Wichita eagle., 1888-12-01
Daily eagle
WESTERN FOLK LORE.
ETYMoLOGY, GRAMMAR AND IDIOMs
OF THE "HoosIER LANGUAGE
Educated Indiana Makes Poetic Material
Of Her Early OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, Leg.
ends and Noted Places on the wabash.
Sources of the Hoosier Phrases

Z
of Her Early OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, Leg.
ends and Noted Places on the wabash.
Sources of the Hoosier Phrases.
Especial Correspondence
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Ind, Nov 13.-The
Hoosier dialect is almost extinct. The folk
lore OF the early days is SO nearly forgotten
tnat It has become matter Of myth and po-
etc Misrepresentation | know Of but one
small neighborhood within days drive Of
this city, in which one may still hear the old
phrases; ''Gwyne TO do it, well, reckon"
Don't know nothing about it." 'Disre
member" etc. Our distinctive local trai1
are last fading away The railroad, the
Newspaper and the common school are re-
duclng IL al TO one type, and the fine hi
nor Of racy provincialsn is almost gone.
The country boy who picks up q crinoid
fragment does not now call 1t an ''Inju1
bead" Ny grandchildren cannot see, can
not be made 70 see, the man in the noos
who was put there for burning brush on
Sunday night They know nothing about
the big ''ciearIngs,n the log rolings and the
great heaps Of brush around which children
Of my time danced and yelled at night in i'm
itation Of NdAns, and which lighted the
woods far around The drumming Of q
pheasant on leg IS no longer explained to
them as the uproar Of witches and fairies;
they, alas, nave never seen q wild pheasant
and never heard his dTynminS and II one
should tell them Of witches and fairies they
the boys. anyhow would ask, derisively:
DO you see anything green il my eyer In
all this city l don't believe there is ons
Syer-old WHO believes in Santa Claus.
No doubt It is better that al should be ed
ucated; and we may now say with truth and
pride that Indiana has few native Lliterates
But there was q great deal OF fun il the old
times and toe Old WAYS when every vicinity
had It's odd local talk, every wild hollow iJs
appropriate legend, and every village its re-
markable and eccentric characters. In those
days (lS3J to 1850, let Us say, it was a COM
mon thing for all one side Of a county to De
il the back woods state, while the other was
fairly advanced In ny native county, for
instance, all the townships bordering on the
Wabash we're cut by deep and often rocky
hoIlows, and the separate sections ard ham
lets thus marked CT were popularity known,
from the north TO the south border, as ''HeIIs
half Acre, " The Barrens' IA sandy Ridge,
sand Town" ''Buzzard Roost, - Arabia
ers' Den IL those days the traveller who
Went "Up the river road from Terre Haute
with vel informed native had every stage
Of the journey enIivened by blood curdIing
legend-fact and fiction delightfully."- mixed
Here, first, ws-s Fort Harrison prairie, where
Col Zachary Taylor whipped the Injuns;-
next, the sand hill where Dutch Jake the
murdered peddIer, was buried, and next the
ux-Iv.
posed to conceal stolen horses. 4 little fur
tier on was Armiesburg, where Harrisou's
army camped OF their way 10 Tippecanoe,
and near it the Dazenay town, where the last
Weaw Miami Indians fingered till 1886 Not
far above was ''Harrison's Crossing where
the army forded the Wabash, and not far
above 1t the Vermilion creek. which we all
firmly believed was so named because the
blood Of Indians, slaug hte-ed IN great bat
tie there, colored the water As often hap
pens IN mythology, the name gave rise TO the
legend, for the creek WAS really named for
the soft red keel found in Its banks, with
which the Indians used TO pain themselves.
On the east side Of the Wabash. some miles
away, was the Devils Dem wild. rocky
ravine, where 5000 rattIesnakes had been
may still see the rock from which Johnny
Green the last Indian, fell dead into the
pool He had taken 700 much fire water at
the neighboring dis-ilIery q few days before,
SGT up a1 e1remrors war dance and boosted
Of taking part il massacre in which several
women and children TFere killed He CAV :
dramatic representation Of the women kre1.-
ing and begging for mercy while he toua-
L ! l..
ing soon after lie was sitting On this rock
fishing when bullet fred by az unknown
nan in the opposite woods struck him in tie
breast and he went suddenly TO ais place.
Imagine how many strange legends would
grow up around these interesting facts.
In those DAYS, indeed down u the beginning
Of the war, a country party was the occasion
Of unlimited good nature, OF fun and feasting
and merry plays in wtica the movers kept
sort Of tins 10 songs Ii which aIl joined Not
10 speak Of "Chicky, my chiclzy, my craney
crow 30, Sister Phebe, how merry were
we, that night we So under the juniper tree
and others common u the whole country,
there were certain pisces relating 70 tho war
Of ISl2-15, mostly brought from MARYLAND
and Virginia, which have not heard in any
other part IF America One, 10 which the
Lows 'ELoJSSl Farmers ADT : Al2-C0. T41
somewhat as follows:
We are marching down 70 old Quebec
Where the drums ar loudly beating;
The Americans have gained the day,
Ard the British a-e retpeattn<
The wsTs are 81 Ger, and We ! turn back
To the place where we first started;
So step Up 70 thai rig and choose couple Il.
And cheer the broken hearted
rs1,r-oss you've al heard os Jackson thA c--eat
And Perry. the brave man fighting on the lake,
How they beat the British boys By land sad sea,
And made them know their places;
How many q battle has been fought
How many q brave rlan has been shot:
So step up to that ring and choose a couple II;
NOW show your lively PAGES
And then some Of the older ladies' told how
they had got up II the night to see the light
OF Washington burning in 1914 for in cur
immediate neisbborhood were settlers from
Maryland and a dolefl ballad was sung
ABOUT British devastations, after whIch came
tho axultiug song about Jackson and New
Orleans, Of which tie refrain was:
Ea.arrcly. the hunters OF Eaiatucky,
L IS u0t of5sa thai you $1,000
A-a-a hunter from k-i15Ucky
And very often the Old fellows would shake
Iheir heads and express q fear that if another
ar came the young men would not De as
brave as their foTetGthers. Bat they were
al the same, and proved i rot many years
Later. Nlne5ee0--wectietAs OF the 6rSt set
tiers were frcn FIVE southern states-Msry-
land, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee