The Boy With the U.S. Census

remembering that the messenger's father had been a go-between in the feud story he had been hearing, noted the lad with interes

the Burtons, Uncle E

les," was

me eight miles, and evidently was intending to walk back home that evening. Then Hamilton remembered that this lad was one of th

the newcomer i

eting, and, after a few d

must be a long wal

y?" he queried a few minutes later, evidently noting the difference b

ork," answe

was puzzled to account for his general listlessness. He thought p

till going

of the head was

here a school nea

bout five miles

go there?" questio

heh's

holidays," the c

e fo' ho

mean he's gone for good. But aren

for good," the mou

tared in b

him," the ot

ot explain thi

ted Hamilton. "

tain boy

jer," he

an it. I never heard of 'cunjer' as a real thing. There's lots about it

never saw

ourse

h in cities as they think the

knowing that it would be useless to argue the conditi

n, so's the one yo' cunjer ha

business," commen

p hyeh in the mount'ns we call it cunje

ried Hamilton. "It doesn't sound like the sort of

mountain boy explained. "The folks hyeh suspi

d? Moon

e old Kentuckian, who had overheard part of the con

s companion, he continued "You were saying that some of the people in the mo

an' most of us boys didn' believe it, but t

nue officers

n lad nodde

y. An' then some one tol' that it could be proved on the teacheh. It never was, but thar was a

with the 'cunjering'?" asked Hamilton, de

it was the men

ow how it

ornin'. For a week or more we boys had seen ol' Blacky Baldwin sort o' snoopin' aroun' near the school,

you do t

he city-bred lad with an ev

lower picture the fire is burning, the still working, a

n know that? Ol' Blacky Baldwin is a first-class cunjer, an' an

ng around the school," suggested Hamil

school, a big storm come up, thunder an' lightnin' an' all. Suddenly, jes' after a clap o' thunder that sounded almos' as if it had hit the schoolhouse Ol' Blacky Baldwin walked thro

master say whe

roun' among the hills. I took one look at Ol' Blacky Baldwin's

hy

reen light, sendin' up smoke, like ol'

but he did not want to interrupt the lad now that he

e horn at him, accordin' to one o' the boys who says he was peepin' through his fingers. I

l your days, an' you air goin' to be drove to places where you're like to fall. By night

hat wa

ked up and Ol' Blacky Baldwin was gone; the teacheh looked pe

ry," said Hamilton. "I don

es 'n' pencils was kep' on a shelf over the teacheh's chair, an' he got on the chair to reach one down. We was all watchin' him, when suddintly he give a groan an' his eyes rolled back so's we couldn't s

tandin' on the chair as he was, of course the boys couldn' make him let go, an' they couldn' make him hear or understan' a mite. So th

e hand?" Hami

t. As soon as his feet touched the floor, he let go the feller's shoulder an' sort o' lay back in his chair. He sat there for a

was fallin','

e, lookin' straight in front of him, an' repeatin' ev'ry minut

ountain boy told the story as though

got scared," he sa

' then some of the fellers got up an' went out sof'ly. I

think he had

I come by, he said, jes' as smooth, 'School's out early to-day, boys.' But I don't think any of us answered him. I know I didn't. I jes' took and run as

at broke up

weeks most of us was back. Teacheh allers seemed diff'rent; ev'ry once in a while, one of us would se

that go on?" q

le more'n more all the time, because folks wouldn'

y n

and we-all would see him every day, mutterin' an' laughin' to himself. Then, suddintly, Teacheh disappeared, an' though we hunted fo' him everywhar, he wasn' found. We-all reckoned

aid. "But even if he did get away, I do

ain boy agreed. "Anyway,

revenue men?"

cheh went away," was the reply. "

hich he had penciled it roughly. Bill Wilsh listened in a dreamy way, and Hamilton wondered at his seeming carelessness. The old man read it twice, then, rising to his feet, the boy repeated i

mber all that, Uncle Eli?"

plied, "word for word, syllable f

mory," the boy exclaime

as hyeh to-day at all. That's why they're so hard to teach, those po' whites, what they l

'cunjering.' Is there much of th

es talk about it, but thar's mo' difference between the folks in the gullies an' on the Ridge th'n

"but I thought at first it was because he was

kian shook

as if they hadn't any life left in them at all. I reckon the m

Eli? What is that

soil, and it works its way in. It's only jes' recently that it's be'n found out that the po' whites are peaked and

re so mu

erican citizens out o' thousands o' poor

hites' come from, Uncle El

ers' are still worse off. Thar's not so many in the mount'ns an' those that are here live 'way up in the gullies. The sure 'n

ey called '

ithout anythin' to start with, an' not knowin' for a generation or two whar any settlements could be foun'. An' thar's a lot o' folks that have just drifted down, down,-livin' jes' like the 'Crackers' an' often taken to be the same. An' the slavery system made it worse because thar wa

that, Un

ause the slaves did all the work; they wouldn' work themselves, an' they didn' own slaves. So they we

t for the South

cker,' however, the war meant everythin'. It placed him side by side with the Southern gentleman, it strengt

to improve right aft

n shook his h

eated by the No'th as he had be'n by the South. Now that everybody is seein' that yo' can't make a negro jes' the same as a white man by givin' him a vote, thar's a chance fo' the po' white. I reckon the 'Cracker' as a 'Cracker' is goin' to be extinct pretty soon, an' the South is g

ell for the Sout

this next year, yo' jes' watch the figures an' see whar the old South comes in. It's a pity you're

for the big loft where he slept with the mountaineer's two sons, "but, even if I don't get a ch

ded a good-night as

er part of the conversation, and occasionally interjecting a word, "thar is a bo

city boys, an' I'd ruther have 'em the way they air than to come pesterin' with questions like Ha

lled his corn-cob leisurely as he

ide to the station, where the lad was to take an afternoon train for Washington. They had gone a

e be'n thinkin' more'n more 'bout Teacheh havin' likely gone to t

HE GULLY. (Courtesy of

HOOL. (Courtesy of D

hington, Bill," H

at the

one of

at'd be the city

replied, "there's no way of kn

en he broke off suddenly. "I'm mighty parti

on's companion. "Yo' ought to have

n' he seemed so fond o' the school that I whittled a piece to give him when he showed up agin. B

r him up, but he could not see what would be likely

, Bill. But he

swep' the floor an' seen that his books was in the place he liked to have 'em be. I wouldn' want him to come back from his wanderin', if he still is wanderin', an' think he was fo'go

spoke, and after a momen

s 'tryin' scholar.' He used to call me that because, although I wasn't le

lab of wood four inches square. It was carved as a bas-relief, showing the

n. "I don't believe I ever saw be

into the boy's dull eyes, but he wen

d the same to me sence. I want yo' to give this to him an' show him, if yo' will,

ty?" queried Hamilton gently. "Washington is

ckon he an't goin' to come back hyeh, an' then he'd never know that we an't

s throat at the simple faithfulness of

ay about it, of course I'll try. But

rom his pocket a home-made gum-wood case, and opening it,

he said, "that paper

ks, done in lead pencil, the strokes wavering and of differing slopes, and the whole so smudged as scarcely to be reco

per as carefully as possible in the same folds, he handed it to

ll read it

said Ha

ee that he sai

," agreed Hamilton, thinking of t

as in yonder schoolhouse. But thar's no one to write 'Very Good' on 'em any mo', an' I reckon thar

ed on their way, but they had not ridden a hundred yards when they heard a hail; looking back, they

tell him he a