Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-01-21

there be a kitchen) has a couple of
beds in It; enough all told for the fam
lily and, generally, one spare bed If
company comes some pallets are made
on the floor for the women and child
rem of the household. In single
room cabin there is usually cock
loft, reached by a ladder, for storage,
and maybe bunk or two. Closets
and pantries there are none, fer they
would only furnish good harborage
for wood rats and other vermin.
Very few cabins have carpet on the
floor. 1t would hold too much mud
from the feet of the men, who would
not use scraper If there was one
Beds generally are bought nowadays
at tho stores, but some are homemade,
with bedcords of bast rope. Tables
and chairs mostly are made on the
spot or obtained by barter from some
handy neighbor. In many homes you
will still find the ancient spinning
wheel. with a hand loom on the porch,
and in the loft there will be a set
of quilting frames for making "kivers.
Naturally. there can be no privacy
and hence no delicacy in such home.
I never will forget my embarrassment
about getting to bed the first night
ever spent In one-room cabin where
there was a good-sized family. / did
not know what was expected OF me.
When everybody looked sleepy ! went
ont doors and strolled around in the
moonlight until the women had time
to retire. On returning to the house
found them still bolt upright around
the hearth. Then the hostess pointed
to the bed I was to occupy and said 1t
was ready whenever 1 was. Well, l
"shucked off my Clothes tumbled in,
turned my face to the wall, and imme-
diately everybody did the same. That
Is the way to do; just go to bed! l lay
there awake for a long time.
Finally l had to roll over. A ruddy
glow from the embers showed the fam
lily in all postures of deep. healthy
slumber. 1t also showed something
glittering on the nipple of the Ions,
Misunderstanding rifle that hung over the
fathers bed. 1t was bright new per-
cussion cap, where a creased rag had
been when l went out for my moon
light stroll. There was no need of a
curtain in that house. They could do
without.
It is not uncommon in the far back
woods for a traveller, asking for q
match, to be told there is none in the
house, nor even the pioneers flint and
steel. Should the embers on the hearth
go out some one must tramp to a
neighhor's and fetch fire on a torch
Hence the saying, Have you come to
borry fire. that you're in SIGH hurry
you can't chat?"
The shifts and expedients 70 which
some of the mountain women are put
from lack of utensils and vessels. are
simply pathetic. John Fox tells OF a
young preacher who stopped at cabin
in Georgia to pass the night. His
hostess, as a mark of unusual distinc-
ton, killed chicken and dressed 1t in
a pan. She rinsed the pan and made
up her dough in it. She rinsed it again
and went out and used 1t for milk
pail She came in, rinsed it again and
went to the spring and brought it back
full Of water. She filled up the glasses
or tho table and gave him the pan
with the rest of the water to wash his
hands. The woman was not slattern;
it was the only utensil she had"
The mcuntaineer, born and bred to
Spartan self-denial, has scorn or lux
ury, regarding its eliminates with the
same contempt as does the nermadic
Arab. And any assumption OF superb
ority he will resent with blow or sar-
casrn. A ragged hobbledhey stood on
the Vanderbilt grounds at Baltimore,
mouth open but silent, watching a
gardener at work. The latter annoyed
bv the Boys vacuous stare, spoke up
sharply: What do you WANT" Like
a flash the lad retorted: 20, dad sent
me down hyur to look at the place
said if 1 liked it he mought buy it for
me-"
The poverty of the mountain people
is naked, but high-minded ana I'M
ashamed. To comment on 1t, as l nave
done, is taken as an impertinence
This Is a fine trait, in it's way, though
rather hard on a descriptive writer
whose motives are ascribed TO mere
yulearity and a taste for scandal-mon-
gering. The people, of course, have no
ghost of an idea that poverty may
be more picturesque than luxury; ana
they are quite as far from conceiVlng
that a plain and friendly statement
of their actual condition, published TO
the world, is the surest way to awaken
the nation to consciousness OF lts ou-
tics toward a region that II mas So
long and so singularly neglected.
The worst enemies of the mountain
people are those public men VINO
knowing the true state OF things YET
conceal or deny the facts in order 10
salve a sore local pride. encourage the
supipe fatalism of what must VIII
be-" and so drug the highlanders PACK
into their Rip Van Wrinkle sleep
Horace Kephart in Our southern
Highlanders.'