The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-07-14
THE EVENING STORY
At CoOnskin Cove.
{ BY June Gahan.)

skin Cove in the Cumberland noun.
tains, and there were fourteen chill
! dren of an age to attend school, bu1
there was no school and neither were
the parents teaching the children
what little they could. Uncle Peter
Saunders voiced the general sentt-
ment toward the cause of education
when he said:
''Hain't 1 seventy vars old? Just
answer me that"
| Eyes, Uncle Peter
'Hain't I helped make hundred
barls o. moonshine?"
You have"
"Hain't killed five ba'rs?"
That's the number"
And when the governor rode
the only man he shook hands with %
You was
And can't predict when it's go
ing to be a cold winter"
You shorely can"
Eyes. I've did all that and a heap
day in my life. I can't read nor
write nor cipher, but would I be
any greater man than I am If I
could? ''
"Mebbe not"
"Of cose I wouldn't. I'd simply be
a heap meaner. Don't talk to me
about skules. We hain't got to have
no spelling books around yere to
Farm us how to make whisky and kill
coons'
Uncle Peter was the patriarch and
the boss of Coonskin Cove. His word
was law. His wisdom was not to be
disputed. But there came a day when
the railroad reached Coonskin Cove
and ended his reign. The people
went down to Bristol and other
towns and saw and realized how the
outside world lived, and they came
f0 n Pota
"Weuns have got to have a skule."
'Dog-gone my cats, but what ails
vol" he fumed.
And got to have a skule teacher.
They'un down to Nashville have
passed state law about it."
Law? Law? Do you'uns reckon
I'm gwine to let any law come foolin'
around Coonskin Cove?''
But those who had always obeyed
him defied him now. They went
ahead and built log school house
and rudely furnished it
The teacher engaged was Miss
Betty Sloan. of one of the towns of
the lowlands. She was young and be-
longed to another world. 1t was more
that she might study the mountain
people in their homes than for any
other reason that she took the place.
The only ones that hung back were
Uncle Peter and a young man named
Tom Hammock.
I've known men who went to
skule for vars and vars" Tom would
say, land yit when they growed up
bar'l of mud. They never trapped a
fox or shot wild cat. Jest went
around tellin' how many miles it was
to the sun, and which was the highest
mountain in the hull world
Uncle Peter wouldn't go to the
ha
but after week young Hammock
walked in and took a seat, as did most
of the other adults. He intended to
be "agin'' the school to the very end,
undergoing a change of heart. The
pupils had clean faceS-a thing never
seen before.
Tom had never been accounting. He
had heard about people falling in love,
but the feeling had never come to him.
There was a "gaT' up at Bear Point
that he had exchanged words and
smiles with. Some day he would go
up there and say to the father:
"I want Tilda.''
be asked.
BEST at Beaver Cove
Good at f1ndin' bee trees?"
Found two last fall"
MAJ Ma! Tilda! Tildai" the IA
Their would call.
We'll, what you hollerin' about %
"He'uns has come for our Tilda."
And what does Tilda say?''
Tilda would look off into the laurel
thickets and tie her apron in knots and
dig her bare toes into the soil.
do yo' reckon to consider, Tilda?"
Tom would ask.
Reckon 1 do"
Then. ma. bring the broomstick and
let 'em jump it," the father would say,
and ten minutes later the groom would |
bear his bride away.
This would be the way of 1t when
Tom got ready. but he wasn't hurry |
ing things. In fact, things soon hap
pened to drive Tilda out of his mind. :
The schooIma' ans lover came up to |
see her. Tom witnessed the meeting |
between them, and almost in a moment |
a strange feeling swept over him. 1t |
was a feeling he had never had be-
fore.
This yere feelin' can't come from
whisky, and I don't believe !
I'm in for chills. Mighty queer
mighty queer
Tom puzzled for ten minutes before