship A W eaver and Lover of Cats to SO 79 Frontispiece
FACING PAGE

31

7

  
  
FOREWORD I N the gathering of materials for this brief account the writer has sought to strike a happy m edium between any existing extremes; he has e ndeavored to be conservative in all things, and he has been careful to give only such statements as may be readily substantiated. W i t h the hope of stirring the people everywhere t o a deeper sense o f their obligation to their less f ortunate brothers, and with the desire to create w ithin the minds of those who can the spirit of h elpfulness to those who cannot but would if they c ould, i s this little volume sent forth.
S AMUEL H . T H O M P S O N .

C huckey, Tennessee.

9

  
  
INTRODUCTION I T w as a very happy thought on the part of the H ome M issionary Board to ask P rincipal S amuel H . T hompson to prepare this little volume descriptive of our work in the South. N o one in all my a cquaintance is better prepared to do such work i ntelligently a nd effectively than P rincipal T hompson. H ere he has lived and wrought for years. A l l w ho know him are deeply impressed with the earnestness o f his consecration and his splendid s ervice to the cause o f Christian education i n Tennessee. A s our g reat C hurch becomes a ware of the i mportant work being done i n this section the result is sure to be a lively interest and a more active c ooperation. I a m glad to bid this little volume a hearty Godspeed and to hope for it a mission of blessing to m any lives.
WILLIAM F. ANDERSON.

it

  
  
CHAPTER I
FROM WHENCE THEY COME

I T i s rather singular that a people migratory in t heir h abits may be able to trace their ancestry f or a n almost unbroken period of nearly twenty c enturies. This is s till m ore singular when we c onsider that these people w ere p robably continent d wellers to begin w i t h ; later, islanders; after many y ears they migrated to another island, and thence t o a g reat a nd rapidly developing continent   North A merica. P eople migratory both by habit and by n ature usually lose sight of such remote things as a ncestry and lineage i n the nearer and more personal i nterest of posterity and sustenance therefor. M oreover, it would not be expected of a people in the times of struggle where might makes r ight, o f conquest not only for gain but for life as well, and of the making of a new home, that t hey should preserve i n fullness of detail such r ecords. Thus we f ind l ittle written of the early h istory o f this people. B ut f rom the time of the invasion of Ireland about the beginning of the present era by some f oreign tribes, probably from the European continent n ear by, forty-six in number, who w ere v ictors on the Hibernian Isle, we have a p ractically u nbroken a ccount of the people known to history as the Scotch-Irish. A m o n g the tribes above m entioned w as one known as the Scotriage, and subsequently by the Latinized form, Scoti. They
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The Highlanders of the South

seem to have been victors over all other tribes and to have led the later invasions of B ritain. E a r l y they showed advanced elements of thrift and progress. Cormac, a chief of the I rish S coti, is said t o have introduced, as early as the t hird c entury, w ater m ills i nto Ireland, and to have established schools for the study of law, military affairs, and the annals of the country. Laws attributed to him c ontinued i n force all through the M iddle A ges. Is i t a ny wonder that the descendants of such chiefs have been always a liberty-loving people? T hese Scoti chiefs and their progeny continued to keep themselves known i n the border warfare o f I reland and B ritain, i ncluding Scotland, to which c ountry they g ave i ts present name, u ntil the accession of James V I of Scotland to the B ritish t hrone in 1 603. S ome vainly thought at this time t hat because the I rish w ere the original " S c o t i " the S cottish k i n g would sympathize with oppressed, d uke-ridden, a nd tax-burdened Ireland. B u t not so. Could these same people look upon their b eloved isle from then to now they would see b ut little difference so far as oppression is concerned. B ut they did not close their struggles for liberty because o f discouragement. Forced to take the " Black O a t h " of Charles I, they continued to be objects of oppression, after having again migrated, t his t ime from Scotland to Ireland, early in the seventeenth century, taking residence in the county U lster, k nown later as the Ulster Plantation. In subsequent persecutions of trade by W i l l i a m I I I , a l iberal-minded man but forced as k i n g to suppress, i f possible, the I rish w oolen trade, the Ulster

  
F rom W hence They Come

15

w eavers w ere n ot crushed, but rather their industry flourished. T he Scots of Ulster w ere s upplemented by some H uguenot r efugees, w ho established manufacturing i nterests in the county. However, a little later c ommercial r estraints brought their interests to n aught. T h e sacramental t est o f 1 7 0 4 w as seemingly j ust as hurtful to the Scottish Presbyterians in Ireland as to the I rish C atholics, though the former d efended the town of Londonderry in favor of the c rown. B u t the last straw came i n 1 772, w hen the " Steelboys" rose against the exactions of absentee l andlords, w ho often turned out Protestant yeomen t o get a higher rent from the Roman Catholic c ottiers. The dispossessed patriots, true to their l iberty a nd justice-loving inheritance, migrated to t he g reat A merican continent and carried w i t h t hem an undying hatred of England which had m uch t o say i n the A m e r i c a n Revolution so soon t o follow. Thus it is seen that not only for i njustice to America, but to other colonies as well, d id E ngland h ave t o account. P r i o r to this time, however, many of the ScotchIrish, so called by their having g one f rom Scotland t o Ulster, had come to the southeastern coast o f N o r t h A merica, settling i n the Carolinas, some o f t hem forming a part of the "Regulators" who w ere defeated by the crown troops under Governor ( Tryon at the battle on the Alamance R i v e r early i n the seventies o f the eighteenth century. They h ad a gain resisted oppressive taxation, the tax this t ime b eing levied to erect a m ansion for the B ritish g overnor. M a n y of these defeated patriots had

  
16

The Highlanders of the South

t o flee into more remote sections, not a few going i nto the territory out of which have since been c arved the States o f Tennessee and Kentucky, and h elping to settle those unbroken forests. W h i l e a l arge per cent of the some five millions o f people i n the Southern Appalachians are ScotchIrish, i t must not be supposed that all are of that descent. There is a strain of other blood, but doubtless the oldest strain is Scotch-Irish. N e x t t o these people come the Germans and D u t c h     " Black D u t c h " they are called by many. O f more recent years many emigrants to these f ertile valleys a nd w ell-timbered h ills h ave been what are known l ocally as "Pennsylvania D u t c h , " being descendants of early Dutch and German settlers in the land o f P ennsylvania. It must not be forgotten that a mong many of the Southern peoples the word " D u t c h " i s meant to imply Germans as well as the people from H olland. T hese settlers, whether of the pure German or Dutch strain, prove good and v aluable additions to the native population, being i ndustrious, e nergetic, thrifty, and economical. I n m any instances they have a trade and ply it well. S ome of them are potters; others, carpenters, m asons, and blacksmiths. N o t a few of the early G erman settlers have given able and successful m inisters, one German family giving four sons to t his g reatly needed profession. Another family of G erman a nd Scotch-Irish blending has five p reachers, three sons and two sons-in-law. A l l of these n ationalities have contributed to the sturdy y eomanry of the country districts. N o r should w e forget a few French people who came to the W estern wilderness and contributed their share

  
F rom W hence They Come

17

i n m aking a fertile field o ut of a dense forest. S ometimes they were r efugees; a gain, they came o f t heir own free w ill, s eeking a new country. E ngland d id not f ail t o contribute valuable material f rom h er overplus of island population   a population whose ancestors under H e n r y I, H e n r y I I I , a nd K i n g J ohn first received a taste for constitutional l iberty and slept not u ntil possessed by them o n b oth sides the Atlantic. P erhaps a few other nationalities have come, but t heir influence is not so marked. Once in a g reat w hile one finds an old Spanish name whose owner doubtless descended from some follower of Cortez, P izzaro, o r De Soto. F r o m s uch cosmopolitan sources one would e xpect a cosmopolitan people. But such is hardly the case, as w ill be seen later. O ut o f this strange heterogeneous mass there has evolved a compact whole presenting a s olid f ront a gainst Romanism. E a r l y came the Presbyterians, M ethodists, and Baptists. It would seem that the Methodist Church took the lead among the c ommon people. W e read from a distinguished h istorian o f one of these m ountain States, James P helan i n his H istory o f Tennessee: "These [the M ethodists] w ere fond of touching the emotions a nd feelings of their congregations, and appealed d irectly to their hearts. They brought religion home to the hearts of their hearers, whereas the old Presbyterians only t ried to affect their reason by the use of logic and of quotations from the B ible, a nd by expositions of doctrine. The M ethodists soon outstripped the Presbyterians, a nd have since spread all through the Southwest."

  
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The Highlanders of the South

T he same writer pays the following tribute to the circuit-rider: "The circuit-rider has done more to b uild u p, broaden, and strengthen the Methodist C hurch t han all other human agencies c ombined. A s the number of preachers was insufficient to give one to each congregation, it became necessary for one preacher to take charge of several churches a nd t ravel from one place to another. H e also at times organized new congregations. The circuitrider was generally a man of g reat b ravery, and was ready to face d eath at any time in order to advance the cause o f religion and to save a s oul. H e was not often a man of much learning, but he was pure as a c hild a nd k ind a nd gentle. Frequent m ention is made by some of the early writers of the c ircuit-rider, w ith his saddlebags, on a rawboned h orse, plodding unconcernedly through a forest w here a bullet from an Indian gun might at any m inute b ring him to his death." I n c onnection with the establishment of churches i t i s a significant fact that the Roman Catholics never gained much ground among these m ountain people. However, in the opinion of the writer they are gaining more now than ever before. They are establishing little missions, with the hope of m aking t hem larger, wherever they can get a few souls. In the rapidly growing towns they seek t o be ready for the newcomers from the N o r t h and E ast. I n some sections they send out literature s oliciting financial aid for what they term a worthy a nd needy mission field. A l l they say may be true, b ut if you are afraid of Romanism get ready to c ombat it at once, and first of all and more effectively where it finds virgin s oil.

  
C H A P T E R II
WHERE THEY L IVE

A C L E A R estimate of any people cannot be f ormed w ithout a knowledge of the natural features b y which they are surrounded. Topography often has as much to do with the formation of character as racial inheritances. A man cannot be correctly estimated unless the mountains that encompassed h im o r the plains that spread out before his feet o r the rivers that nourished his vegetation are k nown a nd measured. It may be that he dwells on the highland, where the cool breezes o f summer are b ut l ittle m ore than the breath of winter; or that h is abode is in the valley, where the rudest blast f rom the fiercest storms never reaches his humble b ut homelike cabin. Perchance he dwells among the fertile prairies or r olling l ands of the g reat W est, whose v irgin s oil renders him independent so far as the g oods o f this world are concerned. B ut a ll these t hings are character-making elements. A n y g ood geography w ill s how the natural features of N o r t h A merica by the relief maps. The S outhern A ppalachians are seen to be well supplied w ith w ater whose drainage is most excellent. The streams shown on the relief maps are perhaps the least important save as a sort of receiving canal f or the other and smaller streams. In the thousands of valleys to be found among these m ountains i t is doubtful if you f ind one five miles long destitute of running water in some form. Some->
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T h e Highlanders of the South

times it is a rapidly flowing stream having its s ource at the head of the valley, or, as sometimes o ccurs, far up on the mountain side gushing forth i n p urity and abundance. A n d it may be right here that an i llicit d istillery exists and "moonshine" w hisky m ay flow as freely and almost as abundantly as the crystal water. I n t his Appalachian system of about 1 7 5 , 0 0 0 square miles there dwell some four or five m illions o f people who are essentially l ike o ther folks, and w ho are first of all patriotic. A century and a h alf ago this was practically an unbroken forest. N o one east at that time thought habitation in these m ountains possible, much less p robable. It is remembered that General Washington declared that i f the B ritish s hould defeat h im in the valleys of the New England rivers and elsewhere he would take his handful of troops beyond the Alleghanies a nd there forever defy approach. T he Father of his Country was by no means alone in regarding the Appalachians as the natural w estern l imit o f the country, and the formidable l imit o f all progress in the direction of the setting s un. I t would not be expected that a system of m ountains so large even as to h ave i ts northern o rigin i n Newfoundland and its southern disappearance among the h ills o f northern Alabama w ould be a barrier to men who braved the Atlantic f or c onscience' sake. Even larger barriers would not have d eterred them. A s population increased a nd men desired more forest area passes w ere f ound i n the mountains and the way was opened f or the pioneer, the advance guard of c ivilization. D aniel B oone, the noted hunter and trapper, and

  
W here They Live

21

others of his k ind w ho could not endure a neighbor so close as five miles kept up a constant search for n ew and untried hunting grounds. It was often the purpose of the settlers to make for themselves a l ittle place of their own and discourage others f rom t aking land near by, thus reserving fertile spots for their own k ith a nd kin. T he mountains are not always h i g h ; nor are the v alleys always deep. T a k i n g the Appalachians as a w hole, they vary from a few hundred feet above sea level to the lofty height of almost seven thousand feet, as seen in Clingman's Dome, Mount M itchell, a nd others. It is true that habitations are not found at many places on these h ighest peaks, yet Cloudland, 6,394 feet i n height, is a g reat s ummer resort, and people do live there t hrough the winter. The hotel here is built d irectly across the surveyed line between the States o f N orth C arolina and Tennessee. F r o m some of these m ountain streams the smaller t owns and cities get their water supply, and that a bundantly, o f the purest water known. W e know one l ittle t own whose supply of water comes from a m ountain spring the estimated capacity of which i s ten m illion g allons daily. Another use of these r apidly flowing streams is to t urn s mall corn m ills g rinding perhaps ten to twenty bushels of meal p er day. A few t urn r oller flouring m ills, b ut the t rade is almost entirely local custom. Recent d evastation of forests by lumber dealers has b rought innumerable steam saw m ills, w hose work is n ot so commendable, because i t means not only a decrease of our Southern forests but the impoverishment o f the land as well. M r . Graves and his

  
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The Highlanders of the South

F orestry Commission would do well not merely to pass t hrough this section touching only the p rincipal c ities, but they should go deep i nto the mountains and there see what the onward march of socalled civilization has done. A side from the finest of hemlock, poplar, cherry, b irch, oak, pine, gum, walnut, maple, and almost e very o ther species o f timber found on this continent, many herbs of medicinal properties grow in abundance i n these r egions   even to this day the " yarb doctor" is not so uncommon   ginseng, called " sang" by the mountain people; mandrake or may apple, m ullein, w ild i ndigo, lady's slipper, black s nakeroot, burdock, lobelia, P o o r Robinson's tobacco, catnip, and many other herbs the essences o f which are often used as simple remedies by these people, and frequently with more effect t han "doctor stuff," as the people sometimes derisively refer to the medicine given by practicing physicians. M any o f the useful minerals and some o f the p recious metals are found in these m ountains. N o t i nfrequently stories are told of men who mine their o wn lead and run their own bullets in the handladle for the old-fashioned "bear g u n " or smaller s quirrel r ifle. I ron ore is perhaps the most abundant of the minerals found. The ore produced from the mines of these m ountains is said to be the finest i n the United S tates. I n one of these v alleys there are ridges containing seemingly an i nexhaustible supply of i ron o re assaying ninety-six per cent pure i ron, s aid to be the richest known outside of Denmark. Nothing need be said of the V irginia c oal fields. Their riches are too widely k nown to need comment here. M u c h z inc is

  
W here They Live

2

3

f ound, b ut not i n pockets such as to be of g reat v alue. Copper is found in some of the States, and the mines therein worked to advantage, as at the f amous Ducktown or Copperhill mines in Tennessee. Phosphate beds are so abundant as to be m aking m en r ich. N o finer marble is in the c ountry than here. Tennessee building stone is f amous throughout the nation. L a n d p laster (gypsum) has made many a poor farmer wealthy despite his ignorance. M i c a , f eldspar, hematite, a nd barytes are some of the many other useful m inerals f ound. Traces of gold and silver are h ere, but not more than a few hundred thousand d ollars' w orth of these m etals have been mined. T hey do not occur in g reat a bundance. E very s tranger coming here is delighted with the sublime scenery. Bishop Foster did not hesitate to say that it is as grand as any in the Alpine r egions. Others have testified to the grandeur b eing unsurpassed by the Rockies and other famous r egions. There are many varieties of valleys and h ills o ccasioned by the numerous forms of the m ountains themselves. It is no uncommon thing to be on some of these h igh peaks basking in the s unshine while just below you a few hundred yards m ay be a heavy cloud drenching any mountain c limber n ext below it. "The Battle above the C louds" i s no myth. T he climate is most salubrious. People live to a g reat age in these m ountains. Their vigor and a gility are wonderful. W e know a man in his n inety-sixth y ear who frequently shaves h imself, a nd has no trouble to walk without a cane. The s tory is t old o f a Northerner coming South in

  
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T he Highlanders of the South

search of health, and, finding- what appeared a d elightful place in the mountains near Asheville, he was about to engage l odging when he came i n c ontact with one of the natives in the front yard o f his own household. The native was shedding tears as if in g reat p ain, though he was to all appearance threescore and ten. The stranger accosted him to know the cause o f his distress when the following conversation took place, as we h ave it: " What is the cause o f your distress, my friend?" s aid the kindly disposed stranger. " Pap whopped me," replied the native. " Good g racious, man, where is your father?" " U p i n the loft puttin' granddad ter bed," was the characteristic reply. T hus you see people never die in these m ountains. Without more levity, it is more evident every year that eventually many parts of these m ountains w ill be utilized for the erection of s anitariums for the treatment of consumption, t uberculosis, bronchitis, and catarrhal diseases. W i t h a ll these a ttractions, the habitat of the S outhern Highlander is yet one of seclusion and r etirement. H e really has not much ambition to change i t. But once he goes a -roaming he may stay a way f or years. In some places he resents the c oming of the locomotive, and looks upon so tame a t hing as a pike road as an intrusion into his rightful d omain. In many counties not a railroad has gone, a nd may not go for years. The narrow m ountain p ublic roads are often impassable in w inter and the rainy season of the spring. Even horsemen have a difficult time to get across the

  
W here They Live

25

m ountains at such times. The only sure way is on f oot, and then you may be stopped by swollen streams, fallen trees, or other barriers. The bridle p ath is the most convenient and safest o f all the r oads. T hus has the horizon of the mountaineer been l imited by the surrounding mountain tops and the heads o f the valleys in which his humble dwelling has been located. H i s has been a time of rest a nd peace a nd quiet. H a s he profited by it?

  
CHAPTER THEIR

III

CHARACTERISTICS

I F y ou should see a man make the sign of the ^ cross before e ating you would not need to ask his faatfOuL* r eligion; i f you should hear him say "hadn't ought o^u^^T a done that," or "Cunnel Johnson, suh, of Geo'gia," y ou would at once r ecognize his home section. I n the same w ay would you know the mountain m an by the way he talks, acts, a nd has his b eing. I t does n ot seem o ut of place to put loyalty as the first of the characteristics by which a man of the Southern Appalachians should be known. H e m ay not have a ny Indian blood in his veins, but l oyalty, to him, can h ave b ut one meaning, and that never to f orget e ither friend or foe. Likes and d islikes without any logical reason save t hat of an u nreasoning prejudice h ave cost m any a man his c ounty office and many a church its opening w edge i nto a c ommunity needing the influence only a c hurch could give. It is an old saying that if a m ountaineer likes you he w ill d ie for you, and if he dislikes you you w ill i n all probability die for h im. T he writer fears t his is all too true. M a n y a t ime has this loyal mountaineer been known to t ravel miles on foot, enduring severe c old and p ain a nd often hunger, to warn a friend thought to be in danger. Doubtless he would be just as zealous i n the pursuit of an enemy. H e has been k nown to divide his last morsel of food with a way-

  
T heir Characteristics

27

f aring m an, be he stranger or acquaintance. W h a t g reater loyalty could one find a nywhere? H e i s essentially a man of the woods, and prefers that his surroundings be such. "Store clothes" m ay have come to many of these p eople, but the r eal m ountain man prefers his "double Dutch b reeches" and his brogan shoes t ied with groundhog hide; while his wife, warm-hearted soul that she is, wants her "linsey-worsted" basque-andoverskirt set off with a l ittle " breakfast shawl" and a l arge kerchief bound over her head. Glowing c olors appeal to the hardy and simple-hearted m ountaineers almost as much as to the aboriginal t ribes on other continents of which we hear so m uch f rom traders and travelers. Y o u often see the mountain youth with a red handkerchief about h is n eck, and if it is s ilk i n quality and deep r ed i n c olor he is more the envy of his fellows. N o t less pleasing are these f ast colors to the feminine p art of the inhabitants, bright red and deep b lue b eing their favorite colors. If you doubt this just e xamine the calicoes and notions in a mountain c ountry store. It often matters not whether the c olors are fast or merely passing. The present s how is sufficient to sell the goods, and that is all f or w hich either the merchant or the customer seems t o care. Shirts, trousers, coat, shoes, socks, a nd h at constitute the wardrobe of the a verage S outhern mountaineer. V e r y few of them wear u nderclothes. They are hardy, and nearly all of t hem have early in life been subjected to some k ind o f h ardening process so that they do not m ind w hat many of us would term severe h ardships. U nkemptness, to coin a word, would perhaps be

  
28

T h e Highlanders of the South

a nother characteristic of this son of the forest. T he longer he wears his hair, and the more uncombed, the more of a mountain man is he. J usf a f ew weeks ago the writer saw a mountaineer come i n a stride of one of four mules drawing a lumber w agon. O n his head was the characteristic black s louch hat covering long, flowing locks of hair as b lack as the hat. H i s face had not seen razor or scissors in months. W o u l d you be surprised to k now that this man is a mountain correspondent to a c ounty newspaper? H i s letters are not s illy, b y any means, but contain good sense i n many instances. O f course, they need some editorial correction, but they are much better than no letters. T his m an is a typical mountaineer. I was abc.it to say illiteracy is another char a cteristic, b ut I ghall reserve the discussion on thai f or a nother chapter. I t hink it but fair to say that the average m ountaineer uses i obacco in some * 'klbtttg w ay; usually it is in all the w ays k nown to man. s-ntf-ffi A n d he knows not when he began to use it. H e chews, smokes, snuffs, and doubtless sometimes ft e n/   i7,t    t ^ j _ Y es, and he drinks the product of Ji'cv-/ f*t_   t i l l , too. A n d he w ill s wear some if he has   dip ;Y if, o ccasion. But these a lso are to be saved for a etWee exAjc-M c hapter. * iicfy W i t h a ll these s eemingly conflicting characteristics, he is k ind, w arm-hearted, cheerful, friendly, amiable, a nd gentle as a c hild. H e w ill g o out of h is w ay to do you a favor, and you can count him a " square man" every day in the week. H e w ill go with you to the last d itch, a nd cross it with you i f y ou need him.
ea s wee( s
teT

  
CHAPTER IV
THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

T H I S S outhern mountaineer is a queer mixture o f m anners and brusqueness. H e would extend to y ou the hospitality of his home for days at a t ime, b ut would resent any attempt on your part to introduce modern manners even i n the most l imited w ay, as the following incident w ill s how. A g entleman traveling in the mountains sought s helter from the night in the humble home of one o f these honest fellows. H e was t old that he might share the bed with the teacher of the mountain " skule." T he stranger graciously accepted the c onditions a nd bade his host a pleasant good-night. T he next morning, thinking to continue in the apparent good g races o f the owner of the house, the stranger saluted him with a cheery "Goodmorning, s ir." " I s taid hyar last night, tew; yer needn't be s peakin' t er me, stranger." A n d the good old mountaineer meant just what he said. N o ceremonies for him. H e had spoken w ords of greeting upon the a rrival o f the stranger the afternoon before, and they were enough f or h im even though the visitor should remain a guest a w hole week. N o unnecessary use of w ords for him. One greeting was sufficient for a ll t ime. T he mountaineer's manners are brusque and often blunt, but beneath the rough exterior there

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30

T he Highlanders of the South

beats the kindliest heart kept i n the warmest breast any man e ver k new. S ensitive, too, is this man whose life is often one o f isolation and seclusion. Poverty seldom has a t hick s kin. L et this Highlander of the South but t hink y ou look upon him as one not up to the best as the outside world calls the best, a nd from that moment his manner toward you is cold and indifferent, if not impolite. N o man   not even an Indian     c a n show more indifference and utter unconcern for present people and things than can this m ountaineer when he so chooses. A man at no c ourt, be he plenipotentiary or a mere attache, needs m ore diplomacy and tact and ability than does the man who comes to reach this untutored c hild w ho has within him so much latent force, s trong and vigorous but undeveloped. Approach h im i n the right way and you forever h ave the key to his life, his habits, his hopes, his ambitions, and a ll that he holds dear. But approach him without s kill, f oresight, and judgment, and you are at once t ightly b arred from ever g aining this entrance so m uch sought and so badly needed. I n h is habits, manners, and customs he is almost p rimitive. T he hand loom is by no means a thing o f the past; nor is the hand grater for making corn m eal. T he geared or yoked oxen may be seen attached to a wooden plow. Y o u can yet find the p uncheon floor and buildings covered with boards h eld on by poles and logs and even rocks. Crude utensils for t illing the s oil m ay yet be found. M a n y horseshoes and plow points   "bull tongues"   are made in the ordinary blacksmith shop or forge. S plit baskets a nd splitbottom chairs are made by

  
  
  
1 heir Manners and Customs

31

these people, and they decorate their baskets with g ay colors made from their own compound of b ark, ooze, and wood coloring. Not a few make t heir o wn shoes, and almost all stockings are homeknit. L eather is tanned often at a little bark yard w hose capacity is from one to ten hides per day or less. Harness or " gears," s addles, and other outfits for horses are made at home by the oil lamp, o r perhaps oftener by the light from the pine torch. H e gets h is meal at the little mountain m ill, a nd his f lour, t he little he uses, at a river m ill some distance from home. W h e n it comes to a question of m illing he usually carries his grist on his shoulders 4^e*l  &st" * t o the m ill a nd returns with it in the same manner. HO-IA^CL, H i s meat or bacon he raises himself, seldom CcUsZeJ. LSjtll^ b utchering anything but a "razorback," a term suggested by the thinness of the animal and also by the length of its nose. Needless to say that this species of swine is of mixed blood. H e comes to h is present state, however, largely by lack of care. N ever does he get any food save a corns and chest- CoU^Ji ~^td^Jr n uts and fruit from such other trees as the woods o f the h ills a nd mountains afford. F r o m this foraging direct is the hog butchered and used for f ood. N o w and then he is fed for a w eek o r two b efore going to g race the table of this man who l ikes h is corn pone and bacon. O u r m ountain