The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-01-31
The Sand-Hillers.

I 1hC 6Auu-1tttcTS-
To-day, SAYS letter from Column
bus, 5. c., to the New York Sun, the
streets OF this town have been well
filled. the country people nave
been here in force. Noticeable among
the crowd of blacks and whites We're
the sand hillers.
The sand hllers are race of
whites who live among the sand
hills ofSouth Carolina. They seem
"A distinct type. From whom they
descended no one knows. Morally,
they are wrecks beyond redemption.
They are miserably poor. They are
desplsed by whites aud blacks alike.
They have no ambition, no hope, no
thought of a higher life. No effort
| has ever been made To elevate these
degraded people. The treatment
they receive shows plainly the utter
indifference of the southern gentle
man to the welfare of all whom he
thinks are below him socially.
Before the war these poor whites
were treated worse than slaves. They
had the ballot, and when the elec-
tion day drew near the South Caro-
lima gentlemen used To herd them
in corrals, called pull pens here, and
supplying them with whisky, kept
them drunk until they were ready
Ia have them Cast their ballots. Ia
credItable as tais story sounds. 1t
has been told To me by So many
persons that | believe it TO be the
truth.
A sandhiller is raw boned,
gaunt, cadaverous man. He Is put
together loosely. He shambles IN
his gait. He is humble in spirit,
and looks downward as though
searching for lost coin. There is
peculiar side glance from the corn
ers OF hes eyes, a furtive, timid,
abashed glance that thoroughly ex-
presses the craven spirit OF the Great
ure. His wife is generally a de-
ressed looking female, much given
To pipe smoking, tobacco chewing,
and occasionally to the pleasure OF
clay eatiug. His children are simp-
iy young sand hillers Some of them
of tender years, are slaves OF the clay
habit. These people live in squaiid
novels, hidden from the sight of
passing travellers by trees. Many OF
these wretched dwellings stand in
ravines where there Is little level
land fit for agriculture. A few chick
ems stalk sadly around the yards.
A pig, lean, active, straight tailed,
walks with hungry briskness about
the house. The sand-hiller who
does not own dog does not live in
South Carolina. They generally
have more than one-mean; sneak
ing ours, NANCY, flea bitten, and al
ways tired.
There has been a weak effort at
agriculture around the homes of the
sand hillers. A few acres of the
sandy soil have been scratched with
a light plow, having a wooden mold
bo lrd and drawn by single mule,
steer. or COW. A few vegetables,
some corn, and occasionally little
patch of cotton, q very small patch
this, as the true sand-hiller is not
given to working the soil, are plant
ed. They raise enough to feed their
families, generally. If they do not,
they supplement the supply by
stealing or bv selling wood. They
hunt, they fish, they sit in the sun.
When they are tired of resting they
cut little wood, by preference the
resinous heart of the pitch pine.
called light wood. 1t takes a long
time for sand hitler to cut the
eighth of cord of this wood, posi-
blv an entire week. When Saturday
morning comes the torpid animal
dresses himself in his best clothes,
bitches his single animal to cart,
which is loaded with the wood, and
slowly travels over miles of sandy
roads to market Arriving there he
sells his wood, receiving from fifty
cents to dollar and half for the
load. This money he promptly in
vests in whisky, which lie carries
home. He does not linger in town,
preferring the solitude of the sand
hills. where, surrounded by his
squalid family, ne can quietly get
drunk and thoroughly enjoy sand
hill society.
This part of South Carolina is
country of one horse wagons. 1t Is
rare to see two horses harnessed and
hitched to farm wagon as they are
in the western agricultural states.
One mule or horse hitched to wag
on or a cart i the prevailing rig.
The sand hillers have soberly bur
lesqued this conveyance. He. find
ing. begging or stealing, or 1t may
be buying, though the latter is high
ly improbable. pair of wheels and
an axletree, builds cart. The cart
is rough affair, pinned together
with wooden pins. and impressing
the northern beholder with the be-
lief that it will soon fall to pieces. |
have stopped on the street several
times to see these carts tumble into
kindling wood, but they hung to-
gether, and creakingly rolled out of
the city in the direction of the sand
hills. To this cart small bull, COW,
or steer is hitched. Three quarters
of the sand-hillers have but single
animal, sober, sad raced animal
that does not chew the cud of con-
tent; indeed, have yet to see them
chewing any cud, either of content
or discomfort. The harness used is
home made, consisting of bits of