The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-25
THE CRACKERS DEFENDED.
Miss Zitella Cooke in Boston Ira

THE CRACKERS DEFENDED.
 Miss Zitella Cooke in Boston Tran
 script.
 That the Crackers are a people sui generis no one wl.J knows them will deny. Their faults are patent and de- cided; likewise their virtues. Illiterate to a degree which sometimes precludes a knowledge of the alphabet, yet hon. est and brave; uncivilized and law less, yet possessing "a generosity and nobility of soul from which the high est type of manhood may be developed. Not many months ago, an intelligent and respected clergyman stood in the presence of a missionary society and pronounced i1 qualified terms his opinion of these mountaineers. He characterized them as degraded to a degree beyond the condition of the low est foreigners who come to our shores. and to this pronouncement, added the statement that they were also of the purest English descent His utterances provoked an immediate contradiction from a person who knew these people and their belongings, and when after wards he was interrogated concerning his authority for such wholesale de- nunciation, he calmly replied that, in IdCt' ilc hhcW nOlHIHB dbout lHtSc ptO- pie. which candor certainly comments itself to our admiration. Who, then, are the Crackers? Tn the first place, they are by no means of pure English descent. To large degree the Celtic element Is conspicuous among them, Scotch-Irish, with an occasional ad- mixture of Welsh, and yet another strain prevails widely and unmistaka- bly, as their patronymics would imply so much so that Teutonic faces and names are seen and heard among them everywhere. and not unfrequently mark entire settlements. This fact goes far in substantiating the tradition that a large proportion of these peculiar peo- pie owe their origin to the Hessians employed in the army of King George. These hired soldiers were naturally unacceptable to the successful colon ists, and speedily retired to the noun tain fastnesses. taking on the tastes and habits of life, and dialect as well, which such habitation would naturally engender. To this day, Teutonic words and idioms are current in these noun tain hamlets, and many localities are distinguished by such names as Dutch Fork and Dutch Gap, the word Dutch being misapplied, as often happens in this country. for the word German. The superstitions and imaginations which characterize the Teutonic mind, and express themselves in the folk lore of German nations, have given dis tinct coloring to the tradition and nursery legends of this simple hearted and jlliterate people. The wood, the air and the water are to them inhab- ited by beautiful and uncsnny beings who reveal themselves only to those favored few. who have the eyes to see ropn ceive, and whatever may be the anccs- tral origin of the Cracker. there is in his very ignorance and illiteracy, a certain picturesque ness which Is pal pably evident in wor1, as well as in idea Many travellers who have been blessed with superior advantages 10 these humble folk. are themselves too superficial of thought and feeling to detect this quality, and hence ma nothing in their faith or speech, put matter for ridicule. For Instance the common expression among these peo- pie of short sweetGn for sugar, and Tong sweetnin'" for molasses, is an exhaustless source of amusement to a class, who evidently have not the wit to perceive it's metaphoriCal signih- canoe Surely there Is, In this illiterate nomenclature an element or DIG turesqueness which ought to appeal to the dullest imagination. The very name Cracker is also remotely trace | able to d love of the picturesque. how ever crude which seems inherent | among these mountaineers, for the man who drives his team of oxen over the difficult mountain ways guldes ms peas or "critters, as he calls them. by the continuous crack or his whip. yielding it with such wonderfui | and unfailing dexteritY, as to play a l tune which echoes through the noun l tains. and fills the air with its rhythm and resonance The stOlid oxen move | in time to this rustic music without | fear of blows. for the Cracker cherish | es his beast with an affection second only to that which he feels for his own | blood.
 In his domestic life, the Cracker Is amnrohIa to all the laws and traditions
 which qovern citizens of the highest oi,.iIizotion and the women especially
 ,rhather from the example of the class tr tha soutb known to them as the
 ,'restarcrats" or from their own in
 nate love of integrity are generally
 strictly moral and wlthal exhlbit
 pronrietv and derorum in their rela- ! tions with the oppisite sex which is not characteristic of other llIiteratt
 peoples. The Cracker girl whose de
 portment Is. as they say too free,
 soon loses caste among her neighbor'
 ana Cracker men. like all others, arc
 wont to prize her who Is the most diff | dcult to win. Their social games anC dances simple and rustic though they De. are never coarse. There is a chiv