Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/22

 6 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

fitted. The crudest form of chimney is built cob-house wise of small sticks, smeared inside and out with clay. Along the front of many cabins there is a covered "gallery" or porch. In the older houses there are no windows, all light and air being admit- ted through the door, or through the chinks between the logs. A "double" cabin is really a combination of two cabins under the same roof. Sometimes there -is an open space or hall between them. Again they are simply built end to end, the doors of both opening on the same gallery. In the latter case, although there seems no real separation, each room, from the standpoint of the other, is spoken of as " t'other house." Fam'- ilies of social pretension have, in addition to the two rooms of the main cabin, a cook-house at the rear, and in one establish- ment we found a dining-room beside. In a vague way, so far as there is any social stratification, it is reflected in the number of rooms of the family domicile. The one-room cabin represents the lowest stage, while the possession of four or five rooms con- fers real distinction.

The furniture of the cabins is primitive and simple. A sufficient number of bedsteads, sometimes of the old-fashioned four-poster type, often rough home-made products ; a few hickory splint-bottom chairs, a table or two, and shelves for blankets or "kivers," complete the average equipment. In many house? there are old Connecticut clocks. In one cabin we saw two clocks side by side, keeping time exactly together. The old man pointed with pride to them and to the shadow of the sun upon the floor as it approached the noon mark.

Agricultural and industrial processes are relatively crude. The chief crops are corn, a little oats, potatoes, tobacco, and sugar cane. These supply all the staple products necessary to the family life. The list of domestic animals includes horses, cows, mules, sheep, pigs, geese, and chickens. The sheep and geese are kept for their wool and feathers, and are rarely killed for food.

The mill is the only mountain industry which has been spe- cialized in any marked way. At intervals of a few miles along the streams there are log dams and small grist-mills, which look