Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-09-22
The Poor Whites of the South.

that the war. emancipation and the es-
adjustment OF free schools has helped
their condition somewhat, but they vet
retain many OF those characteristics which
distinguished them in slavery times. The
poor white trash are about the only
paupers in the Southern States, and they
are very rarely supported by either the
state or community in which they reside.
They are found nowhere but in the coun-
try, IN billy and noun famous regions gen
orally, in communities by themselves, and
Tar removed from the more refined settle
ments. Why it is they always select the
billy and consequently unproductive dis
tricts tor their homes is unknown. In
the settlements wherein they chiefly
reside the poor whites rarely 1--we mere
| than mile Or two apart.
Each householder or head OF family
| builds himself little hut of round logs
or pine poles, chinks the places between
these with clay mixed with wheaton
straw; builds at one end big wooden
chimney with tapering top, all the in
terstices being sdobbed' as above; puts
down puncheon floor, ard loft of Or
binary boards overhead; fills the inside
of the rude dwelling with few rickety
chairs, long bench, dirty bed or two,
a spinning-w wheel (the loom,if any, is out
side under shed) a skillet, an oven,
frying pan, a triangular cupboard in one
corner and rack over the door, on which
to hang old 'Spi.tire," the family rife;
and both the cabin and furniture are con-
sidered as complete. The happy owner
then "ciears" some five acres or so of
land Immediately surrounding his
domicile, and these he pretends to cult
vate, planting only corn, pumpkins and
a little garden truck. He next builds
rude kennel for his dog or dogs, print
tive. looking stall for his nag" ditto for
Beck, mis- COW, and a pole hen house for
his poultry. This last he covers over
with dirt and weeds, and crccts on ore
side of it a long slim pole, from the upper
branches of which dangle gourds for the
martins to builo their nests in-martins
beng generally regarded as useful to
drive off all bloody -minnel hawks that
look with COO hungry an eye upon the
rising generation of dunghills.
Being thus prepared for housekeeping
now comes the tug OF war. Whatever
may be said Of the poverty OF the white,
of his ignorance and general spiritual
degradation, he rarely suffers from hun
ger or cold. AS a class, indeed, they are
much better off than the peasantry of Eu-
rope, anu many poor machanic in your
city--to say nothing of the thousands
without trade or occupation, wandering
through the North and West-wonld be
most happy at any time from December
to March to share the cheerful warmth o
| the blazing pine knots which gov upon
every poor mans hearth in the South; as
we'll as to help devour the fat hauches of
the noble Old buck whose carcass hangs
suspended from one of the beams
of the loft overhead, ready at all
times to have slice cut from its sinewy
bones and broied to delicious iuiciness
upon the glowing GOALS. Indeed, the
only source of trouble to the poor white
is the preservation of his yearly "craps''
of corn, that, owing to ths sterileness of
his land and deficient cultivation, some
times fail him, running all to weeds and
grass.
But he has no lack of means. Wild
hog, deer, wild turkeys, squirrels, rae
coons, opossums- these and MANY more
are at his very doors, and he has only to
pick up ''old Spitdre, walk few miles
out to the forest. and return home laden
with meat enough to last him a week.
And should he desire to purchase little
wool for spinning, or cotton ditto, or
little sweet'ning" to put in his coffee or
"sassefock' tea. or a few cups and saucers,
Or powder and shot, salt, meal or other
| household necessaries, weeks success
full hunting invariably supplies him with
enough game to procure the withal for
luxuries, which he soon possesses himself
Of rom the nearest village or cross. roads
store. Having obtained what he wants,
he hastens back to his barren solitudes:
hls wife and daughters spin and weave
the wool or cotton INFO such description
Of cloth as is most in vogue for the time
being, while the husband, father, sons
and brothers betake themselves to their
former idle Notwithstanding, beef-shoot-
ing, gander-pulling, marble-playing,
and getting drunk. Panics, financial
pressure and the like are unknown among
them, and about the only crisis of which
they know any thing is when poor fell
low is called upon to 'sshutf1e off this
mortal coil" Money, in fact, is almost
an unknown commodity in their midst
and whether our currency is gols, green
backs or the dollar of the "daddies' con-
c"rns them not. Nearly all of their
trafficking is carried on by barter alone.
In their currency a COW is considered
worth SO much, a horse so much, dog
so much, a fat buck so much, fat tur-
key so much, coon-skin so much, ETC.,
and by these values almost everything
else is rated. Dollars and dimes they
never bother their brains about.
The chief characteristic, the browning
emblem Of the poor white, however, is
laziness. He is the LATEST two-legged
animal that walks erect on the face of the
earth. Even his motions are slow, and
his speech slckening drawl, worse a
great deal than the downeastern of all
downeastcrs; while his thoughts and
ideas creep along at a snail's pace. Ali
he seems to care for is to live from hand
to mouth, to get drunk, provide he can
do SO without having to trudge too far
for his liquor; to shoot for beef; to at
tend gander-pullings; to vote at cleo
tons; to eat and sleep; to lounge in the
sunshine of bright summers day, and
bask in the warmth of roaring
wood-fre when summer days are over.
In religion, the poor white Is generally