Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1896-08-04

| The "Cracker of the Hills" Ii the Direct
Descendant Of the ''soId Passengers" Who
Came to Thi. Country In the Seventeenth
Century.
The notion that the poor white ele-
ment Of the southern Appalachian re-
gion is Identical with the poor people
generally over the country is an error,
and an error Of enough Importance %
call for correction. The poor white Of
the south has some kinfolk in the Ad.
irondack region II New York and the
Blue and Allegheny mountains Of Penn
sylvania, but he has few relatives any
place else about the Mason Dixon line.
The states of New York and Pennsylva-
MIA were slave states until the early
part Of this century.
This poor white mountaineer descends
direct from those immigrants who came
over in the early days Of the colonies.
the Revolutionary war period, as sold
passengers. They sold their services
for time sufficient 10 enable them %
work out their passage money. They
were sold, articled 20 masters, in the
colonies for their board and fixed wage,
and thus they earned the cost of their
migration.
The laws under which they We're ar
ticled We're severe, ~ severe AZ appren-
tice laws in those days. The sold pas
senger" virtually became the slave Of
the purchaser II his labor. He could be
whipped if he did not do the task set
him, and woe 10 the unlucky wight II
he ran away. How sure TO be caught
and cruelty punished
And though he was usually descend
ant Of the lowest grade Of humanity on
the British islands, he still had enough
II the Anglo Saxon spirit about him 10
make him al unsatisfactory chattel.
From 1920 forward-the year when
the Dutch landed the first cargo Of Afri-
can slaves ON the contlncnt-the sold
passenger" was fast replaced by negroes,
who took more naturally and amiably
20 the slave life
The poor white naturally came %
cherish bitter hatred for the blacks
that We're preferred over him. He al
ready hated his domineering white mas
ter. When he was free 20 90, he put as
many miles IA his means and his safety
from Indian murderers permitted be
tween himself and those he hated and
hoped he might never see again. In
that early time the mountain region
was not even surveyed, 1T alone owned
by individual proprietors.
The English, Scotch, Irish and con-
tinental immigrant who had some means
sat down on the rich valleys, river bot
toms and rolling savannahs, and the
poor white was made welcome % the
foothills and mountain plateaus.
These descendants # the British vii
lein ot the feudal era grew and multi
piled. became almost as distinct peo-
pie from the lords If the lowlands ~
the Scotch highlander was, ~ related to
his lpwland neighbOr. in the sixteenth
and ycnteenth centuries.
The stir If the period since the close
Of our civil war has made somewhat in.
distinct the line that separates the
mountaineer from the plainsman II the
south. especially in the foothills and at
points where the two have intermingled
III traffic, in thc schoolhouse and church,
and especially where the poor whites
x-..l .. tft,ft
making, etc. But g into the mountains
far enough and you find the types as
clear cut a. il was 100 years ago, with
its inimitable drawling speech and Gu
rious dialect, its sallOw complexion.
lanky frame, lazy habits and immoral
ity-all as distinctly marked a. they
were when hundreds II these people
found Cherokee wives in Georgia and
Tennessee in the early part of the CEN
tury and bleached most of the copper
out If the skin # the ChOctaw as well
a. ont Of the Cherokee
It is pity that some competent an
thropological historian has not traced
the annals Of this interesting and dis
tinctive section II our population and
made record Of il in the interest If sci
ence, no less than i'll the interest of the
proper education and elevation Of the
mountain people. II has become, espe-
cirsly in the Piedmont section of the
south. most important labor element
The cotton mill labor by thousands
comes from the Cracker Of the Hills, "
and it is destined 10 become a great
power, that labor population, social and
political.
The redemption Of the poor white be-
gan when slavery went down in blood
and destruction, and il has gone on fast
er and travelled farther than some Of Us
think. k.-Chattanooga Times.