The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-03-15
Tennessee Mountaineers.

Tennessee Mountaineers.
II always had an idea that the stories
we read about the ignorance of the peo.
pie living in the mountain region of
Tennessee were exaggerations," said
Chicago man who had lately made
visit to the southeastern part of that
State. "But now know better. These
reports are not only true, but the facts
have not been half told. am not easily
astonished, but confess I was astonished
by what saw in 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 cu1led out of their chin.
neys. I knew there was time when
people lived in houses that had no win.
dows in them, but never dreamed that
such state of affairs existed in this
enlightened age. Yet there are ,lenty
of such habitations in Tennessee. And
the people who live in them are quite as
much representatives of civilization as
their dwellings. They have no knowl-
edge whatever Of the existence of
world that extends beyond the range of
their vision on clear day. I will say,
however, that with them ignorance is
decidedly blissful. To possess rifle or
a shotgun and q jug of whiskey 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 "a man whom I met had
occasion to 60 from his home to the
county seat. He was a man of more
intelligence than most Of his fel-
lows, but he had never in his life been
away from home before. He had never
seen town. The nearest approach he
had seen was the collection of houses
about the store where he sold his truck
and bought his bacon. Wheo he got
back from the county seat 1 asked him
what he thought of what he saw. 'Well,'
said he, 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 regular whale
"I was once riding up in the Cumber.
land Mountains" continued the Chicago
man, "when 1 saw bearded mountain
eer splitting big tree he had felled. It
was huge black walnut. Iaaid to him :
My friend, what are you doing?' I'm a
maxim tence-rails,' was his reply. WELL
l said, you don't mean to tell me you
are making fence-rails out of that piece
of timber?' 'Why, sartin. That's q
good log, amt it?' 1t was as fine a
black walnut log as I 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 5000, for it was worth
more than that
"But it is not only the mountaineers
whose density of ignorance is astonish-
ing. observed case notable as show.
ing in striking manner why the South
is so far behind the rest of the country in
the matter of progress. The lumber
used in Tennessee for building purposes
is poplar, as the mountains are full of it
and pine is scarce. Saw mills are estab.
lished in the 'coves,' and the mill.mau
cuts up logs hauled to his saws by the
mountaineers. he pays certain sum
for logs, and then, figuring compensa.
tion for his work of saving, sets price
on his product. 1t happened that at the
time I was in Tennessee the price of
lumber was SIS per 1000 feet. A man
of my acquaintance was having house
built, and determined to have the inte.
rior finished, with hardwood and red
cedar, which abounded in that region.
Accordingly he asked the sawmill man
what he would charge for lumber of the
kind wanted. My friend was greatly
astonisbed on being told that the price
would be the same as for poplar-s1S
per 1000. That sawmill man will prob.
ably never get rich. Had he taken his
hardwood and cedar lumber to the rail-
road and shipped it to Chattanooga or
Nashville it would there have brought
him $50 or $50 per 1000.
Zone more yarn" added the Chicago
man. ga big strappiug boy came into
the grocery store while I was there and
offered a bag of hickory nuts for sale.
He wanted quarter for them. To
j. afford me little amusement the store
keeper threw down a S. gold piece and
asked the boy if he would sell them for
that. mo, siree,' he said, you can't
cheat me. 1 want quarter The
; storekeeper afterward told me that the
boy didn't know what the goldpiece was.
He said the boy, like most people in that
region, had no conception whatever of
any amount of money exceeding a dollar.
That was his limit, beyond which is fancy
declined to carry Chicago Ei.
bune.