The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1868-11-06
The Hunter Or ,hc l,ie. smo,tcy.

The Hunter Of tho Zig Smokey.
Our old friend, the Hunter of the Big
Smokey Mountain, was down n few days ago
on his usual autumnal visit. Though some
years have passed since we last grasped
his bard and honest palm, time has made but
little change in hisappearonce and with the
exception Of a streak or two more of gray
about the head, little more bronze in the
features and an additional furrow on the brow,
he Is the same tall, erect and stalwart man.
wearing the old look, and with mind and Ian
guage simple and truthful rs childhood ITSELF
We like occasionally to meet with one of those
old men,who live way up among the rugged
hills, where the air is pure and bracing, and
moral malaria never reaches: for we know
when they are talking to us they mean what
they say, and that the vigorous grasp OF their
hand is the impulse of an earnest principle
within.
Our old friend informs us that there is an
abundance of game of all sorts in the noun
tains and along the stcppes between the
Unakoi and Big Smokey-more deer than he
has known for some years. lie also showed us
some specimens of collaborating quartz picked
1
Upon venturing question, whether there
were indications Of any considerable quanti-
ties, we received the old Evolutionary answer
that there is an abundance of the stuff some
where among the mountains, and that the
sign Is becoming more apparent than in for
mer times, caused no doubt to some ex tent Inv
the unusual heavy rains and washes which
have swept the entire range during the past
summer aud fall ,...,
the hunter stated that in the early morning
ofthc DIST ilt., just before day, he was aroused
from his >lumbcrs by heavy rumbling sound.
which seemed to be accompanied by n, shak-
ing of the ground where his humble cabin
stands. On repairing to the outside he found.
though no clouds werein sight. an oppressive
ness in the air he had never noticed before
The vibrations and dctonations, he INSERTS.
! continued ut intervals for more than fifteen or
twenty minutes. sufficiently marked to cause
the larger trees to sway to and fro like reeds,
and to displacc loose rocks and earth and set
them to rolling about in Ia way not altogether
encouraging or comfortable to look at. TO en-
ploy his own language, it seemed like Big
Smokey had regular attack of lager" and
49, u '"S w SH"NN hclScll w pieces. lie also
stated that after sun-up, on turning his eye to
| the highest cone Of the mountain in view, he
thought he could see clouds of dark, thick
smoke slowly issuing from it, and that on the
succeeding night occasionally jets or bolts of
flame could be seen shooting pfrom the same
point
Upon telling the old man Of the terrible ca
| tastruphe along the coast of Peru and Ecuador
by which thousands Of beings were swallow
ed up and overwhelmed in the twinkling of an
eye, and of the more recent shaking up in Cali
with the thought, but in moment replied.
that it didn't matter much how and when a
man went so that he was ready and not afraid
to 20, and that he could rest just as well in a
grave dug by CONFUSION of nature among
the hills where he had spent the larger portion
of his life, and perhaps be no sooner forgotten
than they who are put away with solemn os-
tentation and gilded sorrow in the crowded
cemeteries of the cities.
/ We don't know that the old Hunter of the
Big Smokey, with his weather-beaten rifle in
hand and rude hunting knife ut side can tel
the letters of the alphabet or ever heard a ser
mon from the lips ola fcllOw-mortal; but ther,
was in that expression the philosophy of al
honest, simple, trusting nature, and a faith in
something Higher as enduring as the stern and
rugged heights among which he dwells.