Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-03-25
AMONG HI PINES.
ODD THIN GS ABOUT THE NATIVES IN
NORTH CAROLINA WOODS.

chant--He Kept the store - Strange
Method Employed For Computing Dis.
tances Between Points,
The ~soJourner roaming in the piny
woods OF North Carolina will be fire.
quently confronted by a sign or n
nouncement printed in stenciled capital
letters on a board 2 or 3 feet square and
nailed TO a pine tree, whereby the way
faring man is told of the manifold
things he may buy at a bargain store''
at Southern Pines, one item in the list
being 1.-TWO pair of sox for 10 cents. y
The other day a visitor, curious to know
what manner of "sox'' it might be that
could be purchased for 8 cents a pair,
went over to patronize this bargain
counter. He found the store. 1t was a
frame building fully as large as a freight
train caboose. 1t stood on the edge Of a
big lot, the remaining area being occu-
pied by a vineyard and strawberry beds
and blackberry patches. A strong fence
surrounded it. Facing the front of the
store was a gate heavily barred against
all corners. The door of the store was
evidently locked, and there was no sign
of life about the establishment. The
would be customer made up his mind
that here was a case where advertising
had not paid, when he saw a placard on
the door which gave notice to the public
thus lin the Back Yard. If You Want
Me, Holler."
Acting ON this advice, the searcher
after 8 cent socks ''hollered. Presently
a man appeared from somewhere back
of the store.
do you want to git in?' he asked.
Being told that such was the visitors
wish, the man came forward, unbarred
the gate, unlocked the door and let his
customer in.
I'm workin up my garden" said he,
land don't want folks foolin round I'M
less they want to git in for bargains"
The socks were worth the money.
You may be travelling for the first
time somewhere through a North Caro-
lima backwoods district, and, not having
a clear idea as to distances, you natural
ly stop and ask the first native you come
to how far it may be to So-and-so's place.
Expecting to hear him reply that it is a
mile, two miles, or whatever the dis
tance is in miles, you will undoubtedly
be surprised and puzzled when he says
after due deliberation: +,
well, sub, it's about two looks from
hyuh, sub, / reckon. May be two looks
an a peep, though, sub. It's a right
smart ways, anyhow, subj"
You are obliged, of course, to ask for
a solution of this puzzle aud will then
learn that a look" as a measure O.
distance, is the limit of vision ahead of
you from the spot where you are, and
it may be a turn in the road 100 yards
away or a point a mile or more distant.
You travel to the end of that ''look,"
and from there take another look to the
farthest object in sight as your course
lies and travel on to that. If you have
been told that your destination is two
looks" ahead, when you get to end of
the secohd look there you are. If it is
two Hooks" and a"peep," you peep off
to one side of the road or the other from
the second "look' and see the place you
are after.
One time a New Yorker went down
to North Carolina to join some friends
who were hunting wild turkeys in the
piny woods. They had gone out for a
days sport when he arrived, and he
started to hunt them up. Not having
found any sign of them after tramping
about for half a day, he met a native in
an old road and asked him if he had
seen anything of the party.
Eyes, sur" he replied. They're up
this road yonduh, three looks and a
boot, subj"
The New Yorker thought the native
was guying him and started on in a
huff. He went on until he came to a
bridge, where he met another piny
woods denizen at work, and he asked
that one the same question. The man
looked up the road. The farthest thing
in sight was a big pine tree, nearly a
mile away.
eyes, sub, / see EN- 'smawnin, suh,"
he said. "They was jes' bout n look
an a boot from hyuh then, subj"
The stranger glared at the man and
went grumbling on his way. Just before
he came to the big pine tree another
native came out of the woods, and the
New Yorker, with much misgiving,
asked him the question he had put to
the others.
"Oh. yes, subj was the reply. "They
only jes' in hyuh a boot, suh."
The native turned toward the woods,
put a hand on each side of his mouth
and shouted a lusty:
"Hoo-o-o-o-oo-hootP'
In a few seconds q similar cry came
back from the woods.
'"Thar they is, subj exclaimed the
That's them, suh."
And it was. They were two Clocks"
and a "hoot" from the place where the
New Yorker had first %ingaired for them.
York Sun.