The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1891-11-19
MOUNTAINEER LONGEVITY.
People Who Grow OId in the Highlands OF vir-
ginia and Don't Know H.

ginia and n0n't know II.
"Do these people live forevcr?" found my
self cxelaimiug. We were camped for the night
at the clearing" OF Old Tod Hunter viii
call him-ab0ut a mile down the west slope
from Pickle Mob the highest peak OF the
Alleganies in Highland County, Va. IL had
been to.isomc all-day tramp Of just seven
miles, March ,. '63 on the wilderness route
mot daring to try any roads travelled by trOOpsl /;
the snow was from knee TO waiSt-high, and our
" blaze" an iudiscCruible path that We could
not have kept ten rods only by following Guide
Johnson, an old mOuntaiuCer OF % Winters, to
whose instinct and keen eye the snow covered
path was plain as in Midsummer. It would
lead along q twO-fcet wide prgcipcc-OveT
which one Of our single file would occasionally
tumble and founder in the snow until we
would fish him up-theu would jump a sharp
ravine down It's other side then dOwR the
rayino itself awhile to avoid the matted laurel,
then up q rocky bank, over eentuFy-Old fallen
oaks up squirt, then down. So all that weary
day in the uutrOdden snow" we followed
old johnson, 60 years old, five feet eight, with
legs about as long as my arm ; but, LOrdy |!
how he could travel. 1t was while sitting
around old Tod Hunters log fire. listening at
these two old mOuntaineers exchange their
"reminiscences Of three or four generations, and
recOlleeting JOhnson'5 pedestrauism Of the
day, that exclaimed to myself:
Do these people live forcver?"
Tod called Johnson boy" and Johnson rev.
erently answered Tod as " Dad" But 'twould
DO hard 10 tell from their short grizzly-gray
hair and beard which was elder or from their
sharp. keen eye which was junior.
Tod told us he was horned tother slant Of
the Mob jist aTtcr the big fire Of 10, afore thar
war another family 'ithin 80 miles," He al
luded TO tho great fre-lOng remembered
which swept the East AlIeganies in 1919, few
years after the Colonial Government had ban
ished lot Of Hessians-pTisOners captured from
the British during the Revolutionary war
and from whom are descended many Of the
families now in Pendleton and Greenbrier
Counties, w. Va. Tod Hunter was evidently
not Quo Of them, as his veTnaCular indicated
Many natives found their way as hunters to
the mOuntiugs"
Tod must have been 81 years old. And yet
this adolescent youth Of 81 Summers volun-
teered TO take US TO the Overlook ledge"
(three miles away that evening, after we had
rested. But my duties did not require this ex-
ira exertion. So we spent the evening around
the cheerful log fire.
The vigor and sprightliucss OF these two old
men-especially TOd-lCd mo 20 question the
latter. There's 10 Mister" up there, 50 / set
out with:
TOD, You say you are 81 years old; you
must be thinking about dying out Of the way
pretty h0Ous
We'll, Cap, wc're not much crowded; it's
nigh onto seven miles TO the neardest clCaTin'
80 I'm not in the way yit. I kin shoot as cIar
as ever; kin 0utwalk you kin eat more or do
'thout any feed longer. Old oman thar his
wife sat in the corner smoking q laurel-rO0t
pipeI s sprightiy yit an she's a leetIc older "a
/ he. Our oldest gal s with her man over the
divide. She's So, and runs over to see US uuce
a week. 'Tother one is only go. but has no man
and stays with Us. Our three b'ys are in the
army a-shOOtin' at each other. For Lie swOwed
he'd never go agiust the old flag. Tother two
are with the Tcbs. The youngest is purity
nigh COZ
Lies older'n Liz, an LIS 60" put in the
old lady between whif5.
"Our baby is reb, too, and come next
chestnut III be 90
"Nigher onto 50" interieeted the wife.
No, Cap'n, were not thinkin Of quittin'
yIt."
You people do not die very young" I re-
marked.
"Thars not been many Of our people to die.
Last pusson 1 holped to put under war Daddy.
A log rolled over him when he war aloggin'
for Spring clearin', somewhar nigh onto II
years ago, an he war then jist 81. Nanny
fell wnen k'yaTrin' back log in the old cabin
bout 30 years ago, and spilled her back, but Is
still Twin; down all the time though. But
she's gittin' poorly and / reckon III 90 next.
No, Cap'n, thar's not many clearin's here
abouts. and the few of US live bouts long 3
We choose"
/ spread my blanket on the floor, and was
soon dreaming Of a mountain full Of blethusa-
lohs.-Capt w. F. GORDON, 905 Eighth street
y. W., Washington, ID. q.