Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/207

Rh class for the thirst for reading, the craving for knowledge, which is characteristic of its fellow in New England; but the Southerner is nevertheless sharp in a bargain, and industrious, and many have acquired a competency. Speaking of a bargain reminds me of an incident; waiting for the mail one day, in a post-office at the foot of a spur of the Blue Ridge, I amused myself, as women will, by observing whatever there was to be seen; a peculiarly pert-looking mule appeared at the doorway, and a mountain woman alighted therefrom; among sundry articles with which the mule was laden there came to view a monstrous cheese of yellow beeswax. The postmaster, who was also the storekeeper, lifted the wax, indented it with his thumb-nail, smelled it, and finally weighed it, then coolly broke it in two. Rage filled the woman's hard face and choked her speech; the cheese was filled with ashes! Perhaps justice should oblige me to say that the storekeeper was so nearly a Yankee as to have been born in Pennsylvania.

Although the traditional Yankee, without doubt, is to be found in New England, it was never my fortune to behold him until he appeared to me in the mountains of North Carolina. He whittles and whistles, wears remarkable trousers and as remarkable a hat, a queer coat, untied or half-tied shoes, and has the face narrow, long and sharp-featured, with the quick, keen eyes, crowned by lank, light hair; he is as sharp as he looks, but is still somewhat opposed to railroads, thinking that with them his dozen mules, with great road-wagons to match, would be at a discount; but if a railway were extended from Yadkin valley through Patterson to Boone (the county seat of Watauga), thence across the boundary to meet a line in East Tennessee, then indeed he might find his strong teams thoroughly useful in carrying, to meet an eager demand, his butter, cheese, luscious fruits, sweet and healthy grains, his young and well broken horses and cattle, his mutton and beef, his poultry, his soft furs, and his magnificent lumber to the waiting steam-car. For lack of such facility of transportation this marvelously fine country awaits its destiny. Both physical and social atmospheres are eminently congenial to the habits of those young northern families who go out, now-a-days, from their birthplaces to seek new homes. Here is a charming and excellent climate, free from agues, excellent water, the most productive of soil, unsurpassed scenery, no trouble of consequence from insects, and no political disturbance.

Its botanical possessions are peculiarly rich, and one would be surprised at the amount of its medical exportations. There is hardly a known mineral but may be found here in profitable quantity, and from the presence of flexible sandstone it is inferred that diamonds may lie perdu among these mountains as well as in those of Georgia.

It must be admitted that, in default of diamonds, glittering drops are manufactured in the mountains, as fatal to the brain as is said to be the moonshine which has given them a name, and while the moonshiners would ordinarily be peaceable folk enough, the thought of a revenue officer is to them like flint to powder.

Only the strictest sense of duty sworn to would lead the United States soldier in search of the mysteries of the mountains. The service, looked at outside of its unmistakable duty, seems almost as mean as the sin, and only too often results in crippling and death. When the government can prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors, then indeed their manufacture will easily cease.

We visited one morning a warehouse in Caldwell county, to which the smaller produce of the Boone road is brought, and whence it is shipped to Raleigh. The agent of the firm controlling the business took us first to the top story of the building, where were monstrous bins of grain from which funnel shaped passages allowed