Evening capital., 1899-08-18
Old Pcnnsylvania woodsmen

One of the most interesting and pic
turesque types known to backwoods
life, the old-time lumberman and wood
chopper of the Alleghanies, is now al
most thing of the past. At the pres
ent day the number of men engaged in
that healthful but arduous occupation
is small compared with the thousands
that labored in the fine forests of a
quarter of a century ago. The fine
forests of Pennsylvania are themselves
only a memory.
The genuine old-time woodsman of
the Allegheny spread Of waters cannot
be mistaken He will be seen in mid
winter always wearing a fur cap,
which is. more than likely, some long
preserved trophy of his own rifle or
trap. He wears no coat or wadstcoat,
his body and chest being covered by a
heavy flannel or woollen shirt-not the
gorgeously colored garments of the la
ter day lumbermen, but good, old-fash-
ioned stuff, such as his father used TO
wear. Trousers of some warm wool
len goods cover his legs. The new
order of woodsmen wear their trousers
tucked into a long pair of stockings.
These stockings are often as gorgeous
in varied color as the shirt or jacket
he affects, and their tops are drawn
snug to the leg by puckering string,
the ends OF the string sometimes end
ing in fancy tassels. They wear gum
shoes. The old-time woodsman's IA
ther wore cowhide boots, well creased
with tallow and with no stockings be-
tween their leather and his feet: so his
sons. or the most of them, wear cow
hide boots. CREASED with tallow, and
no stockings. and declare that thus clad
their feet are kept warmer than by the
bundling of heavy stockings. The old
timer will defy any one to remember
an instance of any ones feet ever hav-
ing been frosted when dressed on the
cowhide boot, no stocking plan. These
fast disappearing specimens of the days
when lumberin' was lumberin' and
not playin' circus" also scorn suspend
ers. or "galluses," as they call them.
"A feller can't have his shoulders all
clawed up if he wants to swing an axe
or pull a raft oar" is the rule of these
forest craftsmen.
Clad thus the woodsman is ready for
a shooting match. a dogfght, bear
hunt, a log chopping, or mourner
meeting. The mourner meeting is the
backwoods revival, conducted usually
by some strapping, lusty-lunged
preacher, and generally at the district
school-house Everybody within a
circuit of five or six miles attends the
mourner meetings. and frequently a
majority of the congregation join the
mourners before the revival is over.
But the steadfastness of the backwoods
convert is evidently not to be depended
upon, for mourners of one winter are
to a great extent the mourners of the
next. This doesn't seem to be looked
upon as anything to be unfavorably
commented upon: on the contrary some
regard it as a very commendable ac-
ton. as witness the boast of one old
time woodsman:
Il stand high in this here deestrict
and / ought to. l been a mourner
ev'ry winter at the mourner meetin's
fer better'n forty year"
AS rule these untutored woodsmeu
are honest and generous, although al
ways boisterous, and it is to be re-
gretted that they are being replaced
by an element so different in all re-
spects. for % their sturdy and aggres-
sive character is due, more than to any
one thing, the place western Pennsyl
vania enjoys in the estimation of the
entire country.