Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-11-28
ESMERALDA AND HER HONE.


J. W. Hays jr in the Raleigh N. c., News
The traveller in the mountains of North Caro-
lima meets with many strange customs and Gu
rious modes of living. In those districts which
the ever increasing stream of summer visitors
and the railroads have penetrated the people
are losing those pecuarities which dstn-
guished them few years ago. But in the more
remote sections. in the gold producing hills of
Burke and Cleveland far back among the
Smokes, up in the rocks and crags of old
Grandfather. and in some parts of Watauga.
the people are as wild and uncouth as when
the buffalo rOamed over their hills. These peO-
pie. with the buffalo. are fast disappearing.
Already the shrill whistle of the narrow gauge
has walked the echoes around old Grandfather
and startled the bears in their dens Those
who would see nature in her wildneSs and man
as nature fashions him must go quickly. 4
few mere years and the babbing mountain
stream will be checked by countless reSer-
yors and the thousand voices of nature will be
stlled by the rush of the locomotive and the
restless hum OF machinery. 1t was the lot OF
our surveying corps to pass some weeks in this
region. We staid in Esmeralda's home and spent
several rainy days convcrsng with "Old Man
Rogers" and his family. Away down in the
valley at the foot Of the largest of the south
Mountains stands his cabin among few old
scraggy pines and the remnant of an ancient
apple orchard. Around his door grow zenas,
yellow and red. and bounding merrily by a
mountain stream gurgles on its way to the
ocean. High up behind the logs and shingles of
the cottage rise the tall peaks of 'Bcnn's
Knob and far off to the southwark the valley
falls away till lost in the mist and blue of the
distance. In the cabin door reclines the Old
man. smoking his corn cob pipe and realizing
the joy of contentment. Thus he spends most
of his time. year in year out. He loves his sur
roundngs and his ease but the very thought of
work makes him sweat. and simply to move
is task. Day after day he sits and smokes.
the unchnkcd cracks of tie cabin, wet
ting and chilling all in the house Stir
yourself, we said to him. 'Show little energy.
and you are rich man. fortune lies under
those hills WAL, yes. thets So" he said,
but weuns is doing waa! enough as we is
And so the mine lies unwOrked. the grass grows
on the rCcky farm the old house tumbles down
about his head but he. sits and smokes and
bllnhs and is satisfied. Only once during cur
stay did he venture a remark and then he
wshedto know ofour ''Chief" '.cfhe didn't think
tibet thar blazing star (the comet) wasn't agwien
ter bring trouble Onter the country?" He re-
menbeTed that the last time it came it caused a
sight o trouble in his neighbOrhood and on the
yam side o the mountain too. The household
matters are managed by Mrs. Rogers. while
Eslncralda does the farm work, tends the mule
and mlks the cows I've haint got no Boy"
said Mrs. r.. $50 we jes had ter make "a boy
cabin with two rooms, the family occupying one
as kitchen. bedroom, dining-rOOm and parlor
the other which was given up to our party. con
tanned the family wardrobe, which swung in in
finite variety from long poles on the joists.
1--WE began ter build tibet thar room nigh onter
five years ago. said Mrs. r.. but l KEEP a hur-
ryinG of 'em up. an at las moved afo it was
hnlsned, an now the Ole man. he say its good
enough like it is. an thar amt no use working
on the house noways long as they is lawn bout
~ hn al &c 1i,>.,v
ne say he can't work. but he never told me that
afo we was married. Or fd abin Sallie Cook now,
an he keeps asettin here. an Esnerady has ter
do all the farm work. an don't git a bit O help
outen her; she plows the hill, an pulls the fod-
der an corn an then takes il ter mill: she has
ter tend the mule an PICK cotton an cut the ter
baccy; precious little help as | gifts Outen her
An then went an broke my leg an the mule
threw me often the bridge inter the creek, an
tibet gimme the rheumatic an | b'lieve I'm
glttn the drapSy, an my head aches till it nigh
Bout busts. an the ole man sits thar an smokes
an smokes and can't do nOthin'-ef I'd aknowed
he couldn't adone nOthn he might asnoked till
Judgment day afO I'd anarried him. tibet lie
would ESnlclaldy is gone ter mill now four
mile away, an on a skerry mule at that an in
the rain: yOuinS don't know what hard time
she has. po' little critter.''
And thus Mrs. Rogers tongue ran while the
perspiration trickled down her fat face in great
beads: and her bare feet made greasy tracks on
the floor. day after day as long as we remained
beneath her roof.
But ESmeral1a. Dear reader let not thy
imarj paint too fast lest the cOlors of thy
fancy picture a maiden as unreal as a novel or Il
poem Dear. gentle Esmcralda.' What a
picture of tictions. Eslneralda is tall gallky
girl OF sixteen, strong as 4 mule. with limbs
almost as sinewy. dressed in Il dirty faded home
spun irOck. that hangs loosely about her lank
Shapelcss figure; with hair the color and tex
tUre Of tow. and like the rest of the family,
tareiCCted. She stands before you with toes
turned in. mouth agapc and Il half foolish grim
ace on her dirty face. the picture of ignorance
and stupidity. And shall add it.? Esmeralda
cheers.
Dear, gentle Esmcrada thy existence is in
the fertile brain CT n0yelists and poets thou
wilt ever be the fondest theme Of fancy but in
Thy mountain nome thou art alas. unknown.
This is an honest picture of many OF the rural
districts OF western North Carolina. vet | would
be gn'ity OF the same wrong which ''Chrstian
Reid and other popular writer's have perpc-
trated against our people were to make the
impression that all our mountain people are such
as havedescrfbed. Here and there some acct
dental circumstances. perhaps the infusion OF
new blood. or the advent of athrifty Yankee has
aroused the people from their chronic sloth
They have turned their attention from local pol
itics to improving and identifying their homes.
charging and cultivating their farms and utii-
iZng the bOundIess resources of their native
hills Where this has occurred the people have
thrivcd and the valleys have doomed with beau
tiful haryests.