Morning journal and courier., 1884-03-27
Poor Whites.

only In the slave States. He Is a man who
has no ancestry, no history, no nothing. He
i may own patch of very poor land some
J where en- the hills, where land is so poor that
1 Do one else wants it, and on that is q cabin
l. oh only such as he would live in from
.Aoirs. 1t is quite as wretched as the cabin
in the south of Ireland; but the difference
is, the Irish live in them from oompulsion
The mild climate makes living in such novels
in something like comfort possible, for ex-
cept in exceptional seasons fHel ID not neces-
sary, except for cooking purposes, and, as
they have very little to cook, that doesn't
1 bother them very much The inside of the
house needs no especial finish, the out
side either fer that matter. Indeed, house
at all in well-nigh superfuous for these peo-
pie. 1t is useful when it rains. or during the
few weeks of cold weather.
They live by all sorts of work that ID not
. exactly work. As for clothing, that is the
last thing they think Of A garment 10 worn
as long as a thread of it remains, and as it is
replaced only at long intervals, should not
be c7nsidered as an expense.
They live by the very slovenly cultivation
Of the little ground they occupy, by wood
, craft, fishing and those nondescript smploy-
ments that Just escape absolute savagery. In
the old times they were the tarror of the
large planters, for they carried on Illicit
trade with the slaves, and had very faint
idea as to the rights of property. No slave
ever had a keener scent for fat shoat
knew the bearing of hen-roosts better than
these poor whites, who fringsd the pianta-
tions, making miserable border to what the
planters themselves intended for q very at
| tractiye picture.
1 His wife ia a woman whose hair has sell
dom known the luxury of q ooMb, and who
has not probably had water touch her skin
all over since her wedding day. She is frow-
sy, dirty, unslssnly lank and entirely home
ly, homeliness bad enough in and of itself,
but which is rendered still moro hideous by
her frightful habits. She is addicted to
snuff dipping. which is rubbing the gums of |
the teeth with snuff by the aid of splin- |
tarAd stick and she smokes the most muscu- |
lar tobacco in q short, black pipe with even |
| more relish than her husband. Clothes
| Her entire wardrobe would be dear at dol |
lar. and she never hopes for q reinforcs-
ment Stockings are a superfuity, and on
| the rare occasions when she does wear them
| they are full of holes and down at the hesls
I-mere ghosts of stockings-shadows-as 1t |
| were. She can swear somewhat and be ex-
| cessively pious at times; and an for sooldlng,
| no woman on earth Is her match. The
| famed fshwivss Of BilliRgssats would find
| foewomen worthy of their steel in the mid
dle-aeed wives of the Tennessee poer whites,
There is another class which is neither
poor white nor planter. 1t ID the man Who
owns anywhere from one hundred to two
| hundred acres of ground, some Of it good, |
| though part is always bad, who in the
North would be called a farmer proper. His
dwelling is somsthing better than q cabin, I
though rather poor apology for q house, |
and his surroundings are invariably slovenIy.l1
He has land enough to become rich It he
knew how to work it, or rather If he would
work il himself. He is not, g rala, very
much in debt, for his way of living is sim-
pie and his expenses are not much; but he
is SO dependent upon ethers for every thing
that he does not get anything ahead and
lives perpetually fr0m hand to mouth. He
oheWs tobacco With vigor and earnsstness
that weuld make him rich were there any
profit in tobacco chewing, and he loves
smoke as he does his life. He can smoke
and chew at the same time, and as for whis>
key, that never comes aniss.
But he works just rs little as possible, and
all things in the way of dodging work are
possible to him. He considers work as be-
meath him, and only does it when some dire
necessity compels. He locks dewn upon the
negro with much more disdaiR than the great
planter ever did, and no man can talk more
eloquently about labor than he.
1 interviewed a regular specimen of this
class q man who might have been Wsll-to-do
if he had had particle of thrift er industry.
He was leaning against the wall of the little
station, chewing tobacco in a vacant sort OF
way and killing flies with the Juice, as though
that was the principal business of his life.
He could kill fly every time ut thirteen
feet, and was tolsrably at fifteen, |
though sometimes at that distance be missed.
at thirteen the fly was doomed. He found
himself in a red sea of nicotine, drowned
and poisoned at the same time.
"How are you getting on ?"
t'Poo'ly, poo'ly."
''WhRt's the matter with your The coun-
try appears to be good.
t'Dah ksntry's good enough, the sile is
good enough, but vat kin man do when
he can't control labor ?'
Glow many acres have you ?"
t"Bout two hundred"
t'Any boys?'
t'Four grown up and two gahls."
''What do you want to control labor for
Aren't five fuil>grown men enough for two
hundred acres of land? Why don't you
work the land yourselves and be Independent
of outside laber."
eve work. We work. Stranger, work
is fer niggahs. We can't work in this eli
mate"
! Inasmuoh as the pay for 'snigger's" labor
is somewhere in the nsighborhood of fifty
cents a day, the employer furnishing him his
pork and meal at his own price, and he keep
ing the books, it would seem that there
would be some trouble in controlling labor.
Very few people would tako kindly to labor
under these conditions.
Very like tha one conversed with some
years ago at station on the Short Line
road, between Cincinnati and Louisville
He was sitting on rough bench under the
overheHging porch of the regular cross
roads grocery, aleo killing flies with tobacco
Juice They attain wonderful proficiency In
this style of marksmanship, for they have
nothing else to do, and chewing tobacco Is a
great help to thought, which is why there
are so many statesmen among them
He was tall, gaunt man, with sandy hair
and beard which had not known steel for
many day He disdsiAed coat or vest, and !
his trousers were held to their places by a
single suspsnder, homemade. The trousers
4; 4 YroFl1 f0r there WA /
but little of them. They were of the mate
rial known as Kentucky jean and had been |
originally lined with cotton; bat the jean had
been cut of Just below the thigh, leaving the
legs covered only by the cotton lining.
ssHow are the crops this season looking ?"
''Pow'ful bed"
stWhy is this ?"
''The niggahs won't work stiddy and the
craps amt taken care of.
why don't you take care of them ?"
ssMs!"
(This with an expression that was horrify-
ing In the meantime a half dozen Aies had
been deluged, the old gentleman keAping his
eyes not on his interrogator, but on the flies
that were sporting on the floor, little dream-
ing of the relentless fate that was pursuing ]
them.
sExcuse me, but why did you cut the =
wooden off the legs of your trousers ?" .
ssNhey wuz too hot for this weather. -
"What will you do when 1t gets colder ?"
tsThs LordM pervide."
And another fly died the death.
It is well that this class of men have SO
implicit faith in the Lord, and If he didn't
care for them they would certainly starye.
Mr.. E. g. Maltby, OF Shelton is recovered
sufficiently to be able to ride oat.
T. v. B. Hubbard has negotiated with D.
W Plumb for the lease of the unoccupied
store in his new brick block. Mr.. Hubbard
will remove to the same from his present .
quarters in F. s. Sanfords store about April
LIST.
A drunken man fell down an embankment :
in Norwich Monday and caught by one y
shoulder against sapling The bank ends s
In sudden slope into the Shetucket river, 3
and he hung there wholly unable to move and II
In great danger until he was got up again By
four men. He was covered with blood and fs
was SO drunk when. taken to the police sta
ton that he could not tell his name or age