The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-13
TENNESSEE MOUNTAINEERs.
People Who Livein Windowless Cabins
but Have Black Walnut Fences
From the Chicago Tribune

from me ChiCugO ITtOUHe
81 always had an idea that the stories we
read about the ignorance of the people liv-
ing in the mountain regions of Tennessee
were exaggerations, " said a Chicago man
who lately made visit to the southeastern
part of that State. But now | know bet
ter These reports are not only true, but
the facts have not been half told, | am
not easily astonshed, but | confess / was
astonished by what | saw i'll Tennessee.
Why, there are lots Of men down there who
have grown old and have raised families
who can neither read nor write, and have
never in their lives been far enough away
from their homes to lose sight of the smoke
that curled out of their chmneyS. | knew
there was time when people lived in houses
that had no windows in them, but | never
dreamed that such a state of affairs existed
in this enlightened age. Yet there are
plenty of such habitatlonS i'll Tennessee.
And the people who live in them are quite
as much representatives of civilization as
their dwellings They have no knowledge
whatever of the existence of a world that
extends beyond the range of their vision on
clear day. | viii say, however, that with
| them ignorance is decidedly bliSsful To pos
sess a rifle or a shotgun and a jug of whisky
is the limit of their ambition. They know
nothing of the value of money except as
regards its power to purchase liquor and
ammunition.
Zone day man whom | met had occa-
| sion to go from his home to the county seat.
| He was a man of more intelligence than
most of his fellows, but he had never in his
| life been away from home before. He had
| never seen town. The nearest approach
! to one he had seen was the collection of
| houses about the store where he sold his
| truck and bought his bacon. When he got
| back from the county seat 1 asked him what
/ IL. IL L.
all got ter say is this: If this world is as
| big on the right NV us as it is on the left she
must be a regular whale
II was once riding up in the Cumberland
| mountains" continued the Chicago man,
''when ] saw bearded mouutaneer spit
| ting a big tree he had felled. 1t was a huge
black walnut. | said to him: My friend,
what are you doingF Pm maxim fence
rails, was his reply. Well l said, you
don't mean to tell me you are making fence
rails out of that piece of timberP why,
sartin. That's good log, amt it?, 1t
was as fine black walnut log as ever
saw, and if my friend had known enough
to get somebody with few oxen or mules
to drag the log to the railroad he could have
sold it for 500, for it was worth more than
that.
"But it is not only the mountaineers
whose density of ignorance is astonishing.
ODSci NcNl IA Cdtot nolttClO as ShO"ll& ia d
striking manner why the South is SO far
behind the rest of the country in the mat
ter of progress. The lumber used in Ten
nessee for building purposes is poplar as
the mountains are full of it. and pine is
scarce. Saw mills ara established In the
'coves,' and the millman cuts up logs hauled
to his saws by the mountaineers. He pays
a certain sum for logs, and then, figuring
compensation for his work of saving, sets
price on his product 1t happened that
at the time was in Tennessee the price of
lumber was $1S per 1000 feet. a man of
my acquaintance was having house built,
and determined to have the interior finished
with hardwood and red cedar, which
abounded in that region. Accordingly he
asked the saw null man what he would
charge for lumber of the kind wanted. Ny
friend was greatly astonished on being told
that the price would be just the same a; for
poplar-SlSpe per thousand That saw mill man
willprobably never get rich. Had he taken
his hardwood and cedar lumber to the rail-
road and shipped it to Chattanooga or Nash
vile 1t would there have brought him $50 or
$50 per l ,000
lone more yarn" added the Chicago
man. "A big strapping boy came into the
grocery store while was there and offered
a bag of hickory nuts for sale. He wanted
a quarter for them To afford me a little
amusement the storekeeper threw down a
s. gold piece and asked the boy il he would
sell them for that No. Stree he said you
can't cheat me. | want a quarter The
Storekeeper afterward told me that the boy
didn't know what the gold piece was He
said the boy, like most people IN that re-
gion, had no conception whatever of any
amount of money exceeding dollar. That
was his limit, beyond which his fancy de-
cllned to carry him."