West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1916-11-30
Former Kinswood Boy Writes a
Breezy Letter Setting Forth the
Charms and Allurements of His
Native Hcath-Famous for Buek
wheat Cakes and Scenery
To the Editor of The Argus:

To the Editor OF The Argus:
In the fall OF the year former Pres
uonians turn their movie clock back.
not forward-and naturally think and
link together squirrel hunting, chest
nuts. autumn leaves. trout fishing.
buckwheat cakes. sheep nose apples,
turkeys. hickory nuts. rabbit traps,
cider. coon hunting opossum, jaclx-o-
lanterns made out OF yellow pumpkins
and last but not least tho West vir-
ginia hills" With apologies to my old
time friend OF 30 years ago-W. Scott
Garncr-these words stand out I'm ZAP
Piles of gold IN pictures OF silver" For
u person now I'm the second half of the
century OF life to recall his boyhood
days in the valleys and on the hill
tops of Preston county ia n grand PAN
Drama of the real days OF sport.
To think OF digging flsh worms and
getting up ut very early hour and
hiking away to old Snowy Creek and
catching the sporty, fiirty trout makes
one feel liko n kid once more. Then
to remember the barefoot days with
stone bruise on one foot and n giant
briar I'm the other foot, OF how we did
get over tho hills. A 1916 automobile
could not keep up with us. Our I'm
| agination made us believe we were
part OF the noble 600" to wallc flvo
miles for n half pint OF cider. Is it
any wonder that sausage and buck
wheat cakes were full OF pep" the
next morning.
Buckwheat cakes! That reminds me
that Preston county buckwheat Ia fa-
nous all over the United States. But
the Preston county buckwheat cake IN
the original-all others. especially
here In Chicago, are limitations Here
they are different. They make them
out OF something about 80 per cent ce-
ment. Three hours of OF the griddle
and you could use them for milk crock
covers or wheels for q boys wagon.
What fine records they would mako
for phonograph or armor plate for
ine hllleB III the tFencneB.
The Preston county chestnut also
stands alone. IL In the nut from Nut
ville-all other nuts come from tho
smaller towns but not on tho same
train with the Preston county product.
a dimes worth OF Preston county
chostnuts here looks like two cent
postage stamp wrapped up I'm n news
paper. Preston county boys forty
years ago were busy during the chest
nut season gathering enough with
which to buy his winter boots. Out
here he could start bank from the
same sales
Then, Mr.. Editor. you have some
thing else In Preston county that Ia
famous and not all Prestonlans real
lie II. II is the beautiful autumn
leaves i'm the fall OF the year. Beau
tiful That word-no word--can COM
pletely describe them. They are
real living picture and TO artist can
even paint a picture OF them that looks
like n good imitation. The early
spring brings up the little Forget-me-
not Then the boneysuckle, noted
for its fragrance. A little later and
June brings forth the rose. The sum
mer little older and we have the
Sweet William and later the Four-o'-
clock and the daisy. Then the flower
family puts forth great effort to cap
the climax with the chrysanthemum.
uuIth 81
laughs at the feeble efforts of the
flower family and whispers softly and
gently. look at my autumn leaves"
And we look and behold a million
leaves each a different color and tint
weaving and nodding In the forest.
Every leaf different color blended
and interviewer with harmonious
shades until one is lost i'm the be-
wllderment. All the colors may be I'm
the beautiful rainbow but the West
Virginia autumn leaf has all the colors
and in addition all the tints No won
der the chesty robin and his co-Iabor-
ers OF the forest are 10th to bid the
West Virginia hills goodbye in the
fall. The Alp mountains I'm Europe
may be a grand sight to behold but
they can not be compared TO the hills
Of West Virginia I'm the fall. Grand
Canyon. I'm Arizona. and the West Vir-
glnia hills I'm autumn 10 a dream no
writer has ever been able TO describe
The snow capped mountains I'm Cali
fornia may be a beautiful sight 20 be-
hold-snow on top of the mountains
while oranges are ripening in the val
leys below, but the autumn leaves OF
West Virginia are painted their my
riad OF colors by Hand that no hu-
man being has ever been able 20 copy.
y. s. GUTHERIE.
Chicago. Nov. %, 1916
=N-
Too Many Fish
carQO of driod codaah that cvvcTT-