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THE SUNNTHE MOONSHINERS.Story of the “Cagred WiUls si Written by One of Them in Knit on i'onnly •Bail*(Continue'!.)My father had sold all we had upon credit•e had very little cash, and with that little we bought corn and pork, and the weather being warm the pork spoiled. So we had to stop on our route and settle down and go to work to get something to eat. We stopped in Monroe county, Tennessee, one mileeast|of Stcarson’s ford on Tilico river, and there we stayed fora year. The country was pretty well settled up here, and there was a golt;nl deal of style. Everylwdy went to church and most of them rode either in buggies or on horseback. Now we had not a horse to oar names, but plenty of oxen, and we used to ride them where we came from. I was anxious to go to church, and I thought it would not be good style to walk; so I rode an«»x as 1 had been used to do. Hut I didn’t calculate ou what a commotion it would make. My father was an odd kind of man and had his own queer notions about things. He had lived so much among the Indians that he liked the r garb and held out that it was the most convenient and natural. He had a buckskin suit made for himself and he would have us dress in like fashion. So when 1 rode mv ox to the meeting I wore a full Indian dress almost, and 1 reckon L looked comical. A crowd of hoys escorted me to the church door, a laughing and poking fun, and I felt one time like jumping off and running i . the woods, but I said to myself, no 1 won’t, I have as niueh rightheels of it. and we never have been as good or os happy in the mountains since.It was the same way about health. We had no sickness while we had no doctors, There never was a healthier country than Pack Mountain. ^ Folks hail tojgo away from there to die. The water was clear as crystal. You could drop a button or a dime down in one of them freestone springs and you could see it as plain on the bottom ten feet down as if it was in the palm of your hand. One day a fellow named John Kinney dropped a dime accidentally down in Brasstown Creek where the water was fifteen feet deep and he could not, tear him-elf away from it w'.ile it looked so bright on the bottom; so what must he do but go back to Joshua Hanshaw’s and get a pint or two of tar and put it ou a swab that he made at the end of a long pole. He reached down with his tarred jiole and brought up the dime, hut old Josh made him ride a liarnd ito I won’t be bluffed. Ami 1 r to church, hitched him, ami w the fine folks as dignified as yo listened to the sermon as grave . went the smut way next Suiul awhile, the boys quit hooting; * do farmer said he likei’ ’de nWellmay know we didn’t need never thought to importml n, and we„____ . let alone to growright in our midst; but so it did happen, i'oor as Pack Mountain was, it sprouted a Doctor, and what’s more, he grew and prospered. An old farmer among us—a mighty hard working, shrewd old fellow, had a son that wouldn’t take to the plow handles nohow, and as for hauling, lie couldn’t do a thing with oxen. The old man said he must be good for something though, and one of the preachers said maybe if the boy had learning he’d be a genius and get his living without work—off of other folks. So the old man old the neighbors his l*oy was a geniu*[hat vn he would..’i the nnd hwith him—thedd he 'h'thjh of books and !**twixup11 any but the long v ’hen one day the old n, and he brought liore raked up n him and one u ed the lioy his lei thout stopping tpeltedaJayit had ts almanacr aboiAft*ople, and i light, and « thought iwhen theyis up.n.al o olittle arranger stakes ami moved us all into Nor up in Pack Mountain, Cherokee • And hen* if work could kill pelt; to have killed us. The ground w; very heavy timltered, ami we wlt; ing land, might athe chicken:up and a* ied forud had plowed amifa.'Theed thei:wild ad up.ii the folksod |K*ople pmeant. The dogs all followed thei: into the met ting-house; a began to sing they set up a nowi, ami wiien they knelt down to pray, the dogs took it for a game ami would jump on their backs. One of them caught Deacon Kilpatrick by the back of his neck ami scared him so ho jumped up and said some words that wasn't in the Bible, ami set us all laughing, which made him mad. so that lie pitched at the dog, and then there was a regular tight and a confusion, ami the deacon threw the dog in the fire at last, and that broke up the services for thatThe preachers 1 lid’nt raise them ii ny jxior—but3 the big bugs. We r parts—the country was too |M»or—but they come among us s ane-iigiies. iJiil then oita- Uia'fli.iS would put the little pot in the big one and the chickens heads would le wrung off, and such a flying round to have things fit for brother so and so. They would boil the chickens and put in pieces of bread bv way of dumplings, and sometimes we’d b ike a ]ossum whole—tail and legs and all—and stand him up in a dish with baked sweet potatoes around him. When she had a standing up possum and a plenty of potatoes for the preachers, our * n thought she was fine, and the —________ , ,__d alltier of ailments that Dr. Jayne’s physic would cure. And the old man t male* his son a doctor. Ii the almanac through and then he went and got him some of Dr. Jaynes’ pills and mixtures and the vouth set up for a doctor. He had lots of brass and he went around among the people reading his almanac and talking about his medicines and looking at folks' tongu s and shcaking his head, until the people began to believe in him strong, especially as l.e was pious and gave 'em pil's and prayers both. Jit* was a good looking fellow and it wasn’t long before one of the young women got sick, and then another nn I another. Hecured them, or rather, they got well, for as 1 said, they couldn't die no how on Pack Mountain. As transgressions come into the country after the law, so sickness come after the doctor. Folks, especially the women, came to l»e mighty unhealthy, and one nice girl was - ^eI,t sending for the doctor, till at last the doctor married he ami that stopped the bill, and the sickness too. 1 reckon. Well, to do the doctor justice, he was a smart fellow and a clever one and the people liked him and sent for him, allold dad, 'He irnphe s to lie war r that ifid d•s th;ho didn’t 1 ii he had for school teach-rs were among the false ’hrists that the Bible toldi the pawould the: where the d them off.nel«ed liis fence he would takend bur rail. Hefolrould anil round ;i thej _____ nd keep the children in the bargrlt;mud. The children dreaded the preacher visit, for then they had to wait and oftei had to pick the bones for their share, fo them good brothers had their appetite mightily sharpened by the mountain air and the way they would wipe out the bode, chicken and dumpling and get awi the standing piossuin was a cautioi children, jieeping through the crack-see one brother take half the possi swipe, and the other brother take th half and leave only the tail for m and they would begin to sniffle and v the p - .... 1 grass alongdked or rode and burn That was to take off the witchery ami conjuring from his family. The doctor got him « buggy after awhile, and I tell you that made a commotion in the neighborhood. It was the first buggy that had ever been in that part of Pack Mountain, and I think some of the good women, when they saw him come riding up in it to church, felt as though he was somehow kin to the angels that ride in the chariots as the Bible speaks of. You may bnmv a real shiny, painted buggy would ■nsation among people that came around to look at the first and only dow in them parts. It was put In by Bell, and was only an eight by nine k into a log cabin, but the people it as if it had been a miracle.d luck and bad luck tlt;n Pack MountainWe wer [ made all i x»s, that we iii hardThethousand dollars. II of that in educating von, the old man li and believed theyy good dad b-heved iiposi l»ox «[ thenthethought the pn Lord We got along I •s though. 1depend tin r the vvoini d thingthe ! hard work aIt's3 did with sleepingcell as the;n they like good feattuM? parts wlt; bucks or broom sedge, ormligo, keeps off the ciiii edsteads, where the floe• poles it. the grlt; use and pithorks; the topnd not far fi *es laid in the forks ud, read ing to tinof the hoi of the poles, walls and fast.other piece was laid across from fork to fork on the front side ami board* laid along from this niece to a crack in the wall for slats to hold the shuck or broom sedge mattress. So that was our usual style of bcls. ami it ain’t much wonder the preachers didn’t fancy them, especially when the chinches had made their homes in the cracks of the log-, and raised big families there. We had one or two canip-meetings thut I remember—one particularly, way over on Grajie V, nd a time wihad. It was a rousing meeting: and then was a heap of young converts. Bonn liody said they were mighty good now, but they would fall from grace when they wenl back home, and one good, simple sister, sin said if that was the case, there woulil’nt blt; any harm in chopping off their hea.Ls letting them go to heaven right now. cue was the wife of old Jouiiy Farrow that lived dlt;»se to Grape Vine (’reek, andwhich was my great weakness. I might have learned a great deal more if I had kept on doing only the mill work, but as the poet (whoever he was) says:“If a boy would excel in his art, art, art,He must keep the girls away from his heart, heart”Well, I kept them away front my heart till one day' who should come to mill, but those two Farrow girls—the daughter of the good old lady that had l»een so kind at Grape Creek meeting. They were grown up now. and pretty as red shoes with green strings. One was dark complected with cheeks like red poppies and eyes black and bright as beads; and the other was fair with reddish brown hair and eyes that looked gray sometimes and sometimes blue as the skies after aI could hardly tell which I thought was the prettiest, as they sat there waiting for their milling, and told me how it was they hail had to couie themselves so far-difteen miles and over that rough mountain trail. There was nobody else to go. Bad luck hail come to the good old Christian lady on Grape Creek. Her husband had been struck down helpless with paralysis, one son had gone to California, and the other was too lit tie to help any to speak of. So here it was: the girls bail everything to do, and awful hard it was on them, but they were healthy and strong and clieerful-hearted as birds, and they never complained. I tell you I was spry with their milling, and I didn’t take a bit of toll, and I helped them up ou their horses— they rode nice strong nags—and put up theirrks of meal, and watched them ride off, ,...d then I went bach to my spelling book, but my head was turnin’ round, .and instead of reading about the boy in the apples! ret*, there I sat a-thinking about them two girls with cheeks like apples and lijis like woodbine i berries, and a wondering how twenty dollars a year, which was my profits in the mill, would keep up me and one of them prett y girls. And the end of it was, 1 got disgusted with my mill trade, and concluded I mqst take more work on my hands.I’ll tell you the up-shot of that, and my courting and marriage, and my war experiences iu my next, if so be that you are not tired out with following of me through my uj* and downs; and if you are, kind madam, or the readers of your good paper, just say so, and you won’t hear a word more from the Caged Wilds.VoZlet them pit-as not I’dmly ifrom appd I was proud of the r 1 lie i That and hauling \ implislirin nts, for I didn’t and ^idu’t lt;r~b as they might, same animal to called me bnll-ich if I ..................... She fed any numbe. -the camp-meeting jieople, and concerned herself mightily about their souls, end was so good ami kind, that I said to myself, I’d like to have that woman fora mother-in-law. She had two girls, so I found out, nice looking ones too, but they were not quite growndidn’t at.‘that time, for I had l*en taught ook down on learning.But the time came when a different notion rrept into my knowledge l»ox. 1 came of ige—twenty-one years—according to daddy’s count, but some of my uncles declared it was twenty-three. Anyhow, my father said, “Tom, you’re your own master now,” and thut wus the end of it. But being as I had worked so hard for him. he did giye me a chance, and it was this. He had a grist-mill that wasn’t paying him much—not ]anning - . out more than forty dollars a year—and as he d I hadn’t time to tend it, he told me 1 might do the work and the management there, and have half I made for pay. I thought that was bully, and stepped high, I can tell you. I think Ellis was governor of Carolina that but I don’* Well, you see our mountain folks had a great respect for the preachers and they went to meeting whenever there was any though I am bound to tell you they sometimes hunted oil the way, and if the dogs jum|ed any good gaine^ they wou’.d forgetit the preaching and away they’d go pursu t. 1 f no big game was jumped, they’d bide their guns our. and go into the meetinghouse. They were never afraid anybody would steal the guns, for everybody was honest up in the mountains then, and is so still in « degree. If they do anything dishonorable. they are disgraced aud nobody will have anything to do with them.We had a good, healthy country to live in —a pleasant and happy country- •* hftd no law for we medea none: and it was anything but a blessing to my thinking when U.ni!no X iliuitrinlr mill foqllUV Nel-*ed upf iows awfto falling '1 ith tliein. an.l look i arresting folks far little inisehief-mak-. ins pranks an.l small tilings that a ltinrt or a reasonable word would have settled As soon as these men feched the Jaw^ why,it , wems to me transgression cameyear, but I don’t care who was governor, he didn’t feel any bigge- than I did, tendin’ daddy’s mill and getting half I made. Well, the mill was pretty well patronized. Ixts of people brought their corn there and 1 give good measure, and they seemed to like me pretty well, especially some young fellows that come from a little distance and iiad some learning. They brought along one of But Lovengood’s books in their pocket--, and was reading out of it, and I took a notion I’d learn how to read too. The first money I made 1 sent and got me a blue-backed spelling book, and I got the boys that came with their milling to tell me the letters, and every chance-minute I go% 1 was hard at it, learning my spelling book, till 1 could spell pretty well, and learned the easy reading in my speller, mid then borrowed But Lovengood’s book and read it through. 1 was proud then, I tell you. I thought 1 might turn into a doctor, too, or a judge, may lie.But I wasn’t satisfied: 1 wanted to know how to write. So 1 took to making the letters like they w ere in the A B G”s, and after awhile one of the boys showed me how to make writing letters, and I made them with chalk all over the walls of the mill, till I got me a copy-lmok, and then I just put my mmd to it every m nute I could spare, and I actually learned to write so that folks could tell wliat it meant. 1 was as proud as if I’d a found a gold mine, and 1 hankered mightily after books, and was always scribbling some the nonsense or other, especially about .love,a Jon* X Jonesi-tjfiwislthatfor?Ing
Newspaper Details
Atlanta Sunny South
Atlanta, Georgia, US
Sat, Mar 13, 1880
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Andrew W.
USA 03 Mar 2025
Other Publications Near Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta Weekly Intelligencer and Cherokee Advocate
Atlanta Presbyterian of the South
Atlanta University Center Light
Atlanta Crogman Cycle
Atlanta Daily Constitution
