The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-09-18
The Carolina Mountaineer.
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Continued from Page TnIee.1
in some u~nguarded momcnt YOU should
enter into negotiations with the noun
tain horse snapper. or land trader. the
probabilities are you will emerge with
a tlattened purse, enlarged experience
and expanded views Of Intellectual ac-
cumen of at least one ''Mountain
White" a great Scotchman is report
ed TO have said that he would not
presume to set bounds to the capacity
Of the Creator" but he believed no
never made a better man than 4 good
Scotchman, and doubtless he never
made a worse than a bad Scotchman.
OF course it is all wrong to condo.ie
vice and crime under any clrcuin-
tances. but | humbly confess that
have often been unabl to suppress a
Sncaking pride when | have seen one
of our Mountain rascals '~go-for" the
range and philanthropist who has
come among Is 70 reform, educate and
| eleyate-Blood will tell
But want to introduce to you one.
who ( believe in many respects Illus
trated in his life and temperament
truly the highest characteristics of the
Carolina Mountaineer. He has been
gathered INTO his fathers for many
years, but he left the memor OF a
sweet and noble life. It was my great
fortune to know him in his later years
| and to have received many evidences
of his friendship and esteem.
! Silas Mcdowell was born among the
| foot hills of the Blue Ridge on the
10th day of May. 1875, and dIed at ms
home on the northern slopes Of the
| same Blue Ridge in Macon county On
c.. on the 14th day of July 1879.
With the exception Of Jnree or four
years of his youth his entire life was IN
the mountains of Western North Car
DINA. He was OF pure S~cotch-lrlsll
blood and his grandfather was a sol
der in the indian wars on the frontier
and in the War of the Revolution. He
was what as has been sometimes
called Il 'self-made man. but |
| should say. it would be more exact to
class hum as one of Natures made
men. His appearance Was striking and
exceedingly attractive. | wildly recall
his stocky robust frame, his noble
head. gentle and humorous face, ana
the simple dignity of his /
never saw him but the picture Of Wal
ter Scott instantly presented itself to
NV fancy, for, in many respects,
physical. mental. and moral, he re
sernbled the great wizard OF the
North" He was endowed With a noble
soul: a faithful and tender heart, and
q splendid imagination.
He had a strong. natural taste for
letters, and had opportunity been
granted hin | verify believe he would
today have a place in the front ranks
of American men Of letters. OF world
" goods he had little and cared less;
his only heritage in that respect being
Il negro boy from his grandfather
from whom he never separated until
death summoned his dark but Y
companion in his old age. He early
attracted. by his contributions to the
then few State papers, and afterwards
to HarperS and other periodical pub
licatiOn&. the attention of men promi-
nent in scientific, literary and political
life. and though he never met some OF
them. he could our among his cor
respondents and friends such men as
Longfellow Henry of the smithsonian
Institute. Maury, Governors Swain and
Vance, Senators Clinglnan and Merri-
mon, and great numbers of others
prominent in position VINO could and
did appreciate his qualities of head ana
heart. 1t was he who first suggested
the now accepted theory of the phe-
omen OF the ''rhefmal Belts in the
mountains Of the Carolinas-his ar
ticIe on tAat subject being published in
the United states Agricultural Report
for 1856 under the supervision OF the
Smithsonian Institute. In addition he
wrote many sketches and stories en-
bodNin@ the romanceS and legends OF
the early days of Western North Caro-
lina-SOlnc of which appeared from
time 10 time in various publications.
but most Of them are vet in manu-
script. in the possession of one Of his
daughters. 1t has been one Of the
things | ave hoped, to see them col
lected, edited and given to he world.
IN them his imagination and poetical
talent q full sway. and in them there
is constantly displayed that subtle,
delicate. but Understandable touch that
indicates the genius for literature and
which constitutes the great charm of
Scott. \ Norta Carolinian himself,
eminent for scholarship and in letters.
in his "Reminiscences of Silas Nc
D0Wel.' said. "SOme of Gods great
Apostles have come from the ranks:
the apostle Of great thoughts; the
loved of the great heart of whom I
now write, came from the ranks; he
was a tailor. Shakespeare was a
Wool-cOmber: Bunyan was a tinker;
Keats was a druggist; Jeremy Taylor
was a barber; Hugh Miller graduated
in 4 stone quarry; Smiles a y that
Andrew Johnson was the greatest OF
all tailors. l doubt the correctness OF
the Englishman's conclusion. Silas
Mcdowell was as great in literature as
AndrW Johnson was in politics. In
deed the genius of the former took
a nobler and loftier flight than the
latter. The one was a lion. king of
the forest-the other was the eagle,
soaring above earth's clouds and
streams to battle its pinions in the full
light of the sun"
| shall close this p with a let
ter from Silas Mcdowell TO DR.. Curtis.
The eminent botanist. author of
Woody Plants of North Carolina,
and other works CT like ~haracte 1t
IS dated in October. 1877. and the !
manuscript now in my possession. is
unreVised. OF course. it was never in
tended for publication. i hone You /
XIII find 1t not embarrassing, snc it, to