The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-03
TRIP IN THE LAND
 OF MOUNTAIN DEW How Moonshiners Regard
 Their Business ALL ARE HOSPITABLE But One Painted House Seen for Distance of About Thirty Miles
 North Out of Double Springs
ALL ARE HOSPITABLE
By WALTER HARPER

Moulton and Hillsboro your attention will be called to half cave or cellar dug in the side of the mountain at the side of the road The cave is covered with logs and dirt and only small opening large enough to admit the body of a man Is left in the lower side. | The stage driver will tell you that this cave was dug last year by a mountaineer farmer and fiddler to protect himself and family from the deadly fumes or Halley's comet. >,
 The stage driver will tell you that | "Neighbor Green is one of the best f1d- diers in the neighborhood and spares not his bowl of sparkling mountain dew, but that several weeks before the arrival of Halley's comet, on May IS, he laid his fiddle aside, got painfully sober and went to work like a groundhog borrowing his hole.
 He spent the entire day of May IS in the cave and came out next day very much surprised that his neighbors were well and hearty He immediately resumed his fiddling and mountain nectar and wants to fight when testing neighbor or curious stranger mentions the cellar.
 But the cellar is there to show for itself and Is an object of interest not only to the natives but to travellers who get that far in their journey across the moun- tains of Winston and Lawrence.
 The trip from Double Springs to Moul- ton through the northern part of Win ston county presents quite different con- dition to that found on the way from Haleyville to Double Springs.
 While there are few narrow sections where the mountains rest in their undula- tions in sandy plateaus and you find well kept farms and some real progress with perhaps 8 good school, churches and com fortable farm homes. l recall not one painted house along the entire distance until you reach Moulton valley. dis tance of 90 miles or more.
 The averscs habitation is I one or '"o-roc ,, shacK. "i'i on vel IAef or opel . tA oi ~ near | , grea- deal of Il you travel is through primitive nhr st, along rugged mountain sides yfon' g like snake through gorges d. Ind mys- terious.
 The roads are n oe ssarily bad In fact, won often leave the regular roadbed and take to the woods, where that is possible, to avoid rocks, ditches and mud holes.
 At one place you follow the bed of small stream for some distance. This Is the only way to cross the almost per-
 llc of side. You drive in through ravine and out at another. The water at normal runs about a foot deep in the roadbed.
 If was on a plateau among these noun tains that you will find group of good farmers. one of whom. John Shipman' was mentioned in The Age-Herald few days ago. John is raising fine bred hogs and is growing corn and cotton on the intensive system.
 Two of his neighbors, J. A. Pair and w. D. kates, are also good farmers. They have good hill farms with strong soil, and they know how to make the best Of their labor and land. They are making plenty at home and some surplus. But they cannot make the farm very prohtable fin a commercial way for lack of transpor- tation They are more than 50 miles To railroad market, and must be satisfied with making their own provisions at home and some cotton for cash surplus. For instance, you can buy all the eggs vou want at and 10 cents per dozen while they are selling In Birmingham at from 20 to 20 cents.
 The best way to travel through this country is with an airship if you ny high enough, but you miss the real interest Of the journey. You must follow the awful contour of the country to appreciate US wonder and magnifcence. You must get close to the people to appreciate their worth Many of them may be rugged and appear unfrlendly, but by close contact you find that they are the most hospitable people in the world They are also wise in the ways of the world and shrewd to an amazing degree. You will find that they soon know you better than you know yourself.
 They live close to nature and have the ability to probe deeply into natures handiwork They can read your charges ter as though 1t were printed in raised letters on your face. They are not easily deceived. You may be sure they will find you out before you spend many hours among them.
 
 conditions and environments are ideal that all these people are engaged in the illegal manufacture of liquor. The pres ence of a pure mountain stream finding It's way among almost impenetrable hills ia not conclusive evidence that all the natives living near about utilize the ad- vantage for a tempting method of pre- pairing their corn crops for profitable market Many of these people are law abiding and live by honest labor. They might not protect the lawless neighbor, but they would not turn him up to the law for the same reason that many people in the cities do not turn up lawless deal CTS in the same community. Fear is an other reason that prevents the honest nountaineer from interfering in a busi- ness that does not concern him.
 The moonshner himself is an interest ing character He is not unlike his more circumspect neighbor in most respects. He is hospitable to the stranger who is not meddling and will divide the last crust of bread in his house with him. But you must walk straight while you travel in his domain.
 He believes that he has moral right to put his corn and fruit in such shape that 1t will bring profitable price on the market, and he will fight for this right. You have to admit that he has a better argument than the man in the city who engages in the illegal sale of whisky that he does not manufacture or that Is not a manufactured product of his toll The moonshiners and the city tiger are by no means in the same class and the for mer will convince you of this fact if you can get him to talk with you about 1t.