coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

44 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
and then I got to meetin' the other feller who
was still a stickiii' and had took to watchin' my
colt. 1 seen he was gettin' powerful interested,
as the six months was nigh up, and it made no
diffunce how many cockle-burrs that colt wore it
looked good to him, ancl I was gittin' mighty
much worrited. He sure was game. The day
before the time was up I knowed that somethin'
had to be did—and did quick—and 1 raked up
all the green apples and green corn and collicky
stuff 1 ever heerd of and commenced stuffin' that
colt—and it took—and afore midnight I went
after the feller to come and help do some doetorin'.
He swore a site and said it would die
afore mornin' and he was goin' home—and he
went that way—but he never stopped and he
never come back—and druv the steer over into
my lot before 'red-top' turned out to git her
breakfast!"
The talk was general for a little while, the
men said they remembered the affair, and "redtop's"
two girls remained quiet, apparently taking
the
ADJUSTMENT OF AFFAIRS
as perfectly natural. Without any urging the
old man took the floor again.
"Lots of tilings it wuss and yit sometimes
maybe you find 'em wusser—and too much sperrit
in a woman ain't so bad when you got one
what ain't got any—like my second wife. She
was com'fble fat when I got her and kep gittin'
fatter and fatter and I 'lowed I'd hev to git the
guv'mt to help feed her, when she up ancl died
rising three hunder pounds in weight. We had
to knock down a lean-to off'n the barn to make
a box, and it took that other feller's steer and
one of my own to sled her up on the p'int whar
she still is—but I bet she ain't no lazier dead
than she was afore it happened."
"1 ain't goin' to say nothin' 'bout this little
woman here now, kase she's young and spry ancl
I'm getting stiff in the jints and niout have a
leetle trouble in gittin' another if she'd run off."
There was neither a lamp nor a candle in the
house and the children lighted slivers of pitch
liine for illumination. Some of the rich pitch
spluttered into the corn bread and gave the latter
a flavor that was never known in modern
cooking schools—but perhaps
IT WAS INTRODUCED
to prevent the "last chance" wife from following
in the Jumbo-like footsteps of number two. Our
eminent conservationist, Dr. White, would have
commended my economy in food consumption—
at that time.
Upon innumerable occasions I have been asked
about the religion of the people in the mountains,
but the question is hard to answer. Earnest men
and women are found in every community. The
services of preachers are well attended and the
only songs one will hear on a long journey are
those taken from hymnals. Great consideration
is always given to a minister of prominence and
the housekeepers, if notified of the coming of a
Presiding Elder or Bishop, will spend days in
preparing food. Some five or six years ago I
was planning a trip through eastern Kentucky
when the itinerary of a Presiding Elder was made
known to me by the enthusiastic brother who had
perfected the arrangements. I at once showed
appreciation of the skill of this brother by destroying
my own plan and accepting the one
made for the elder, but to avoid a conflict in
dates and over-crowding in small houses, I made
the complete circuit two days in advance. That
was the time I gained in weight at the rate of
sixteen ounces a day. The elder lost about twenty
pounds on his trip, which is hard to account for
as I had found the living conditions unusually
good.
But I must sand the track, sprag the cars and
stop the train. It would please me to tell you
about the amateur geologist over in Buchanan
County. Virginia, who accounted for an immense
MASS OF BROKEN STONE
on a slope of the mountain by declaring that he
had "studied about it a site and finally 'lowed
that when the Lord was in these here parts
sowin' rocks, he must have drapped his apron
string in a-comin' over the pint."
The neighborliness of the people could be exemplified
by the attitude of a good old friend in
a Southern county. He was divorced and at
once married again, and the divorced wife immediately
married and went to live on the adjoining
place. When my host was asked howhe
got along with his ex-wife he said, "Fine,
mighty fine. We are the very best of neighbors.
Why, there ain't a family on the mounting we
borrow as much from as we do from them folks."
At the risk of being called a bad neighbor, 1
will cease borrowing from your time and will
now turn the Institute into its accustomed channels,
at the same time hoping that your stay in
Charleston may be pleasant, that old time friendships
may be renewed and that your deliberations
may result in great good for the thousands of
men whose welfare and safety rest so largely in
your hands.
A $60,000 coal tipple of the Boomer Coal & Coke
Co., Boomer, W. Va., was completely destroyed by
lire recently. It was necessary to use dynamite
!o blow up this structure in order to save three
smaller ones which were in close proximity. The
cause of the fire was unknown.