The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1901-02-22
CHIi.DREN - STORY.
"Grandra" Tnlts of tho Timcs Two Third.
of u Contury aEo.

ter, or first third OF tho niuctccnth
century was good while ago aud that
drinktnE salooHs. tavcrns they wcrc
| then called, wore scattered all over he
rouNtry, AT every crossroad aud at many
| places between tho crossroads. when
tho crosses were too far apart to suit
| the convenience " the farmers. AZ
these little country stores It WAS the
custom for the nrighhors to meet every
Saturday afternoon, exchange Er.sirs
ana learn the news from the different
sections aud take social glass to-
Erth>r.
Th>rr WAS no high license at that
| time, whiSkrv was cheap In fact, il
| WAS often the case that merchants who
did not retail spirits kept liquors to
treat their customers. as candidates for
Office treated the voters
The particular section in which the
hero ot our stories lived WAS ON Tasty
Creek which cmpties into Saluda I've.
| tween Higgins and INrirk'S ferry, aud
wN'rh WAS crossed Wy N" Nid tu-rlrst On
road running trNu Charleston Wv
NranErhurE to NrnriySiN The sec.
ion covered the whole region of couu-
try between the two ferries and hc.
tween Saluda Eivrr. rrr$i mmou Gre, X,
NE Creek. Little Saluda, taking in
t'rushy Fork and more. AT the cross.
ads both above and below Tasty
Greek there were JuE tavcrns. At these
!uN lavrrns the farmers OF those print.
tIrr times spent macy pleasant S.tur-
lay afternoons.
The streams ahoundrd in fish aud the
woods were full OF game. Wild turkeys
we're about aS plentiful as partridgcs
ars now, and there were so many deer
inai rrniSon was not rare food and
nurkSkin hrcrrhrs were worn hy many
| Nrv$onS. These facts will account for
| the hunting adventures with which
these stories will abound.
On Saturday afternoon a party had
| collected AS usual At the crossroads to
hear the news, talk about crops and
things generally. 1t WAS Hot long after
Al eclipse Of the moon. which was
tNtA' or nearly Sn. aud the talk turned
| naturally upon the cause Of cclipses,
the man III the moon. the changes in
| the moons appearance, the influence
upon the weather and kindred themes
After awhile one Of the company said
| 10 Mr.. Cadle, "leSSe. tell us what YOU
| think about the moon h7d the wea;. .er,
| especially about the man in the moon?"
| II do not KNOW said Jesse, "whether
the moon makes ii rain or makes it dry
| according TO the way it hangs when It
changes, | 90 not know. / say, but |
| think il does. Ever since | was a boy
| I've heard the older people SAY that
this Is dry moon or a wet one. when it
lays Nat or hangs TO one side that it
was pouring the water all out Now
| yon watch ii and you will see there is
something in it. These new wise men
these days needn't tell me there's moth
ing in the moon but moonshine, for |
know better. Why, when you 90 to
| plant your seed OF any kind, you must
always plant IN the moon if you want to
get good crop, You must plant pota.
toes, turnips and all plants that bear
underground In the dark Of tho moon,
for If you don't you won't get any crop
I've seen it tried. One fool feller
planted his sweet potatoes last year in
the light Of the moon thinking he
would show US that We didn't know
nothin. Well, his potatoes came up all
right and growcd beautiful, and bios.
somed like morning glorys or wild po
tatoes and he thought be was going to
nave splendid crop. But when the
time came TO dig his crop not II burned
potat" could he find bigger than your
little finger. rs for your vines, The. {
was vines enough on one acre Of ground
to build spcndid dam across Saluds
River. | never saw a fellcr no put oul
In my life. planted potatoes the same
year, but | planted IN the dark OF the
moon, and such potatoes you never saw
There was hardly any vines at all; bu,
tatcrs, we'll, you ought just to have sect
'rm. Some of them were go large thai
two or three Of them would flll a com
mon sized hamper basket"
"But you wanted to know particular,
about the man in the moan, whether
there Is really man there, or what /
Is that makes the moon look 80 dark n
places. cannot tell you, myself, wha
it is, but a neighbor told me once tina
was no man, but his shotpouch hanging
over the face Of tn" moon aud hiding II
1t came about this way, he said, Il WA,
out hunting one day and 1t happened
that I was ever yonder in that piece O.
woods just 40 the moon was rising. L
wasn't full, about quarter full think
when the horns stuck up we'll. II et
happened that had occasion to take of
my shotpouch and without thinking
hung 1t on one OF the horns Of the moor
intending to take 1t of directly. Bu
when l got ready TO take 1t Off the moor
had risen 80 high that 1t was out of my
reach and 1t had 10 stay there. Iwen,