The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-03-08

boat I'D the liver. do you go ny 80
or do YOU travel" I was asAeu ~
man who knew my wv nu Mat +
walking + do not kno" "ha. :
should do if we lived in the county
where We could not hunt or ns1, IoI
I had rather starve than nave ny
husha NJ dig potatoes n good "o-
man said TO me. BY county, 49,
mean the mainland opposite tue ls-
and This women explaining II 70 me
a ..Sa,aa such place as North Caro-
1.-Two ar even New York, or NOTION:
ar Raleigh. or Chapel HV1;
off The Banks" Dy INC
Banks. the liae Of sand reefs aioIs
the North Carolina coast, ana USING
the word country very mucn d. -
ishers would say the cont1nets. IN
The Banks. then, a traVellns SAFES
man would be a tramp peddler.
Now this use of travel. as meaning
IA walk, TO move along on foot, WAS
common i'll England in the lays q
Queen Eliza BETH, and [ have found II
used several times in Hakluyts Noy-
ages. It is used with a OrneWn ui!-
ferent pronunciation, but III eAaou
the same sense, today. in ornef Oh
ireland. Of Yorkshire, and or SCOT
land. have never met With TINS
use of the word in North America
except on Hatteras lsland; thousE
among the Siopx Indians OF he orth
and Northwest there IS IN use a klhu
of trailer made Of two lodge poles at
tached to a horse like shafts. having
q sack Of skins dashed to the cross
bars behind the horse. and used Tor
carving goods. or for sick or wound
ed persons. The indian name for TINS
vehicle is travay, but the word used
in this way is more nearly related to
working than to walking.
This Hatteras Island use of country
is the original use Of the word. as
meaning the land opposite. 1t occurs
in this sense today nowhere else. SO
far as my observation goes. Cont
nent is used for the mainland on
some of the islands farther north. as
on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
The lady who used country in this
way had been but recently married.
and the bridegroom had furnished the
trousseau, an ancient custom that pre-
walls TO-DAY nowhere else in North
America, and one that is falling into
disuS here.
/ have always taken q kodak with
me when visiting the island and the
chief pleasure derived from its use
has beer the taking Of pictures Of
my riends there. On one Of my early
visits to Hatteras a young man asked:
won you make q picture OF my
may and me-"
I'll be delighted to-" [ replied;
but what does your ladyiove o
like?"
You may not think her pretty. but
she's a couthy girl, and canty. too"
Here we're words I had never heard
before, but | soon came to understand
their meaning, after I had met many
Of the island people who were "couthy
women II trusty men" / ave Of
ten met the word may in old English
love songs. meaning q maid, a fair
m a cousin. q sweetheart. 1t Is
used most often as meaning maid, Of
which 1t is really a contract form. and
dates back to the middle Of the four
teent century or beyond that time.
Couthy, besides meaning tender,
sympathetic, motheriy, as applied to
these good women or fable, pleas
ant, agreeable. like a familiar friend,
has another meaning which is well il
Illustrated by the statement. Will Wat
kins looked so kind and couthy-like
to Lucy Lowe"
Canty means merry, brisk, lively, as
in the old coupiet-
A cozy house and q canty wife
Keeps aye q body cheer1y.
Can was the first form Of this ad-
t%ective, and trusty, of course, means
trustworthy. This is a use familiar
to US.
/ promised to meet the young peo-
pie at nine O'Clock the following
morning to make the picture. At nine
the young fellow came alone. When
I asked why he had not brought the
lady, he said: She scooDed me.
meaning that she had got the better
OF him. run away from him. scam
pered off at h last moment. And"
he added, she could heech you. young
man. F1eech Is from the French
f1echlr; it passed into fiddle English
as to bend, then to Halter. Here
again were words that / had never
heard before: but I found that he
meant she could fiatter me into low
ing her, and then run away from me.
Nothing so remarkabIe about that girl
| after all.
Another time the young man de-
scrioeu her TO ne as smoker. l took
1t to mean that she was neat in bar
person and elegant in her manners
as he did mean, and rightly: but his