The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-14

/ NEW 1OIh 1lHleS.
When anything Is written concerning
! the mountain country of western North
! Carolina, where the Alleghanies reacn
their greatest development, the writer
! almost invariably has something to say
about rugged mountaineers. People
who live far away, getting their only IN
/ formation about the Land Of the SKY
out of books and periodicals, have be-
come too accustomed, perhaps, to con-
| slider all, rather than few, of the ma
| tives of this section as belonging to the
| rugged species so often mentioned.
| Unquestonably the rugged" noun
taineer is in the majority in the Blue
! Ridge, Great Smokes, Balsams and 9TH
er lesser mountain ranges forming the
Alleghanies of North Carolina, but there
is no section of large area where he alone
! controls the land. He is the tenant OF
the best class of mountainers, composed
! of the well-to-do farmers, or he is the
! inferior helper of the second class, that
| Of the less prosperous but easily SELF
! supporting owners of small farm tracts.
| He composes the third class, and is usual
/ ly as dependent upon his superiors as
/ is the negro Of the eastern cotton plan
! tation. If he cannot get work on the farm
/ of the man upon whose hills his poor
/ cabin stands, he must starve; for even
though the owner of the tract, large or
small, allows his impoverished renter TO
hunt and fish at will, such foraging does
! not suffice to support the enormous fam
! lily that one of these hillmen general
ly begets. At least a portion Of the year
must be spent at the ploW, or with the
! hoe or reaper or axe, in order to feed
| the ragged hordes of youngsters who
! swarm, dirty and wild in as tiny cabins
! as those of the east North Carolinian's
| colored pickaninnies but who unlike the
latter, must face a mountain winter as
! severe as any felt in Northern New York
! or Canada.
The cabin of a mountaineer of the
third class is a thing of wonder On see
ing it for the first time one wonders
why the inmates wouldn't prefer to live
out of doors, why all of them don't die
| of pneumonia or scurvy at the first
breath of winter One room generally
! fills the cabin. 1t is a parlor, dining
| room, bedroom and kitchen, all at the
same time. In the floor are big cracks.
! and one can look down through these
and see the family hogs walking about
under the house, this being their regu-
larly appointed sty. In the roof there
are more cracks through which rain or
snow or cold air have access. The own
er of the cabin is not too lazy to stop
up the cracks in his roof and floor; he
| simply likes to have them there, as long
as they are not big enough to let in
whole storm at once.
Whether there are five or fifteen chill
dren, all can sleep in the one room.
| There is no. thought of complaint be-
cause OIL overcrowding, for the five or
fifteen would just as soon sleep together
on the floor, or huddled into two or three
hunks, as they would sleep in separate
rooms and upon tapestried beds.
Hours for meals are comparatively
regular in these mountain cabins. Sun
rise means that breakfast is ready. The
| mother has hPpn Of he'd for
time, baking corn bread and cooking
whatever vegetables and meat are on
hand. When it is all ready to eat theo-
! retically exactly as the sun shows itself
above the mountain peak to the east,
she wakes the family. Everybody
jumps out of bed. They have slept in
their clothes or in most of them, so the
breakfast toilet occupies but very few
! minutes. Sometimes, but seldom, a.
family is found wherein the members
are wont to run out of doors and take
| a wash" before breakfast in the near
est running water. This, however, is a
| custom So uncommon among the third
class of mountaineers that it is hard
ly worth mentioning. Generally break
fast is handled by hands unwashed for
! days, there being few knives and forks,
! or none at all. The table is formed of
! one or4two rough boards, most often not
! even planned, which rest upon equally
| rough legs, the WnOlS STRUCTURE ndNlnS
! probably been made by the pater-
familias with the sole assistance of a
woodmans ak. OF plates there are like
| ly to be q few, all made of tin or the
cheapest crockery. In these large piles
of the eatables are heaped up and the
family, the beds having been pushed
back against one wall or the floor, sleep
ing mats tossed into corner, begins
to grab out whatever exhales the most
appetizing odor.
Dinner comes at noon, supper at dusk.
In the interval the father, as well as
the sons and daughters of sufficient
growth, go out to work The mother
either goes with them or works at
home. Every day is just like the last,
except Sunday, when all hands go to
some 'meetin' house." or else, if the
cabin is in one Of those sections where
| there are no such resorts spend the day
! idling or fOraging. Many of these people
cannot read or write, but there are
communities in which the better classes
! of natives outnumber the lowest class
and exert themselves to educate the
! latter. Taken throughout, the toughest
mountaineer class gets little out Of the
| public schools scattered among the val
legs and settlements.
Should an expert psychologist go to
live among the cabin jewellers of west
ern North Carolina, he would doubtless
find much food for thought in stu 8. ing
the mental life of the rugged noun
taineer." Many queer stories are told
about the way these folks think and
act, about the curious names they give
to places and people, about their super
stitions and their myths
Such story is the one about Ike Ives
ter's fight with the revenue officers Ike
husky fellow of much Drawn and quite
little natural acumen, ran an Illicit
distillery, wherein he made mountain
dew from grains of corn, or even
brandy from apples and peaches during
fruit season. The still was near the Pig
con river, on a beautiful little brook
about eight miles up the river from
Springdale. One of likes enemies told the
revenue men about the still, and an ex-
petition was organized to go against Ike
Ivester. Eight men were in the party.
They attacked the distiller He fought
them, and when the fight was over all
of the revenue force lay on the ground
dead or dying. 1t is said that Ivester
used no, weapons save his fists. In the
language of the mountaineer, he lies
materially licked EN- by hisself" So it
happens that the place where the old
still stood is called 'Ivesters Licks'' to
this day. This has been abbreviated I'M
til the natives refer to the little brook
as THE Licks," or "Licks Creek"
1t was many years ago that Ivester
had his still. Later in life he settled
down to an honest, law-abiding life. Last
winter he died. aged ninety-nine years
and ten months, His family We're sore
distressed, for they had hoped he would
live to be a full hundred that future
generations Of Ivesters might boast about