Wichita eagle., 1886-10-13
IN NORTH CAROLINA.

{ SKETCH OF THE WIFE AND DAUeH
TIERS OF A MoUNTAINEER.
Bringing Their Goods to AIarket.A Filth,
! Habit-Trading at tho General Store
A So-Called Home-The Kitchen Out.
ft-NO Hope.
The streets Of Asheville are wonderfully
quaint and picturesque. They are SO, partly
: by virtue OF their unlikeness to anything else
With which the northern visitor, accustomed
to industry, thrift and the life and stir OF
business, is familiar. Poverty and content
Eent 60 hand in hand. Yorder barefoot
darkey, with crcwnless hat and dilapidated
trousers, chafering with countryman over
watermelon, Scomposes" well, but the
Anglo-Saxon seems an alien element Pic
turesqueness is not his forte. He is lean and
! scrawny, while Cuffey IS fat and shining.
Cufey's tones and laugh are mellow and
unctuous; the soul Of good nature and
love OF ease flow through them. The coun-
trymaa speaks with sad and gentle drawL
He may not know it, but be was made for
better things than to pick the banjo and lie
with his feet to the fire.
His wife ard daughters-there are three
OF the latter-are all tall. thin, angular, with
no hint of womanly grace in their forms and
little in their faces. They are SO lean that
their dresses fit, as the old saying has it, .lke
a sack on bean pole" Each has a bit Of
wood three or four inches long sticking out
Of her mouth There is or has been, snuff on
the unseen end Of it. Sometimes you may
see brown rivulet Of the snuff juice me-
| andering down their chin. Some Of these
| poor women, however, are evidently indus
trious, and as clean as a filthy habit, which
is almost universal will allow them to be.
II it is bright day-and by far the greater
number Of the days are bright in this genial
climate-there are from fifty to hundred Of
| them IN a town. Some have walked in
three, five, eight miles-with. a few quarts Of
berries. few apples, potatoes, chickens, the
| aggregate Of their goods probably worth less
than 81.
CALICO DRESS.
Others have come in the country teams,
long, low, canvas-covered Pennsylvania wag-
ons, sitting in splint chairs, drawn by mules,
or, possibly, by steers They wear calico
dresses and calico cape-bonnets. They never
had anything better than q calico dress-not
one in hundred Of then-in all their lives
Not one in hundred of them can read or
write. Not one in a hundred ever attended
school three months They stand about at the
street corners, gazing at the pas5ersby with
wide, staring. incUrious eyes. They 'traie'
at the general store their rag carpeting, their
tallowy butter, their homespun yarns for to-
bacco. Rio coffee, calico Of gay colors They
sit about on upturned boxes in the stores
their trading finished, till it pleases pater-
faniliss to start for home Not infrequentlv
you may see one on either side Of the husband
or brother, who has got at the bar-roon close
by more than he can carry, supporting his
staggering steps, and hosting him into the
wagon, where he lies in the straw upon the
floor while the women drive home
Home! The house is Of logs, with probably |
two doors, possibly board window Should !
it be built of boards with glazed windows, it |
is spoken OF as 50 nice house with glass |
lights" 1t is apt to be about sixteen or eigh- |
teen feet square, and may have lean-to, |
which may be used either for bedroom or
cooking room usually, however, the SIM
pie family cooking is done in the great stone
fireplace at the end OF tho family room
There are often three beds in a row On one
side Of the room. Perhaps there is a loft
above which IS reached by ladder, or, as in
one case we knew, by one Of the boys climb
ing on table, clUtching rafter and swing
ing himself up. In this one room ali ages and
both sexes sleep, from childhood to old age.
Tho furniture is OF the simplest A long
table At one side, with low benches beside it
for use Ct meals, is often seen There is,
rarely, plain bureau, but this is in the
homes of the well-to-do. There may be a
spinning wheel in the corner. There is no
china closet, for the whole table service
would not furnish forth modern canper-out
FOR weeks outing.