The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1913-10-09
FREAKS AND FREEDOM OF THE
BACKwOODS.
Candee Tells Odd Stories

Candee Tells Odd stories
The whole country was wild. II
belonged TO everybody. or course,
somebody had deeds or patents on
nearly the whole territory. But deed
lines cut little figure with those ear
~ settlers who lived on the pure
air and water and gamc-and tan
bark and saltpeter Of the hills.
Anything that nature furnished was
appropriated, in common by those
people TO their own benefit.
They did not steal any tanbark
or timber they needed They took
IL. They did not steal COW or hog
or sheep pasturage. They took IT.;
just as all new territory pioneers
do. They were scrupulously honest
according to their ideas and stand
ards.
They had supreme reverence
for the Bible and the God Of the
Bible as they understood them.
However their ethics did not alto
gether conform to correct Bible
teaching.
They would not steal. never
heard Of theft during the three
or four years Of my living and deal
ing with those mountain folks.
Stealing was looked upon as a more
terrible crime than manslaughter-
| "A In elf I.f.nS.
the assailant had been provoked to
make the assault by the most ag-
gravaling provocatiOn. And mig
ger stealing" was regarded as a more
heinous crime than cold blooded
murder. Niger stealing did not
mean stealing by negro nor steal
ing from a Negro but il was the
stealing of slave from his master
To free him or to use him. General
ly. thief. according to Blue Grass
and mountain ethics. was the most
despised of all criminals. Man steal
ing" in the Bible sense-stealing
man from himsclf--Or living off the
unpaid labor of other people
Keeping their hire back by fraud
as St James puts it James " or
by force, was not stealing.
Beating fellow in business
deal, even though deception, was
not stealing. | once bought "a few
pounds Of beeswax at a store in
Richmond The grocery man IN
breaking a cake of beeswax to ac-
commodate me encountered a fiat
piece Of slate stone concealed in
the cake. There" he exclaimed,
that did not come from the Blue
grass. il came from the mountains
where they have slate rock"
I Yet the man who sold that slate
a foe sbeeswax did not think he was
violating the Bible command, Thou
shalt not steal" and call himself a
thief any more than the great manu-
facturers of rotten steel armour, or
slazy cloth, or alcoholic drinks or
other poisonous drinks, or foods do,
who make and sell such products
for good stuff.
Now that brand of ethics though
held and practiced by that noun
/ taincer did not come from his Bible.
Nor did it originate in the noun
| tains. II came from below, from
the class of people who live-and
gel rich without work. Off the I'M
requited toll of other people.
Beating fellow in horse trade,
> even by misrepresentation, was not
stealing by the ethics of this lower
: class
When | was a pedestrian mission
, AIRY, walking twelve and forty mile
stretches. | found | was, needle ssly
walking my life away, and saved out
of small salary, $50 with which to
buy horse. \ man - not noun
taineer-a Blue grass man learned
) of my wants and taking advantage
of my ignorance of horse flesh and
horse values brought and sold me,
for that little wad of cash, horse
| NlllNu nv hlltN WAS uN lllE WIFI
CHAMBERS. To assure me that he was
honest and was telling me the truth
and was. generally, giving me a
good bargain, told me he was Il
Baptist preacher; which | learned
aflerward was the truth!
My first trip on the horse was to
forty mile away appointment. On
the way there | staid all night with
one Billy Williams, a farmer, a
good judge of horses, who saw at a
glance, that my horse had the CLAN
ders and consigned him to seclusive
quarters; said he knew the man who
sold the horse to me and that he
was as rotten as the horse was.
Next day | rode on to Bob Nicho-
las" the terminal point Mr.. NichO-
las very generously furnished me
with another horse and quarantin-
ed my sick horse till he died. More
about Bob Nichols and Billy Will