The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-08-07

bv an examination are matters which
have deeply stirred the press.
The questions are partially
by the statement of ratings given out
Nv The Department. as follows:
Spelling GO simple Words........ IT
Arithmetic (simple tests of add
ton, etc.) ~
Report writing (based on statement q
of facts -
Penmauship IL
Copying from plain copy -....... 1t
Training and experience Grated on
applications, testimonials and
VoucherS) oo
PernicioEs yellow Fiction.
Under 'training and experience il
is .;eneraliy supposed are included
the ability to ride hard and shoot
straight. to be handy with the lists
in a pinch, ana to possess the peculiar
brand of physical courage and alert
ness supposed 10 be necessary to deal
with the desperate moonshiner OF the
mountains.
Long editorials have been written
in number touching in many cases
the impractical nature of civil ser
vice examinations in general, and com
mending the idea that the deputies
must be a combination of detective and
COWBOY by the very nature of their
employment. Through it all runs the
idea With which the country is inn
pregnatad that the Illicit diStiller is a
devil TO whom human life is cheap,
who leads . guerilla warfare against
the race, and to combat whom IS
required n special type of courage and
accomplishment.
And in that is seen again the fact
that things that are written in books
iIneed only time to let them p~ercalate
into the class of things which the law
denominates 'stare decisis." 1t is so
with the gentle sinner.
Love and War in Mountains.
Ever since some ancient literary
"feIIer' discovered for US in Il yellow
backed novelette, a maiden VariouSly
endowed with q complete musical ed
ucatiOn, tapering fingers. yellow hair.
a penChant for French phrases, all
combined with a strange INC woody
dialect which she put on and off ut
will as she attended a ball or throttled
u catamount and then 'Skun" him;
ever since the gaping world followed
this heroine as she stood the desperate
band of reVenue raiders aWay from her
fathers mOOnShine still with a Win
chester. cOQuetted With the handsome
detective from Washington city, saved
his life from being forfeit to the Oath
of Bull-frOg Pete, became involved by
the jealousy of her Ountai lover in
~JackbOOtS, was bitten by n RATHER,
drank two quarts of corn juice, smoked
a lII'+ HtliE- Il III u 1otL bCi bS al
earl, broke out of Jail, got a pardon
from the Governor and married her
lover after shooting him through the
arm to prevent him killing the judge
ever since, with variations, the
try has read of these thrilling episodes.
it has taken a curious delight in get
ting foolish over the North Carolina
mountains and the deWS in which the
are supposed to be drenched.
The moonshiner has been wonder
fully and fearfully constructed. He
has been a dead shot. q Sir Gallahad
III red WhiskerS, a desperate character
h Kills revenue officers like flies.
Again he has been a cool, collected
crook with Il red tie and a Slicked-
over collar, full of treachery and still
etto-like murders. The eVenu agents
who have bounded him from lair to
lair have been little less Communicated
They have always been "d%ashing."
They have performed feats worthy of
Sherlock Holmes and, after killing
the bully of the owe or kissing the
girl, they have. always delicately
f,icked dust from their riding trous-
erS with silk handkerchiefs and lighted
Turkish cigarettes, which they smoked
with a SAD and distinguished r~esigna-
ton to the Wfckedness of the world.
Moonshincr a Timid Citizen.
To state the fact that the average
m~oonShlner IS a simple and illiterate
gentleman following a subconscious
luea about his rights. very much on
me same order as that which prompted
ufe tea riots in Boston and EdentOu a
century n more ago, would spoil the
1Iclon. but do justice to a section
Whlch has been too much maligned
WITH "character sketching'' which
would disgust a barnstorm audi
ehce. 1t would be We'll to remember,
apropOs of moonshiners, that thew are
Just men who know abOu the law, are
ShfeWd as necessity teaches them to
be, and who run their business with a
NICE calculation of the risks. The tea
riot comparison goes no further than
10 suggest a subcOnSciOuS condition.
Inc moonShiner is not introspective or
gwen over to ethical theories of
rights under the The
government he regards as an evil that
must be borne. He recognizes its no
tency to bring him to harm and his
attitude towards it is chiefly that of
Itaf- me m~OonShiner is not bellicose.
re VIII do anything to avoid rouble.
II, occasionally. he Shoots IN" q
'~feVenuer' it is because he has been
cofnefed in a place where it is his lie
or that of his pursuer. He is prone
10 such tricks as cutting up harness.
and who can blame him but he will
cheertully r~elinquish his whole estate
of a cope and a worm. without 2
hight If only he can make good his
escape This writer, when hunting,
mas seen three little men running
through the woods with a copper still