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RUGBY, TENNESSEE
BEING
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SETTLEMENT FOUNDED
ON THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU
BY
THE BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP, LIMITED
A COMPANY INCORPORATED IN ENGLAND, AND AUTHORISED TO HOLD
AMD DEAL, IN LAND BY ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE OF
TIIE STATE OF TENNE3SEJS
BY
THOMAS HUGHES
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD
WITH A REPORT ON THE SOILS OF THE PLATEAU
BY THE HON. F. W. KILLEBBKW, A.M. Ph.D
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE FOB THE STATE
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1881
"There need be no hesitation in affirming that colonisation in the
present state of the world is the very best affair of business in which
the capital of an old and wealthy country can possibly engage."
JOHN STUART MILL.
"Is it possible that I, who get indefinite quantities of sugar -
hominy, cotton, buckets, crockery ware, and letter paper, by simply
signing my name once in three months to a cheque in favour of John
Smith and Co., traders, get the fair share of exercise to my faculties
by that act, which nature intended for me in making all these far-
fetched matters important to my comfort ? It is John Smith himself,
and his carriers, and dealers, and manufacturers ; it is the sailor, the
hide-dresser, the butcher, the negro, the hunter, and the planter,
who have intercepted the sugar of the sugar and the cotton of the
cotton. They have got the education, I only the commodity. This
were all very well if I were necessarily absent, being detained by work
of my own, like theirs, work of the same faculties, then should I be
sure of my hands and my feet ; but now I feel some shame before my wood-
chopper, my ploughman, and my cook, for they have some sort of self-
sufficiency, they can contrive without my aid to bring the day and year
round, but I depend on them, and have not earned by use a right to
my arms and feet" E. W. EMEKSOK.
PREFACE.
THIS book is the best answer which the founders of
Rugby, Tennessee, can at present make to the large
and rapidly increasing number of questions which
fc reach them from all parts of the United Kingdom
CO
>_ about that settlement. These inquiries, speaking
< roughly, are addressed mainly to three points (1)
The class of persons for whom the place is intended ;
(2) What it is like ; (3) Its prospects.
^ Part I. of the book deals with the first question ;
"if, and I hope will sufficiently indicate the views of the
g founders. They will gladly welcome any persons who
like to join them; but those whom they have specially
in their minds are, young men of good education and
o small capital, the class which, of all others, is most
x> overcrowded to-day in England. The experience of
the past six months has proved that such an outlet
PB
uj indeed that many such are needed. It has also
q proved that, except in rare instances, the young men
< who go out are not able at once to earn their living,
and that they should not be sent out under the age
of eighteen at earliest. The Board strongly recom-
mend that boys and young men should be placed, for
a year at least, with one of the present settlers to
448066
VI PREFACE.
learn their business, which can be done at a cost of
from 60 to 70 for the year's board, lodging, and
teaching.
The letters to the Spectator, which form Part II.,
written on the spot last autumn (and reprinted by
kind permission of the Editors), give my own first
impressions of the site and surroundings, more accu-
rately, I believe, than anything I could now write on
the subject. They are printed without alteration, in
order that they may remain, and be taken as, first
impressions only. At the same time I may add that
on going over the proofs I see scarcely anything which
I should have to modify were I to sit down now to
write them over again.
Part III., and especially Colonel K {Hebrew's report
and the glossary, will enable readers to judge of the
present condition and prospects of the settlement.
Colonel Ivillebrew is the Minister of" Agriculture of
the State of Tennessee, and the highest authority on
all matters connected with land in those parts.
The Board is glad to take this opportunity of
thanking him for his valuable paper, which, corning
from an entirely independent quarter, may be safely
relied on as to the quality and capabilities of the soil
on the plateau, in and around Hugby. They have
always warned intending settlers that they will have
to work hard, and with intelligence, in order to suece< ;tnitcs
led forth nine saddle-horses, bearing the comfortable
half -Mexican saddles, with wooden stirrups, in use
CHAP, n.] THE CUMBEKLAND MOUNTAINS. 41
here. Our choice was quickly made ; and, throwing
coats and waistcoats into the wagon, which the man-
ager good-naturedly got into himself, surrendering his
horse for the time, we joined the cavalcade in our
shirts.
A lighter- hearted party has seldom scrambled
through the Tennessee mountain roads on to this
plateau. We were led by a second Etonian, also six feet
and upwards in his stockings, whose Panama straw hat
and white corduroys gleamed like a beacon through the
deep shadows cast by the tall pine trees and white oaks.
The geologist brought up the rear, and between rode the
rest of us all public schoolmen, I think, another
Etonian, two from Eugby, one Harrow, one Wellington
through deep gullies, through four streams, in one of
which I nearly came to grief from not following my
leader (but my gallant little nag picked himself up like a
goat from his floundering amongst the boulders) ; and so
up through more open ground till we reached this city
of the future, and in the dusk saw the bright gleam
of light under the verandahs of two sightly wooden
houses. In one of these, the temporary restaurant, we
were seated in a few minutes at an excellent tea
(cold beef and mutton, tomatoes, rice, cold apple tart,
maple syrup, etc.); and during the meal the news
passed round that the hotel, being as yet unfurnished,
and every other place filled with workpeople, we
must all (except the geologist and the Wellingtonian,
who had a room over the office) pack away in the
next frame house, which had been with difficulty
reserved for us. If it had been a question of men
only, no one would have given it a thought ; but our
party had now been swollen by two young ladies, who
42 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPKESSIONS. [PAHT n.
had hurried down before us to visit their brother, a
settler on the plateau, and by another young English-
man, who had accompanied them.
A puzzle, you will allow, when you hear a descrip-
tion of our .tenement. It is a four -roomed timber
house, of moderate size, three rooms on the ground
floor, and one long loft upstairs. You enter through
the verandah on a common room, 20 feet long by
1 4 feet broad, opening out of which are two chambers,
14 feet by 10 feet. One of these was, of course, at
once appropriated to the ladies. The second, in spite
of my remonstrances, was devoted to me, as the
Nestor of the party ; and on entering it I found an
excellent bed (which had been made by two of the
Etonians), and a great basin full of wild-flowers on
the table. There were four small beds in the loft, for
which the seven drew lots ; two of the losers spread
rugs on the floor of the common room, and the third
swung a hammock in the verandah.
Up drove the mule wagon with luggage, and the
way in which big and little boxes were dealt with and
distributed filled me with respect and admiration for the
rising generation. The house is ringing behind me
with silvery and bass laughter, and jokes as to the
shortness of accommodation in the matter of washing
appliances, while I sit here writing in the verandah,
the light from my lamp throwing out into strong relief
the stems of the nearest trees. Above, the vault is
blue br.yond all description, and studded with stars as
bright as though they were all Venuses. The katydids
are making delightful music in the trees, and the
summer lightning is playing over the Western heaven;
while a gentle breeze, cool and refreshing as if it
CHAP, ii.] THE CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS. 43
came straight off a Western sea, is just lifting, every
now and then, the corner of my paper.
Were I young again, but as I am not likely to be
that, I refrain from bootless castle-building, and shall
turn in, leaving windows wide open for the katydid's
chirp and the divine breeze to enter freely, and wish-
ing sleep as sound as they have all so well earned, to
my crowded neighbours in this enchanted solitude.
VACUUS VIATOR.
CHAPTEK IIL
LIFE IN TENNESSEE.
RUGBY, TENNESSEE.
I "WAS roused at five or thereabouts on the morning
after our arrival here by a visit from a big dog belong-
ing to a native, not quite a mastiff, but more like that
than anything else, who, seeing my window wide open,
jumped in from the verandah, ^nd came to the bed to
give me good-morning with tail and muzzle. I was
glad to see him, having made friends the previous
evening, when the decision of his dealings with the
stray hogs who came to call on us from the neighbour-
ing forest had won my heart ; but as his size and atten-
tions somewhat impeded my necessarily scanty ablutions,
I had to motion him apologetically to the window,
when I turned out. He obeyed at once, jumped out,
laid his muzzle on the sill, and solemnly, and, I
thought, somewhat pityingly, watched my proceedings.
Meantime, I heard sounds which announced the up-
rising of " the boys," and in a few minutes several
appeared in flannel shirts and trousers, bound for one
of the two rivers which run close by, in gullies 200 feet,
below us. They had heard of a pool 1 feet deep, and
found it, too ; and a most delicious place it is, sur-
rounded by great rocks, lying in a copse of rhodo-
dendrons, azaleas, and magnolias, which literally form
CHAP, m.] LIFE IN TENNESSEE. 45
the underwood of the pines and white oak along these
gullies. The water is of a temperature which allows
folk whose blood is not so hot as it used to be to lie
for half an hour on its surface, and play about without
a sensation of chilliness. On this occasion, however, I
preferred to let them do the exploring, and so at 6.15
went off to breakfast.
This is the regular hour for that meal here, dinner
at twelve, and tea at six. There is really no difference
between them, except that we get porridge at breakfast
and a great abundance of vegetables at dinner. At all
of them we have tea and fresh water for drink, plates
of beef or mutton, apple sauce, rice, tomatoes, peach
pies or puddings, and several kinds of bread. As the
English garden furnishes unlimited water and other
melons, and as the settlers young Englishmen, who
come in to see us bring sacks of apples and peaches
with them, and as, moreover, the most solvent of the
boys invested at Cincinnati in a great square box full
of tinned viands of all kinds, you may see at once that
in this matter of provender we are not genuine objects
either for admiration or pity.
I must confess here to a slight disappointment.
Having arrived at an age myself when diet has become
a matter of indifference, I was rather chuckling as
we came along over the coming short-commons up
here, when we got fairly loose in the woods, and the
excellent discipline it would be for the boys, especially
the Londoners, to discover that the human animal can
be kept in rude health on a few daily crackers and
apples, or a slap-jack and tough pork. And now,
behold, we are actually still living amongst the flesh-
pots, which I had fondly believed we had left in your
46 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n.
Eastern Egypt ; and I am bound to add, " the boys "
seem as provokingly indifferent to them as if their
beards were getting grizzled. One lives and learns;
but I question whether these States are quite the place
to bring home to our Anglo-Saxon race the fact that
we are an over-fed branch of the universal brotherhood.
Tanner, I fear, has fasted in vain.
Breakfast was scarcely over when there was a
muster of cavalry. Every horse that could be spared
or requisitioned was in demand for an exploring ride to
the west, and soon every charger was bestrid by "a boy"
in free-and-easy garments, and carrying a blanket for
camping out. Away they went under the pines and
oaks, a merry lot, headed by our geologist, who knows
the forest by this time like a native, and whose shock-
ing old straw blazed ahead in the morning sun like,
shall we say, "the helmet of Navarre," or Essex's white
hat and plumes before the Train Bands, as they crowned
the ridge where Falkland fell, and his monument now
stands, at the battle of Newbury. Charles Kingsley's
lines came into my head, as I turned pensively to my
table in the verandah to write to you :
" When all the world is young, lad, and all the trees are green,
And every goose a swan, lad, and every lass a queen,
Then heigh for boot and horse, lad, and round the world away,
Young blood must have its course, lad, and every dog his day!"
Our two lasses are, undoubtedly, queens out here. The
thought occurs, are our swans our visions, already so
bright, of splendid crops, and simple life, to be raised
and lived in this fairyland to prove geese ? I hope
not. It would be the downfall of the last castle in
Spain I am ever likely to build.
On reaching our abode I was aware of the forester
CHAP, m.] LIFE IN TENNESSEE. 47
coming across from the English garden, of which he has
charge, followed by a young native. He walked up to
me, and announced that they were come across to tidy
up, and Hack the boots. Here was another shock, that
we should be followed by the lumber of civilisation so
closely ! Will boots be blacked, I wonder, in the New
Jerusalem? I was at first inclined to protest, while
they made a collection, and set them out on the ver-
andah, but the sight of the ladies' neat little high-lows
made me pause. These, at any rate, it seemed to me,
should be blacked, even in the Millennium. Next minute
I was so tickled by a little interlude between the forester
and the native, that all idea of remonstrance vanished.
The latter, contemplating the boots and blacking-pot
and brushes from under the shapeless piece of old
felt which he wore by way of hat, of the same mys-
terious colour as the ragged shirt and breeches, his only
other garments joined his hands behind his back, and
said, in their slow way, " Look 'ere, Mr. Hill, ain't this
'ere pay-day ? " The drift was perfectly obvious. This
citizen had no mind to turn shoeblack, and felt like
discharging himself summarily. Mr. Hill, who was
, already busily sweeping the verandah, put down his
broom, and after a short colloquy, which I did not
quite catch, seized on a boot and brush, and began
shining away with an artistic stroke worthy of one of
the Shoeblack Brigade at the London Bridge Station.
The native looked on for a minute, and then slowly
unclasped his hands. Presently he picked up a boot,
and looked round it dubiously. I now took a hand
myself. If there was one art which I learned to per-
fection at school, and still pride myself on, it is shining
a boot. In a minute or two my boot was beginning
48 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n.
"to soar and sing," while the forester's was already a
thing of beauty. The native, with a grunt, took up
the spare brush, and began slowly rubbing. The victory
was complete. He comes now and spends two hours
every morning over Ids new accomplishment, evidently
delighted with the opportunity it gives him for loafing
and watching the habits of the strange occupants, for
whom also he fetches many tin pails of water from the
well, in a slow, vague manner. He has even volun-
teered to "fix up" the ladies' room and fill their bath
(an offer which has been declined with thanks), but I
doubt whether he will ever touch the point of a genuine
" shine."
They are a curious people, these natives, the forester
(an Englishman some thirty years in this country),
told me, as we walked off to examine the English
garden, but I must keep his experiences and my own
observation for separate treatment. The English gar-
den is the most advanced, and, I think, the most im-
portant and interesting feature of this settlement. If
young Englishmen of small means are to try their
fortunes here, it is well that they should have trust-
worthy guidance at once as to what are the best crops
to raise. "With this view Mr. Hill was placed, in the
spring of this year, in charge of the only cleared
space available. All the rest is beautiful open forest-
land. You can ride or drive almost anywhere under
the trees, but there is no cultivated spot for many
miles, except small patches here and there of carelessly
sown maize and millet, and a rood or two of sweet
potatoes.
The forester had a hard struggle to do anything
with the garden at all this season. He was only put
CHAP, in.] LIFE IN TENNESSEE. 49
in command in May, six weeks at least too late. He
could only obtain the occasional use of a team, and his
duties in the forest, and in grading and superintending
the walks, interfered with the garden. Manure was
out of the question, except a little ashes, which he
painfully gathered here and there from the reckless
log-fires which abound in the woods. He calls his
garden a failure for the year. But as half-an-acre,
which was wild forest-land in May, is covered with
water-melons and cantalupes, as the tomatoes hang in
huge bunches, rotting on the vines for want of mouths
enough to eat them, as the Lima beans are yielding at
the rate of two hundred and fifty bushels an acre, and
as cabbages, sweet potatoes, beets, and squash, are in
equally prodigal abundance, the prospect of making a
good living is beyond all question, for any one who
will set to work with a will.
In the afternoon I inspected the hotel, nearly com-
pleted, on a knoll in the forest, between the English
garden and this frame house. It is a sightly building,
with deep verandahs prettily latticed, from which one
gets glimpses through the trees of magnificent ranges
of blue forest-covered mountains. We have named it
the Tabard, at the suggestion of one of -our American
members, who, being in England when the old South-
wark hostelry from which the Canterbury Pilgrims
started was broken up and the materials sold by
auction (to make room for a hop store), bought some of
the old banisters, which he has reverently kept till now.
They will be put up in the hall of the new Tabard,
and marked with a brass-plate and inscription, telling,
I trust to many generations, of the place from which
they came. The Tabard, when finished, as it will be
E
50 A NEW HOME FIEST IMPRESSIONS. MI "
in a few days, will lodge some fifty guests ; and, in
spite of the absence of alcoholic drinks, has every
chance, if present indications can be trusted, of har-
bouring and sending out as cheery pilgrims as followed
the Miller and the Host, and told their world-famous
stories as they rode through Kent five hundred years
ago.
The drink question has reared its baleful head here,
as it seems to do all over the world. The various
works had gone on in peace till the last ten days, when
two young natives "toted over" some barrels of whisky,
and broached them in a shanty, on a small lot of no-
man's land in the woods, some two miles from hence.
Since then there has been no peace for the manager.
First, one or two labourers were suddenly missing from
the work on the road ; then a mechanic became incom-
petent here and there, on the hotel, or at the saw-mills;
till on Saturday last the crisis came, and some twenty
men got drunk and gambled all through Sunday, get-
ting very near a free fight in the end ; and on Monday
half the work collapsed. Happily the feeling of the
community is vigorously temperate, so energetic mea-
sures are on foot -to root out the pest. A wise State
law enacts that no liquor store shall be permitted,
under heavy penalties, within four miles of an incor-
porated school; so we are pushing on our school-house
and organising a board to govern it. Meantime, we
have evidence of unlawful sale (in quantities less
than a pint) and of encouraging gambling, by these
pests, and hope to make an example of them at the
next sitting of the County Court. This incident l:as
decided the question for us. If we are to have influ-
encQ with the poor whites and blacks, we must be
CHAP, in.] LIFE IN TENNESSEE. 61
above suspicion ourselves. So no liquor will be pro-
curable at the Tabard, and those who need it will have
to import for themselves.
A bridle-path leads from the hotel down to the
Clear Fork, one of the streams at the "junction of which
the town site is situate. The descent is about 200 feet,
and the stream, when you get to it, from 3 feet to 5
feet wide, a mountain stream, with deep pools and big
boulders. Your columns are not the place for descrip-
tions of scenery, so I will only say that these gorges
of the Clear Fork and White Oak are as fine as any of
their size that I know in Scotland, and not unlike in
character, with this difference, that the chief under-
wood consists of rhododendron (called laurel here),
azalea, and a kind of magnolia I have not seen before,
and of which I cannot get the name. I passed huge
faggots of rhododendron, 12 feet and 14 feet long, lying
by the walks which had been cleared away ruthlessly
while grading them. They are three miles long, and
cost under 100, a judicious outlay, I think, even
before an acre of land has been sold. They have been
named the Lovers' Walks, appropriately enough, for no
more well-adapted place could possibly be found for
that time-honoured business, especially in spring, when
the whole gorges under the tall pines and white oak
are one blaze of purple, yellow, and white blossom.
On my return to the plateau, my first day's experi-
ences came to an end in a way which no longer sur-
prised me, after the boot -blacking and the Lovers'
Walks. I was hailed by one of " the boys," who had
been unable to obtain 'a mount, or had some business
which kept him from exploring. He was in flannels,
with racquet in hand, on his way to the lawn-tennis
52 A NEW HOME FIEST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n
ground, to which he offered to pilot me. In a minute
or two we came upon an open space, marked, I see on
the plans, " Cricket Ground," in which rose a fine
strong paling, enclosing a square of 150 feet, the up-
rights being six "feet high, and close enough to keep
not only hogs out but tennis-balls in. Turf there was
none, in our sense, within the enclosure, and what
there must have once been as a substitute for turf had
been carefully cleared off on space sufficient for one
full-sized court, which was well marked out on the
hard sandy loam. A better ground I have rarely seen,
except for the young sprouts of oak and other scrub,
which here and there were struggling up, in a last
effort to assert their " ancient, solitary reign." At
any rate then and there, upon that court, I saw two
sets played in a style which would have done credit
to a county match (the young lady, by the way, who
played far from the worst game of the four, is the
champion of her own county). This was the opening
match, the racquets having only just arrived from
England, though the court has been the object of ten-
der solicitude for six weeks or more to the four Eng-
lishmen already resident here, or near by. The Rugby
Tennis Club consists to-day of seven members, five
English and two native, and will probably reach two
figures within a few days, on the return of the boys.
Meantime the effect of their first practice has been that
they have resolved on putting a challenge in the Cin-
cinnati and Chatanooga papers offering to play a match
best out of five sets with any club in the United
States. Such are infant communities in these lati-
tudes !
You may have been startled by the address at the
CHAP, in.] LIFE IN TENNESSEE. 53
head of this letter. It was adopted unanimously on
our return 'in twilight from the tennis -ground, and
application at once made to the State authorities for
registration of the name, and establishment of a post-
office. It was sharp practice thus 'to steal a march on
the three Etonians, still far away in the forest. Had
they been present, possibly Thames might have pre-
vailed over Avon. VACUUS VIATOE.
CHAPTER IV.
A FOREST RIDE.
EUGBY, TENNESSEE.
THERE are few more interesting experiences than a ride
through these southern forests. The scrub is so low
and thin, that you can almost always see away for long
distances amongst pine, white oak, and chestnut trees;
and every now and then at ridges where the timber is
thin, or where a clump of trees has been ruthlessly
"girdled," and the bare, gaunt skeletons only remain
standing, you may catch glimpses of mountain ranges
of different shades of blue and green, stretching far
away to the horizon. You can't live many days up
here without getting to love the trees even more, I
think, .than we do in well-kempt England; and this
outrage of " girdling," as they call it stripping the
bark from the lower part of the trunk, so that the
trees wither and die as they stand strikes one as a
kind of household cruelty, as if a man should cut off
or disfigure all his wife's hair. If he wants a tree for
lumber or firewood, very good. He should have it.
But he should cut it down like a man, and take it
clean away for some reasonable use, not leave it as a
scarecrow to bear witness of his recklessness and lazi-
ness. Happily not much mischief of this kind has
been done yet in the neighbourhood of Rugby, and a
CHAP, iv.] A FOEEST HIDE. 55
stop will now be put to the wretched practice. There
is another, too, almost as ghastly, but which, no doubt,
has more to be said for it. At least half of the largest
pines, alongside of the sandy tracts which do duty for
roads, have a long, gaping wound in their sides, about
a yard from the ground. This was the native way of
collecting turpentine, which oozed down and accumu-
lated at the bottom of the gash ; but I rejoice to say
it no longer pays, and the custom is in disuse. It
must be suppressed altogether, but carefully and gently.
It seems that if not persisted in too long, the poor,
dear, long-suffering trees will close up their wounds,
and not be much the worse ; so I trust that many of
the scored pines, springing forty or fifty feet into the
air before throwing out a branch, which I passed in
sorrow and anger on my first long ride, may yet out-
live those who outraged them. Having got rid of my
spleen, excited by these two diabolic customs, I can
return to our ride, which had otherwise nothing but
delight in it.
The manager, an invaluable-guest from New York,
a doctor who had served on the Sanitary Commission
through the war, and I, formed the party. The man-
ager drove the light buggy, which held one of us also,
and the hand-bags ; while the other rode by the side,
where the road allowed, or before or behind, as the
fancy seized him. We were bound for a solitary guest-
house in the forest, some seventeen miles away, in the
neighbourhood of a cave and waterfall, which even here
have a reputation, and are sometimes visited. We
allowed three and a half hours for the journey, and it
took all the time. About five miles an hour on wheels
is all you can reckon on, for the country roads, sandy
56 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. IPABT n
tracks about 1 feet broad, are just left to take care of
themselves, and whenever there is a sufficient declivity
to give the rain a chance of washing all the surface
off them, are only a heap of boulders of different sizes.
But, after all, five miles an hour is as fast as you care
to go, for the play of the sunlight amongst the varied
foliage, and the new flora and fauna, keep you con-
stantly interested and amused. I never regretted so
much my ignorance of botany, for I counted some four-
teen sorts of flowers in bloom, of which golden-rod and
Michaelmas daisy were the only ones I was quite sure
I knew and, by the way, the daisy of Parnassus, of
which I found a single flower growing by a spring.
The rest were like home flowers, but yet not identical
with them, at least I think not ; and the doubt
whether one had ever seen them before or not was
provoking. The birds few in number were all
strangers to me ; buzzards, of which we saw five at one
time, quite within shot, and several kinds of hawk
and woodpecker, were the most common ; but at one
point, quite a number of what looked like very big
swifts, but without the dash in their flight of our bird,
and with wings more like curlews', were skimming
over the tree tops. I only heard one note, and that
rather sweet, a cat-bird's the doctor thought \ but he
was almost as much a stranger in these woods as I.
Happily, however, he was an old acquaintance of that
delightful insect the " tumble-bug," to which he intro-
duced me on a sandy bit of road. My new acquaint-
ance took no notice of me, but went on rolling his
lump of accumulated dirt three times his own size
backwards with his hind legs, as if his life depended
on it. Presently his lump came right M$ against a
CHAP, iv.] A FOREST RIDE. 57
stone, and stopped dead. It was a " caution " to see
that bug strain to push it further, but it wouldn't
budge all he could do. Then he stopped for a moment
or two, and evidently made up his small mind that
something must be wrong behind, for no bug, he well
knew, could have pushed harder than he. So he
quitted hold with his hind legs, and turned round to
take a good look at the situation, in order, I suppose,
to see what must be done next. At any rate he pre-
sently caught hold again on a different side, and so
steered successfully past the obstacle. There were a
number of them working about, some single and some
in pairs, and so full of humour are their doings that I
should have liked to watch for hours.
We got to our journey's end about dusk, a five-
roomed, single-storied, wooden house, built on sup-
ports, so as to keep it off the ground. We went up
four steps to the verandah, where we sat while our
hostess, a small thin New Englander, probably seventy
or upwards, but as brisk as a bee, bustled about to get
supper. The table was laid in the middle room, which
opened on the kitchen at the back, where we could see
the stove, and hear our hostess's discourse. She boiled
us two of her fine white chickens admirably, and served
with hot bread, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and several
preserves, of which I can speak with special praise of
the huckleberry, which grows, she said, in great
abundance all round. The boys, we heard, had been
there to breakfast after sleeping out, and not having
had a square meal since they started from Eugby.
Luckily for us her chickens are a very numerous as well
as beautiful family, or we should have fared badly.
She and her husband supped after us, and then
58 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART 11.
came and sat with us in the balcony, and talked away
on all manner of topics, as if the chances of discourse
were few, and to be made the most of. They had lived
during the war at Jamestown close by, a village of some
eight or ten houses, and had seen the Federal and Con-
federate cavalry pass through again and again. They
had never molested her or hers in any way, but had a
fancy for poultry, which might have proved fatal to
her white family but for her Yankee wit. She and
her husband managed to fix up a false floor in one of
their rooms in which they fed the roosters ; so whenever
a picket came in sight her call would bring the whole
family out of the woods and clearing into the refuge,
where they remained peacefully amongst corn-cobs till
the danger had passed. She had nothing but good to
say of her native neighbours, except that they could
make nothing of the country. " The Lord had done all
he could for it," she summed up, and " Boston must take
hold of the balance." We heard the owls all night, as
well as the katydids, but they only seemed to empha-
sise the forest stillness. The old lady's beds, to which
we retired at ten, after our long gossip in the balcony,
were sweet and clean, and I escaped perfectly scathe-
less, a rare experience, I was assured, in these forest
shanties. I was bound however to admit, in answer
to our hostess's searching inquiries, that I had seen
and slain, though not felt, an insect suspiciously like
a British B flat.
The cave which we sought out after breakfast was
well worth any trouble to find. We had to leave the
buggy and horses hitched up and scramble down a
glen, where presently, through a tangle of great rhodo-
dendron bushes, we came out in front of a huge rock,
CHAP, tv.] A FOREST RIDE. 59
with" the little iron-stained stream just below us, and
beyond, at the top of a sandy slope of perhaps 1 5 or 2
feet, the cave, like a long black eye under a red eye-
brow, glaring at us. I could detect no fissure in the
sandstone rock (the eyebrow), which hung over it for its
whole length. The cave is said to run back more than
300 feet, but we did not test it. There would be good
sitting room for 300 or 400 people along the front,
and it is so obviously fitted for a conventicle that I
could not help peopling it with fugitive slaves, and
fancying a black Moses preaching to them of their
coming exodus, with the rhododendrons in bloom all
round. Maidenhair grows in tufts about the damp floor,
and a creeping fern, with a bright red berry, the name
of which the doctor told me, but I have forgotten, on
the damp red walls. What the nook must be when
the rhododendrons are all ablaze with blossom I hope
some day to sea
We had heard of a fine spring somewhere in this
part of the forest, and, in aid of our search for it, pre-
sently took up a boy whom we found loafing round a
small clearing. He was bareheaded and barefooted,
and wore an old, brown, ragged shirt turned up to the
elbows, and old, brown, ragged trousers turned up to
the knees. I was riding, and in answer to my invita-
tion he stepped on a stump and vaulted up behind me.
He never touched me, as most boys would have done,
but sat up behind with perfect ease and balance as we
rode along a young centaur. We soon got intimate,
and I found he had never been out of the forest, was
fourteen, and still at (occasional) school. He could
read a little, but couldn't write.
I told him to tell his master, from me, that he ought
60 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n.
to be ashamed of himself, which he promised to do with
great glee ; also, but not so readily, to consider a pro-
posal I made him, that if he would write to the man-
ager within, six months to ask for it, he should be "paid
one dollar. I found that he knew nothing of the flowers
or butterflies, of which some dozen different kinds
crossed our path. He just reckoned they were all
butterflies, as indeed they were. He knew, however,
a good deal about the trees and shrubs, and more about
the forest beasts. Had seen several deer only yester-
day, and an old opossum with nine young, a number
which took the doctor's breath away. There were lots
of foxes in the woods, but he did not see them so often.
His face lighted up when he was promised two dollars
for the first opossum he would tame, and bring across
to Eugby. After guiding us to the spring, and hunting
out an old wooden cup amongst the bushes, he went off
cheerily with two quarter-dollar bits in his pocket, an
interesting young wild man. Will he ever bring the
opossum ? I doubt : but shall be sorry not to see his
open wondering face again.
We got back without further incident (except flush-
ing quite a number of quail, which must be lovely
shooting in these woods), and found the boys at home,
and hard at lawn-tennis and well-digging. The hogs
are becoming an object of their decided animosity; and
having heard of a Yankee notion a sort of tweezers,
which ring a hog by one motion, in a second they are
going to get it, and then to catch and ring every grunter
who shows his nose near the asylum. Out of this there
should come some fun shortly.
VACUUS VIATOR,
CHAPTEE V.
THE NATIVES.
RUGBY, TENNESSEE.
WHEN all is said and sung, there is nothing so inter-
esting as the men and women who dwell on any
corner of the earth ; so, before giving you any further
details of our surroundings, or doings, or prospects, let
me introduce you to our neighbours, so far as I have
as yet the pleasure of their acquaintance. And I am
glad at once to acknowledge that it, is a, pleasure, not-
withstanding all the talk we have heard of "mean
whites," "poor white trash," and the like, in novels,
travels, and Newspapers. It may possibly be that we
have been fortunate, and that our neighbours here are
no fair specimens of the " poor whites " of the South.
This, and the next three counties, are in the north-
western corner of Tennessee, bordering on Kentucky.
They are entirely mountain land. There are very
few negroes in them, and they were strongly Unionist
during the war. At present they are Eepublican,
almost to a man. There is not one Democratic official
in this county, and, I am told, that only three votes
were cast for the Democratic candidates at the last
State elections. They are overwhelmed by the vote
of -western and central Tennessee, which carries ,/the
State with the solid South ; but here Union men can
62 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n.
speak their minds freely, and cover their walls with
pictures in coloured broad-sheet of the heroes of the
war, Lincoln, Governor Brownlow, Grant and his
captains. They are poor almost to a man, and live in
log-huts and cabins which, at home, could scarcely be
rivalled out of Ireland. Within ten miles of tin's
place there are possibly half-a-dozen (I have seen two)
which are equal in accommodation and comfort to
those of good farmers in England. The best of these
belongs to our nearest neighbour, with whom a party
of us dined, at noon, the orthodox hour in the moun-
tains, some weeks since. He is a wiry man, of middle
height, probably fifty-five years of age, upright, with
finely cut features, and an eye that looks you right in
the face. He has been on his farm twenty years, and
has cleared some fifty acres, which grow corn, millet,
and vegetables, and he has a fine apple orchard. We
should call his farming very slovenly, but it produces
abundance for his needs. He sat at the head of his
table like an old nobleman, very quiet and courteous,
but quite ready to speak on any subject, and especially
of the five years of the war through which he carried
his life in his hand, but never flinched for an hour
from his faith. His wife, a slight, elderly person,
whose regular features showed that she must have
been very good-looking, did not sit down with us, but
stood at the bottom of the table, dispensing her good
things. Our drink was tea and cold spring water;
our viands, chickens, ducks, a stew, ham, with a pro-
fusion of vegetables, apple and huckleberry tarts,
and several preserves, one of which (some kind of
cherry, very common here) was of a lovely gold colour,
and of a flavour which would make the fortune of a
CHAP, v.] THE NATIVES. 63
London pastry-cook. A profusion of water-melons and
apples finished our repast ; and no one need ask a
better ; but I am bound to add that our hostess has
the name for giving the best square meal to be had
in the four counties. It would be as fair to take
this as an average specimen of farmers' fare here,
as that of a nobleman with a French cook of fare of
the gentry at home. Our host is a keen sportsman,
and showed us his flint-lock rifle, six feet long, and
weighing 1 8 Ibs. ! He carries a forked stick as a rest,
and, we were assured, gets on his game about as
quickly as if it were a handy Westley-Kichards, and
seldom misses a running deer. The vast majority of
these mountaineers are in very different circumstances.
Most, but not all of them, own a log cabin and minute
patch of corn round it, probably also a few pigs and
chickens, but seem to have no desire to make any
effort at further clearing, and quite content to live
from hand to mouth. They cannot do that without
hiving themselves out when they get a chance, but
are most uncertain and exasperating labourers. In the
first place, though able to stand great fatigue in hunt-
ing, and perfectly indifferent to weather, they are not
physically so strong as average English or Northern
men. Then they are never to be relied on for a job.
As soon as one of them has earned three or four
dollars, he will probably want a hunt, and go off for it
then and there, spend a dollar on powder and shot,
and these on squirrels and opossums, whose skins may
possibly bring him in ten cents, as his week's earnings.
It is useless to remonstrate, unless you have an agree-
ment in writing. An Englishman, who came here
lately to found some manufactures, left in sheer
64 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n.
despair and disgust, saying he had found at last a
place where no one seemed to care for money. I do
not say that this is true, but they certainly seem to
prefer loafing and hunting to dollars, and are often too
lazy, or unable, to count, holding out their small change
and telling you to take what you want. Temperate
as a rule, they are sadly weak when wild-cat whisky
or " moonshine," as the favourite illicit beverage of
the mountains is called crosses their path. This is
the great trouble on pay nights at all the works which
are starting in this district. The inevitable booth
soon appears, with the usual accompaniment of cards
and dice, and probably a third of your men are thence-
forth without a dime, and utterly unfit for work on
Mondays, if you are lucky enough to escape dangerous
rows amongst the drinkers. The State laws give
summary methods of suppressing the nuisance, but
they are hard to work, and though public sentiment is
vehemently hostile to whisky, the temptation proves
in nine cases out of ten too strong. The mountaineers
are in the main well-grown men, though slight, shock-
ingly badly clothed, and sallow from chewing tobacco ;
suspicious in all dealings at first, but hospitable,
making everything they have in the house, including
their own beds, free to a stranger, and frequently
refusing payment for lodging or food. They are also
very honest; crimes against property being of very
rare occurrence. The other day, a Northern gentleman
visiting here expressed his fears of being robbed to a
native farmer. The latter, after inquiring whether there
were any prisons and police in New England, what
these were for, and whether his interrogator had locks
to his own doors and safes and bars to his window-
CHAP, v.] THE NATIVES. 65
shutters in Boston, remarked, " Wai, I've lived here
man and. boy for forty year, and never had a bolt to
my house, or corn loft, or smoke-house ; and I'll tell
you what ; I'll give you a dollar for every lock you
can find in Scott county." The cattle, sheep, and
hogs wander perfectly unguarded through the forest,
and I have not yet heard of a single instance of a
stolen beast.
There is a rough water mill on a creek close by,
called Buck's Mill, which was run by the owner for
years until he sold it a few months ago on the fol-
lowing system : He put the running gear and stones
up, and above the latter a wooden box, with the charge
for grinding meal marked outside. He visited the mill
once a fortnight, looked to the machinery, and took
away whatever coin was in the box. Folks brought
their corn down the steep bank if they chose, ground
it at their leisure, and then, if they were honest, put
the fee in the box ; if not, they went off with their
meal, and a consciousness that they were rogues. I
presume Buck found his plan answer, as he pursued it
up to the date of sale.
In short, sir, I have been driven to the conclusion,
in spite of all traditional leanings the other way, that
the Lord has much people in these mountains, as I
think a young English deacon, lately ordained by the
Bishop of Tennessee, will find, who passed here yester-
day on a buggy, with his young wife and child, and
two boxes and ten dollars of the goods of this world,
on his way to open a church mission in a neighbour-
ing county. I heard yesterday a story which should
give him hope as to the female portion, at any rate,
of his possible flock. They are dreadful slatterns, with-
F
66 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n,
out an inkling of the great Palmerstonian truth that
dirt is matter in its wrong place. A mountain girl,
however, who had, strange to say, taken the fancy to
go as housemaid in a Knoxville family, gave out that
she had been converted. Doubts being expressed and
questions asked as to the grounds on which she based
this assurance, she replied that she knew it was all
right because now she swept underneath the rugs.
When one gets on stories of quaint and ready replies
in these parts, one " slops over on both shoulders. "
Here are a couple which are current in connection with
the war, upon which, naturally enough, the whole mind
of the people is still dwelling, being as much occupied
with it as with their other paramount subject, the im-
mediate future development of the unbounded resources
of these States, which have been really opened for the
first time by that terrible agency. An active Seces-
sionist leader in a neighbouring county, in one of his
stump speeches before the war had announced that
the Southerners, and especially Tennessee mountain
men, could whip the white-livered Yanks with pop-
guns. Not long since, having been amnestied and re-
constructed again to a point when he saw his way to
running for a State office, he was reminded of this
saying at the beginning of his canvass : " Wai, yes,"
he said, " I own to that, and I stand by it still, only
those mean cusses [the Yanks] wouldn't fight that
way."
The other is of a very different stamp, and will
hold its own with many world-wide stories of graceful
compliments to former enemies by kings and other
bigwigs. General Wilder, one of the most successful
and gallant of the Northern corps commanders in the
CHAP, v.] THE NATIVES. 67
war, has established himself in this State, with whose
climate and resources he became so familiar in the
campaign which ended under Look-out Mountain. He
has built up a great iron industry at Chatanooga, in
full sight of the battle-fields from which 14,000 bodies
of Union soldiers were carried to the national cemetery.
Early in his Chatanooga career he met one of the most
famous of the Southern corps commanders (Forrest, I
believe, but am not sure as to the name), who, on
being introduced, said, " General, I have long wished
to know you, because you have behaved to me in a
way for which I reckon you owe me an apology as
between gentlemen." Wilder replied in astonishment
that to his knowledge they had never met before, but
that he was quite ready to do all that an honourable
man ought. "Well, now, General," said the other
" you remember such and such a fight [naming it].
By night you had taken every gun I had, and I con-
sider that quite an ungentlemanly advantage to take
of a man anyhow."
By the way no man bears more frank testimony to
the gallantry of the Southern soldiers than General
Wilder, or admits more frankly the odds which the
superior equipment of the Federals threw against the
Confederate armies. His corps, mounted infantry armed
with repeating rifles, were equal, he thinks, to at least
three times their number of as good soldiers as them-
selves with the ordinary Southern arms. There are
few pleasanter things to a hearty well-wisher, who has
not been in America for ten years, than the change
which has taken place in public sentiment, indicated
by such frank admissions as the one just referred to.
In 1870, any expression of admiration for the gallantry
68 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PAKT n.
of the South, or of respect or appreciation of such
men as Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, or Johnson, was re-
ceived either silently or with strong disapproval. Now
it is quite the other way, so far as I have seen as yet,
and I cannot but hope that the last scars of the mighty
struggle are healing up rapidly and thoroughly, and
that the old sectional hatred and scorn lie six feet
under ground, in the national cemeteries :
" No more shall the war-cry sever,
Or the inland rivers run red ;
We have buried our anger for ever,
In the sacred graves of the dead.
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the Judgment-day ;
Love and tears for the blue !
Tears and love for the gray !"
No man can live for a few weeks on these Cumberland
Mountains without responding with a hearty " Amen."
VACUUS VIATOR.
CHAPTER VI.
OUR FORESTER.
RUGBY, TENNESSEE.
NOTHING would satisfy our forester but that some of
us should ride over with him, some nine miles through
the forest, to see Glades, the farm upon which he has
been for the last eight years. He led the way, on his
yellow mare, an animal who had nearly given us sore
trouble here. The head stableman turned all the horses
out one day for a short run, and she being amongst them,
and loving her old home best, went off straight for Glades
through the woods, with every hoof after her. Luckily,
Alfred, the forester's son, was there, and guessing what
was the matter, just rode her back, all the rest follow-
ing. The ride was lovely, glorious peeps of distant
blue ranges, and the forest just breaking out all over
into golds, and vermilions, and purples, and russets. We
only passed two small farms on the way, both ram-
shackle, and so the treat of coming suddenly on some
hundred acres cleared, drained, with large though
rough farm buildings, and bearing the look of being
cared for, was indescribably pleasant. Mrs. Hill and
her son Alfred received us, both worthy of the head of
the house ; more I cannot say. They run the farm
in his absence with scarcely any help, Alfred having
also to attend to a grist and saw mill in the neigh-
70 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n.
Injuring creek. There were a fine mare and filly in
the yard, as tame as pet dogs, coming and shoving
their noses into your pockets and coaxing you for
apples. The hogs are good Berkshire breed, the sheep
Cotswolds. The cows (it is the only place where we
have had cream on the mountains) Alderney or short-
horns. The house is a large log cabin, one big room, with
a deep open fireplace, where a great pine-log smouldered
at the back across plain iron dogs ; a big hearth in
front, on which pitch-pine chips are thrown when you
feel inclined for a blaze. The room is carpeted and
hung with photographs and prints, a rifle and shot
gun, and implements of one kind or another. A small
collection of books, mostly theological, and founded on
two big Bibles ; two rocking and half a dozen other
chairs, a table, and two beds in the corners farthest
from the fire, complete the furniture of the room, which
opens on one side on a deep verandah, and on the other
on a lean-to, which serves for kitchen and dining-room,
and ends in a small, spare bedroom. A loft above,
into which the family disappeared at night, completes
the accommodation. I need not dwell on our supper,
which included tender mutton, chickens, apple tart,
custard pudding, and all manner of vegetables and
cakes. Mrs. Hill is as notable a cook as her husband
is a forester. After supper we drew round the big fire-
place, and soon prevailed on our host to give us a sketch
of his life, by way of encouragement to his three young
countrymen who sat round, and are going to try their
fortunes in these mountains :
" I was born and bred up in one of Lord Denbigh's
cottages, at Kirby, in Warwickshire. My father \\as
employed on the great place, that's Nuneharn Paddocks,
CHAP, vi.] OUR FORESTER. 71
you know. He was a labourer, and brought up sixteen
children, not one of whom, except me, has ever been
summonsed before a Justice, or got into any kind of
trouble. I went to school till about nine, but I was
always longing to be out in the fields at plough or bird-
keeping ; so I got away before I could do much reading
or writing. But I kept on at Sabbath school, and learnt
more there than I did at t'other. The young ladies
used to teach, and they'd set us pieces and things to learn
for them in the week. ' My Csesar ' [the only ejacula-
tion Amos allows himself; he cannot remember where
he picked it up], how I would work at my piece to get
it for Lady Mary ! I've fairly cried over it sometimes,
but I always managed to get it, somehow. After a bit,
I was taken on at the house. At first I did odd jobs,
like cleaning boots and carrying messages ; and then I
got into the garden, and from that into the stable ; and
then for a bit with the keepers ; and then into livery,
to wait on the young ladies. So you see I learnt some-
thing of everything, and was happy and earning good
wages. But I wanted to see the world, so I took ser-
vice with a gentleman who was a big railway contractor.
I used to drive him, and do anything a'most that he
wanted. I stayed with him nine years, and 'twas
while going about with him that I met my wife here.
We got married down in Kent, thirty-six years ago.
Yes [in answer to a laughing comment by his wife],
I wanted some one to mind me, in those days. That
poaching trouble came about this way. I had charge
for my master of a piece of railway that ran through
Lord 's preserves, in Wales. There were very strict
rules about trespassing on the lines then, because folks
there didn't like our line, and had been putting things
72 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n.
on it to upset the trains. One day I saw two keepers
coming down the line, with a labourer I knew between
them. He was all covered with blood from a wound
in his head. * Why/ said I, ' what's the matter now ? '
' I've been out of work,' he said, ' this three weeks, and
I was digging out a rabbit to get something to eat,
when they came up and broke my head.' From that
time the keepers and I quarrelled. I summonsed them,
and got them fined for trespassing on the line; and
then they got me fined for trespassing on their covers.
We watched one another like hawks. I'd often lie out
at night for hours in the cold, in a ditch, where I knew
they'd want to cross the line, and then jump up and
catch them; and they'd do the same by me. Once
they got me fined 3 : 10s. for poaching. I remember
it well I was that riled, I said to the justices right
out, ' How long do you think it'll take me, gentlemen,
to pay all that money, with hares only Is. a-piece ? '
Then I weut in for it. I remembered the text, ' What
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.' I did it.
I used to creep along at night, all up the fences, and
feel for the places whe're the hares came through and
set my wires; and I'd often have ten great ones scream-
ing and flopping about like mad. And that's what the
keepers were, too. I've given a whole barrowful of hares
away to the poor folk of a morning. Well, I know [in
answer to an interpellation of Mrs. Hill] yes, 'twas all
wrong, and I was a wild chap in those days. Then I
began to hear talk about America, and all there was f( >r a
man to see and do there, so I left my master, and we came
over, twenty-seven years ago. At first I took charge
of gentlemen's gardens in New York and New Jersey.
Then we went to Michigan, where I could earn all I
CHAP, vi.] OUK FORESTER. 73
wanted. Money was of no account there for a good
limn in those days, but the climate was dreadful sickly,
and we had our baby, the first we had in twelve years,
and wanted to live on bread and water so as we could
save him. So we went up right amongst the Indians,
to a place they call Grand Travers, a wonderful healthy
place, on a lake in the pine-forest country, as it was
then. I went on to a promontory, where the forest
stood, not like it does here, but the trees that thick
you had scarce room to swing an axe. Well, it was a
beautiful healthy place, and we and baby throve, and I
soon made a farm; and then folk began to follow after
us ; and before I left there were twenty-three saw-mills,
cutting up from 80,000 to 150,000 feet a day, week in
and out. They've stripped the country so now that
there's no lumber for those mills to cut, and most of
them have stopped. 1^ used to have a boat, with just a
small sail, and I'd take my stuff down in the morning,
and trade it off to the lumber-men, and then sail back
at night, for the wind changed and blew back in the
evenings most part of the year. Well, then, the war
came, and for two years I kept thinking whether I
oughn't to do my part to help the Government I'd
lived under so long. Besides, I hated slavery. So in
the third year I made up my mind, and listed in the
Michigan Cavalry. I took the whole matter before
the Lord, and prayed I might do my duty as a soldier,
and not hurt any man. Well, we joined the Cavalry,
near 60,000 strong down in these parts; and I was
at Knoxville, and up and down. It was awful, the
language and the ways of the men many of them at
least swearing, and drinking, and stealing any kind of
thing they could lay hands on. Many's the plan for
74 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n.
stealing I've broken upon, telling them they were there
to sustain the flag, not to rob poor folks. I spoke very
plain all along, and got the men, many of them any
way, to listen. I got on famously, too, because I was
never away plundering, and my horse was always ready
for any service. An officer would come in, after we
had had a long day's work, to say a despatch or mess-
age must go, and no horse in our company was fit tt
go but mine, so the orderly must have him ; but I
always said no, I was quite ready to go myself, but
would not part company from my horse. The only
time I took what was not mine was when we surprised
a Confederate convoy, and got hold of the stores they
were carrying. There they were lying all along the
roads, greatcoats and blankets, and meal bags, and
good boots, with English marks on them. My Caesar,
how our men were destroying them ! I got together
a lot of the poor starving folk out of the woods that
both sides had been living on, and loaded them up
with meal and blankets. My Cffisar, how I loved to
scatter them English boots ! They never had seen
such before. No, sir [in reply to one of us], I never
fired a shot all that time, but I had hundreds fired
at me. I've been in the rifle pits, and now and again
seen a fellow drawing a bead on me, and I'd duck down
and hear the bullet pinge into the bank close above.
" They got to employ me a good deal carrying de-
spatches and scouting. That's how I got took at last.
We were at a place called Strawberry Plains, with
Breckenbridge's Division pretty near all round us. I
was sent out with twelve other men, to try and draw
them out, to show their force and position ; and so we
did, but they were too quick for us. Out they came,
CHAP, vi.] OUR FORESTER. 75
and it was a race back to our lines down a steep creek.
My horse missed his footing, and down we rolled over
and over, into the water. When I got up, I was up
to my middle, and, first thing I knew, there was a
rebel, who swore at me for a G d d Yankee, and
fired his six-shooter at me. The shot passed under
my arm, and, before he could fire again, an officer
ordered him on, and gave me in charge. I was taken
to the rear, and marched off with a lot of prisoners.
The rebels treated me as if I'd been their father, after
a day or two. I spoke out to them about their swear-
ing and ways, just as I had to our men ; and I might
have been tight all the time I was a prisoner, only I'm
a temperance man. They put me on their horses on
the march, and I was glad of it, for I was hurt by my
roll with my horse, and bad about the chest. After
about six days I got my parole, with five others. They
were hard pressed then, and didn't want us toting
along. Then we started north, with nothing but just
our uniforms, and they full of vermin. The first house
we struck I asked where we could find a Union man
about there. They didn't know any one, didn't think
there was one in the county. I said that was bad, as
we were paroled Union soldiers, and then all was
changed. They took us in and wanted us to use their
beds, which we wouldn't do, because of the vermin on
us. They gave us all they had, and I saw the women,
for I couldn't sleep, covering us up with any spare
clothes they'd got, and watching us all night long.
They sent us on to other Union houses, and so we got
north. I was too ill to stay north at my old work, so
I sold my farm and came south to Knoxville, where I
had come to know many kind, good people in the war.
76 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART it.
They were very kind, and I got work at the improve-
ments on Mr. Dickenson's farm (a model farm we had
gone over), and in other gentlemen's gardens. But I
didn't get my health again, so eight years ago I came
to this place on the mountains, which I knew was
healthy, and would suit me. Well, they all said I
should be starved out in two years and have to quit,
but before three years were out I was selling them
corn, and better bacon than they'd ever had before.
Some of 'em begin to think I'm right now, and there's
a deal of improvement going on, and if they'd only, as
I tell 'em, just put in all their time on their farms,
and not go loafing round gunning, contented with corn-
dodgers and a bit of pork, and give up whisky, they
might all do as well as I've done. I should like to go
back once more and see the old country ; but I mean
to end my days here. There's no such country that
I ever saw. The Lord has done all for us here. And
it seems like dreams that I should live to see a Rugby
up here on the mountains. I mean to take a lot in
the town, or close by, and call it Nuneham Paddocks.
So I shall lay my bones, you see, in the same place,
as it were, that I was reared in."
I do not pretend that these were his exact words,
the whole had to be condensed to come within your
space, but they are not far off. It was now past nine,
the time for retiring, when Amos told us that he
always ended his day with family prayers. A psalm
was read, and then we knelt down, and he prayed for
some minutes. Extemporary prayers always excite my
critical faculty, but there was no thought or expression
in this I could have wished to alter. Then we turned
in, I, after a pipe in the verandah, in one clean white
bed, and . two of the boys in the big one in the oppo-
CHAP, vi.] OUR FORESTER, 77
site corner. There I soon dozed off, watching the big,
smouldering white pine-log away in the depth of the
chimney-nook, and the last flickerings of the knobs of
pitch-pine in front of it, between the iron dogs, and
wondering in my mind over the brave story we had
just been listening to, so simply told (of which I fear I
have succeeded in giving a very poor reflection), and
whether there are not some there cannot, I fear, be
many such lives lying about in out-of-the-way cor-
ners, of mountain, or plain, or city. My last conscious
speculation was whether, after all, the Union would have
been saved if all Union soldiers had been Amos Hills.
I waked early, just, before dawn, and was watching
alternately the embers of the big log, still aglow in
the deep chimney, and the white light beginning to
break through the honeysuckles and vines which hung
over the verandah, and shaded the wide-open window,
when the clock struck five. The door opened softly,
and in stepped Amos Hill in his stockings. He cam 3
to the foot of our beds, picked up our dirty boots, and
stole out again as noiselessly as he had entered. The
next minute I heard the blacking brushes going vigor-
ously, and knew that I should appear at breakfast with
a shine on in which I should have reason to glory, if
I were preparing to walk in Bond Street, instead of
through the scrub on the Cumberland Mountains. I
turned over for another hour's sleep (breakfast being
at 6.30 sharp), but not without first considering for
some minutes which of us two if things were fixed
up straight in this blundering old world ought to be
blacking the other's boots. The conclusion I came to
was that it ought not to be Amos Hill.
VACUUS VIATOR.
CHAPTEE VII.
THE NEGEO "NATIVES."
RTJGBT, TEITOESSEE.
THEKE is one inconvenience in this desultory mode of
correspondence, that one is apt to forget what one
has told already, and to repeat oneself. I have written
something of the white native of these mountains ;
have I said anything of his dark brother? The
subject is becoming a more and more interesting and
important one every day, through all these regions.
In these mountains, the negro, perhaps, can scarcely
be called a native. Very few black families, I am
told, were to be found here a year or two since. My
own eyes assure me that they are multiplying rapidly.
I see more and more black men amongst the gangs on
roads and bridges, and come across queer little encamp-
ments in the woods, with a pile of logs smouldering
in the midst, round which stand the mirth -provoking
figures of small black urchins, who stare and grin at
the intruder on horseback, till he rides on under the
gold and russet and green autumnal coping of hickories,
chestnuts, and pines.
I am coming to the conclusion that wherever work
is to be had, in Tennessee, at any rate, there will the
negro be found. He seems to gather to a contractor
like the buzzards, which one sees over the tree-tops, to
CHAP, vn.] THE NEGRO " NATIVES." 79
carrion. And unless the white natives take to "putting
in all their time," whatever work is going will not
lon<* remain with them. The negro will loaf and shirk
o o
as often as not when he gets the chance, but he has not
the white craving for knocking off altogether as soon as
he has a couple of dollars in his pocket ; has no strong
hunting instinct; and has not acquired the art of letting
his pick drop listlessly into the ground with its own
weight, and stopping to admire the scenery after every
half-dozen strokes.
The negro is much more obedient, moreover, and
manageable, obedient to a fault, if one can believe
the many stories one hears of his readiness to commit
small misdemeanours and crimes, and not always small
ones, at the bidding of his employers. There is one
tiling, however, which an equally unanimous testimony
agrees in declaring that he will not do, and that is, sell
his vote, or be dragooned into giving it for any one but
his own choice ; he may, indeed, be scared from voting,
but cannot be " squared ; " a singular testimony, surely,
of his prospective value as a citizen.
Equally strong is the evidence of his resolute deter-
mination to get his children educated. In some Southern
States the children are, I believe, kept apart, but in the
only mountain school I have had the chance of seeing,
black and white children were together. They were not
in class, but in the front of the barn-like building used
both for church and school, having just come out for
the dinner-hour. There was a large, sandy, trampled
place under the trees, by no means a bad play-ground,
on which a few of the most energetic, the blacks in the
majority, were playing at some game as we came up, the
mysteries of which I should have liked to study. But the
80 A. NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART n.
longer we stayed the less chance there seemed of their
going on, and the game remains a mystery to me still.
"Where these children, some fifty in number, came from,
is a problem ; but there they were from somewhere.
And everywhere, I hear, the blacks are forcing the
running with respect to education, and great numbers
of them are showing a thrift and energy which are
likely to make them formidable competitors in the
struggle for existence, at any rate in all States south
of Kentucky.
In one department (a very small one, no doubt), they
will have crowded out the native whites in a very short
time, if I may judge by our experience in this house.
We number two ladies and six men, and our whole
service is done by one boy. Our first experiment was
with a young native, who " reared up " on, the first
morning at the idea of having to black boots. This
prejudice, I think I told you, was removed for the
moment, and he stayed for a few days. Where it was
he "weakened on us" I could not learn for certain, but
incline to the belief that it was either having to carry
the racquets and balls to the lawn-tennis ground, or to
get a fire to burn in order to boil the water for a four
o'clock tea. Both these services were ordered by the
ladies, and I thought I saw signs (though I am far
from certain) that his manly soul rose against feminine
command. Be that as it may, off he went without
warning, and soon after Amos Hill arrived, with almost
pathetic apologies and a negro boy, short of stature,
huge of mouth, fabulous in the apparent age of his
garments, named Jeff. He had no other name, he told
us, and did not know whether it signified Jefferson or
Geoffrey, or where or how he got it, or anything about
CHAP, vii.] THE NEGRO " NATIVES." 81
himself, except that he had got OUT place at $5 a mouth,
at which he showed his ivory, "some !"
From this time all was changed. Jeff, it is true,
after the first two days, gave proofs that he was not
converted, like the white housemaid who had learned
to sweep under the mats. His sweeping and tidying
were decidedly those of the sinner ; and he entirely
abandoned the only hard work we set him, as soon as
it was out of sight from the asylum. It was a path
leading to a shallow well, which the boys had dug at
the bottom of the garden. The last twenty yards or
so are on a steeper incline than the part next the
house : so Jeff studiously completed the piece in sight
of the house, and never put pick or shovel on the
remainder, which lay behind the friendly brow of the
slope. But in all other directions, where the work
was mainly odd jobs, a respectable kind of loafing, Jeff
was always to the fore, acquitting himself to the best,
I think, of his ability.
We did not get full command of him till the arrival
of a young Texan cattle -driver, who taught us the
peculiar cry for the negro, by appending a high " Ho "
to his name, or rather running them together, so that
the whole sounded " Hojeff ! " as nearly as possible one
syllable. Even the ladies picked up the cry, and
thenceforward Jeffs substitute for the " Anon, anon,
sir ! " of the Elizabethan waiter was instantaneous. He
built a camp -oven, like those of the Volunteers at
Wimbledon, and neater of construction, from which he
supplied a reasonably constant provision of hot water
from 6 A.M., of course cutting his own logs for the
fire. His highest achievement was ironing the ladies'
cotton dresses, which they declared he did not very
G
82 . A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART it
badly. Most of us entrusted him with the washing
of flannel shirts and socks, which at any rate were
faithfully immersed in suds, and hung up to dry under
our eyes. The laundry was an army tent, pitched at
the back of the asylum, where Jeff spent nearly all
his time when not under orders, generally munching
an apple, of which there was always a sack lying
about, a present from some ranch-owner, or brought
over from the garden, and open to mankind at large.
I never could find out whether he could read. One
evening he came up proudly to ask whether " his mail"
had come, and sure enough when the mail arrived
there was a post-card, which he claimed. We thought
he would ask one of us to read it for him, but were
disappointed. He had a habit of crooning over and
.over again all day some scrap of a song. One of these
excited my curiosity exceedingly, but I never succeeded
in getting more than two lines out of him,
" Oh my ! oh my ! I've got a hundred dollars in a mine ! "
One had a crave to hear what came of those hundred
dollars. It seems it is so almost universally. The near-
est approach to a complete negro ditty which I have
been able to strike is one which the Texan gives, with
a wonderful roll of the word " chariot," which cannot
be expressed in print. It runs :
The Debbie he chase me round a stump,
Gwine for to carry me home;
He grab for me at ebery jump,
Gwine for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet cha-y-ot.
Gwine for to carry me home.
The Debbie he make one grab at me,
Gwine, etc.
CHAP, vn.] THE NEGRO " NATIVES." 83
He missed me, and my soul goed free,
Gwine, etc.
Swing low, etc.
Oh ! wun't we have a gay old time,
Gwine, etc.
A eatin' up o' honey, and a drinkin' up o' wine.
Gwine, etc.
Swing low, etc.
This, Sir, I think you will agree with me, though
precious, is obviously a fragment only. It took our
Texan many months to pick it up, even in this muti-
lated condition.
But, after all, Jeff's character and capacity come
out most in the direction of boots. It is from his
attitude with regard to them that I incline to think
that the Black race have a great future in these States.
You may have gathered from previous letters that
there is a clear, though not a well marked, division in
this settlement as to blacking. Amos Hill builds on
it decidedly, and would have every farmer appear in
blacked boots, at any rate on Sunday. The opposition
is led by a young farmer of great energy and famous
temper, who, having been " strapped," or left without
a penny, three hundred miles from the Pacific coast,
amongst the Mexican mines, and having made his
hands keep his head in the wildest of earthly settle-
ments, has a strong contempt for all amenities of
clothing, which is shared by the geologist and others.
How the point will be settled at last I cannot guess. It
stands over while the ladies are still here, and I havo
actually seen the " strapped " one giving Ms wondrous
boots a sly lick or two of blacking on Sunday morning.
But, anyhow, the blacks will be cordially on the
84 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART u,
side of polish and the aristocracy. This one might
perhaps have anticipated; but what I was not pre-
pared for was Jeffs apparent passion for boots. I
own a fine strong pair of shooting -boots, which he
worshipped for five minutes at least every morning.
As my last day in the asylum drew on I could see
he was troubled in his mind. At last, out it came.
Watching his chance, when no one was near, he sidled
up, and pointing to them on the square chest in the
verandah which served for blacking -board, he said,
" I'd HI: 3 to buy dem boots." After my first astonish-
ment was over, I explained to him that I couldn't
afford to sell them for less than about six weeks of his
wages, and that, moreover, I wanted them for myself,
as I could get none such here. He was much disap-
pointed, and muttered frequently, " I'd Hke to buy
dem boots ! " but my heart did not soften.
Perhaps I ought rather to be giving your readers
more serious experiences, but somehow the negro is
apt to run one out into chaff. However, I will con-
clude with one fact, which seems to me a very striking
confirmation of my view. All Americans are reading
the Foots Errand, a powerful novel, founded on the
state of things after the war in the Kuklux times. It
is written by a Southern Judge, obviously a fair and
clever man, but one who has no more faith in the
negro's power to raise himself to anything above hew-
ing wood and drawing water for the " Caucasian " than
Chief-Justice Taney himself. In all that book there is
no instance of the drawing of a mean, corrupt, or
depraved negro; but they are represented as full of
patience, trustfulness, shrewdness, and power of many
kinds. VACUUS VIATOR,
THE OPENING DAY.
KUGBY, TENNESSEE.
OUR opening day drew near, not without rousing the
most serious misgivings in the minds of most of us
whether we could possibly be ready to receive our
guests. Invitations had been issued to our neigh-
bours friends, as we had learnt to esteem them
in Cincinnati, Knoxville, Chatanooga, whose hospi-
talities we had enjoyed, and who had expressed a cordial
sympathy with our enterprise, and a desire to visit us.
We looked also for some of our own old members from
distant New England, in all probability seventy or
eighty guests, to lodge and board, and convey from
and back to the railway, seven miles over our new
road, no small undertaking, under our circumstances.
But the hotel was still in the hands of the contractor,
from whom, as yet, only the upper floors had been
rescued. The staircase wanted banisters, and the hall
and living-rooms were still only half-wainscoted, and
full of carpenters' benches and plasterers' trays ; wbile
the furniture and crockery lumbered up the big barn,
or stood about in cases on the broad verandah. As for
our road, it was splendid, so far as it went, but some
two miles were still merely a forest track, from which
all trees and stumps had been removed, but that was
86 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PAKT it
all. The bridge, too, over the Clear Fork stream, by
which the town site is entered, had only the first cross-
timbers laid from pier to pier, while the approaches
seemed to lie in hopeless weltering confusion, difficult on
horseback, impossible on wheels. HoWevor, the manager
declared that we should drive over the bridge on Satur-
day afternoon, and that the contractor should be out of
the hotel by Monday mid-day. With this we were
obliged to be content, though it was running things
fine, as we looked for our guests on that Monday after-
noon, and the opening was fixed for the next morning.
However, as the manager said, so it came to pass.
Bridge and road were declared passable by the named
time, though nervous persons may well have thought
twice before attempting the former in the heavy omni-
buses hired for the occasion ; and we were able to get
possession, and move furniture and crockery into the
hotel, though the carpenters still held the unfinished
staircasa
So far, so good ; but still everything, we felt, depended
on the weather. If the glorious days we had been having
held, all would be welL The promise was fair up to
Sunday evening, but at sunset there was a change.
Amos Hill shook his head, and the geologist's aneroid
barometer gave ominous signs. They proved only too
correct. Early in the night the rain set in, and by
daybreak, when we were already astir, a steady, soft,
searching rain was coming down perpendicularly, which
lasted, with scarcely a break, clear through the day,
and till midnight. With feelings of blank despair we
thought of the new road, softened into a Slough of
Despond, and the hastily thrown-up approaches to the
bridge giving way under the laden omnibuses, and
CHAP, vm.j THE OPENING DAY. 87
waited our fate. It was, as usual, better than we
looked for. The morning train from Chatanooga would
bring our southern guests in time for early dinner, if
no break-down happened; and sure enough, within half-
an-hour of the expected time, up came the omnibuses,
escorted to the hotel door by the manager and his son,
on horseback; and the Bishop of Tennessee, with his
chaplain, the Mayor of Chatanooga, and a number of
the leading citizens of that city and of Knoxville, de-
scended in the rain. In five minutes we were at our
ease and happy. If they had all been Englishmen on
a pleasure-trip, they could not have taken the down-
pour more cheerily as a matter of course, and pleasant,
rather than otherwise, after the long drought. They
dined, chatted, and smoked in the verandah, and then
trotted off in gum coats to look round at the walks,
gardens, streets, and buildings, escorted by "the boys."
The manager reported, with pride, that they had come
up in an hour and a quarter, and without any kind of
contretemps, though, no doubt, the new road was deep
in places.
All anxiety was over for the moment, as the northern
train, bringing our Cincinnati and New-England friends,
was 'not due till after dark. We sat down to tea in
detachments from six to eight, when, if all went well,
the northerners would be about due. The tables were
cleared, and relaid once more for them, and every pre-
paration made to give them a warm welcome. "Nine
struck, and still no sign of them ; then ten, by which
time, in this early country, all but some four or five
anxious souls had retired. We sat round the stove in
the hall, and listened to the war stories of the Mayor
of Chatanooga, and our host of the Tabard, who had
88 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PART u
served on opposite sides in the terrible campaigns in
the south of this State, which had ended at Missionary
Ridge, and filled the national cemetery of Chatanooga
with 14,000 graves of Union soldiers. But neither
the interest of the stories themselves, nor the pleasure
of seeing how completely all bitterness had passed out
of the narrators' minds, could keep our thoughts from
dwelling on the pitch-dark road, sodden by this time
with the rain, and the mauvais pas of the bridge.
Eleven struck, and now it became too serious for
anything but anxious peerings into the black night, and
considerations as to what could be done. We had
ordered lanterns, and were on the point of starting for the
bridge, when faint sounds, as of men singing in chorus
came through the darkness. They grew in volume,
and now we could hear the omnibuses, from which
came a roll of "John Brown's body lies mouldering in
the grave," given with a swing and precision which
told of old campaigners. That stirring melody could
hardly have been more welcome to the first line waiting
for supports, on some hard-fought battle-ground, than it
was to us. The omnibuses drew up, a dense cloud rising
from the drenched horses and mules, and the singers
got out, still keeping up their chorus, which only ceased
on the verandah, and must have roused every sleeper
in the settlement. The Old Bay State, Ohio, and Ken-
tucky had sent us a set of as stalwart good fellows as
ever sang a chorus or ate a beefsteak at midnight ; and
while they were engaged in the latter operation they
told how, from the breakdown of a freight -train on
the line, theirs had been three hours late; how the
darkness had kept them to a foot's-pace ; how the last
omnibus had given out in the heavy places, and had to
CHAP, viii.] THE OPENING DAY. 89
be constantly helped on by a pair of mules detached
from one of the others. " All's well that ends well,"
and it was with a joyful sense of relief that we piloted
such of our guests as the hotel could not hold across to
their cots in the barracks at one in the morning. By
nine, the glorious southern sun had fairly vanquished
rain and mist, and the whole plateau was ablaze with
the autumn tints, and every leaf gleaming from its
recent shower-bath. Rugby outdid herself, and " leapt
to music and to light" in a way which astonished even
her oldest and most enthusiastic citizens, some half-
dozen of whom had had nearly twelve months' experi-
ence of her moods and tempers. Breakfast began at
six, and ended at nine, and for three hours batches of
well-fed visitors were turned out to saunter round the
walks, the English gardens, and lawn-tennis grounds,
until the hour of eleven, fixed by the bishop for the
opening service. The church being as yet only some
six feet above ground, this ceremony was to be held in
the verandah of the hotel. Meantime, bishop and chap-
lain were busy among "the boys," organising a choir to
sing the hymns and lead the responses. The whole
population were gathering round the hotel, some four
or five buggies, and perhaps twenty horses haltered to
the nearest trees, showed the interest excited in the
neighbourhood. In addition to the seats in the ver-
andah, chairs and benches were placed on the ground
below for the surplus congregation, behind whom a
fringe of white and black natives regarded the pro-
ceedings with grave attention. Punctual to time, the
bishop and his chaplain, in robes, took their places at
the corner of the verandah, and gave out the first verses
of the " Old Hundredth." There was a moment's pause,
90 A NEW HOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS. [PAR* 11
\vhile the newly-organised choir exchanged glances as to
who should lead off, and the pause was fatal to them.
For on the bishop's left stood the stalwart New-Eng-
lander who had led the pilgrims of the previous evening
in the " John Brown " chorus. He, unaware of the
episcopal arrangements, and of the consequent vested
rights of " the boys," broke out with, " All people that
on earth do dwell," in a voice which carried the whole
assembly with him, and at once reduced " the boys," to
humble followers. They had their revenge, however,
when it came to the second hymn at the end of the
service. It was " Jerusalem, the golden," which is
apparently sung to a different tune in Boston to that in
use in England ; so, though our musical guest struggled
manfully through the first line, and had almost discom-
fited "the boys" by sheer force of lungs, numbers pre-
vailed, and he was brought into line.
The service was a short one, -consisting of two psalms.
"Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle?" and "Except
the Lord build the house," the chapter of Solomon's
prayer at the dedication of the Temple, half a dozen of
the Church collects, and a prayer by the bishop that
the town and settlement might be built up in righteous-
ness and the fear and love of God, and prove a blessing
to the State. Then, after the blessing, the gathering
resolved itself into a public meeting after American
fashion. The Board spoke through their representa-
tives, and bishop, judge, general manager, and visitors
exchanged friendly oratorical buffets, and wishes and pro-
phecies for the prosperity of " the New Jerusalem " in
the southern highlands. A more genuine or healthier
act of worship it has not been our good fortune to attend
in these late years.
CHAP, vin.] THE OPENING DAY. 91
Dinner began immediately afterwards, and then the
company scattered again, some to select town lots, some
to the best views, the bishop to organise a vestry, and
induce two of " the boys " to become lay readers, pend-
ing the arrival of a parson (in which he was eminently
successful) ; the chaplain to the Clear Fork, with one of
the boys' fishing-rods, after black' bass; and a motley
crowd to the lawn-tennis ground, to see some sets played
which would have done no discredit to Wimbledon, and
excited much wonder and some enthusiasm amongst
natives and visitors. A cheerful evening followed, in
which the new piano in the hotel sitting-room did good
service, and many war and other stories were told round
the big hall stove. Early the next morning the omnibuses
began carrying off the visitors, and by night Rugby had
settled down again to its ordinary life, not, however,
without a sense of strength gained for the work of
building up a community which shall know how to
comport itself in good and bad times, and shall help,
instead of hindering, its sons and daughters in leading
a brave, simple, and Christian life. 1 am, Sir, etc.
VACUUS VIATOR.
-PART III.
BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP.
OPENING THE TOWN SITE OF RUGBY,
OCTOBER 5, 1880.
CHAPTEE I.
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.
I AM anxious to take this opportunity the first public
one I have had to remove an impression which
seems to have got abroad, that the settlement we are
planting on these mountains and opening to-day is
intended to be an English colony in a somewhat ex-
clusive sense. Nothing can be further from the wishes
and intentions of the founders. In a sense it is an
English colony, no doubt, because at present all the
settlers are English ; but we hope that this will very
soon cease to be so. Our settlement is open to all
who like our principles and our ways, and care to come
here to make homes for themselves : freely, without
reserve or condition of any kind which does not bind
us English also. Although the majority of us the
members of this board are English, we have already
amongst us a large, and I am happy to say an increas-
ing number of American citizens. Leading men, not
only in Boston where the enterprise was first under-
CHAP, i.] OPENING ADDEESS. 93
taken but in New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati
belong to us, and are as earnest and active in the work
as any of our English members. They are as firmly
convinced as we, that the future of our own race ; and
indeed of the world, in which our race is so clearly
destined to play the leading part ; can never be what it
should be, until the most cordial alliance, the most
intimate relations, have been established firmly, with-
out any risk or possibility of disturbance or misunder-
standing between its two great branches. We know
of no way in which this can be brought about better
than by such efforts as this we are making, in which
Englishmen and Americans can stand shoulder to
shoulder, and work with one mind and one heart for
the same great end. If we knew of any such better
ways we would gladly exchange our own for them.
These, then, are our views, which we have already
endeavoured to express on more than one occasion in
this State. And here let me take the opportunity of
expressing our cordial thanks for, and appreciation of,
the more than friendly spirit with which we have been
met here, in our adopted home of Eastern Tennessee.
We have been the guests already, by special invitation,
of the citizens of Chattanooga and Knoxville, and have
received invitations from Memphis, Nashville, and
Louisville, which we greatly regret not to have been able
to accept. In short, we have on all sides met not only
with a lavish and thoughtful hospitality, but with
assurances of sympathy and cordial understanding and
appreciation, which have gone far to strengthen our
purpose and remove all fears of failure in this mountain
home, where we are trying our 'prentice hands on
problems which we shall need all the strength and all
94 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART in.
the wisdom we can get hold of to solve satisfactorily.
And while expressing our thanks, let me add my own
confident belief that our kind neighbours, many of whom
I trust are here to-day, will not find any reason to re-
gret the frank and generous welcome which they have
given to a band of strangers.
And now, turning to the business on hand, let me
say, at least for myself, that I do not know how any
group of men and women, gathered together to-day in
any part of the world, can be engaged in a more ab-
sorbingly interesting, or indeed in a more responsible,
and I will add solemn, work than that to which I hope
most of us have now made up our minds to put our
hands earnestly, here, in this place, at this time. For
we are about to open a town here in other words, to
create a new centre of human life, human interests,
human activities in this strangely beautiful solitude ;
a centre in which, as we trust, a healthy, hopeful,
reverent, or in one word godly, life shall grow up from
the first, and shall spread itself, so we hope, over all
the ' neighbouring region of these southern highlands.
Now surely, just to put this idea into words ought to
be enough to sober the spirits and brace up the energies
of the lightest-hearted and strongest amongst us. He
to whom the work does not commend itself in this light
had better not put his hand to it at all in this place.
We are here, then, to-day in this year 1880
as pioneers ; following, I hope and believe, as true an
instinct, or I should rather say as true a call, as any
that has been leading our fathers across the Atlantic to
this land of promise for the last quarter of a millennium.
There seem to be as clear indications now, as in the
early years of the seventeenth century, in the political
CHAP, i.] OPENING ADDRESS. 95
and social conditions of all the old settled nations
of Christendom and in none more than our own
England that this is a swarming time of the race ; a
time of great movements of population, which no human
power can check, but which may be eitljer left to work
themselves out by rule of thumb, without intelligent
direction and guidance, or ordered and directed from
the first on distinct principles. Well, those who are
interested in this enterprise have no doubt as to which
of these alternatives is to be preferred. We are to do
our best to organise our infant community on such
lines and principles as our own experience and observ-
ation, and the study of the efforts of those who have
gone before us, seem to point out as the right and true
ones.
Well, then, how are we to set about this great
work ? What is to be our starting-point ? What the
idea which we are to try to realise ? This is our first
need. We must spare no pains to clear our minds on
this point. Unless we do so, we shall get no coher-
ence and consistency in our later efforts. We shall be
pulling different ways, and building up a Babel and
not a community, which sooner or later will share the
fate of all Babels, which the Lord will come down and
scatter abroad. In this search, then, let us see whether
the word I have already used will not give us our clue.
We want to establish a community. What does that
imply ? This much, at any rate, that we should all
have something in common ; that we should recognise
some bond which binds us all together, and endeavour,
each and all of us, to keep this in view, to strengthen it
in all ways. But what bond what is it to be that those
who come to live here are to have in common? This
96 BOARD "OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART in.
word community has gained an unenviable character in
our day. We can scarcely think of a community
without coming upon the traces of those who have kept
and are keeping the Old World in a state of dangerous
distrust and alarm, and even in the New World have
given some ominous signs of sinister life. Certainly
we can all agree at once that we have no sympathy
whatever with the state communism of Europe, repre-
sented by Lasalle and Karl Marx, and on this continent
by very inferior, and even more violent and anarchic,
persons. We have no vision whatever to realise of a
paternal state, the owner of all property, finding easy
employment and liberal maintenance for all citizens,
reserving all profits for the community, and paying no
dividends to individuals. Again, while respecting the
motives and lives of many of those who have founded
or are carrying on communistic experiments here and
in Europe, we have no desire or intention to follow in
their steps. We are content with the laws relating to
private property and family life as we find them, feel-
ing quite able to modify them for ourselves in certain
directions as our corporate conscience ripens, and be-
comes impatient of some of the evils which have
resulted from that overstrained desire of possession and
worship of possessions which marks our day. But it
is time to leave negation and to get upon positive
ground. As a community, we must have something in
common. What is it to be, and how are we going to
treat it ?
Well, in the first place, there is this lovely corner
of God's earth which has been intrusted to us. What,
as a community, is our first duty with regard to it ?
There can be no hesitation about the answer. It is, to
CHAP, i.] OPENING ADDRESS. 97
treat it lovingly and reverently. We can add little,
perhaps, to its natural beauty, but at least we can be
careful to spoil it as little as possible. We may take
care that our children, or whoever our successors may
be here, shall not have cause to say " See what a
glorious chance those old fellows had when they came
here in 1880, and how they threw it away! This
town might have been the most beautiful on this con-
tinent, and look what they made of it !"
How, then, are we going to treat our site, so that
this reproach may never follow our memories ? First
as to the laying out of our town here. We must do
this with a view to the common good, and with care
that neither convenience nor beauty is neglected. And
as the guiding rule we may start with this, that there
shall be ample provision for all public wants from the
first. We have here two beautiful streams which will
be a delight for ever to those who dwell here, if they
are left free for the use and enjoyment of alL There-
fore, in laying out the town we have reserved a strip of
various widths along the banks, which will remain
common property, and along which we hope to see
walks and rides carefully laid out, and kept in order
by the municipal authorities. We have already in a
rough way, made a beginning by carrying a ride
along the banks of the Clear Fork and White Oak
Streams. Then there must be reservations for parks,
gardens, and recreation grounds. In the present
plans, provision has been made for these purposes.
There is Beacon Hill, the highest point, from which
there is a view of the whole surrounding country such
as few towns in the old or new world can boast.
This also will be common property, and the English
H
98 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART m.
gardens, lawn tennis, and cricket ground, whenever the
municipality are able to take them off the hands of the
Board. What, if anything more is required, I hope we
may consider and determine at once, and I can assure
you that the Board is anxious to consult with, and
meet the wishes of, those who propose to make homes
here. Our wish is to preserve the natural beauties of
this place for the people who live and visit here, and
make them a constant means of educating the eye
and mind. With this example and ideal before their
eyes, we may hope that the lots which pass into the
hands of private owners will also be handled with an
eye to the common good. Private property must be,
of course, fenced in, but the fences may surely be made
with some regard to others than the owners. It is
hoped that the impervious walls and fences, so common
in England, may be avoided, and that, in dealing with
lawns and trees, we may each of us bear his part in
producing a beautiful picture.
Next comes the question of buildings, and here we
must bear in mind that these are, in fact, or should
be, the expression in timber, brick, and stone, of the
thought of men and women as to the external con-
ditions under which folk should live. Consider for a
moment the different impressions in this matter which
the visitor carries away from the streets of Chester, or
Wells, or Salisbury, and from those of a town in our
manufacturing districts. Now we hope that from the
first visitors will carry away from this place the feel-
ing that we here have understood something of what
homes should be. Of course we must act prudently and
cut our coats according to our cloth. We have no
money to spare for superfluous decoration, and our
CHAP. i.j OPENING ADDRESS. 99
first buildings, both public and private, must be simple
and even rough in materials and construction. But
there is no reason whatever why they should not, at
the same time, be sightly and good in form and pro-
portion. And at this I hope we shall all aim.
We shall try to set you a good example in the
public buildings. These will* consist, in the first
instance, of a church and school house, and then of a
court-house and town-hall, which will be built as soon
as we can see our way to doing so prudently, and can
make arrangements with the Government of the State
for our establishment as a county town. We shall also
promote, so far as we can, good habits in this matter
of building, by providing plans and models of houses
of different sizes, such as we think will suit the site,
and do us credit as a community. Of course every
man will build his house according to his own fancy,
and use it for whatever purpose he pleases, except for
the sale of intoxicating liquors, which will be strictly
prohibited ; but if, as a community, we can guide his
fancy in certain directions, we shall be glad, and con-
sider that we have done good service.
So far, then, I hope, we have travelled the same
road without disagreement. We shall be all of one
mind, I think, as to the preservation of all natural
beauty here in the treatment of grounds and buildings ;
and the sense of a common interest and life which an
ample provision of public buildings and grounds will
secure to our community.
Shall I carry you with me in the next step ?
Hitherto we have been concerned only in the first and
most necessary work of housing ourselves, but now, we
have to ask whether, after we are housed, and living in
100 BOAED OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PABT in,
our houses, the idea of a common life and common
interests must cease, and the isolated struggle for
existence, in which every man's hand will be for him-
self and against his neighbour, must begin. The sur-
vival of the fittest is recognised as a natural law, which
means that men will always live upon, and not for,
one another. Are we prepared to accept it uncon-
ditionally, or to try how far it can be modified by reason
and agreement ? I, myself, have no doubt that it can
and ought to be so modified, and that we have a good
opportunity here for making the attempt. And there
is, fortunately, no question as to the direction which
that effort should take in the first instance.
We have all of us a number of imperative wants
which must be provided for and satisfied day by day.
We want food, clothes, furniture, and a great variety
of things besides, which our nurture and culture have
made all but essential to us. These must all be
provided here, either by each of us for himself, or by
some common machinery. Well, we believe that it
can be done best by a common machinery, in which
we should like to see every one take a hand. We
have a "commissary" already established, and have
used that word rather than " store " to indicate OUT
own wishes and intentions, as a " commissary " is espe-
cially a public institution. Our wish is to make tin's
commissary a centre of supply, and. that every settler,
or, at any rate, every householder here, should become
a member and part owner of it. The machinery by
which this can be done is perfectly familiar in England.
If it is adopted, the cost price of establishing the pre-
sent commissary, as it stands, will be divided into
small shares of five dollars each, so that the poorest
CHAP, i.] OPENING ADDRESS. 101
settler may not be inconvenienced by the outlay for
membership. Every one will get whatever profits are
made on his own consumption, ad the business will be
directed and superintended by a board or council
chosen by the members themselves. In this way
again we shall have a common interest and common
property, and in the supplying of our own daily wants
shall feel that if one member suffers, all suffer ; if one
rejoices, all rejoice. In this way, too, if we please, we
may be rid once for all of the evils which have turned
retail trade into a keen and anxious and, generally, a
dishonest scramble in older communities : rid of adul-
teration, of false pretences, of indebtedness, of bank-
ruptcy. Trade has been a potent civiliser of mankind,
but only so far and so long as it has been kept in its
place as a servant. As a master and an idol, it has
proved a destroyer in the past, like all other idolatries,
and is proving itself so in the present in many places
we know of. Let us, as a community, take hold of it
and master it here from the first, and never release our
grasp and control of it.
There is another direction in which like common
action may be taken at once. The company will for
many years own large tracts of land round the town
site which are well adapted to raising and pasturing
cattle. We intend to establish this industry here at
once, and desire to do so on the same lines as those
already indicated with respect to the commissary.
When it has been settled, therefore, what amount of
capital will be required to make the experiment on
the most favourable conditions, settlers will be invited
to subscribe in small shares for such portion as they
please, and the balance will be taken by the company.
102 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PAET HI,
The common herd will be managed by a committee
elected by the shareholders. It is probable that con-
siderable difficulty majfcoccur in managing a large herd
in this country, but the experiment can be made
gradually and at once, and the Board are ready to give
all the help in their power.
As time goes on, many other openings of a like kind
may occur, but these will, for the present, be sufficient
to establish and keep alive the corporate feeling, which
is the main strength of all healthy communities.
If any of you should doubt whether such arrange-
ments as these will not interfere with, and dwarf, the
energy and enterprise of an infant community, and keep
from it the ablest and most vigorous kind of men, I
would submit that there will be full scope for all energy
in other directions. No doubt there is a healthy and
worthy rivalry wliich should exist in every community ;
but surely this may well be satisfied in the develop-
ment of the numberless productive industries for which
this region offers so wide a field. Who shall grow
the best corn, tobacco, fruit ; who shall raise the best
stock on their own farms ; produce the best articles,
be they what they may ; write the best books or
articles ; teach best, govern best ; in a word, live most
nobly, surely here may well be scope enough for all
energy, without the rivalry of shop-keeping, and the
tricks of trade, the adulteration, puffing and feverish
meannesses which follow too surely in its train.
I must take you yet one step higher, and then I
have done. Hitherto, we have been dealing with the
outside only of our lives here, and questioning how far
the idea of a community can be healthily realised in
relation to these visible material things which we can
CHAP, i.] OPENING ADDRESS. 103
see and taste and handle. But we all know, and
confess to ourselves, if not to others, that no success
in dealing with or handling these can satisfy us as
men or at any rate ought to satisfy us that we are
one and all in contact with and living in a world in
which we. have to do with other things than those
which rust and moth can corrupt. But here at once,
it may be urged, we are fighting against the Zeit Geist
the spirit of our time nowhere so strong and so
decided as here in America if we make any effort to
deal as a community with the invisible. Here, at any
rate, we may be told, experience speaks emphatically
that men must be left free to follow the guidings of
their own consciences. You may possibly succeed, we
may be told, in supplying the material wants of all
by one central organisation started at once, but the
spiritual wants you will leave, if you are wise, to find
their own satisfaction, and to develop in such directions
and by such methods as chance may determine.
Now let me say at once, and with emphasis, that
there will be no attempt here to interfere with indi-
vidual freedom. Every one will be free to worship in
his own way, and to provide for whatever religious
ministrations he requires, out of his own funds, and
according to his own ideas. But, this being granted,
is there not still something which we may profitably
attempt as a community ? We think there is, and
have accordingly appropriated certain lots as a means
of supporting public worship and religious ministra-
tions here.
We are putting up a temporary building as a
church, in which the experiment will be tried whether
the members of different Christian denominations can
104 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PARJ m
not agree well enough to use one building for their
several acts of worship. In it, I trust, there will
always be heard the Common Prayer of that Liturgy,
which both in England and America has proved itself
the best expression through many generations of the
joys, hopes, and aspirations of a large portion of those
who speak our language, and has risen from innumer-
able gatherings all round the globe laden with confes-
sions of our shortcomings, and appeals for guidance
and strength in the mighty work which has been laid
upon our race.
I am, personally, not without hope that the meaning,
and beauty, and value of common prayers will commend
themselves to our community, and that all our citizens
may learn to feel their pathos and their grandeur, and
to use them with comfort and profit, though they may
not be members of the National Church of England, or
of the Episcopal Church of this country. But, as there
will undoubtedly be also a desire for other forms of
worship in which more direct expression can be given
(in the opinion of the worshippers) to the fleeting as
well as the permanent hopes and fears of erring, and
rejoicing, and penitent, men and women, we shall be
glad if they will use the same building with us, as a
pledge of Christian brotherhood and an acknowledg-
ment that, however far apart our courses may seem to
lie, we steer by one compass and seek one port.
I take it that some at least amongst you may have
detected a noteworthy gap in what I have been saying
in this opening address. The prospectuses and pam-
phlets of the numerous corporations and individuals
who are just now engaged in this work of settling and
develouing the unoccupied lands on this glorious con-
CHAP, i.] OPENING ADDRESS. 105
tinent are full of figures and statements showing the
rapidity with which enormous gain will be made in the
several regions to which they desire to attract settlers.
This being so, you may fairly ask, what have I, standing
here as the representative of the founders of this
settlement, to say upon this subject ?
I answer them broadly and frankly : we have nothing
to say. We believe that our lands have been well
bought, and that those who settle here and buy from
us will get good value for their money, and will find it
as^ easy as it is at all well that it should be to make a
living here. Beyond this we are not careful to travel.
Whether the lands will double or quadruple in value
before you have fairly learned how to live on them ;
whether you will make five, or twenty, or one hundred,
per cent on your investments, we offer no opinion.
You can judge for yourselves of the chances, if these
are your main aims. Speaking for myself~however, I
must say that I look with distrust rather than with
hope on very rapid pecuniary returns. I am old-
fashioned enough to prefer slow and steady growth. I
like to give the cream plenty of time to rise before you
skim it.
The wise men wait ; it is the foolish haste, r
And, ere the scenes are in the slides would play,
And while the instruments are tuning, dance.
So far as I have been able to judge, these new settle-
ments are being, as a rule, dwarfed and demoralised by
hurrying forward in the pursuit of gain, allowing this
to become the absorbing propensity of each infant com-
munity. Then follows, as surely as night follows day,
that feverish activity of mercantile speculation which is
106 BOAKD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART HI.
the great danger and, to my mind, the great disgrace of
our time. If it must come it must, but, so far as we
are concerned, it shall get no help or furtherance here.
On the other hand, all that helps to make healthy,
brave, modest, and true men and women will get from
us all the cordial sympathy and help we are able to
give. In one word, our aim and hope are to plant on
these highlands a community of gentlemen and ladies ;
not that artificial class which goes by those grand
names, both in Europe and here, the joint product of
feudalism and wealth, but a society in which the hun^-
blest members, who live (as we hope most if not all of
them will to some extent) by the labour of their own
hands, will be of such strain and culture that they will
be able to meet princes in the gate, without embarrass-
ment and without self-assertion, should any such strange
persons ever present themselves before the gate tower
of Rugby in the New World
CHAPTER H.
LATEST VIEWS.
(Reprinted from February Number of Macmillan's Magazine. )
So many persons have shown a desire to know more
of this enterprise than can be gathered from the
original prospectus, or the pamphlets which have
followed it, that it may be well to give here some
further account of what has been done hitherto, and
what is contemplated.
First, as to the class of persons who may be advised
to go to Rugby, Tennessee, with a view to settlement
there. Every one not of independent means intending .
to make the experiment should ask himself seriously
the question, " Am I prepared for some years, during
the working hours of the day, to live the life of a
peasant ? or, in other words, to earn my living out of
the soil by my own labour ? " Unless he can answer,
and answer confidently, in the affirmative, he had
better not go. If he can, he may go safely, as he will
find there as great variety of occupations . to choose
from as in any part of the United States, or our
colonies. Soil, climate, situation, all point to a varied
industry. The settler may raise sheep, cattle, or hogs ;
he may grow any kind of fruit or vegetables, or
(should he prefer to follow the lead of the few native
108 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART in.
farmers of the district) corn, maize, and other cereals ;
he may devote himself to the culture of poultry, or
bees ; he may take to lumbering, and help to supply
the saw-mills with logs, or the merchants with staves
for casks. One or more of these industries he will
have to learn to live by, unless indeed he chances to
be a good mechanic. For carpenters, masons, and
brickmakers, who know their business, there is a good
opening at good wages ; but these are in demand
everywhere in new countries.
I have said that the settler will have to lead a
peasant's life during working hours ; and it is this
limitation, " during working hours," which forms one
of the chief attractions of the settlement. For at
other times, when his work is done, he will find
himself in a cultivated society, within easy reach of all
the real essentials of civilisation, beginning with a
good library. In short, whoever is ready "to put
himself into primary relations with the soil and nature,
and to take his part bravely with his own hands in.
the manual labour of this world " (as Mr. Emerson,
puts it in his counsels to young Americans, in Man the
Reformer}, will find here as favourable conditions for
his very sensible experiment as he is likely to get in
any part of the world.
Assuming then our young Englishman ready to
accept these conditions, and to start in life, resolute to
prove that he can make his two hands keep his head,
and need be under obligations to no one for a meal or
a roof, how is he to get to the scene of his experiment,
and what should he take with him in the shape of
outfit ?
First, as to outfit. The less of it he takes the
CHAP, ii.] LATEST VIEWS. 109
better. One of the first and most valuable lessons
which his new life will teach him is, that nine-tenths
of what he has been used to consider the necessaries
of life are only lumber. A good chest, or even a big
leather bag, ought to hold all his worldly goods for the
time being. Two or three stout suits of clothes, and
several pairs of strong boots and gaiters, with flannel
shirts, and a good supply of underclothing (including
a leather waistcoat for the few bitterly cold winter days)
and socks, will be ample. Slop clothes of all kinds he
can get in America as cheap as at home, and not much
worse; but they won't wear, especially the boots. These
latter, I take it, it will always answer his purpose to
get from England, paying the very heavy duty.
If he is a sportsman he may take his shot gun and
rifle, but these must not be new, or they will be liable
to duty. If he has none of his own, he had better
buy in the United States, where all kinds of sporting
weapons are very good, and cheaper than the English
would be after payment of duty. For a revolver he
will have no more occasion than in England. In this
part of Tennessee they are only silly and somewhat
dangerous toys ; and I am glad to say that the magis-
trates of this, and all the neighbouring counties, are
fining severely when cases of wearing arms are brought
before them.
As to a fishing-rod and tackle, I am doubtful what
to advise. There are two most tempting-looking
streams, with pools and stickles which vividly excite
one's piscatorial nerves at first sight, and give reason-
able hope that monsters of the deep must haunt there.
But further acquaintance dispels the pleasant illusion.
Whatever the cause may be probably because there
110 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART in.
has never been, a close -time in these streams since
the creation, and the natives are wasteful as well
as very keen sportsmen a bass of three or four inches
long is the biggest fish to be heard of.
That some sensible understanding will soon be
established as to the fishing there is much reason to
hope ; but, as it will take some years in any case
before it can be worth while to throw a line there,
the young settler had better perhaps leave his angling
gear at home.
And the same may be said for tool chests, and
implements of all kinds. If a youngster has a favourite
set which he has been using in those excellent work-
shops which some of our public schools have at last
established, sentiment may be allowed to carry the
day, and he may find it worth while to take his proved
tools with him. Otherwise, he will avoid much
trouble and annoyance at the custom-house by going
without, and will get the articles when he wants them
quite as good and not much dearer, at Cincinnati.
His chest or bag will of course find a corner for
some photographs and other home memorials, and
possibly for a favourite book or two. But of these
latter he may be saving, as he will find a good free
library already on the spot.
The great thing is to remember in all his prepara-
tions that he is going to try an experiment, which
may not succeed. If it should, he can easily run home
in a year or two for his " lares and penates." If not,
it will be very much better for him not to have to
bring them away. This would look like defeat, while
no such inference could fairly be drawn from the
packing up of one box, and the distribution amongst
CHAP, ii.] LATEST VIEWS. Ill
those whom he leaves behind him in the settlement of
whatever will not fit into it.
But he must have some money also ? Yes, but
very little will serve his turn ; in fact I had almost
said the less the better. If he is at all in earnest
about what he is doing, a week or two will be enough
to turn round in, see the place and the neighbourhood,
settle what he is best fitted for, and make arrange-
ments to begin working at that particular business.
If for that week he even takes a room at the hotel,
and lives there the most costly course open to him
it will only cost him some 2. For a much smaller
sum he can be put up at one of the boarding-houses.
At the end of that time he ought to be able at least
to earn enough to keep himself. 1 He will, if he is
wise, at once become a shareholder in the town com-
missary (or supply association), which will cost him
$5 or 1 ; and he may also like to join the club
(which controls the lawn -tennis ground and the
musical gatherings, and otherwise caters for the social
life of the settlement), and to support the vestry or the
choir. But we may take 5 as the maximum sum
which it will need to make him free of all the nascent
institutions of the infant settlement ; and if he can
command another 10 to tide him over a week or
two's failure of employment or health, he will have
quite as much of the mammon of unrighteousness as is
at all likely to be good for him at starting.
I am speaking now only of young men not yet of
age, who Seem likely to be the great majority of the
1 The experience of the last few months has proved that young men
going out without previous training cannot earn enough to support
themselves at once. They should arrange to board for a year at least
with one of the farmers, which they can do for 60.
112 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART nu
settlers at present. For older men no longer under
disability, who control their own funds and may be
supposed to know their own minds, of course the case
is different. Command of capital may make a great
difference to them in their start, as many openings are
occurring of which a man with funds under his im-
mediate control will be able to avail himself. And
even for younger men, where they or their friends can
afford such an outlay, it will probably be desirable to
make some arrangement with one of the present
settlers, by which board and instruction may be
obtained at a very reasonable cost, with the prospect
possibly of a partnership in future. I only wish to
say that, so far as I can judge, any young man who
can command such an outfit and sum as I have named,
in addition to his journey money, and goes out with a
resolute determination to get on by hard work, may
start for Eugby with good prospects of making an
independence under pleasant and wholesome conditions
of life.
The cost of getting out will depend in some measure
on whether the emigrant is able, or desirous, to avail
himself of the arrangements made by the Board. If
he can do this, he may get to Sedgemoor, the Rugby
station on the Cincinnati Southern Railway, for fifteen
guineas, first-class; 1 2 : 1 Os. intermediate, and 8 : 1 Os.
steerage. This route is by Philadelphia, and the train
for Cincinnati is in waiting alongside the pier, where
the steamers of the American line land their passengers.
If he prefers, or is obliged, to go by New York, his
sea-voyage will be at the ordinary fares ; but the agent
of the Board at New York will furnish him with tickets
to Sedgemoor at a reduced charge.
CHAP, ii.] LATEST VIEWS. 113
Going as fast as he can, he has thirty-six hours'
railway after landing to get to Sedgemoor. As, how-
ever, he will probably like, at any rate, to sleep at
Cincinnati on his road (even if he should be able
sternly to waive aside the attractions of the eastern
cities), we may look for him there some three days
after his arrival in America.
Sedgemoor is a small clearing in the middle of the
forest, through which the railway has been running for
the last thirty miles. He is already some 1200 feet
above the sea level, as he has been creeping up by
gentle inclines ever since he entered the forest country.
From this point the line descends again gradually to
the South, till it reaches the Tennessee river and its
terminus at Chatanooga. But when he is landed at
Sedgemoor he is still some 600 feet below the level of
Rugby, and he commences the ascent at once. There
is a broad road, graded right away from the station to
the town for six miles and upwards, through land
belonging to the Board, and he begins the ascent
within one hundred yards of the line. As soon as he
is up this first ascent the road runs almost all the way
along the ridge of a water-shed, to the Clear Fork river,
upon the further bank of which the town of Rugby
lies. The drive should be instructive to him, not
mainly for the charin of the scenery, or the glimpses
he will get here and there of the distant blue moun-
tains of North Carolina away to the east, but for the
specimen it will give him of the sort of work he will
soon be employed on. Most likely his first job will
be to clear similar land at so many dollars an acre,
either for the Board or some of the settlers. The
whole of the ridge on either side this road is specially
I
114 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNEKSHIP. [PART nt.
adapted for fruit-growing ; so the farms are laid out in
forty or fifty acres, with only a small frontage to the
road. Settlers who wish to start in fruit and vegetable
culture, can buy larger tracts to the rear at smaller
prices, if they wish to secure a larger area for
future use.
A year hence, it is hoped that, on crossing the Clear
Fork Bridge, the visitor will find himself opposite to a
public building which will serve as a gate-house to the
town, and where a register will be kept of all the in-
habitants for the convenience of strangers ; but as the
gate-house at present only exists on paper, he will have
to go to the office of the Board, some three-quarters of
a mile further on, in the centre of the town of the
future, for any information he may need. On the
way he will pass the church, fronting the main avenue
along which his way lies, and will see the commissary
and the boarding-houses lying back on what will be
important side streets. A number of private houses
in different stages of buildings few, I fear, finished
as yet, the supply of building materials being sadly
behind the demand line the main avenue, till it
terminates in a sweep which will bring him to the
Tabard, the hotel, which stands almost on the highest
point at the west end of the town, within a couple of
hundred yards or so of the thickly-wooded gully, some
two hundred feet deep, through which the second
stream, the White Oak, runs to its junction with the
Clear Fork half a mile away. At the Tabard, if not
at the office, he will find the manager and other
officials of the Board, and will obtain all such advice
and assistance as he may need, both with respect to
his immediate housing, and to his future plans.
CHAP. ii. 1 LATEST VIEWS. 115
It may be well to refer shortly, in conclusion, to
several points on which a good deal of misunderstand-
ing seems still to exist.
And first as to the commissary, to which reference
has been already made. Doubts seem still to haunt
some minds as to the intentions of the Board in re-
spect of the freedom of trade at Kugby. We can best
answer, perhaps, by repeating what was said in the*
address delivered by the representative of the Board
on the 5th of October 1880, which contains the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth :
"We have all of us a number of imperative wants which
must be provided for and satisfied day by day. We want food,
clothes, furniture, and a great variety of things besides, which
our nurture and culture have made all but essential to us.
These must all be provided here, either by each of us for him-
self or by some common machinery. Well, we believe that it
can be done best by a common machinery, in which we should
like to see every one take a hand. We have a ' commissary '
already established, and have used that word rather than ' store '
to indicate our own wishes and intentions, as a commissary is
especially a public institution. Our wish is to make this com-
missary a centre of supply, and that every settler, or at any rate
every householder here, should become a member and part-
owner of it The machinery by which this can be done is
perfectly familiar in Englante in waggon-loads this year all round here for want
of bands to pick them. One man offered me 200 bushels of
splendid apples if I would come and fetch them away.
Timber is going to be a big thing. I am now making in-
quiries as to the possibility of supplying the north country
collieries from here, and hope to bring the British timber-
merchant to a sense of his sins. Settling on these heavily
timbered lands means hard work for the first few years : but
seeing that your timber is worth many times the price you give
for your land, and that you increase the value of your land
many times more by clearing it, you evidently get a considerable
quid for your quo in the shape of hard work.
All this mountain is coal land, and every ton will have to be
got out some time or another, though the date cannot be given
as yet. But seeing that here alone of the American continent
or of the world as far as I know coal and red hematite lie
cheek by jowl along a big fault, which throws carboniferous
against lower silurian rocks, it is not difficult to infer blast
furnaces at no distant date ; and the thing is improved by the
recent discovery and partial development in the mountains east
of here, of heavy beds of magnetic ore, which are said to show
a higher percentage of metallic iron than any ore hitherto
handled here or elsewhere.
Just round the town here there is no great development of
coal, but building stone and fire and brick clay enough to build
London, which is all as it should be, as it is to be feared that
the Smoke Prevention Act would not work well in this section.
But there is a very pretty water power on the two streams
Clear Fork and White Oak, which meet here. We are moving
to get the first to work for a water supply, which ia urgently
needed.
The present population of Rugby is about 120. The hotel
has been running since the 5th inst., and has hardly had a bed
vacant since that time. There is a " boarding-house," a " bar-
racks," an " asylum," an office, and various shanties, and a " com-
missary " or store, which has been put on a co-operative footing.
K
130 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART 111.
A library has been formed, and we have already got promises,
private and official, of nearly 4000 volumes ! This necessitates
a good building, for which we are pending round the hat. It it
reaches you I hope the tile will depart heavier by a few coppers.
As for the tennis club, whist, etc., and the rest, they are written
in the books of Vacuus Viator, so you will see that we have
what is known as a " bully time " on this continent.
If you know of any good fellows who are thinking of the
States, I believe they can't do better than come here, for a look
at the place at any rate. Sheep is the thing, in the opinion of
good judges at any rate, to begin with ; then mixed farming as
the place gets cleared.
Then, in answer to the question what kind of life
will have to be led there, I will read you the last
letter received from a nephew of mine, aged twenty-
one, a Marlburian, who with his younger brother, late
a scholar of Westminster, aged nineteen, whose health
broke down at school, is settled on a Texan ranche,
a long way from Rugby no doubt, but with far less
advantageous surroundings than settlers at Rugby will
have :
7th March 1881.
The success of Hal and myself is now assured, and we know
it The first spring I was here was the drought, when nobody
raised anything, which was discouraging. Last year we did
fairly for our first year of farming and sheep, but this year finds
us well ahead of our business. Our sheep could not be doing
better. Last year's experience in the lambing season taught us
what was necessary to have for the proper management of the
lambs, and our system of lambing-pens and pasturing is superb.
The lambs are dropping like hail (eight to-day), and they are at
once drafted off into the pasture, where they remain for a few
days till the ewes "take" properly to them. Each, lamb is
marked with a red spot or line on a part of its body, and the
ewe is marked in the panie way on the fame part of its body, so
that we know exactly which lamb belongs to which ewe ; and a
record is kept of the date the lamb is born, and of its mark, so
as 10 know when it can with safety be allowed to run with the
CHAP, in.] ADDRESS TO RUGBY SCHOOL. 131
flock. When a few days old, and the ewe has taken properly
to the lamb, they are turned into the field where the oats are
coming up splendidly. This brings a flush of milk on the ewe,
and gives the lamb a good start. The last lamb born to-day
made our fiftieth lamb. We have had several weeks of the most
glorious weather ; in our shirt sleeves from morning to night,
and yet not too hot to work all through the day, and we have
had a tremendous lot of work lately. We have about four acres
of oats growing well, and two days ago I put in about an acre
of corn ; and tp-day I hauled up the " camp tricks-" to the tent
at the Schulz field, as I am going to camp up there and plough
up for corn. Our spring onions are coming up splendidly, and
this morning I put in our seed sweet potatoes, from which grow
the vines which are planted out later on. The vines produce
the potatoes, so to speak. I have a seed-bed with beets, cabbages,
lettuces, squashes, and cauliflowers in, and some of them are
beginning to come up ; and I have a bed of very early corn in,
and I expect we shall be the first round here to have roasting
ears ; and my ground for beans, melons, and tomatoes, etc., is
all ploughed and ready to be planted as soon as spring has
regularly set in at least as soon as all chance of cold has gone,
for spring has set in some time ; the grass is growing up green,
and the wild flowers and bushes are all opening, and the nights
are getting quite warm. We planted out sixteen fruit trees
apples and peaches, and they are all doing well ; and the com-
freys have been green for weeks, and we are planting out a large
patch of them this spring ; you have no idea how useful they
are in case of a sick ewe. I forget whether I told you that the
grass seeds did not come to anything, but that the clover is all
coming up and looking well. I think it is going to prove a very
valuable addition to the herbage here. We planted it on about
half an acre in the pasture, and have fenced off a little patch to
keep the sheep and calves off, and let it run to seed. We are
still getting plenty of milk from old " Gentle," and within a few
weeks we shall have more milk than we shall know what to do
with, unless we get a pig, as we have several good cows going to
calve. The English ewes begin to lamb the day after to-morrow,
and Flora, the collie that Mr. Hewett sent me, pups to-morrow ;
and we have two hens hard at work sitting, and the whole
" boiling" of them are cackling and laying, so we are increasing
to a great extent And lastly, I forgot old Molly the mare.
132 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART m.
She has gone off to her old range preparatory to having a colt ;
and another mare of ours who runs between here and Boerne is
also going to have a colt. Oh ! and then the cat ; she's going
to have kittens. I think I've told you about everything now.
We have all had a fit of letter-writing to-night. At this time of
year I fear we neglect it a good deal. From daylight to late at
night we are kept agoing I assure you. First it's cooking
breakfast, and milking, and separating newly-born lambs and
their ewes from the flock, then turning out the flock and draft-
ing the older lambs and ewes into the field, and holding refract-
ory ewes for the lambs to suck. Then there's ploughing or
planting all day ; then the flock comes in, and more new lambs
to fix, and more suckling and feeding ; then supper to cook and
washing-up to do ; and by the time one has finished supper one
feels as though one could fall asleep at the table. It's glorious
fun though, and we enjoy the life immensely. I have to shave
now ; it is my Sunday morning's job. Hal is just off (11 P.M.)
to his tent up by the sheep-pen, where he has his cot and sleeps
every night now. You have no idea how well he ia looking ;
you would hardly know him.
You will have gathered from the latter that they are
settlers of two years' standing, and, I may add, that they
have had about 700 of capital between them.
You may take this, then, as a fair sample of the sort
of life which settlers at Rugby will have to lead, at
any rate for several years. It means hard and con-
stant manual labour at one or another kind of farming
operations. Unless a young man is prepared for this
he had better not go. Does it cross your minds that
if this be so your present education is a mistake ; and
a very bad preparation for the life to which many of
you will have to turn in the future? That is natural
enough, but an error. Depend upon it, the higher
culture of all kinds you can get now, the happier and
better backwoodsmen you will be,- if that should prove
to be your destiny. And let me remind you that the
CHAP, in.] ADDRESS TO RUGBY SCHOOL. 1 33
worth of manual labour, as a part of the highest educa-
tion, is getting to be more and more openly recognised
by the most successful and laborious men in all ranks.
Mr. Gladstone, for instance, has again and again advo-
cated its claims, and bears practical testimony to the sin-
cerity of his belief in his own method of taking relaxation.
The late Mr. Brassey invariably gave the advice " above
all, teach him some handicraft thoroughly," to the crowds
of people who used to consult him about their sons.
One of the most rising of the junior members of the
present Government goes straight to digging in his
garden whenever he gets a holiday. Besides, is the
truth not admitted now in this, and I believe almost
all the other public schools, by the establishment of
workshops, in which carpentering, turning, and other
handicrafts are taught ? I only wish it had been so in
my day, for I have felt the want of such training all
my life. In my last year at school I was head of big
side, both of cricket and football ; and if the boys who
fill those onerous and responsible posts happen to be
present, they will bear me out, that he who holds them
has very limited time to give to inferior industries, such,
for instance, as the cultivation of Greek Iambics or Latin
Alcaics. And, looking back over much that one has to
regret in the shape of misspent time, I am not at all
sure that I repent the hours taken from Greek and
Latin verses and given to organising big side matches
and playing them. But of this I am quite sure, that I
should have been a better and happier, as well as a
handier, man all my life, if I had been able to give a
good portion of those hours to such work as you have
all of you the chance of learning on the other side of
the school close.
134 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART 111.
" But is there nothing more than this ? Surely
we have heard of lawn tennis, and bathing, and
shooting parties coming home carrying deer on poles
through the forest ? " Yes, you have heard such
stories no doubt more than enough of them most
likely. Writers who have never been near the place
and know nothing of the circumstances, have been
funny and severe on the fact that the first settlers
made a tennis ground before they began clearing, or
digging, or ploughing. They did so, in fact, because they
had nothing else to do. The titles were not perfected,
so we couldn't sell them land, and they couldn't work
on it. And I doubt if they could have done a more
sensible thing. In the same way they did bathe a good
deal, in a famous pool, ten feet deep, lying in the rhodo-
dendron bushes just below the town site ; and every
now and then went out shooting and brought back a
deer. There will always be slack times in the busiest
lives, when such pastimes are excellent, and I should
advise every settler to take a good shot gun and rifle
with him, and fisliing-rod too, for before long we hope
to have fine bass and other fish in our two fine streams.
But these will only be the fringe of the life ; the staple
of it will be hard continuous work, for some years at
anyrate, till farms are cleared, fruit trees bearing, and
flocks and herds have multiplied. Those who prefer
other ways of passing any leisure time they may have
on their hands will find a famous library on the spot,
contributed by the publishers, and various public so-
cieties, in America.
I don't 'know that there is anything more that I
need say, and I have already outrun my time. I would
only beg you all, in conclusion, to remember that I am
CHAP, in.] ADDRESS TO RUGBY SCHOOL. 135
not here to preach an exodus to any of you boys who
can see your way to an honest living by honest work
at home here in England. That is the best life for
yourselves and for your country. But for those who
. find after leaving school that they have no such out-
look in England, I undoubtedly believe that they can't
do better than go back to the land ; and that they will
not easily find a brighter or more hopeful place in
which to try such an experiment than Rugby, Tennes-
see ; while the name of their new home will keep up
not only a sense of continuity in their lives, but the
memory of this old world Rugby, to which, as the
years go on, they will feel an ever-growing debt of
affection and gratitude.
CHAPTEE IV.
COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT.
THE following report has been prepared by the Minister
of Agriculture for the State of Tennessee :
The Soil.
It is not claimed that the soil of Bugby, or the Cum-
berland plateau, is rich. On the contrary, it is gener-
ally poor, or at most only of medium quality. It is a
rare thing in the United States to find rich soil, plenty
of timber, perfect healthfulness and desirableness of
climate, cheap land, convenient markets, and easy
access to means of transportation, all combined. That
Bugby possesses all these essentials to a happy home,
except rich soil, no one, it is believed, will deny. It
is equally true that the soil, by proper culture and
handling, can be improved and made to yield re-
munerative crops.
The soil may be divided into five classes:
1. Thin sandy soil, resting upon sandstone, which
comes near the surface. This is unfruitful, bothjrom
original poverty of constitution and from a want of
depth. Fortunately it does not occupy a large area,
but is confined for the most part to the high lands
adjoining streams. Timber scrubby.
2. Sandy soil, light, but deep. Upon this the most
JHAP. iv.] COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT. 137
succulent and nutritious grasses grow, and furnish a
large amount of excellent pasturage. The prevailing
timber is chestnut, oak, and pine.
3. Sandy soil, incumbent upon a mulatto clay.
This, by reason of its clayey foundation, which enables
it to catch and preserve fertilising material, is the best
of all the upland soils of the mountain, and covers by
far the largest area, especially on the lands belonging
to the Rugby colony. It is naturally fertile upon
the north hill-sides, having in such places a black
colour, resembling the black prairie lands of Illinois.
The black soil however is very limited. The general
characteristics of this class of soil is a light grayish or
yellowish colour, with a mulatto subsoil. The latter
is very retentive, and holds all fertilisers applied.
Extensive white oak forests occur upon it. Where
there is a modification of this soil by the presence of
small angular gravel the timber varies, and red oak,
black oak, hickory, and pine, are associated with the
white oak. Grape vines grow abundantly upon such
soils.
4. The alluvium along the water courses, which is
black in colour, friable and productive. The amount
of this soil is inconsiderable.
5. Glebe lauds the beds probably of old marshes,
in which has accumulated a large mass of vegetable
debris. The soil of this is sometimes black, more
often ashen in colour, and always charged with humic
acid to such a degree as to be unproductive, unless
thoroughly drained and sweetened by aeration. No
timber will flourish in such places except swamp
maple, sweet gum, and other kinds adapted to wet
lands.
138 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART in.
The most important, because the most abundant in
quantity, is the third class mentioned. Though com-
paratively thin and infertile, nothing is risked in say-
ing that, in original strength and productiveness, it is
far superior to any soils found in New England outside
the valleys, and not one -half the expense need be
incurred in bringing it to a higher degree of fertility,
for three reasons :
1st, The subsoil is not so porous as the subsoil in
New England, where the drifted pebbles commingled
with sand lie beneath all the soils on the elevated
lands.
2d, This soil under consideration will, on account
of the climate, grow a much larger number of green
crops, which can be utilised in adding humus.
3d, Both the soil of New England and the soil of
the plateau need the application of lime, and this
article can be burned and applied for one-third the
cost to the_ lands of the plateau that it can be applied
to the soils of New England : 1st, because lime- rack
is abundant and cheap, and is found in many valleys
belonging to and contiguous to the lands of the com-
pany; and 2d, because fuel both coal and wood,
exists in such quantities as to be practically without
cost.
The land can further be improved by sowing the
cowpea and turning under the vines. The climate and
soil are both adapted to the growth of this legume, and,
in the experience of the best planters south, no reno-
vator not even clover is equal to the haulm of the
pea. But clover also grows well on this soil. The
writer has seen it growing at Greutli three feet high,
upon a soil far more sandy and far less productive
CHAP, iv.) COLONEL KILLKBKEW'S REPORT. 139
naturally, than upon the lands of the company. No
fertiliser was applied to it except two bushels of
plaster per acre, at a cost of less than $1 per acre.
Rye is another green crop that may be grown with
success upon the silico-argillaceous soils of the plateau,
also buckwheat, both of which are regarded as excel-
lent crops for renovating the soil.
The most rapid improvement in the soil, however,
can be obtained by the sowing of one or two crops of
cowpeas during the year. One of these may be taken
off for fodder and % the other turned under. In this
way the soil may be continually improved without the
loss of a single crop. Nor is this mere surmise. It
has been done again and again, not only on the
plateau but on the sandy soils of West Tennessee.
It may be laid down as a general rule that all lauds
which rest upon a clayey foundation can be rapidly
improved by the application of manures, green or dry ;
and after manures have been applied for several years
in succession, the land becomes a garden mould rich
enough to produce any crop, and as easy to keep up
thereafter as the most fertile virgin soil. The lands of
the plateau have been kept in a condition of compara-
tive infertility by the pernicious habit of annually
burning the leaves, thus destroying the material for
humus, and exposing the soil to the parching influence
of the sun, drawing away all humidity, without which-
there can be no improvement in the productive
capacity of any soil.
The Grasses which do well.
Herde grass (Agnostis wdyaris) and orchard grass
(Dactylis glimevata) both grow well upon the moun-
140 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PAKT IIL
tain. The first, when occasionally top-dressed with
stable manure, will yield grand crops for many years
in succession. Clover, as has been mentioned, will
also grow well by the application of a small quan-
tity of sulphate of lime (plaster of Paris) in the spring.
Esparsette or sanfoin (Onobrychis sativa) will suit the
sandy soils of the plateau, and furnish an article of
hay equal in every particular to the best clover hay.
Gama grass would also be found to be a valuable acces-
sion to the forage crops of the plateau.
Crops.
It is not assumed that corn and wheat will do
remarkably well, or be very profitable on the Cumber-
land plateau. The first requires rich alluvial soil for
a heavy crop. In the natural state of the soil in this
region, large yields of corn cannot be expected.
From twenty to twenty-five bushels per acre is as
much as can be expected, and often it will fall below
these figures. But by following the directions herein
given for the improvement of the soil, after a few
years a heavier yield may be expected. Corn is a
great exhauster of the soil, and therefore the settlers
should be exceedingly careful not to raise frequent
crops of it on the same piece of land. This should be
especially so until the land is brought up to a high
degree of productiveness. The land should not be put
in corn more than once in every five years. On such
land a corn crop is not profitable. Raise as little as
possible, and supply its place with other things.
Wheat.
Wheat will not make a remunerative crop upon the
CHAP, iv.] COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT. 141
virgin soil of the plateau, but experiments have de-
monstrated the fact that, by the application of two
cords of manure to the acre, fifteen bushels may be
raised. The best course to pursue with this crop is to
sow after a pea fallow ; and when the . wheat crop is
harvested the succeeding summer break the land and
sow again in peas, the haulm of which will be ready
to turn under in time to sow a crop of wheat the
same autumn. By continuing this practice from year
to year, aiding the land with occasional dressings of
manure, very good wheat crops may be produced on
the same field for a succession of years. The writer
has known some very poor sandy soils to be brought
to a high degree of fertility by pursuing this method.
It is worthy of trial by the colonists.
Oats.
The remarks made above in reference to corn are
also applicable to oats. They exhaust the productive
capacity of the soil very rapidly. Therefore they
should be sown on the same piece of land only at long
intervals. No wise farmer can afford to exhaust his
soil in order to get a particular crop, especially a
second crop, from his land. To build up, and not to
exhaust, is true wisdom. He that does thus will get
rich, while the opposite policy inevitably leads to
poverty.
Eye.
The climate of Rugby is well suited to rye. Wher-
ever the soil is in good condition it will do well. It
requires good rich soil. Rye makes a fine winter
pasture. When ploughed under in the spring, after it
142 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PABTTII.
gets a fair start in growth, it makes a fine fertiliser,
It can therefore be sown with profit for a fall and
winter pasturage, and also used for a fertiliser the next
spring or summer.
Sweet Potatoes.
Sweet potatoes do well on the sandy soil on the
plateau. They love a sandy loam, and require only a
moderately rich soiL If very rich they run too much
to vines and leaves. Stable manure well rotted, and
wood ashes, are excellent" fertilisers for them. Where
the soil is suitable and the season good, the yield
should be from seventy-five to one hundred bushels
per acre. Further south, and in a lower latitude, the
yield per acre is much greater, often reaching from
two to three hundred bushels.
For the ordinary purposes of sustaining life nothing
is cheaper or better. For cattle, horses, or hogs, they
have been proved by experiments to be equal to corn,
bushel for bushel. They contain quite as much nutri-
ment, and are more healthy. They are fed either raw,
or after they have been cooked.
At Rugby sweet potatoes can be made valuable for
marketing. They are a tropical production, and are
much sweeter grown in a warm climate. In Cincin-
nati and other northern cities they command high
prices, and especially the early ones. There is no
good reason why those cities should not draw their
main supply from the Cumberland plateau. As the
sweet potato loves a hot soil, it should be planted on
the south hill-sides or slopes. With good cultivation
one hundred and fifty bushels may be produced with
ease upon an acre of land.
CHAP, iv.] COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT. 143
Irish Potatoes.
The Irish potatoes raised on the high Cumberland
lands are very superior, having an excellent flavour.
They are greatly superior to those raised in the valleys
of East or Middle Tennessee. They .are "also very
productive on these lands. In them the farmers of
Eugby have an unfailing source of income. All
the cotton States draw their supplies of this uni-
versal article of food for winter consumption from
the States north of them. Early potatoes can be
raised in the southern States ; but late ones for winter
do not do well Knoxville, Chatanooga, and Atalanta,
will always be good markets for good winter potatoes.
Hundreds of barrels raised in the north are sold every
spring in Knoxville at good prices.
While there must ever remain a good market in the
south for winter potatoes, Cincinnati will furnish a
market for the early ones. They can be put into this
market from Rugby several days perhaps ten days,
earlier than they can be from Ohio or Northern Ken-
tucky. The very early ones command very high prices.
The soil suited for Irish potatoes is a rich loam.
It cannot be too rich. They will do but little good
on exhausted or very poor land. Well rotted stable
manure, wood ashes, ground bone, hair, plaster, forest-
leaves, are all good fertilisers for them. Wood ashes
are perhaps the best of all.
Early potatoes should be planted in February if
possible, and if the soil is suitably manured, 300
bushels per acre is not considered an exorbitant crop.
Near Jersey city this number of bushels has been
often gathered. A southern exposure is best if early
144 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART in.
maturity is desired. But for a late crop, the ground
should always be, when practicable, low -bottom or
north hill -sides. Our fall seasons are generally dry
and hot, and therefore such ground should be chosen
as would be least affected by heat and drought. The
early crop can be planted early in February, and the
late one the last of June or very early in July. The
best varieties of early potato yet introduced are the
Early Bose and Snow Flake, and for the late crop the
Peachblow, Pink Eye, and Mountain Sprout. Northern
grown seed, especially for the early crop, is decidedly
the best ; but if a second crop of early potatoes is
grown they make the best seed. This can be done in
this climate by digging the first crop in June, exposing
them to the air for a few days, and then planting them
in land well prepared. This practice is becoming very
common about Nashville.
Vegetables.
Nearly all vegetables will do well in the climate of
Eugby, where the soil is in good condition. But
it must be borne in mind that all the vegetables,
like corn and Irish potatoes, require rich food. It
is in vain to expect good returns without good care
and rich soil.
If gardening for the Cincinnati market should be
the object of any of the colonists, they had better
raise a general assortment, and not confine themselves
to a few articles, so that if one fails others may
succeed. In gardening, it is never safe to rely upon
one or two articles. Besides, if the gardener has to
attend market, he had better go with a full assortment
and supply.
CHAP. nr. COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT. 145
There is one vegetable to which we invite especial
attention, and that is
Cabbage,
Perhaps no vegetable is so universally eaten, and
largely consumed, in the United States, as cabbage.
It forms a part of the daily food of nearly every family
during the greatest part of the year. It is peculiarly
the poor man's food. The reason is twofold ; first,
because most persons are fond of it ; and second,
because more food can be purchased of it for a small
sum than of nearly anything else. It comes into use
early in June, and continues in market until next
spring, frequently until the next crop is ready for use.
It is always in demand. It is easily kept through the
winter. And in the south, in those localities where
the soil and climate are suitable for its growth, no
crop will pay better.
The settlers at Rugby must bear in mind that
south of Tennessee it cannot be grown, except in high
mountainous regions. Its habitat is a cold climate.
Hence in the hot southern states it does no good.
They must depend on the north for their fall and
winter supply. Here, there is this wide region, from
Wilmington to New Orleans, with all the interior to
be supplied. The Cumberland plateau is the nearest
region suitable for the growth of fine cabbage. Even
at Knoxville, witli a country north of it moderately
well adapted to its growth, large quantities of it are
brought from Virginia every winter and spring, and
sold. No doubt this is true of Chattanooga and
Nashville also.
The Cumberland lands and climate are admirably
L
146 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART in.
suited for cabbage. Where the lands are made rich
with barn-yard manure, or with bone dust, phosphate,
or guano, all of which are admirable fertilisers for it,
it can be grown in great perfection. The writer saw
a head grown in the garden of Eugby, by Mr. Hill, on
poor, old land, which weighed, about the 6th October
last, before it was done growing, ten pounds.
Mr. Hosier, at Sunbright, has frequently raised
heads weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds, as the
writer is informed.
Early cabbage can no doubt be profitably raised for
the Cincinnati market. But it is late cabbage which
can be most profitably raised, for the Chattanooga,
Atalanta, and other southern markets.
That cabbage can be made a profitable crop at
Eugby, with the liberal use of fertilisers, is susceptible
of the clearest demonstration. If the plants are three
feet apart, 4840 can be grown on an acre. If two
and a half feet 6969 per acre. The latter distance is
sufficiently far apart if the crop is raised by hand.
The former is better, if a plough is used in cultivation.
Suppose the plants make heads which weigh, on an
average, five pounds, and that they will yield in
market a cent a pound. Then an acre planted two
and a half feet apart would produce $348*45 worth
of cabbage, and at three feet it would amount to
$242 - 00. If but half a cent a pound is realised, a<*
clear profit, the result would be in the one case
*1 7 4 '2 2 and in the other $121-00 per acre. With
a good season, good culture, and with thorough fertilisa-
tion, there is every probability that the heads can be
made to average eight or ten pounds. The writer saw
cabbage selling in Knoxville at retail, by the small
CHAP, iv.] COLONEL KILLEBREW S REPORT. 147
dealers, January 4th 1881, at four cents a pound
The winter price is usually as much as two and a half
cents a pound with the hucksters. Of course the pro-
ducer can get no such prices at wholesale.
No special skill is required to raise or take care of
cabbage. Aside from planting, it requires no more
care or labour than corn. It can be easily kept
through the winter until spring. The mam point
always to be kept in mind is, that it imperatively
requires rich and well pulverised soil, or the liberal
use of stimulating fertilisers. Late cabbage should by
all means be planted on low moist bottom lands, or
on north hill-sides. The ground cannot be made too
rich for it. Early cabbage should have a southern
exposure.
The best varieties are, for early, Early "Wyman, and
Early Jersey Wakefield ; for late, Large Late Drum-
head, and Large Flat Dutch. Under all circumstances
it is safe to assume that cabbage will yield as clear
profit one half -cent a pound, and frequently much
more.
Fruit Growing.
All the fruits of the temperate zone, possibly ex-
cepting peaches, as far as tested, do well on the table-
land of Tennessee.
Apples.
Apples do remarkably well, and can be made a
great success. Those grown on this plateau have
a fine flavour, fine colour, and are crisp and delicious.
This has been clearly proved by the orchards of Mr.
England and Dodge and Son, White County, Mr. Hill
of Warren, and Mr. Caldwell of Franklin. The latter
148 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART 111.
bore away all the premiums for fine apples at the fairs
in Nashville for several years in succession. His
orchard occupied a position on the mountain, about
1900 feet above the sea. The fruit grown in these
orchards has been pronounced equal to the best
northern apples. The apple-trees on all the Cumber-
land lands are healthy and thrifty.
For this fruit there is a wide and ready market in
southern cities. In the Cotton states, it must be
remembered, that the apple is not much grown, and
the fruit is quite inferior. Their winter supply is
drawn nearly entirely from the north and north-west.
Even in Knoxville, with a country surrounding it
tolerably well adapted to the apple, especially on the
high ridges, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of barrels
of winter apples, are brought every year from New
York, Michigan, Ohio, and other States, and sold at
high prices. The same statement is no doubt true of
Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atalanta.
Cincinnati will furnish a market for early apples,
and the southern cities for winter marketing. For
the reason that apples do best in a moderately cold
climate, the ground selected for them should be as
high as possible, and on the northern slopes, or on the
tops of "ridges. Besides this, the best soil is usually
found on the north side of hills.
The following varieties have been tested in Ten-
nessee, many of them on the Cumberland lands, and
are known to suit this climate, and to be of excellent
quality. Most of them, and possibly all, can be had
at the nurseries of Ward and Brothers, London, Ten-
nessee, or at Bird and Dew's, Knoxville. Both firms
are reliable.
CHAP, iv.] COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT. 149
World's Wonder, Nickojack, Tennessee Eed, Stinson,
Golden Eed, Fallawater, Volunteer or Peerie, Winesap,
Golden Russett, Shockley, Grime's Golden, Berry Eed,
Striped Pairmain, Mountain Sprout, Pumpkin Limber
Twigg, Early Strawberry, Early Harvest, Muskmellon,
England's Seedling, Gravenstein, Peck's Pleasant,
Northern Spry, Stine.
Do not purchase winter apple-trees in the north, or
the result will be fall fruit.
One other item ; the character of the same apple
is greatly changed for the better if planted on the
mountain. The Limber Twig for instance, which on
the mountain is an excellent rosy -cheeked apple, is
a green tough apple when planted in the valley.
Pears.
The pear, like the apple, does not do well in a hot
climate. But few are raised in the southern states.
The supply is brought from the north and from Cali-
fornia. They are sold by retail at from five to ten
cents each. On the Cumberland lands pears will do
well if planted in deep, good soil, and especially if
planted on the north side or on the top of the hills.
The market will always be unlimited in the south,
especially for good winter pears.
Winter varieties and standard trees are recom-
mended. Dwarf trees might be planted between the
rows of standards, and thus economise space. The
dwarfs will be nearly worn out by the time the
standards are in full bearing. If the dwarfs are
planted four inches below the point of union with
the quince-stock, it will often become a standard by
throwing out lateral roots.
150 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART m.
The following varieties were selected from one
hundred specimens of fruit from Ellwanger and
Bang's, Rochester, N.Y., and are known from trial
to be of first quality, and to do well in this climate :
namely, Bartlett, Buffin, Kirtland Seckel, Jalonisa
d'Fonteney, Duchess d'Anguleme (splendid), Louise
Bonne de Jersey, Vicar of Wakefield (excellent for
winter), Ho well, Belle Lucrative, Beurre de Aangore,
Seckel, Tyson, Sheldon, Beurre Bosc, Beurre Gifl'ord
(very early), Bellflowet, Beurre Diel, Clairgeau, Clapp's
Favourite, Swan's Orange. Of these the Duchesse,
Vicar of Wakefield, Belle Lucrative, Howell, Sheldon,
Beurre Bosc, Beurre Gifford, Clapp's Favourite, and
Swan's Orange are unsurpassed. Most of the above
list are summer and fall pears.
It is believed that quinces, cherries, plums, and
nectarines will all do well at Eugby.
Grapes.
Grapes, when planted in deep soil, where the rock
does not approach too near the surface, unquestionably
will do well on the table-land. The porosity of the
soil in many places, and the absence of a heavy clay
subsoil, secure for the roots of the vine, a dry, healthy
bed, and thus prevent rot and mildew, the great enemy
of the grape vine in heavy clay soils. Grapes require
a rich, deep, loose, porous soil. Such places may be
found at intervals on the plateau. It is in vain to
expect a heavy crop of grapes on poor soil. The vine
will be unthrifty, and the crop from it light. Fertilise
well with wood ashes., well rotted manure, bone dust,
or ground bone, or something of the kind, or one need
not expect healthy vigorous vines, and good crops on
CHAP, iv.] COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT. 151
poor land. Without these, one may as well expect a
heavy crop of corn on poor land.
If grapes are raised for market, Cincinnati will be
the best point for the early, and the southern cities
for the late. At Chattanooga and Knoxville, the
season being early and hot, the latest grapes are
generally ripe and exhausted by the 20th, or at least
by the last of September. There is always a demand
for more after the home supply is exhausted. This is
supplied by grapes from Lake Erie.
The season at Eugby, owing to its elevated situa-
tion, is ten or fifteen days later than in the valley
south of it. The result will be that late grapes at
Eugby will just be maturing as they are disappearing
at Chattanooga and Knoxville. If a good grape can
be found, which will mature in October, and if it can
be preserved in a good state until November or
December, there will always be a demand for such a
grape in the southern cities. The following varieties
are recommended after trial Early, Eumelan (ex-
cellent and certain), Medium, Concord, and Ives Seed-
ling ; Late, Catawba (for wine), Concord, Norton's
Virginia, and Ives Seedling.
It may be well to add that the grapes grown on
the Cumberland plateau have a thicker skin than
those grown in the valley, and will bear transportation
much better. They will also keep longer in a sweet
condition.
Strawberries.
Strawberries will mature- ten days later at Rugby
than at Knoxville and Chattanooga. They will no
doubt mature there a few days before they will at
ir>2 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PARTIH.
Cincinnati. If so, that will be the place for early
marketing. For the late crop, the cities south of
Bugby. The last strawberries, if good, always sell
high and readily. People never grow tired of them if
good.
Splendid strawberries can be raised at Bugby. The
sandy soil and climate both suit them. They need
and require rich food, such as a heavy coat of stable
manure, wood ashes, ground bone, plaster, phosphates,
etc. The ground cannot be made too rich for them.
The following varieties have all been fully tested,
and are recommended : Early, Metcalf's early,
Downer's Prolific, Barne's Mammoth, Monarch of the
"West (the last of huge size). Main crop, Charles
Downing, Boyden's No. 30, Agriculturist, Jucunda,
and Monarch of the West. Late, Kentucky.
Baspbewies.
These will do well on the table-lands. All the red
varieties are natives of a cold climate. They are the
most productive and delicate in taste. They require
very rich and deep soil.- After the trial of many
varieties, the writer recommends the Hudson Eiver
Antwerp as the hardiest and best variety. It is per-
fectly hardy in this climate, standing both heat and
cold better than any other. A later kind, if one could
be found, would be very valuable for a late crop.
Peaches.
That there have been peaches of the best quality
grown on the mountain cannot be denied by any one
who has witnessed the shipments made by Mr. H. JST.
Caldwell to Nashville a few years ago. The difficulty
CHAP. IT.] COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT. 153
in raising this fruit comes from the untimely frosts in
spring, frequently destroying, or partially destroying
two crops in three. A place selected on a northern
slope, and a mulching of straw put about the trees
when the ground is frozen, will retard inflorescence be-
yond the period of frosts. By taking this trouble a
fine crop of peaches may possibly be grown every year.
The writer has often seen peaches three inches in
diameter grown on the mountain, and of a lusciousness
and juciness unsurpassed by those grown in any coun-
try. Seedlings bear oftener than budded fruit. Trees
have been known to bear in favourable localities for
forty years in succession. One such tree now stands
on the mountain above Sherwood, in Franklin county.
Careful attention may avert many evils to which the
peach tree is subjected.
Cattle Eaising.
Cattle raising has always been profitable on the
Cumberland plateau. The wild grass which grows so
luxuriantly everywhere is sufficient from April till the
latter part of November. The Cumberland plateau is
a natural pasture. But hay, grass, and roots, such as
turnips, vegetables, etc., must be provided for winter.
Orchard grass is perhaps the best winter as well as the
best summer grass for pasture in this climate. It re-
quires, to do well, rich soil. The north hill-sides, where
the soil is richest, will be the best place for it. This
grass never runs or dies out if there is a reasonable
amount of nourishment in the soil. Cattle are very
fond of it. It makes excellent hay also.
A good supply of rough food for cattle can always
be had from millet, pea vines, timothy, clover, or red
154 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PARTIIJ.
top. The new system of saving green food for stock,
termed ensilage, can be most profitably adopted. For
the method of saving and curing green food under this
system, refer to the report of Professor J. M. M' Bride,
of the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville. Apply
to him for said report.
In the low places described as glades often grows a
rough grass (Panicum crusgalli), known as bear grass,
which supplies a great deal of food to cattle. Beggars'
lice (Lynoglossum Morisoni} abounds on the mountain,
and furnishes a very nutritious food to cattle. In fact
they grow fat upon it.
Sheep Raising.
It has always been asserted and believed that sheep
raising can be as cheaply done on the Cumberland
plateau as in any part of the United States, possibly
excepting Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. In the
northern states, where the winters are much longer and
more severe, sheep raising is very profitable. Why
should it not be so here, with unlimited natural pas-
turage so many months in the year? and it is said, but
the writer is not certain of the fact, that good spring
lambs are worth about five dollars each in Cincinnati.
Certainly every farmer can add largely to his income
by having a flock of the best varieties of sheep for wool
and mutton, and a ready market can always be had in
Cincinnati. Care must be taken, however, to have
them sheltered during the stormy weather of winter.
Pea haulm or clover hay should also be provided for
them. During the summer months they can live upon
the wild grasses and do well, but these grasses must
not be relied upon to keep them through the winter.
CHAP, iv.l COLONEL KILLEBEEW'S REPORT. 155
Tobacco.
Unquestionably a very fine manufacturing leaf may
be grown upon the mountain. It has frequently been
done. If the White Burley, cured without fire, were
planted and well cured, it would form the basis for
extensive plug manufacturing upon the mountain.
There is no more profitable employment in the United
States than the manufacture of a type of tobacco suit-
able for American consumption. In addition to this
variety, seed leaf for wrappers and Cuba for fillers
could be very profitably grown and worked up into
cigars. The most thriving farming communities in
America are those in which tobacco is grown for con-
sumption in America. The great mistake made in
many southern states is that the farmers have grown
tobacco for exportation, and neglected their best cus-
tomers at home. No crop in proportion to value is
more easily grown.
Pea-Nuts, or the Ground Pea.
The Pea-nut is gradually extending its limits of
culture. It is also becoming more and more popular,
not only for eating, but for making oil. It likes a
loose, friable, partially sandy or gravelly soil, and in
colour partakes of the hue of the soil in which it is
planted. From forty to sixty bushels per acre may be
grown upon the best soils of the table-land, and, as
one man can take care of eight acres, the raising of the
crop will be fairly remunerative. The price fluctuates
very much, sometimes being as high as one dollar per
bushel, and then falling to sixty cents. Cincinnati is
the great market for the pea -nut, and the colonists
156 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART in.
would always find a ready sale for this product.
There are two varieties grown the white and the red.
The former is planted in hills three feet apart, the
latter in drills the same distance. Level culture is
best for this crop.
Lima Beans and Navy Beans.
Lima beans and navy beans can be grown with great
success on the mountain. The yield can be made to
reach from one hundred to one hundred and 1 fifty
bushels per acre, and with high culture and a good
season the yield can be made two hundred bushels.
The cultivation of these will be found as remunerative
as any crop that can be planted. Corn-field peas will
also pay well. When boiled or ground into meal
they are excellent for stock. No food will cause cows
to give richer milk than pea meaL It should be
mixed with corn meal or wheat bran.
Manufactures.
There is no good reason why certain kinds of manu-
factures should not be successful at Rugby, or near it, on
the Cincinnati Southern Railroad ; such, for example, as
iron furnaces, tanneries, furniture, boots and shoes,
waggon and carriage factories; and factories for making
spokes, hubs, handles, and many others of a similar
character.
As for iron, it is a well-known fact that pig-iron can
be manufactured in portions of Tennessee, Georgia, and
Alabama, at a cost from $5 to $7 per ton less than at
Pittsburg, or Hanging Rock, Ohio. This is owing to
the close juxtaposition of coal, iron ore, and limestone,
and the cheapness of labour and provisions, but chiefly
CHAP, tv.] COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT. 157
the former. A margin of profit of $5 a ton will pay a
remarkable dividend. Coal of the best quality is found
on the Cumberland Plateau, and iron ore and limestone
in the lower valleys.
Tanneries also ought to yield a good profit. The
Cumberland Plateau abounds in Chestnut Oak, the
bark of which is in great demand in tanning. This
bark is now being shipped to Cincinnati. If it will
pay to ship the bark a long distance, it ought to pay
much better to bring the lighter article (the hides) to
the pfece where the bark can be found. Labour,
rents, and provisions, would be cheaper at Rugby than
in a large city. It seems that no point would be
better for a steam tannery than this.
Factories for making furniture, especially the
cheap furniture, such as is made out of poplar, walnut,
and pine, should also pay well, if economically and
skilfully managed. These woods everywhere abound
on the plateau. Vast quantities of walnut are daily
shipped from there to New York and Boston, much of
which returns in the shape of fine furniture.
In the southern states, among the coloured race,
there is a constant demand for cheap furniture, such as
tables, bedsteads, etc. Fine furniture is also in demand.
Most of this is at present manufactured in New York
and Cincinnati, much of it out of Tennessee walnut, and
transported to the south at a heavy cost, and sold at a
high profit. This double cost of transportation would
afford a wide margin of profit, to say nothing of any-
thing else.
As for all articles made out of white oak and
hickory, such as waggons, carriages, spokes, hubs,
handles, etc. etc., it seems that some point on the
158 BOARD OF AID TO LAND OWNERSHIP. [PART in
plateau would combine every element for their suc-
cessful manufacture. The forests are full of the \c\-\
best white oak and hickory. They grow all along the
railroad. A lumber dealer from the city of New York
recently remarked that the white oak timber of East
Tennessee was the best in the world. Hence lumber
dealers and manufacturers from a distance are seeking
for it, as they are for our walnut.
We have thus attempted to give some idea of the
capability and adaptation of the soil of Rugby to the
different kinds of crops, grasses, and fruits ; to point
out the most profitable pursuits ; the best mode of
culture; and to call attention to the facilities which
exist for profitable manufacturing enterprises. We
admit the imperfectness of our attempt. But we be-
lieve there has been no overcolouring, and certainly no
intentional misrepresentation. We hope that our work
may in some degree serve to keep those who are un-
familiar with the climate, soil, and products of the
plateau, from falling into great errors and mistakes.
We are sure that those who follow our advice will not
be so likely to do so.
We venture one other suggestion. Let those who
intend farming, in the larger sense of the term, as well
as those who intend to follow market gardening or
fruit raising, not risk all on one crop or article, but
let them diversify their products, so that if one fails
others may succeed.
Colonists should not be discouraged by the opinions
of the farmers of the south, for the reason that the
latter have yet to learn the value of manures. Accus-
tomed through generations to work nothing else but
virgin soils which require no adventitious aid, they
CHAP, iv.] COLONEL KILLEBREW'S REPORT. 159
cannot understand how the thin soils of the Cumber-
land plateau can ever be profitably cultivated. But
if one such farmer should visit the sand blows of
Connecticut where, by the application of ten cords of
manure, a profit of $300 per acre is often realised, he
could begin to understand that even poverty of soil
may be overcome by care and labour. And the history
of agriculture in America demonstrates the fact that
rich soils alone are no guarantee of future growth and
prosperity. Oftentimes the very fertility of the soil
breaks up those habits of systematic industry which
lie at the very foundation of all permanent progress.
That the Cumberland plateau, from its salubrity, its
accessibility to markets, its adaptability to fruits and
vegetables, its wealth of coal and timber, will in time
become a populous region, there can be no doubt. It
should always be remembered, however, that patient
labour, guided by skill and intelligence, is positively
necessary to make agriculture profitable.
With these, the prediction of Andrew Jackson may
be verified that it will become the Garden of Ten-
nessee.
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