The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-12-11
The HoOsiers of Posey County.
An Historic but Vanishing R.c.
WHERE EGeLEsroN GOT HIS CHARACTERS
Letter 70 Che Cincinnati Commercial. !

Letter to the Cincinnati Commercial,
In the southwest corner of Indiana he-
tween the Ohio and the Wabash H. boI"'- De
county. Nearly ten years since i tauobt =
winter school in the center of PosevF and
from my own charge and patrons, might have
furnished all the characters Tor Eggleston:
sold Man Means,' ''Bud" and isis, );
Hank and ,'Shocky, all figure in my rec
objections. The boys ''barred me out" of
course; but | tried no such heroic remedies
as dld Ralph Hartsock. On the contrary
quietly returned to my boardinc-house. and
read law all day, only too glad of an excuse
to get away from the noisy crew for a whole
day and study my chosen profession. Posev
Is unique. 1t has on the south and
west some OF the best districts in
the state, which have given us such
men as Mcclure, Gen. A. II. Hoyey and the
Owens family; while in the center and north
are regions so benighted that strangers would
not believe literal description. / remember
1t used to be said that Just north of where 7
taught, people run down their chillren with
dogs once month to put clean clothes on
tnein and IN the maps we used to draw at
school-not the school l taught-we laid
Posey off in four divisions, marked Tins in
childish comedy: ''Ciyilized Tribes .sYa-
hoos," "Mungeroons," ''Unexplored Re-
gons." / had IS scholars on INV list and
my private record shows IS corporal punisI,-
ment inflicted and the bulk of that fell on
tnree boys, "Lickin' and larnin'-lickin'
and larnln' - was the alliterative philosophy
OF Center township, in Posey county.
In this part Of Indiana and Illinois the
original Hooser fourished. Flat Greek
Hoop-pole, Dog Hollow and Lick Skillet are
all mere. NO stage caricature ever repre-
sented the Hoosier to one who knows him.
he is sui generis; gaunt of person, pale yellow
OF hair, loose OF joint, long drawn out and
shaky, with inimitable voice, and a foot
which is destruction to cut-worms. l know
the Hoosier well, and can talk about him as
please, for L was born With him, partially
brought up with him; narrowly escaped
being one OF him. His language is deriya-
tive and compound dialect, consisting of equsl
parts of literally translated PENNSYLVANIA
Dutch mloms, Carolina and Kentucky mig
gerisms, and good stocky English. Webster
has no vowel sounds which will fully repre-
sent the Hoosier dialect. Its grammar NAV
oe partially Illustrated by the conjugation Of
the word ito do" As thus
Present tense: Regular as in English.
Imperfect: done it, you done it he done
it.
Plural: We'uns done it, you'uns done IL.
they'u uns done it, etc.
Perfect: gone done it. etc.
Plural We'uns gone done it, etc.
Pluperfect: | been gone done it, etc.
Piural; We'uns been gone done it. etc.
First future: gwine to do it, you gwine TO
do it, etc.
Plural: We'uns gwine to do it, etc.
Second future: gwine to gone done it,
etc. ~
Plural: We'uns gwine to gone done it, you
'uns gwine, etc.
The Hoosier enjoyed corn shuckines. cir
cuses and ''spellin' matches;' his greatest
dread was the ''ieyern ager." In nv bow
mood this terrible scourge was both epidemic
and endemic, both chronic and sporadic. In
some neighborhoods it came only at the
turn OF the season"-along in August
when the vegetation begins to part with its
juices to the air; in other places it was to be
expected at any season of the year, and any
hour Of the day These last were specifically
known as the lager nsborhoods;'' - newconi-
efs were solemnly warned not to get in such
and every village cherished traditions Of
some other village not far remote where the
Town bell was rung every two hours for
folks to take their quinine." Nov one NAV
live for yeas in almost any part of Indiana
before seeing case of ague. But it comes
back sometimes in rather startling wav.
and this appears to have been one of the
years for it. met young people of nv ac-
qualntance who had never seen case before
tneir own, itshad so nearly vanished; but 1
recognized 1t in q minute as the same old
mean, sneaking, freezing disease. Cognate
with the lager was milk sick" that
strange, unaccountable affection. which seiz-
ed upon milk kline, and through their milk.
butter and flesh upon man. That, too,
seems to be nearly extinct. Indeed, L never
hear 1t mentioned nowSbut it was the cause
OF many painful lingering deaths and still
more shattered constitutions twenty-five
years ago. A thousand times have heard
groups OF farmers discuss the various theories.
as to whether it was in the water or in air.
or the vegetation, or all three, and for aught
l know the question Is unsettled yet. The
Hoosier, too, is almost extinct, and since the
school law OF 1856 went into operation a
young generation of educated people have
come npoR the stage. Our people have be-
come better mixed in both the States. The
poor whites who left the South to- get
away from slavery are no longer the majority
of our population. The northern man has
come into the general mass much more readi-
ly than one would have expected who knew
their mutual prejudices twenty-five years ago.
The southern settler probably had more per-
sonal generosity; the northern far more pub
lie spirit. The former was free with his to-
bacco and liquor, loaned his horses and dogs.
and on public days "treated'' everybody as
long as his money lasted; but when a church
or school-house was to be built the other
came out of his financial reserve, gave ten
fold more, aud with more judicious Iiberality.
The union of the two has produced the young
Westerner, OF whom l am proud to be consid-
cred one.