Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-11-22

THE RAZOR BACK.
EAe Racer of the Tennessee Mountains Is
ALWAYS Hungry.


Always Hungry.
Whoever places the horse or the dog
next to human beings in the scale of in
talligence and sagacity has never made
tins acquaintance of the Tennessee hog,
the razor back One who knows the pig
only as the fat, sleepy, grunty occupant
of the sty has no idea Of the spirit and
wisdom, the daring and enterprise of the
species, when born nd reared among
the rugged mountain regions of the Cum
berlands In contrast with the close pen
which is all the world his northern cousin
ever knows, freedom is the very air his
pigship 0reathes from the time when he
opens his narrow, speculative eyes, in the
, beechen shade of the hills. until the un-
lucky day when he is cornered by human
craft and numbers and reduced TO bacon.
His education begins IN infancy, guided
by his mother who shows him the way
into ell the best gar. ms. orchards and
corHlelds he IS IS s, ..t. low" WAS
the recommend given " q Cumberland
valley farmer to a recent nu.,leln settler
o. Lue porAer he was about 50 sell him.
he has allus shlrhed for hsseif. The
, purchaser gave gnc tnoug 't to his own
garden patch, but not enough, for his
summer was spent in devisins barriers
over which, on under which, or through
which il was pastime for that hog to
make his way. and the mans anger was
finally lost in admiration of the sagari,y
of the animal, whose feats of agility and
| ingenuity enabled him to maintain his
own healthy condition, and also to treat
his friends, for ha is not wholly selfish
have seen him plant his long suout
under a gate. and raise it more and more.
, until he had wormed himself hallway
through, then hold it, resting on his
strong razor back" until the drove Of
half dozen og more followers under his
, charge had squirmod through, then,
wish an expressive grunt, he would lead
raid on the corn field where a forest
Of tall stalks, from twelve to seventeen
feet high, had been lei. supposedly bare,
to decay during the short, wet winter.
Piggy knows, however, that now and
then an ear has been overlooked. and he
enters the rows, cooking his head, now
on this side, now on that, squirting up
at the top of each tall stalk, until he secs
an ear at the top; then quickly ho scrad-
dies the bottom of tho stalk. and rides
it down" within his reach. Quickly it
is devoured and another sought out and
captured, until the field is cleaned; when
ne rallies his troops and guides them into
pastures new. Gates and bars are a
laughing stock to him. Barbed wire is
au agreeable irritaut to lis rhinoceros-
like hide; and the hopeless farmer is
often at his wits end until the time
when friendly autumn strews the mount
ain sides with "mast, which proves
more attractive to these ubiquitous mon
archs than are the cultivated gardens.
The Tennessee hog knows that the
laws of his native state protect him,
while the human would be masters OF
the soil must look out for themselves;
and he acts accordingly. An unpleasant
thing TO meet is a drove of these pets
when Uut of temper. They will turn in
body and chase man and dog till
both are glad to mount out of reach on
fallen tree; and there they will hold
them at bay, with backs erect, in sharp
line of bristles-whence their name
and with gruntings which cannot be de
scribed, gnashing their long, savage
teeth, remind one forcibly of the wild
boar, whence sprang their ancestry
American Agriculturist.