The sun., 1897-12-20
nUsIo TnAr snoUe mr. no1Ir.
An Adventure or Gathererr OF Christrsns Greens
In the KentucEy Mountains.

LEXINGTON. KY. Dec. 1e.-Hundreds Of cases
Of holly are being shipped out OF the mountains
OF eastern Kentucky. to be used for Christmas
decorations. One OF the largest shippers Is Mrs.
ID. Honakcr OF this city. Her son O|e and Jesse
Grubts have been In tho mountains for moro
than a week gathering holly. They ha' o had a
peculiar experience. When they landed at Fin.
castle, station on the Lexington and Eastern
railroad, in the very heart Of tho mountains.
and In the centre Of the holly section, they were
mistaken for revenue officers, for there are
many moonshinc stills in this section. A strap.
ping mountainocr walked up to Ollie Honaker
the night they arrived and asked:
what is you strangers gwine to do up here T.
"wo came up on a little business" replied
Ollie.
You'd better not moddle with our business" 4"
rejoincd the mountaineer. "or wo'll shoot yer
heads off,"
Ollie asked him what business he was engaged
In, but tho mountain man declined TO say, and sim.
ply repeated his admonition. Ollie assured him
that he dd't want to interfere with anybody's 3
business, and said that they had come TO get
holly buughs. This was a staggerer. The fellow
asked:
what is holly boughsl know what holly
is but what is holly boughs y
Young Honaker explained to him what he
tnineers curiosity He rejoned:
"Say. stranger. that's bout the thinnest thing
you revenoos has got up. You mean to say that
you want holly limbs to send to the big towns
fer Chrstmasi We buy shootin' crackers. have
eggnog and applejack, and sometimes pound
cake. and II we can git wild turkey we have
turkey fer Christmas, but whoever heerd Of
hollyf You make me laugh"
1t was some timo before Honakcr and Grubbs
could convince the mountaneer that they were
actually after holly boughs and that holly pos.
to take them across tho mountain where there
WAS great deal of the best kind of holly. he
said. He hooked UP a team OF oxen the next
morning, tho young men put two goods boxes on
the cart, aud the start was made. II soon began
TO rain and Grubbs and Honukor tilted the boxes
over together so they would make n roof. They
had not gone far in this way until bang bang I!
went a revolver, and when Honakcr looked out
from under the boxes the mounteineerw hold.
ing smoking pis oil in his right hand and
laughing boiS erously.
Did scare We. sonny !" he asked.
Honaker declared that he was not scared and
then the old man took out another revolver and
said; d., -. 49,,
By this time Jesse Grubbs had crawled from
under the boxes as pale as sheet. Jesse is the
told the old mnn that he would play for him on
the mandolin when they got back IL he would
play the night before, and. liking the music, he
quickly put his pistols up and drove on. 1t was
difficult to hiro The mountaineers 70 cut holly at
first, and the young men had trouble in getting
their boxes filled. But that night number OF
neighbors assembled Mt the old mans to see
scribed Honeker and Grubhs. True to his prom.
Use. Grubbs brought out his mandolin. He is
oid.time melodies which made Kentucky fs.
from the wirc.strinEed Instrument was some;
never heard, and they could not get enough of
it. Jesse played until his arm and fingers were
1t was nearly ii o'clock before he quit playing.
and no was allowed to 20 SO then only on prom.
Using that he would play for them the next
gather holly II he would play for them, and
snre enough they went to work next day. The
dreds Of cases q holly. and a letter just re. re-
ceived from Ollie Honaker says among other
things; rs: are working mora tb,n tw.,tv man ..
present. We have more holly than we know
what to do with They are bringing 1t in bar.
and in sleds. The children are bringing it in
their and d the women are bringing it by tho
What We are going to DO with R so s much hsfns 6os
!, The holly Of eastern Kentucky is the finest in
the world. It is the most perfect green and is
At the same time II is difficult thing to gather
for the reason that it grows in the most inaccess.
or three good boughs on It, others will nearly all
bo green and fresh The natives climb the trees
s o fs Sea Sed
the boughs having berries. Mrs. Honaker has
Der of persons employed making holly wreaths
and prct'y designs. So far she has scarcely been
It is likely, therefore. that eastern kentucky
holly will he used for decorating purposes moro
largely this Christmas than ever before. and
open up new branch OF industry for the people
of the eastern kentucky mountains.