The Southern herald., 1913-07-18

folk, and are told to have a seat. In
one end Of the room is a fireplacs
with the old-fashioned mantel shelf
After supper the fiddle comes down
and the whole cabin thrills to the old
time airs-My Old Kentucky Home
Nellie Gray and Barbara Allen and an
the tunes that make home Of a viii
derness.
Close to Nature.
The head Of the house asks II you
would like to lie dowR. You are ready
enough. and you are shown . laddss
in one corner OF the room. It leads
to hole In the floor above, where
there are several beds in one Of the
most home-like rooms Imaginable
Sinking lazily into a feather bed which
nils the old fonr-poster, the tired way
farer is soon In the land of dreams
Awakened the next morning by the
quack, Quack Of geese-for this 10
place of many fowls-the voices o.
ewes and lambs are heard callins
across the hilltop. The cowbella
tinkle cheerily This Ia mountain life.
The housewife cooks the breakfast
You are up. dressed and ready. Soon
one Of the girls goes out to milk. Shs
uses cup to milk in. When 1t is full
1t is omptied into the bucket. Ask her
why she doesn't milk in the bucket.
and her reply is: III the COW should
kick, I'll lose only a cupful of milk
instead of bucketful"
In these mountain homes there are
many children. Usually one or two
of the older girls wait on the table,
and they press you always to have
more. The children eat when the rest
do, every one sitting in his accua-
toned place on the long bench, but
not until the guest is seated arst.
In the center of the table is large
dish of honey. Near 1t is pitcher OF
milk. The honey is passed first, for
the mountaineers are good llvers''
and they believe in having the best
first. Next come the corn or wheat
bread, apple butter, peach butter.
stewed blackberries, pawpaw. ham
and eggs, beans and tree sirup.
The mountains have only bride
paths and trail ofttimes so steep that
one misstep would mean death t0
horse and rider hundreds Of feet be-
low. The first automobile has yet to
come. The locomotive halts in a far
distant valley. The telephone does
not ring. These trails wind and wind
until you have lost all points of the
compass but are the main thorough
fares of travel.
Where they cross streams, notches
are cut in trees on the river bank. II
the water is above the notch cut in the
tree, It is unsafe to cross at the near
est habitatlon until the waters fall be,
low the safety mark. At different
points along the larger streams dug
outs are used for crossing. They are
logs chopped out, something in the
shape of a boat. They are the ferries
at foot-path crossings as well as the
Ghnbbn VI HunA0Au anu AAapBClD.
Down near the Kentucky line yOH
are liable, in the forest on the steep
mountainside, to meet man on horse
back, bag Of grain in front Of him.
A short distance away, in a deep rar
vine, is a log building about six by
nine feet. 1t is the grist mill The
roof is covered with thin boards. split
out Of oak timbers. called "shooks.-
They are laid like shingles. To hold
them down, a stif pole is laid cross
wise in the center, and hole Is bored
In the end Of the pole. A pin is than
driven in to hold tho shocks down.
The people come to the mill. carry
ing their grain on the horses, from
many miles. The mills are free f0s
them to do their own grinding. The
door. II there is one, Ia never locked.
A small water wheel In the bottom
turns the burr stone. After the grist
is ground, it is placed on the hOEss
and the miller returns. Sometimes n
takes one day to come and grind, and
! tka shades Of twilight fan the socoaA
dh2 Before home e rescued.