Port Royal commercial and Beaufort County Republican. [volume] (Port Royal, S.C.) 1873-1874, 1873-12-11
Real Backw00ds Hum0r.
Ane.dots. of tho "Hawbuc...n

Anecdotes of tho "Hawbucls."
Edward Eggleston in sketch OF
backwoods humor gives us the follow.
ing:
Ihave been not o little interested in
studying the humor of the "Hoosier"
that is, the rough back-country class
who are laughed at by all the rest. You
laugh at the hawbuck, but the hawbuek
has somebody in his Imagination green.
er and lower than he is, and it gratifes
his vanity to tell stories of blunders
which he would have scorned to make.
I have found. in conversation with the
rudest people, that they always told me
jokes of ruder people. There is no fun
in these stories, or not much to Guilt
vated people, but they are at least curl.
Gus as illustrating the character of
these people who tell them and laugh
at them by the wide open fre-places Of
their log cabins. Will you hear some
of them:
There were once two young men who
had never been away from home, who
went to town on an errand of some sort.
They conspired together and bought
two and half cents worth OF ginger
bread. As they walked alongthe streets
,stuffing it into their mouths, ono OF
them nudged the other and said :
"Laws, Sam if marm knowed we wuz
takin' sech O splurge would'n she GIN
ns goss ?" There's not much humor III
this truly, rs I tell it; but told by q
boy, who, poor as he is, never takes
change below "fip"-fve cents-and
who laughs all over when he tells 1t, l
have found it quite amusing.
Here is one like unto it: Two young
men from "Injeanny, "strolling through
Cincinnati, come to the sign "City
Hotel" One Of them spells it thus:
"C-i-t, Kit, y, Kitty, Hot, Hot, Kitty
Hot, Ell, Kitty Hotel. Thunder, Bill
that air mus be the same Kitty Hotel
IS used to keep tavern in Iniinop'lis.
This story never fails to bring langh.
Sometimes the hero of the story is an
[rishman, sometimes negro. Gener-
ally, the Irishman figures as supreme
fool, while the negro often shows O
good deal of wit. "More rain more
rest" cried negro one day as it began
TO rain. "I said more rain, more chuck
in corn in de barn, sah." Then this OF
an Irishman: He had just arrived IN
this country, and was crossing a stream
on foot-log. Seeing bear come the
other way he took him to be negro,
and bade him good morning. The bear
raised up, and, after the manner OF
bears, clasped the Irishman to his
bosom. The Irishman, supposlng this
to be sign of affection, hugs the bear
in turn. But finding that the "nager
squeezed unconscionably hard, he attec'
tionately demonstrated with him. When
it got to be u matter of life and death,
he pulled out his knife and said: IAN
if We don't let go I'll hev to kill you )"
which he proceeded to do. The beal
rolled into the water, and the Irishman,
meeting q man soon after, informed
him that he had killed "nager," upon
which they returned and found the car.
cass of the bear.
In some of the stories the negro ap-
pears as the "inferior being" ln
Western parlance watch is called 9
tunip. It is joke that has grown init
slang. One of the stories which 1 heard
on City Creek was this: A white man
met negro with watch chain hanging
out, and asked: "What time is it by
your turnip2" claws, massa," an.
.wered the ingenious darkey, chow did
you know 'twls q turnip" Behold
Bryan O'Lynn with black face.
Some of the exaggerations OF the
Western people show the extravaganza
TO which their humor tends. A man
Who is o fool is said not to have the
sense the law allows" The law used to
exempt $50 from execution. A mar
ghs had less than this was in state ol
4xtreme bankruptcy. A man who
threatens an enemy always proposes tt
slick him till his hide won't hold
,hucks." A bag which will not hole
.orn husks is, of course, q sorry affair
4 stingy man is Gas tight rs the bark OF
/ beech tree" "He squeezes quarter
ill the eagle hollers." When a ma,
.hoots another, he" siliviates him.
And when man is in great danger
hey say "Saltpetre won't save him.
do not know what this means, unless
It is an allusion to the preservation o.
neat by saltpetre. J. have often heafc
Westerner threaten another man tha
ne would "tan his hide for him" and
have heard an angry woman call out u
her hopeful boy "I'll warm your JACKIE
tor you, my son.!