McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1916-03-24
NEW YORK
LETTER

eioH EXAMINER LOT tH6 government at
Nashville. My territory extended
from Huntingdon on the west to the
Cumberland table lands on the east.
and from Kentucky to Alabama. At
Huntingdon / met people who knew
dear old brother Cotton, the Method
ist preacher from across the sea who
is still remembered by many families
in McNairy, and who died of cancer
at Watseka, Illinois, a few years ago.
Redboiling Springs. in Macon coun-
ty, are wonderful. The water Of
some Of the springs is almost as black
as ink and will tarnish silver coin in
moment, while the taste is like on
ions, gun-powder and sugar mashed
up together. But the waters have
cured many people who were brought
there on beds, ready to die. Carried
over the rough roads thirty miles
from the railroad to the springs, they
were almost dead from kidney and
stomach trouble, but in week after
drinking the dark, sinking water,
they were at the table, eating big
meals. and in two weeks ready to 20
back home. | tried taking some of
the water away in bottles, but it de-
composed into a sort Of thin, green
Cruel, with neither taste nor smell.
nor virtue to it.
Pickett caunty, far to the east and
bordering Kentucky, was the poorest
place struck. One hot August day
had travelled far, with nothing for
my horse or myself to eat; the poor,
half starved people said the drought
had burned up everything. was
hunting for a widow who had applied
for a pension, and it seemed as though
| never would get to her place. The
people tried to tell me the way. but
their directions were something like
this: You foller this here road til
you git to the five forks Of the Little
Round Top; then yell take the third
left hand, and thatll carry We down
past gun swamp and then yell bear
to the left agin, and when ye've gone
past old Jape Staggenders terbaccer
barn about $50 yards That was
as much as | could remember at one
time, so thanked my informant and
rode on, having to lay down and lay
up rail fences as / went along. Fl
nally out in the middle of sunburnt
dog-fennel field Of about 100 acres,
in log cabin or hut, | located the
old widow, swinging her bare feet
and smoking cob pipe on the porch.
] asked her for something to eat.
Mister" she replied. we hain't had
nothin' in the'house to eat but salt
and Eaters for a week. Come in and
see for Yourself. was that hungry
that salt and Eaters sounded good to
me. and went 10, found some green
tinted boiled potatoes the size Of mar
bles. and some coarse fish salt and
made meal. ! asked her il she had
any horse feed.
Mister she declared, we haint
got no critter on this place. and no
money to hire no plowin' done. Ny
datterS ofrony and one Of her gals
sorter drug the pillow acrost the
ground themselves and planted little
corn, but bits been SO tarnation dry
that everything's burnt up and we're
ills about on starvation" Soon So
irony and her FIVE children came
skipping over the hot rocks in their
bare feet, every one of them chewing
=
tobacco! | wondered how they could
buy the nasty weed when they had no
money for food, and said so. and one
Of the girls jerked her thumb over her
shoulder and pointed to little dried
,fp patch of tobacco behind the barn.
Not one of the whole crowd could
read or write, and found invariably
that where the use of tobacco was be.
gun so early (some Of them were
chewing at three years old it seemed
impossible for'them toilsarn. Tobac.
co surely dwarfs the mind Of children
heard nice looking girl say to hel
father up in the Cumberlands; Pap
py, gimme a chaw o tobacker'
And the mother complained that tbs
girl was never able to learn any
thing at school. Well, the old lady
soon got her pension, and hope she
was able to feed her brood on some
thing else besides salt and Eaters.
The most prosperous portion Of
Tennessee is In the middle portion, il