The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-02-27
MISSISSIPPI.
LETTER Q.
PINE TIMBERED REGION.

LETTER Q.
PINE TIMBERED REGION.
A description of this section of the State
is very ably presented by one of our most
distinguished citizens, long we'll known in
the political and literary annals of the
State, in a series of letters to the Missis-
sippi Pilot, over the nom de plume of "Mod-
orator." l cannot do better than quote
from him.
"The whole country east of Pearl river,
and south of Covington county, may be
designated as the pine woods The en-
tire region is remarkable for its salubrity.
People make comfortable living with so
little effort that their energies are not ex-
erted, and the country does not improve
like those sections where there are more
difficulties 10 overcome. A young man
marres fine, blooming, industrious girl,
who knows how to rear poultry, make but
ter and cheese, ply the wheel and shuttle,
and do up her own and her husbands ap-
parel. He begins life with half dozen
cows, pair of oxen, pony and an ak.
His wife's dover is a feather bed, three or
four quilts, frying pan, spinning wheel
and few fowls. He chooses settlement
five or ten miles from any other; builds a
camp; then cuts down the sapling pines,
strips off the bark, calls in the neighbors
for twenty miles round, and in one day
they complete his cabin of one square room.
This contains the bed, table, row OF
shelves, and his long rifle hangs over the
fireplace on wooden hooks. In one corner
stands the spinning wheel, seldom silent,
and on the shelf, near the door, water
bucket and gourd, one or two milk piggins,
secured as fair and bright as sand and water
can make them. A small truck patch,
and little field planted in sweet potatoes,
rice, and few plants of indigo and tobacco
lay adjoining. A sparkling spring bub
bling near by, from it's bed of ferns and
rushes, supplies the purest water, and the
caying pine, furnishes fuel and brilliant
| light. Here they live without expense
In many instances the land belongs to the
| Government. He pays no tax, no lawyer.
fee, no doctors bill, and needs no money
| The woods abound with deer and turkeys
raccoons and squirrels, opossums and par
| tridges; the yard with fowls; the living
brooks with fish. His cattle range over {
thousand hills, up to their shoulders il
| grass or sucCulent reed brakes, requiring
neither shelter nor Winter forage, and, il
the sea board counties, not even salt. Thes,
| supply his table, and the wild bees, revel
ing amidst boundless variety of flowers
provide Cor him, in many hollow tree, thu
most aromatic honey.
! Visit this young couple five years after
ward, and you will find an addition to tn.
dwelling; loom in the rear, under shed
the herd increased to fifty OR hundred
the ire-side made Joyous by the brigh
/ eyes and gladstone voices of three or foul
white headed little ones; as like each othe
as SO many peas. Men,: l never saw {
child in the pine woods with dark hair.
| During all this time he has never had {
fever; ne7sr been within fifty miles of /;
! doctor; never been called to funeral. Th.
rose on the cheek Of his wife is even more
beautiful than when he first welded her
and, aided by her thrift and cheered by he
smiles, he has lived comfortably, not ex
pending over ten dollars year, while hi
little capital has quadrupled; and all thi
without wearing physical labor ana aexiet!
/ Of ind = 1oS
| opher. He feels none of the surges tina
sway the busy world. From day to day
events flow on in the same smooth channel
without a ripple on the surface. His tenn
mon, but he sees God in the Sunshine ant
the Shower, and the smiling stars. I'll,
great volume Ct Mature spread out before
] him, with the changing seasons, and the
! phenomena of vegetation, provide occupa
ton for his mind, and he finds himsel
/ growing richer and wiser every year, with
/ out any new tastes or vicious habits, an(
without making any struggles for riches
Can there be happier than this dream-lik'
life? They are, indeed, the most 2onteate,
mi Writ .,ol.s people N tue World, eXemp
from debt and litigation, living plentiful.
and Hospitality, and with no lock Or bolt OF
door and window.
The soil Of this region is generally thin
interspersed with small tracts of fertil
land. Grass OF the coarse, rank specie
peculiar to pine woods, grows luzuriaptly
aud upon it the cattle feast and fatten. Ii
Winter they find a rich pasturage in th
cane and reed brakes, ard in marshes an,
raNiue~. aud the long moss that hangs from
the dropping limbs of the swamp and liv
oaks. Horses, cattle, mules and sheep ma