McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1916-04-07


ing the words after me. Kind, simple
minded people, but holding the virtue
Of their women and the sanctity Of
their word more precious than life>it-
self, and woe to the man who abused
their faith.
The whole truth about these east
ern Kentucky mountaineers has never
been told, but John Fox, Jr., in his
Trail of the Lonesome Pine" came
the nearest Of any writer l have ever
read after.
The cabins of these people were
generally clean and free from vermin,
but | stopped at one place in Floyd
county that left a lurid stain on my
memory. | ate glorious supper Of
fried fresh ham and corn bread and
rich milk, and honey made from sour
wood, the comb as white as snow and
the dry-sweet favor of the honey be-
yond description delicious. But they
had a big gang of old fop-earred
hounds that hung around the door,
their heads on one side, silently beg
gging till some one SHE'D bone at
them, when there was terrific scram.
BILE in the back yard for the bone. One
old hound, more bold than the rest,
would sneak in and go under the ia
BILE, where some one would slip him
some meat, and his crunching of the
bones could be heard till the old lady,
who was determined to keep up some
pretentions to decency while a stran-
ger was there, would drive the dog
out; but he would soon be back under
the table again. Finally. she squared
herself around in the chair for fight
with him, and the prudent animal, to
avoid trouble. slipped out and started
away. As he passed her, the old lady
lifted foot and gave him kick that
fairly made his ribs crack, as she bel
lowed: Il declare to gracious I'm
a-gwine to kill that ole houn'! You,
Willyum Mckinley, git .outa h'yurp
Willyum Mckinley stayed out just
about seven minutes and was back
again. He knew his mistress better
than did, for | thought he was gone
to stay. They had tried to honor our
martyred president by naming their
favorite dog after him, but that pres
ident would not have felt much hon.
ored if he had seen his shaggy name
sake.
was tired and went to bed-but
not to sleep. | heard the hounds
whack-whack- -whack under the bed,
kicking off the heas, and then l felt
little sting, something wiggling be.
tween my ear and pillow, and a little
bite on my hand at the same time
The bed was full of bugs! Soon they
were reinforced from the fleas which
were being shed in showers by the
hounds underneath the bed, and where
the bed-bugs didn't bite, the fleas did
| had an awful night of it. My faith
er said he once stopped at a little
hotel at Paducah in war times, and
saw written on the wall, this irrever-
ent but fervent prayer:
Now lay me down to sleep;
Where body lice and chinches creep;
II should die before | wake,
pray the Lord their necks to break.
Inever saw any lice in all my jour
neys, but the chinches were certainly
there that night. They clustered be-
tween every finger and the next one,
and when | closed my hands, dozens
went to bloody doom. The next
morning, the man of the house asked
me how | had slept. | told him
hadn't slept at all. He rubbed his
hands gleefully, and said, chuckling,
10, we've got 'em!" The fellow was
a ,tually proud Of his vermin. Got
what?" ventured. We've got both
sharps and flats, mister" What dc
you mean?" WELL" the old fellow
said, laughing at his own smartness
the sharps Is the fleas and the flats is
| them other fellers." The miserable
joke tickled him so much that | was
obliged to laugh, too. But | avoided
| bis musical ranch on the return trip
although his sourwood honey was
good enough to dream about.
Some time may tell about my ex.
perience with old Devil Anse Hatfield
head Of the Hatfeld-McCoy feud clan
that killed nearly fifty people befor,
they quit their murderous war. H,
treated me finely. and gave me tn,
true story of their troubles, whicl
would make a book of itself. and on,
not very creditable to American civi
lization. Such book had best re