Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1879-11-01

rice swamps for a meaQer waoe. RI
intelligent labor builds cotton NIL,
and' taking the raw material snnnl;a;
'Dy diiierent grade of labor, spins il
weaves It, colors it, adds an hundref
Iold value to it, and reaps a propor
'ionate reward. In like manner. |,
series upon the crude material Of tbs
mines, and out Of it fashions engines n
pump, to grind, to hammer and saw. 4
constructs locomotives to carry 10 re.
munerative markets the raw material
supplied by its less.intelligent co-workel
Of the fields and forests; and, demon,
slrating as all this does the place for
.ne whlte man of the South to occunv.
II ne desires progress, wealth, power
ana WITH these the worlds profound re-
spect' what hinders him from vet seiz-
ing upon it to begin in earnest that
true advancement too long postponed
and yet not too late to realizeP
And, in taking this view OF the case
why. should not the two races work on
ward in entire and cordial harmony =
more especially when never before in
the history of any nation we're two
INES OF occupation both essential to
general progress more distinctly marked
out, or such as could be more consist
emily made to refrain from interfering
one with the other. Progress for the
wnoie means progress for every indi-
vidual, II the latter be earnest and in.
dustrious; and, for once leaving more
TO itself that barren field of politics
where thousands quarrel for months
that one may get some paltry Office, turn
10 an earnest development Of resources
which, ultimately meaning substantial
| power, will in the end enable them to
command what hitherto they may have
been satisfied to wrangle for or solicit
10 quit these questions OF political
economy, with which l trust have not
wearied the reader, would note that
in the past, the chief product of MANY
OF these mountain districts were eaunt
razor backed" hogs, which, seldom
fattened there, were collected in droves
every fall, and with infinite patience
driven to the corn-felds of the East
tennessee valleys, the Hiawassee and
others; and, turned loose in them to
riot and destroy at will, would in the
end take on fat enough to make them
acceptable and salable to the planters,
lower down, of the Carolinas and Geor-
gia, when driven thither finally. The
method in vogue was to pur-
chase the field Of standing corn
at an agreed price, the hogs
to gather as much of it as they could.
And. perhaps, q harder set OF chaps for
any sort of fun that offered couldscarcely
be found anywhere than these same hog
lrovers. On the cars coming from the
coast to, Atlanta city ON one occasion,
gang of them had-as it we're taken
possession of the car of which I was an
occupant; and all night long they kept
up II constant uproar of coarse with
cisms and stunning outlaws, hideous to
listen to, yet impossible not to laugh at.
One of their dramatic performances was
travestying Methodist q anxious meet
ing;" and carried outin the most reckless
and even impious manner, with prayers
and hymns, one could but know that
their opportunities had been complete
to have educated themselves to every
thing that was better. Interrupted in
their sport by the announcement of
supper, one of them, a great six-footer,
on his return to the car uttered q most
characteristic declaration: Boys, that
was splendid supper; 1 was eating for
fifty cents, but they only charged me a
quarterl" 5rl, M +. n eejia9.
Besides the considerable amount of
hogs that the mountain districts of
Kentucky furnished to the lowland con-
sumers, great numbers Of beef cattle
found a market thence, on foot; while
Central Kentucky and Upper-Middle
Tennessee furnished in the same man
ner great droves of mules for the cot
ton fields of the Gulf States, and fine
horses for all sections. Speaking of
horses-something that, more than hemp
or tobacco, perhaps, might he called the
great staple of Kentucky-the moral
code in regard to trading is represented
as remarkably loose, every horse-buyer,
or, trader, being accredited and comph-
mented with smartness enough TO take
care of himself. "All. fair in horse
swap" appeared to be the beginning and
end of any rule governing the matter,
SO that whoever presumed to hope for
much ,if any, speculation out 3of these
sharp traders was as likely as any way
to find his hoped-for balance on the
wrong side of the ledger. The "sharp-
est practice" that ], remember of becom-
ing acquainted with in this line was
boasted of by the fellow who was the
principal actor in it, and happened in
this wise: 80. -. .s~..~ -. - ~.
- Being the owner of a very fine horse
whose only and marked deficiency was
that he had a regular "rat tail,nhe had
failed in all attempts to dispose of him
on that account, until accident suggested
and threwih bisway the means of sup
plying the want. A neighbor having
lost fine horse who happened to haye
large flowing tail it occurred to the
roguish horse'trader that, il he could
somehow appropriate for his own steed
that desirable member. it might be made
them of accomplishing to advantage
the long-deferred ssle.i Acting upon
this idea, he carefully separated it, leay.
ing nothing but the hide, to which OF
course the hair chung fast, and this he
strained over his own horses stump,
sewed it tightly, and then hurried off to
find a purchaser. This he accomplished
without delay; and the buyer, much
pleased with his bargain, took him home
and put him in stall. The next morn .
ing early he was summoned to the
stable by the noise made by the horse,
who was kicking the sides Of the stall in
the intervals OF looking backward as II
in distress; and after q good deal OF
investigation into the cause for
the trick was performed so neatly
that IL quite baffled him at
6rst4-.he found the rawhide Of the false
tail had shrunk, and, sewed strongly,
was pinching the poor horse so unmer-
cifuiiy that he couldn't stand still; Re
l;ouoI of II there stood his neighbors