The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-12
in the latest nov
elites for carriage
and street wear.
KROUSKOFFS.

been long in use. Whether the prevailing
mode in trousers be spring bOttOmed, bag
gy at the knee close about the foot, curv-
ed in or curved out. according to quirk
of fashion, the neither garments we have
In mind are invariably cut out and scanned
up with the same square, uncompromising
aight-up-and-down directness. inno-
cent Of shape or ut, all varieties Of weather
having faded them into neutrality.
just what keeps these bag-like append
ages In place is at all times an enigma,
though the curious hitch which the wear
er gives occasionally to q limp homespun
strap which crosses one shoulder would
seem to Indicate that that was a factor in
the matter A hickory shirt. OF no particu-
lar shade or shape, straw hat In summer
and felt with holes cut in the crown In
winter usually complete his outfit, unless
we include the cumbersome and prehis-
torlc overcOat which sometimes accentu-
ates his attire IN weather Of unusual Sc
verify.
The squatter gets out wagon racks FOR
energetic neighbors when necessity forces
him to do so. He can make door mats out
Of shuck or the buyer furnishes the shuck,
for he has no ears TO despoil except the
few bushels he gets In trade). He can make
a little tar on occasion, fashion base ball
bats and famous slingshots for apprecla-
tive youngsters and, N the worst comes TO
the worst, II he must get qulnine to keep
off the fever or tobacco to lull his nerves,
he will work three whole days IN success
sion. helping to raise a barn, dig holes for
fence posts get out shingles, or other oc-
cupatiOn. He resorts 10 all sorts of shifts
except the one seemingly planest of all,
namely, the starting Of a little farm and
the attempt to provide for the future His
Wife and children rig up some sort OF
rough paling about the little plot they
have cleared, and raise onions, cOllards,
peas, and maybe a few stalks Of corn or a
row or two of sweet potatoes If they can
get the slips from some prudent neighbor.
The same family loyalty OF. pride Qor
want of "A better term that the squatter
reveals occasionally runs through the fam
''wouldn't you like a place where you
could earn some money! asked store
keeper one afternoon of the l7-year-od
daughter Of a Carney, fair-skinned, shy
creature who offered a wooden piggln full
OF blackberries to sell. Il know Of a lady
out by the railroad station who lives all
alone and wants a young woman to stay
with her for company; you would have
some work to do, but II would not be
hard"
The young squatter's face glowed red
even In the depths OF her sun-bonnet, and
which hung on her bosom In evident en-
barrassment.
II wouldn't go out to work, sir she
answered, distinctly. 1--WE always stays at
home" And, picking up the money for her
berries, she tripped away.
These people beat me out" said the
storekeeper, who could not comprehend
such sentiments. Now, that girl Is down
right good-ooking, and If she was dressed
like other folks and fixed up little she
might get right good husband. But
AAttid oht 10 III lHt NODa1g out never BOt3
TO a church and has never been to school,
don't hardly know the name of the state
she lives In, or that this is a republican
country and not governed by a king.
doubt IL she knows how TO read and II
she has another dress as decent as thar
old rag she had on. There Is no furni-
ture I'm the house and no certainty OF
daily food yet she snlilingly tells me that
she wouldn't go out to work and that
they always stay at home. They means
my family l suppose. To bedlam with
such philosophy! l suppose she'll stay
in that smoky hole OF hut until some
young squatter, even more trifiing than
her father, II that Is possible, comes from
over the fork or across the bend or
down out of the hollow and asks her to
marry him. Then, to carry out their
ridiculous ideas Of family, he'll have to be
some cousin or half-brother or great
uncle TO this woman her father married
or the one her grandfather married.
There Is no passage in history to indf-
cate whether these people came over
with the English, the Hugenots, the Ger
man or Dutch settlers or migrated to the
southland from other states less baImy
and seductive. They seem to have sprung
up out Of the soil, they and their COM
peers-the clay-eaters, sandhillers ana
crackers. They have a certain code OF
their own and doubtless there are things
that they value but the tenets OF thar
aim or object for which other men strive
would stir their pulses In the least. They
are in the world, yet not of II, content be-
cause, valuing nothing, there Is nothing
they covet and nothing they would try
to obtain.