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' typical Mountaine.e.r'3 Horn
ONE of the most interesting re
gions in the United States is
the southern Appalachians. It
is a land of giants and patri
archal families and of isolated
simplicities in life which have deep
human interest. One can explore on
horseback this fascinating region,
traveling through the western part of
Virginia and North Carolina and the
eastern districts of Tennessee and
Kentucky. You can stop off any
where you happen to get tired and
board, indefinitely and sumptuously,
for $2.40 a week. These mountain
folk are rich in the material things if
poor in the gimcrack luxuries the out
er world esteems needful. They are
still shut in their fastnesses; but con
ditions are changing now from the ab
solute isolation that existed before the
civil war.
In following one «f the mou : n
trails the traveler is well ,d.
Throughout these ranges are oiidle
paths, where notches are cut in the
rock on the steep mountainside for
the horse or mule to secure good foot
ing. A traveler can find nowhere such
a variety of scenery. He starts at
the foothills, along the banks of some
stream. The cliffs are completely
covered with moss and ferns, watered
by innumerable springs, which in sum
mer form a hanging garden of fol
iage.
Following one of these cataracts be
tween mountains, one discovers all of
a sudden that the trail he is in comes
to an end. Looking to the left he dis
covers a path leading off up the moun
tain. By a modified climb, placing
one foot above the other, one can
reach a high cliff and stop for a rest.
Only a few feet below is the trail, a
switchback, and to gain one-fourth of
a mile you climb a whole one.
In the Evergreens.
Rarely could one find so fascinating
a picture of mountain grandeur, all in
contrast with the enticing charms of
the valley b'elow, where hundreds of
cattle are peacefully grazing on vast
fields of blue grass. You are on the
edge of the evergreen timber, called
the hemlock belt.
Once in the evergreen timber, the
view is entirely shut off, except now
and then where the trail leads over
some cliff; then the glimpse is just for
an instant. There are forests of laurel
so thick in placeß that one cannot see
two feet away. The laurel trees are
from 18 to 25 feet high, some measur
ing eight inches in diameter.
You rest again and hear sounds that
tell of some habitation. Listen! Yes,
you can hear dogs bark. You resume
the journey, and through open places
in the timber you can now see fields.
Soon you come to a log fence, and
afterward the trail leads off into a
cove.
A cabin appears, built of logs, fire
place on the outside and split-oak
roof. A short distance away is the
spring. Just back of the cabin lies
the peach orchard, and alongside the
path leading to the barn are the
grape vines and quinces and other
fruits, such as apples, pears and paw
paw.
This is the land of milk and honey.
You can count over 60 hives of bees,
or "gumß”—a hollow tree sawed in
two, then set on end on hewn timber
and covered with a slab split from a
log. Away in the distant woodland
one hears the "ting, ting” of the cow
bell.
A man about six fet four Inches in
bight emerges from the door.
«How d’you do, stranger?" is his
greeting.
You give him the usuad handshake,
which is the custom of the country,
and commence to tell your story. But
before it is finished he says. “Step in,
sah, brother.”
You enter the door before your host,
which is customary among mountain
folk, and are told to have a seat. In
one end of the room is a fireplace
with the old-fashioned mantel shelf.
After supper the fiddle comes down
and the whole cabin thrills to the old
time airs—My Old Kentucky Home,
Nellie Gray and Barbara Allen and all
the tunes that make home of a wil
derness.
Close to Nature.
The head of the house asks if you
would like to lie down. You are ready
enough, and you are shown a ladder
in one corner of the room. It leads
to a hole in the floor above, where
there are several beds in one of the
most home-like rooms imaginable.
Sinking lazily into a feather bed which
fills the old four-poster, the tired way
farer is soon in the land of dreams.
Awakened the next morning by the
quack, quack of geese—for this is a
place of many fowls —the voices of
ewes and lambs are heard calling
across the hilltop. The cowbells
tinkle cheerily. This is mountain life.
The housewife cooks the breakfast.
You are up, dressed and ready. Soon
one of the girls goes out to milk. She
uses a cup to milk in. When it is full
it is emptied into the bucket. Ask her
why she doesn't milk in the bucket,
and her reply is: “If the cow should
kick, I’ll lose only a cupful of milk
instead of a bucketful."
In these mountain homes there are
many children. Usually one or two
of the older girls wait on the table,
and they press you always to have
more. The children eat when the rest
do, every one sitting in his accus
tomed place on the long benchi but
not until the guest is seated first.
In the center of the table is a large
dish of honey. Near it is a pitcher of
milk. The honey is passed first, for
the mountaineers are “good livers"
and they believe in having the best
first. Next come the com or wheat
bread, apple butter, peach butter,
stewed blackberries, pawpaw, ham
and eggs, beans and tree sirup.
The mountains have only bridle
paths and trail ofttimes so steep that
one misstep would mean death to
horse and rider hundreds of feet be
low. The first automobile has yet to
come. The locomotive halts in a far
distant valley. The telephone does
not ring. These trails wind and wind
until you have lost all points of the
compass, but are the main thorough
fares of travel.
Where they cross streams, notches
are cut in trees on the river bank. If
the water is above the notch cut in the
tree, it is unsafe to cross at the near
est habitation until the waters fall be
low the safety mark. At different
points along the larger streams dug
outs are used for crossing. They are
logs chopped out, something in the
shape of a boat. They are the ferries
at foot-path crossings, as well as the
canoes of hunters and trappers.
Down near the Kentucky line you
are liable, in the forest on the steep
mountainside, to meet a man on horse
back, a bag of grain in front of him.
A short distance away, in a deep ra
vine, is a log building about six by
nine feet. It is the grist mill. The
roof is covered with thin boards, split
out of oak timbers, called “shooks."
They are laid like shingles. To hold
them down, a stiff pole is laid cross
wise in the center, and a hole is bored
in the end of the pole. A pin is then
driven in to hold the shooks down.
The people come to the mill, carry
ing their grain on the horses, from
many miles. The mills are free for
them to do their own grinding. The
door, if there is one, is never locked.
A small water wheel in the bottom
turns the burr stone. After the grist
is ground, it is placed on the horse
and the miller returns. Sometimes it
takes one day to come and grind, and
the shades of twilight fall the second
day before home is reached.
When the distance is not too far,
the women go to market. Their eggs
are placed in either end of a bag
made with both ends closed and the
opening in the middle. The eggs are
packed in buckets of grain and then
they are placed on a horse, one on
each side.
Nearly everything is packed, ex
cept in the valley, where wagons are
used somewhat, though it’s not un
usual to see a six-footer with a pack
on his back slowly winding his way
up the mountainside.
Even Uncle Sam's mail is carried
in leather bags. The men and women
in the region are of giant stature and
the families are large. There are fam
ilies in which the children number
twenty and many where the number
runs from a dozen to fifteen or
eighteen.
Crude as is the life, the people are
really progressive. They are honesl
and industrious. The*r hospitality is
unbounded. But if you do them an
intentional wrong, 'you might just as
well disappear, quietly and humbly,
They have no use for a “crooked"
man.
GOOD
JOKES * W.
A THRILLING SHOT. ;
Old Joe was talking, as usual, for
the edification of the company, and
football experiences became the pet
theme, relates Pearson's Weekly.
"I shall never forget one final,” said
he. "We were drawn—-one all —with
about a minute to go, when I got the
ball. Off I went, passing man after
man, till I got within range, and then
I paused. I can hear the crowd shout
ing now, ‘Shoot, man, shoot.’ Draw- j
ing one foot well back I let fly, and j
the yell that went up—oh!" with a j
sigh of pain.
"Well, Joe, did you score?” asked
one impatient listener.
“Score? Gad! It took the narfssus
fully ten minutes to get the bed rail
from between my toes.”
Bright Prospects.
A charming young woman walked
into the stationer’s shop in a village
and asked to see some typewriting
paper. After making her selection
she hesitated for a moment. “Do you
make any reduction to clergymen?”
she inquired.
“Yes,” replied the stationer prompt
ly. “Are you a clergyman’s wife?”
“No-o,” she answered.
“A clergyman’s daughter, probably,"
said the man as he tied up the pack
age.
"No,” was tho young woman's hesi
tating answer. "But”—and she leaned
over the counter and spoke In a con
fidential whisper—"if nothing happens
I shall be engaged to a theological
student as soon as he comes home
from college next term.”—Everybody’s
Magazine.
A SIMPLE ARRANGEMENT.
(P
Hardly—Does you wife ever bother
you about her new bonnets?
Easy—Not in the least. When she
wants one she simply gets It and bas
the bill sent in.
How to Regulate It.
Knicker —Think the stock exchange
should be regulated?
Bocker —Yes; it should be arranged
for stocks to go up when you buy and
go down when you sell.
He Meant Well.
Doctor —Why don’t you settle your
bill? You said, when I was treating
you, that you could never repay for
for my efforts.
Hardup—l meant it, doctor.
Resourceful.
Widow —Wait; I’ll get you some glue
with which to fasten his wig.
Undertaker—Oh, that’s not neces
sary. I’ve just used a couple of
tacks! —Punch.
Hardly a Success.
“Did your daughter have a fine wed
din’, Dennis?”
“Only fair. The presents were
gr-grand, but there was no fight.”
A Peace Seeker.
"Where are you going this sum
mer?"
• “Nowhere,” replied Mr. Growcher.
"When everybody else is pushing
through the boardwalk crowds and
trying to listen to four different kinds
of music at once, I am going to stay
home, where it’s nice and quiet.”—
Washington Evening Star.
In the Hospital Now.
“Biffkins, the bard, stood in the
street yesterday waiting for a thought
to strike him.”
“Well, did a thought strike him?”
“No, but an auto did.”
Near-Enjoyment.
“You don’t know what you miss
when you can’t listen to the ‘Honk!’
of your own automobile.”
“I don't know about that. I’ve got
a pet goose."
A Danger.
“It is a very serious tiling to have
measles in a jail.”
“Why so very serious?”
“Because it makes the inmates
break out.”
Much to Be Dreaded.
“Mrs. Plummer is not what you
would call a fierce old dowager, I
hope?”
“Well, not exactly. Still, I would
hate like the dickens for her to look
at me through her lorgnette.”
Resemblance Impossible.
“Does your son look like you?”
“No,” replied Farmer Corntossel;
“and he never will. No power on
earth could persuade Clyde Corntossel
to wear whiskers and old clothes.” —
Washington Evening Star.
WILLING TO COMPROMISE.
Bang—By the way, old fellow, can
you let me have two for a week?
Wang—Sorry, but I've only got a
dollar.
Bang—All right—let me have that
for two weeks.
A Leader.
“Mrs. Gluggins seems to be a sort
of general loader in social matters
here.”
“Oh, yes, she is one to whom all
the other ladies look first in social
affairs.”
“Is her husband wealthy?”
“Not so very.”
"Perhaps she comes of a distinguish
ed family. Ancestors probably came
over on the Mayflower.”
“Oh, no, it isn't that. You see, she
has gone to Chicago six times to be
operated on in hospitals.”
Epigrammatic.
"That wasn't a bad epigram on the
magistrate's part,” said the somewhat
educated tramp who had been convict
ed for vagrancy.
“What did he say?" asked the
tramp’s pal. "Seven days,” came the
reply.
“That, ain't no epigram, is it?"
“I’m sure it is. I once asked a par
son what an epigram was, and he said:
“It’s a short sentence that sounds
light, but gives you plenty to think
about.”
He Hadn’t Forgotten How.
"A man stepped on old Mr. Brig
gins’ corn the other day in a crowded
trolley car, and despite the fact that
Mr. Briggins has been a deacon in tho
church for twenty years, he swore like
a trooper.”
“Well, when the time comes for Mr.
Briggins to tako the matter up with
the Lord, he will doubtless be for
given on the ground that no other
provocation so quickly recalls the hab
its of one’s wild and wicked past.”
A Money Saver.
"Thinks he's got a scheme for get
ing rich, eh?"
“Yes, he has invented pneumatic
tires for silver coins, so that a man’s
wife cannot hear them rattle.”
The Mother Tongue.
“Do you realize the power of the
mother tongue?” asked the young man
who professed interest in literature.
“Yes; and so does father,” replied
the young woman.
Their Haunts.
“Pop, whereabouts are the man
hunting tribes?”
“They’re about here, sonny, in leap
year.”
As It Seems to Them.
Little Elsie Westlake —Is New York
near the Atlantic ocean?
Little Dottie Morningside—No; the
Atlantic ocean is near New York.
TOO BAD.
Gus —I got snubbed by that girl at
the men’s furnishings department. I
asked for a standing collar,. and
winked and smiled at her, and—
Tom —Well?
Gus—And got a turn down.
Apprehensive.
"Hamlet Fatt is timorous about aj*
pearing in this town.”
“Stage fright at his age? Why, he's
been on the boards for years.”
“But this is the first time he was
ever billed for two nights in one
place.”
At the Matinee.
Enthusiast —Oh, don't you love a
good play?
Modern Girl —Yes, indeed. It adds
much to the scenic effect and cos
tumes. —Life.
SHEEP EXCELLENT AS SOIL IMPROVERS
Profitable for Wool and Mutton.
(By R. S. CURTIS.)
It Is universally accepted that sheep
droppings under like conditions con
tain a larger amount of fertility than
that from either the horse, cow or
hog. One of the desirable features
of this product Is the uniform distri
bution made by the sheep over the
land. In the leading European coun
tries, such as England, Scotland,
France and Germany, -the value of
sheep in improving impoverished or
Flock of Shropshire Ewes.
naturally thin soils has been recog
nized for centuries. It is stated on
good authority that many of the soils
would be almost worthless but for
the fact that they are densely covered
with sheep. In these countries flocks
of sheep aggregating two or three
thousand in number are not uncom
monly seen. The various breeds which
CONDITION OF THE
FARM WORKINGMEN
7— mxf.C- 1 *
Many Farmers Do Not Know
How to Use Help of Any
Kind, Says Hired Man.
There is no doubt that the condition
of the farm workman has been great
ly Improved during the last few years.
That this better condition Is the re
sult of the scarcity of help nobody can
deny. The plain truth is that there
were too many farmers who did not
know how to use help of any kind.
They imagined that S2O per month
entitled them to the last ounce of
muscle in a man's body without re
gard to hours, decent food, bed or
any of the ordinary comforts of life.
These men have done more to drive
good workmen from the farms than
anything else. Good workmen with
self respect refused to labor under
such conditions and the result is that
thousands have left the farm to work
in the cities where they at least be
lieved they would be better off. Now
that farmers are learning that it pays
to give their help fair treatment and
better pay the tendency of many good
workmen is again towards the farm
and I for one believe that if the con
ditions continue to improve, as they
must under the prosperous times we
are having, that the question of farm
labor will soon right itself and we
will not only have a better class of
workmen but higher wages and richer
farmers. —A Hired Man.
PROPAGATION OF
GRACEFUL FERNS
Enterprising Lover of Plants Will
Find It Interesting to Do
Work by Spores.
The enterprising fern lover will find
It most interesting to propagate by
spores, and perchance produce a real
ly valuable addition to these beautiful
and graceful plants.
The ordinary way to propagate this
class of plants is by dividing the
plants, by the creeping rhizomes, by
the little bulblets that form on the
fronts, and by the seeds or spores that
appear on the underside of the leaves.
Procure a seed pan or box with
plenty of drainage holes, and cover
the bottom with broken crockery. On
this place half decayed sod, and fill
with carefully mixed and sifted leaf
mold and sand. Make the surface of
the soil perfectly smooth and level,
and then scatter the spores on it, and
leave them without any covering, that
Is of spoil. However, they must be
enclosed in glass by placing a pane of
glass over the seed box or pan.
Water by placing the seed pan in
water, and keep it there until the wa
ter appears on the surface of the soil.
Then removed at once, for too much
water will destroy the spores. Keep
the box in the light, but not the sun,
remembering that ferns naturally
grow in shady places and that we
should try to follow nature’s lead.
naturally inhabit the rough moun
tain lands, and the precipitous cliffs
of these countries, where only scanty
and coarse herbage exists, manifest
their great value in making other
wise worthless land bring in profit
able returns.
Much of the gullied land and waste
hillsides of this country could be
utilized profitably in the production of
sheep. Many prominent farmers have
proved this to their highest satisfac
tion. Much of the land which now
grows reeds and other coarse vegeta
tion can be resfved to profitable till
age by the use of sheep. Fortunately
the sheep is a ruminating animal and
with the compound stomach can
make use of much of the coarse grass
and weeds which thrive on these de
pleted soils.
In European countries where sheep
raising is carried on extensively and
usually profitably, little concentrated
feed is used, except through the flush
ing and lambing season. During other
periods hay, grass and roots form
their mainstay. Any farmer who is
willing to give to sheep the same
amount of intelligent care that he
gives to other livestock will find them
not only profitable, but good soil im
provers, bringing into cultivation
large areas of otherwise waste land.
HOW TO MAKE THE
HOME BEAUTIFUL
***' * * • f - -4
Microphilla Rose Is One of Pret
tiest Things for Odd Corners
Around Garden.
(By L. M. BENNINGTON.)
Nothing is lovelier than the deut
zias; perfectly hardy »and low-growing.
One of the loveliest things for an
odd corner, or to train over a trellis,
is the microphilla rose—literally cov
ered in the spring with tiny white or
pink roses, full of fragrance, followed
by clusters of red berries.
Plant a row of hollyhocks along the
path to the barn; keep them growing
and see them bloom next year.
Get one or more packages of the
mixed seeds of perennial and bien
nials and plant them in rows or beds
and see w-hat they will give you.
Don't go too strong on “novelties,”
unless you have time and money to
throw away. Many of them are
worthless.
Plant a paper of Everlasting flower
seeds. They make beautiful winter
decorations.
Plant canna and dahlia seeds In the
hotbed or boxes now. They are eas
ily grown, and make fine showing of
flowers the first year.
For dahlia.B and cannas, the soil
must be good, with warmth and plenty
of water. As easy started as field
corn.-
RAISE CABBAgT
AND POTATOES
.. i
First Put Land in Best Possible
Condition and Mark Off in
Three-Foot Rows.
I always plant the seed of my late
cabbage where I want plants to stand.
I put the land in the best possible
condition, mark, it off in rows three
feet apart and plant four or five seeds
in a place where I want the cabbage
to grow.
When the plants come up I let them
get about as large as they would be
if I were going to transplant them,
then I pull out all but the strongest
one in each bunch.
This allows the plant to grow from
the start without any setback and
the heads are larger than they would
be had the plants been transplanted.
I do not sow the seed until late in
June and have raised good cabbages,
the seed for which was planted after
early potatoes had been dug up and
the land smoothed down.
Potatoes make an excellent first
crop where late cabbages are to be
grown. Even if the plants are to be
transplanted they may be set be
tween the potato rows before the po
tatoes are dug.
Digging the potatoes works the soil
deeply and makes the best possible
condition for the growth of the cab
bages.—P. L. B.
Testing Associations.
Cow testing associations are being,
organized in many neighborhoods.