For twenty miles (local authority) I journeyed down the stream, without seeing a human being or a dwelling-place, to Stanley's house and the bridge; from which I urged the canoe thirty-five miles further, passing an old field on a bluff, when darkness settled on the swamps, and a heavy mist rose from the waters and enveloped the forests in its folds.With not a trace of land above water I groped about, running into what appeared to be openings in the submerged land, only to find my canoe tangled in thickets.It was useless to go further, and I prepared to ascend to the forks of a giant tree, with a light rope, to be used for lashing my body into a safe position, when a long, low cry engaged my attention.
"Waugh! ho! ho! ho! peig -- peig - pe-ig -pe-ig," came through the still; thick air.It was not an owl, nor a catamount that cried thus; nor was it the bark of a fox.It was the voice of a Cracker calling in his hogs from the forest.
This sound was indeed pleasant to my ears, for I knew the upland was near, and that a warm fire awaited my benumbed limbs in the cabin of this unknown man.Pushing the canoe towards the sound, and feeling the submerged border of the swamp with my paddle, I struck the upland where it touched the water, and disembarking, felt my way along a well-trodden path to a little clearing.Here a drove of hogs were crowding around their owner, who was scattering kernels of corn about him as he vociferated, "pe-ig -- pe-ig - pe-ig - pig - pig -pig." We stood face to face, yet neither could see the face of the other in the darkness.I told my tale, and asked where I could find a sheltered spot to camp.
"Stranger," slowly replied the Cracker, "my cabin's close at hand.Come home with me.
It's a bad night for a man to lay out in; and the niggers would steal your traps if they knew you had anything worth taking.Come with me."In the tall pines near at hand was a cabin of peeled rails, the chinks between them being stuffed with moss.A roof of cypress shingles kept the rain out.The log chimney, which was plastered with mud, was built outside of the walls and against an end of the rustic-looking structure.The wide-mouthed fireplace sent forth a blaze of light as we entered the poor man's home.I saw in the nicely swept floor, the clean bed-spreads, and the general neatness of the place, the character of Wilson Edge's wife.
"Hog and hominy's our food here in the piny woods," said Mr.Edge, as his wife invited us to the little table; "and we've a few eggs now and then to eat with sweet potatoes, but it's up-hill work to keep the niggers from killing every fowl and animal we have.The carpet-bag politicians promised them every one, for his vote, forty acres of land and a mule.They sed as how the northern government was a-going to give it to um; but the poor devils never got any thanks even for their votes.They had been stuffed with all sorts of notions by the carpet-baggers, and I don't blame um for putting on airs and trying to rule us.It's human natur, that's all.
We don't blame the niggers half so much as those who puts it in their heads to do so; but it's hard times we've had, we poor woods folks.
They took our children for the cussed war, to fight fur niggers and rich people as owned um.
"We never could find out what all the fuss was about; but when Jeff Davis made a law to exempt every man from the army who owned fifteen niggers, then our blood riz right up, and we sez to our neighbors, 'This ere thing's a-getting to be a rich man's quarrel and a poor man's fight.' After all they dragged off my boy to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and killed him a fighting for what? Why, for rich nigger owners.Our young men hid in the swamps, but they were hunted up and forced into the army.Niggers has been our ruin.Ef a white man takes a case before a nigger justice, he gives the nigger everything, and the white man has to stand one side.Now, would you folks up north like to have a nigger justice who can't read nor count ten figgurs?"I tried to comfort the poor man, by assuring him that outside of the political enemies of our peace, the masses in the north were honestly inclined towards the south now that slavery was at an end; and that wrong could not long prevail, with the cheerful prospect of a new administration, and the removal of all unconstitutional forces that preyed upon the south.
The two beds in the single room of the cabin were occupied by the family; while I slept upon the floor by the fire, with my blankets for a couch and a roll of homespun for a pillow, which the women called "heading." They often said, "Let me give you some heading for your bed." We waited until eight o'clock the next day for the mists to rise from the swamps.
My daily trouble was now upon me.How could I remunerate a southerner for his cost of keeping me, when not, in the true sense of the word, an invited guest to his hospitality?
Wilson Edge sat by the fire, while his wife and little ones were preparing to accompany me to see the paper boat."Mr.Edge," Istammered, "you have treated me with great kindness, your wife has been put to some inconvenience as I came in so unexpected a manner, and you will really oblige me if you will accept a little money for all this; though money cannot pay for your hospitality.Grant my wish, and you will send me away with a light heart."The poor Cracker lowered his head and slowly ran his fingers through his coal black hair.For a moment he seemed studying a reply, and then he spoke as though HE represented the whole generous heart of the south.
