Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-22
Continued From First Page.)

house at meal time. The usual way of
announcing dinner is, Come and bring
the chairs"
Strings Of red peppers, small bags of
garden sage and hands of tobacco hang
against the jambs. Against the wall on
the outside of the kitchen door is a
small bench on which rests cedar
bucket, a tin waShpan and a can of I've
soap. Every member of the family
washes his face and hands thoroughly
before each meal and dries on the meal
sack hanging on the wall.
All Sleep in Big House.
The entire family sleeps in the big
house.
My niece and her husband and the
baby sleep in bed in one corner of
the room, and the two little girls sleep
in the bed in the other corner. 1 share
the bed near the fireplace with my lit
tie namesake, Charlie. It Is the first
time in many years I have slept on
feather bed.
When was growing up we were poor,
but we had no need of money. Our
soil was poor and yielded reluctantly
but we had only to raise enough for
our own consumption. We raised corn
enough for our bread and to feed our
wheat, oats, potatoes, tobacco and
sorghum. In our orchards and gardens
we produced our fruits and vegetables.
We cut and dried what we could of
them for the Winter. Our forests were
full of wild game, fuel and logs for our
houses.
My mother made the clothing for the
entire family. She manufactured it
from raw cotton or wool to the finished
croT dniY10 hxyh
She wove heavy all-wool cloth out of
which she made the clothing for my
father and us boys. She made lighter
wool cloth called "linsey" for her dresses
and the girls, and lightweight all
cotton cloth for the mems shirts and
the women's underwear
Now my niece buys calico and blue
denim on her yearly trips to town, and
does her sewing on a machine. She
cooks over a woodworking stove, in
stead of the open fireplace as did my
mother, and they have matches.
Outside of that, can see no changes.
Traps and Markets Furs.
My nephew, as did my father, traps
and markets furs in the Winter, and
sometimes takes load of apples to the
bottoms in the Fall. In this way he is
able to raise the little money needed to
buy shoes and other things they can
not produce. They need but one pair
of shoes each, as the whole family
goes barefoot eight months out of the
twelve
We are about a fourth of mile
from the big road. This is the rough,
rocky and seldom travelled highway
that is marked impossible" 1t is the
only road leading out of the vicinity.
We are sometimes waterbound from
this road, even, by creek near the
house that becomes swollen from ex-
cessive rains and too swift and deep to
ford.
This home of my niece is not much
worse or much better than the homes
Of the other mountain people We
rarely see stranger here. If a stranger
does come by, and he is of the noun
tain type, he Is made to feel at home.
People living beyond the confines of
the mountains have a walk, talk, dress
and actions foreign to my people, hence
they are called "furreners"
The nearest railroad is 80 miles away,
and 1t is as close as they want it. They
luxurieS enjoyed by the people of the
cities. Nor is there envy in their atti-
tude toward me because I have been
away and lived in a house with soft
chairs and piano. Little Charlie has
never seen motion picture show, nor
has he heard of radio. But it would
never occur to him to feel inferior to
my grandchild his age, who takes these
things for granted.
He can shoot cork of a bottle. and
he knows every tree and bird Of the
mountains. He has no curiosity about
the lowlands.