St. Paul daily globe., 1889-10-25

Az I| 5S5i9o Fs5s, Ssuadsd Of sS55i
NN~~JS\ II on all sides by
&\ II mountains over
3S&RI 6,0O0 feet above
the level of the
sea, are the deepest, darkest for
ests, rOck-rlbbed and broken piles
of stone. deep glens. narrow val
leys. and. in fact, nature itself, to all
appearance, just as 1t was when Adam
is alleged to have fallen from his high
estate. The people vino thinly settle
this wild region are as unlike the deni-
ZnnS of the outer. and TO them unknown,
world as it would be possible for one to
conjecture.
Settlements are infrequent, and are
composed of lew log cabins, corner
grocery, blacksmith shop, and per-
papS saw mill, though the latter are
scarce enough, goodness knows. The
clay eaters are here, strung along the
narrow valley and the sides of the mount
aims.
The state of morality is at a low ebb,
as is plainly apparent when it is known
that the MOrmons' elders have sent out
from this country nine-tenths Of their
converts made within the state lines.
Ignorance Is rife, scarcely one out of
dozen being able to read or write his or
her name
But there is arother custom prevalent
among these people which the cOrre-
spOndent had occasion to see and verify,
and that is the common habit or custom
of trading wives.
Now and then an isolated instance of
Wife-Swapplng is heard of and pub
lished as matter of interest and curl
Osity from other parts of the world. but
here, IN the very heart of the country,
what TO outsiders is heard spoken of as
rare instance is common custom.
The reader may inquire why it is that
the law does not step in and put stop
to this unlawful traffic. To this aues-
ton the writer will give an irrefutable
reply, and that is that these people are
Isolated so completely that it Is but
seldom that an officer ever sees or hears
or them; and then, again. it would in
all probability be impossible for him.
were he ever SO much in earnest, to
prove the charges. 1t would be of no
earthly use to ask one man whether his
nelghbor was lawfully welded to the
woman he claimed as his wife, when
that man in all human probability had
three or four sets of children in his
house and had never been divorced.
A SPECIMEN FAMILY.
INV hliOOl4 hlllC llNiuS QOlOOo NiiC
state some months since, stopped at the
cabin OF one of these settlers on small
creek at the foot of Big Smoky mount
an. The head of the family was a
light-haiTed, heavy-bearded man of fifty
or sixty, dressed in a pair of linen
trousers and shirt of the same ma
terlal, both of home manufacture. The
woman of the house was a tall, raw
boned, dark-visageu female of forty or
more. There were eleven children, of
all ages, all of whom were clad in
coarse shirt and pantalOOns, except the
smaller ones, who wore natures garb
from crown to toe. None of the family
wore either boots or shoes.
SimpSOn-that was the name of the
h0sI-in reply to the professional query,
piled:
uthin' ever happens hyre, stranger,
'ceptin' it's the MOrmins or a swappin'
match"
match?''
oval. eff thet don't beat all. Say,
Nance" turning to his wife, "he un
don't know wOt swappin' match ISL
"Humph!" CALCULATED the woman.
"He un don't know much. Why,
stranger, swappin' match's were folks
swap horses. muelS, wives and sich."
wives! You don't mean TO say that
you people trade wives, do you?"
THAT'S jes wOt mean," replied the
man, ''an' there's gOin' to be big swap
over to Bill Suggs' tO-mOrreT."
BY continued application and through
the friendly services of a big canteen of
excellent brandy [ learned that the
''match" was fact, and il was not long
before ! had induced my host to guide
me to the place.
Having seen the clay-eaters. was
partially prepared for what was to fol-
low, and in the morning, after a simple
breakfast of corn bread, milk and baked
'pOssum, | mounted my horse, and. to-
gether with Simpson and his wife, set
out for Suggs'.
BILL sUGGs' BARGAIN.
A ride Of about two hours over the
mountain brought US TO the residence of
the SuggSes. 1t was, like that of Simp-
sons and every other habitatiOn / saw
in that locality, log structure, but un-
like Simpsons it had two rooms instead
of one. In the ward and under the trees
there were about dozen horses and
mules. two cOOns and about ten or
twenty sheep and number of hounds.
There were eight men and seven wonl-
en-. all clad in coarse homespun linen.
Such women as wore any headdTeSs at
all wore long poke or sun bonnets. One
or two of the women were fairly good
looking, but the rest of them. like the
men, were coarse, raw-boned and any,
thing but handsome.
We had not arrived a moment too soon
to hear the preliminaries of the bust
ness for which the appointments had
been made. Bill Suggs, the proprietor
of the house, was the first to broaeh the
subject. which he did in the following
language:
I'VE uns hev met here to swap an
trade. l hev been tryin' to swan VIM
min with Jake Long here fur some
time. hev got my woman here, an so
hez Jake, an Pm ready to trade. What
dye say, Jake?"
Jake. big, gawky young fellow, said;
"There's my gal, Bill" pointing to a
raw-bOned, dark-eyed woman of forty
five. ''She ken dig more 'seng, chop
more wood, an kin beat anythin' shoot
In on the creek. Pll take yer woman
an yer ole mare to BOOT
Suggs had led his wife-or woman
up to that of Long. The woman seemed
10 be almost utterly Indifferent, or If
they did object they spoke no words or
made no sign.
That's morn I'll give, Long; that
woman" pointing to his wife. sis a
good cook, and kin hoe as much corn as
eny woman in the neighborhood, an
she's vaPble. I'll trade even up and no
boot"
There was considerable talk and
dozen propositions. which finally ended
in Suggs swapping" for Longs woman
and giving red COW with one horn and
two sheep as premium or "bOot."
THEY SNAPPED EVEN.
This settled. two Others-a middle
d,redwhiskered fellow with rather
gOOd-lOoking young woman for a wife,
traded with a younger man for woman
who was old enough to be his mother.