Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-12-25

nAasad cxras 70 as szzhesiag slightly
nom pse1<1r. Ipsssoribsd FOR HIN ]
could Dot foEa sns evidences tlsus far sd-
dacsd zzxz>r positively 70 his idsntlsy,
but Il 10 10 tbs Eaan who came 70 nle
mat svauiEg yen viii md jast below TIE
left shoulder elace . porous plaster
which put On there Oct 5, 1862
The man was stsipped % the waist,
and taasxs IN the presence Of tho court
they fo1Rd TIE porous plaster, httls
raysled around me edges, but stll adj
herring 10 the trembling wretch with
canning tsnaefsy.
Sweeping through Ohio AZ this swift
rate even, 0as sss5 thai prosperity has
been almost uninterrupted for many
yeafs There may have oesn times when
some one gr1mbled, bur there has been
10 suffering or lasting hard times even
As rode over the state rough shod IN q
luxurious car filed with everything that
could exsis or sxaeeilish life ooald bat
compare the LOT Of these Ohio farmers
with vast barns and OVERLOOKING corn
cribs, CHEEKY white cottages with porches
and bay windows. and driving spirited
horses on the well made turnpike or
macadamized road-with some OF the
mountain people OF east Tennessee, West
Virginia aad western North Carolina.
know a man IN the mountains OF east
Tennessee, and he is not SO different
from others there except in the matter
Of simplicity in architecture. When he
married hs was fired with ambition 10
have home. he found big elm that
had broken of twenty feet from the
ground and fallen nearly down, bat
still clinging 10 the stump az one end
and with its top resting On another. He
went to work and split out chestnut
slabs long enough 10 make leanto, and
there he has lived. he aud his wife, and
nine children have been born there.
Consider that, you gentlemen who
swear II the watsr Is a degree too cold
10 shave with in the morning, or il the
children knock ''dent" in your English
brass bedstead with toy flatiron.
Recently the tired wife sickened and
died in this barbaric lair. With the rain
and the sleet by day beating in upon her
and the frost of night settling down on
the aged guilt she groaned the long
hours away till her worn and weary
hands lay idly ontside the old calico
wreck of covering. For fifteen years
they had lived there through the soft,
delicious spring. the quiet summer and
the gorgeous autumn gay with thou
sand tints. Then somehow they had
shivered through the short winter, and
the hound and gun had kept them alive.
Now the sad faced man-not especially
more so than ever. for these mountain
folk are born with the saddest, gravest,
most in,moyabie faces on earth-started
away for the nearest mill, land there"
said the proprietor to me, she bought
sixty cents worth of 'culls' to make cof-
fin for her." You can see him, dumb with
that strange grief that cannot express
itself or even weep. making a rough and
pathetic looking box of culled lumber in
which to put his wife.
This almost reminds one OF the sad,
simple life Of prehistoric man. We
picture to ourselves prehistoric man as a
big, strong specimen of health. with
mighty muscles Of maleable iron, clothed
in the pelt OF a chipmunk or some other
wild beast aud absolutely destitute of
fear.
But when the wailing cry Of his child
in the cold. damp night of his wretched
cave told him OF fever or cramp. what
did he do: Did he even have the simple
pharnacopeia of lard and molasses and
honey and vinegar in case of Group? No.
He could not scratch a match, even if
he had had one to scratch