St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-10-08
FAR HADN'T TOUCHED THEM
Daekweods People In Pennsylvania
who HAD Their Doubts That
War Existed.

A travelling man who visits many OF
the out-of-the-way mountainous dis
tricts of east Pennsylvania says:
~ was surprised to meet SO many
people who are absolutely Indifferent
about the war. They know very little,
il anything, about the trouble with
Spain. Some doubt whether there is
really a war at all. Ispoke to farmer
who has a good estate under high
cultivation. He had just finished put
ting away about thirty tons of good
hay. Said he: 4 stopped read
| ing war news some time ago.
i made mp my mind there
was no war. I read one thing
one day which was contradicted the
next, SO stopped reading any paper
and have been making hay ever since.
No, / am not bit interested. know
of no one who has enlisted from our
section, and if the United States il
fighting Spain for Cuba know nothing
of 1t. I'll wait awhile and see.'
81 told the old man all the latest
news from Santiago de Cuba. but he
simply replied: We'll. the next feller
that gets along this way may tell me
something entirely different
"At another place ] asked whether
anyone from their region had en-
listed. The reply was: Bless you. no.
A few OF the young fellows went to
town to enlist. But they had to wait
so long and almost beg to be taken
that they came home saying they'd be
hanged If they'd be listed like that.
So they didn't go. Maybe nobody
went. People take very little interest
in the war. They did at first, but not
now. It's too far away. We have to
wait too long ard then we amt sure.
"At another crossroad, where sew
eral farmers were talking about a new
harvester, I asked whether they had
heard anything new from the seat OF
war. They looked in doubt and an
swered they had not. One of them
asked, What warp Finally the oldest
of the trio said: we cant talk much
about war with strangers. Them
names down in Cuba are stickers. The
other day I talked to an agent about
Commodore Shelly and he told me II
was Sly, not Shelly, and he showed me
the name was spelled Schley. We
can't remember them Cuban names NJ
all, and them Spanish ships that
Dewey sunk, and that Cervera has
and that Camars took to Suez; they
are deliberations. No, no one listed
from this district
AT a carpet weaver's humble dwell
ing ON the outskirts of mountain
village, the housewife at the fence
hailed me, asking, Say, is it true that
there's war? said yes. Look sh'
answered. Henry Boyer's boy wa.
along here yesterday and he allowed
he had heard that the war had broke
out again 1 explained to the woman
what this war was,when she answered
We are getting paper. hut, indeed
we have been so very busy the pas
few months that we haven't had tim,
to take the wrappers off yet. Flour
has gone up some, but they say wheat
has gone down. Flour is always last
to fall when anything goes on. Ny
father sold his mules at a good price
They said the war caused mules to e
up
"Another old mountainside farmer
said: 4 don't believe there's . wal
and will not believe it until see uni
form. / remember when the war o1
'61 was first reported. / would not be
lieve it. At last / saw Jimmy Becker
who used to go on sprees very much
coming down the road in blue uni
form. He was rolling drunk, and sait
he had listed. Well, he went of, ana
stayed of, and then began to realize
there was a war. have Lot seen any
uniforms for the Spanish war. Yes
I read the papers. but I would like t.
see for myself whether the army |,
called out. None of our neighbor boy
have listed yet. There Is no draft
and no demand for soldiers abou
here
'.In the days of 81 newspapers were
publicly read at the blacksmith shops
shoemaker shops, country stores. etc.
before a whole crowd, and people il
the back country districts were ex
cited. 1t is not the case now. II ma.
become more exciting as time passe
but there is very little said about i
!, thus far among the back countr,
farmers. Not that they are no
shrewd and intelligent and Of goot
common sense. Only the first ripple
Of the war wave had hardly awakened
them to the full realization that tn
United States was really at war will
Spain."-N. Y. Sun.
The Great samoan Hurricane.
In the harbor at Apia were anchore,