The Greenville times., 1889-11-16
SWAPPING WIVES.


A Csmmunlty Ia Nurth Carolina Where
Womsn Are Traded Hike Horssa-
The writer. while riding across the
State some months since. stopped at
the cabin Of one Of those settlers on q
small creek at the foot Of Big Smoky
mountain. The head Of the family
was a light-haired. heavily-bCarded
man Of fifty or sixty. dressed in a
pair Of linen trousers, and shirt OF
the same material. both Of home man.
ufacture. The woman Of the house
was tall. FaW-boned. dark-visaged fe-
male of forty or more. There we're
eleven children of all ages. all Of
whom were clad in q course 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
host-in reply to the professional
querry. rs there any thing new GO
ing p replied;
"Nuthin' ever happens hYer,
stranger. 'ceptin' it's the Mormins or
a swappin' match.
What do you mean by swapping
matehsr
"Wal, ei that don't beat ALL Say.
Nance turning to his wife. ''he un
don know wot a swappin' match is. :"
"liumph!" calculated the woman.
''lie un don know much. Why. stran-
ger, a swappin' match is where folks
swap hosses, muels. wives and sich. y
wives! You don't mean to say that
you people trade wives, do you?"
"Thet's jes wot | mean.n replied
the man, IAN there's goin' to be big
swap over to Bill suggs' to-morrer."
A ride OF about two hours over the
mountains brought us to the residence
OF the Suggs 1t was. like that Of
Simpsons and every other habitation
! saw In that loc ,lity, a log structure,
but. unlike Simpsons. thad two rooms
instead OF one. In the yard and under
the trees there were about dozen
horses and mules. two coons, and about
ten or twenty sheep and a number OF
hounds.
There were eight men and seven
women. all clad in course, homespun
linen. Such women as wore any head
dress at all wore long poke or sun-bon.
nets. One or two OF the women were
fairly good looking. but the rest OF
them. like the men. were coarse, raw.
ooned. and any thing but handsome.
We had not arrived a moment too
soon to hear the preliminaries OF the
business for which the appointment
had been made. Bill Suggs, the pro-
prietor OF the house. was the first 10
broach the subject, which he did In the
following language:
I'VE uns hev met here TO swan an
trade hev been tryin' TO swap vim
min with Jake Long here fur some
time. hev got my woman here, an
so hez Jake, an I'm ready to trade
What dye say. Jake'"
Jake, big. gawky young fellow.
said; There's my gal, BILL" point
Ing to a raw-boned. dark-eyed woman
Of forty-6ve. ''She can dig more
'seng, chop more wood, an ken beat
any thin shootin' on the creek mi
take yer woman an yer old mare to
boot
Suggs had led his wife-or woman
up to that ofLong. The women seemed
o be almost utterly indltcsfs1s of nj
hey did oeiss.snsAsy spoke no word or
'aue no sign.
That's morn I'll give, Long; that
oman,' pointing to his wife, sis
BOD cook, and kin hoe as much corn
any woman in the neighborhood.
! she's varble. I'll trade even up
I'd no boot"
There was considerable talk and n
'zen propositions. which finally
'ded In Suggs swapping for Longs
oman and giving a red COW with ono
'rn and one sheep as a premium or
'ot.
This settled, two others. a middle
ed, red-whiskered fellow, with n
ther good looking young woman for
wife, traded with younger man
: a woman who was old enough to
his mother, but looked as though
could perform almost anv
'nual labor. The young man turned
or his property and took charge of !
one he had bartered for. Ho
'med somewhat pleased by his bar
In, and his new purchase certainly :
not seem to have been sorry for =
exchange. The name Of the young
low was Blodgett ,
there were six bargains or trades @
cessfully closed during the day y
of which was between an old fell.
OF sixty or more and much
niger man, in which they had mere y
exchanged for the woman the other O.
had In his possession at former ~
Q. They both seemed pleased to j
their women back. There was no +
or premium in the trade. C Chiea. pi