Show IN THE SOUTH SOUTHERN hospitality ELDERS opportunities FOR STUDYING CHARACTER expectations IM OF A VIRGINIA HOME A characteristic RECEPTION VARIED experience REEDS CREEK W va jan 25 1886 editor deseret new southern hospitality is proverbial it is a virtue of the people cultivated inherited because it was a distinguish ing characteristic of their chivalric forefathers whose memory they delight Je light to honor and not noi le les 4 to bo because it is a natural product of tile the climate and social conditions cultivated because from their very vt ry isolation living as most of cf thern them do on remote pla plantations with sometimes miles of hill aud and foret forest intervening the visit of a wig libor or the advent of a ati anger is I 1 s hailed us as a treat certainly no trav traveler eler mingling with the people at their own fi resides will no go away without having many endearing cords wound round his bis and draw ing back his bis mind to favors which he hopes time will furnish opportunities to le ie quite and of all travelers probably none are better able 1 lo 10 0 speak ot of this kindly virtue our J aldei f surely none are better able i io 10 o appreciate i it or made more keenly to loci us its exception TOURISTS follow the great water courses or railroads and their intercourse with the people eople is limited to hotel associations t drummers driving the laud land become somewhat acquainted I 1 with country merchants merchant 3 iLiner dut preachers of have bettor better opportunities por port tuni unities ties of becoming acquainted with the people nut a they usually follow the ali almighty dollar lauy many conditions escape but a Mor mormon elder follow following lag wherever the spirit of god leads bleaching plea VW ching aching the gaspe without hope of pecuniary reward or fear of physical discomfort encounters every grade from wealth to poverty from intelligence to stolid I 1 ignorance one daighs dagh sleeping in in a bed of down the next possibly on a straw matress in the loft in such a constantly varying experience every day brings new faces new circumstances and sur surroundings soundings and as only the truly magnanimous will entertain a despised dortu Moru mornion on ion with any degree of welcome if theatter the latter can lind find anything thin justly to praise in this connection surely visitors without so unpopular a religion will find nothing to censure ceL sure it is the purpose of this letter to cull from a private journal A FEW PICTURES OF DOMESTIC LIFE exemplifying this characteristic feeling many times has the writer listened to reports of returned elders f from born the south or read in id the NEWS letters descriptive crip tive of their travels and experiences As an effect ot of such information it may be mentioned that upon being called himself he made up his mind to suffer lie he asked himself how it would be to go to sleep in the woods or lie down on the floor of a log cabin where othere a dozen other scorers made the all air unmusical or how hoecake hoe cake and bacon would taste alter after IE regularly two years and six months upon these questions ne he reasoned I 1 in a this way anything is good and to be thankful for which nourishes the only difference between corn cake and choicer viands is in the eating i e C between the teeth and palate for atter after that they are at par with each other our coarser friend if anything being the favorite with the cook blow that question is not likely to trouble me and as for a place to lie ile down I 1 shall doubtless be tired enough when climes to sleep anywhere and as the past has taught me the atie ruder m couch the sweeter my dreams I 1 shall be more likely to DREAM of ROME HOME if like jacob I 1 rest my head bead upon a stone besides the sun will rise more gloriously forme for me after such a night and I 1 shall more keenly appreciate its genial warmth than he be who slept in a palace and when partaking ot the humble meal noy my thanks shall ascend to god with greater fervor and there fore his spiritual blessing win will oe be showered upon my head in greater profusion than were I 1 traveling t dehu vehu in the midst of wealth and but how bow about the horse whipping the coat of tar and feathers aud and the rotten eggs they have been endured they cut con be endured and a person is ia likely to live just as nappy happy after the fact as aa before but the bullets Dulie un oh yes it is hard bard to leave behind friends and loved ones but thank godl god they can not touch the thes stul ul I 1 I 1 now every one will freely admit that it is exquisitely more felicitous to ta be disappointed in such expectations then than in the opposite ones and such is truly the happy lot of the writer tr not that he has never been obliged to sleep out un under the beautiful stars curled up behind a log in ill the forest leaves and pulled through forty eight hours on green corn and sour gli apples ples nor that he has bas ww never heard beard the nest eggs whistle suggestively close to his ilose sebut but that these unsavory events instead of being the rule rather than the exception as wa was anticipated are lew few sod and delightfully ully C lar between 11 now that time and experience peri ence has measure bly corrected theise thebe impressions he remembers that not in a bingle instance has a returned elder failed to bear testimony to the hospitality OF TILE THE PEOPLE and the many f friends whom god has raised up to minister to his baut what t then hen serves to create such a misconception of the people simply this their good qualities are spoken of in general terms while the exceptions are detailed at length the writer will not soon forget lorg ethis his FIRST impressions OF A VIRGINIA I 1 HOME ile he bad been traveling night and day toa foa week stopping over here and there to take in the views of the great cities hut but these gaudy scenes were hardly faded on the retina ot of the th mind ere he found himself aimse f pian plunged d into the laby labyrinths ri nabs of the bl blue ridge bills lore here one bright sunny afternoon last april might have been seen our oung elder trudging along satchel in ill hanza hand and a lost bewildered Dewil dereU look with hotine home bickness upon his face had he been dropped out of a 4 baloon it would have been difficult to ta alight in a place where he would have felt fell less at home the drains seemed to have no settled direct direction iou it was like walking walkin amid mammoth mole bills overlapping one another the road winding at every point was lost to view a hundred 5 yards ards before and be 5 hind bind the points of the cointa compas s sah ah I 1 I 1 where were they changing changie 11 at every two hundred yards vardi to c rown crown the prison like effect these had upon him den dene forests everywhere intercepted his view except here and there au an ar cial chearino cle arlov arino making him fee himself a veritable lil lilliputian crawling ant like among I 1 the wooded giants and thus ue lie was to continue for two years THE THOUGHT WAS AGONIZING N no 0 one e born and reared in the free open west e farn t where nothing encumbers the vie view where bere the spirit can soar as it were from 0 in mountain to mountain and the eye ye take in at a single glance alt all the wealth oi of the checkered valleys between comprehend can without experience peri ence the mental oppression consequent upon upon being first buried as aa it were in such a hy living ing tomb in ill fact be begins to ask himself how bow much i greater the agony would be to wake up from a trance sad and find himself in a coffin under ten feet of soil but let me say here that ere he be has been long on his mission these same dreary everlasting forests become his dearest haunts here he retires to meditate to study the scriptures to read his letters to offer up his BIS secret prayers fraught with such hallowed associations they soon loose their dreariness and monotony and their very massiveness ile ss and sombre depths make him more humble and god learing but let me beg pardon for st straying raving off to the woods and continue the subject it need hardly be said that THIC THICKLY ILir SETTLED here means that the houses may be front from half a amile ami mile to three miles apart and scarcely ever in sight of one another you see there are some things a person cannot learn by observation but must be told among which is notably the fact that a district of this country is thickly settled and I 1 lam am tempted to say here that in no instance is tills this fact so vividly impressed upon the mind of an elder as when i he holds his first meeting in a district where the people still believe that a mormon comes in somewhere between monkey dom and humanity it is wonderful how many cu curiosity seekers the woods can shell shelf out through such a thickly settled region the writer was traveling on his first day out silently wondering fonderine won derine if he would have to camp out finally having followed directions almost rivaling bg the famous reply of a yankee backwoodsman ou on being asked how far it was to the next house three ethree hoots two sees an then a right smart distance he unexpectedly came in sight of HIS destination it was a log house bouse of one room differing from those so familiar to utah frontiersmen frontiers men and which may still occasionally casio dasio nally be seen seea peeping modestly from orchards and vines behind their more imposing imp osina osine brick and adobe successors ces sors in being built high enough lor for a sleeping apartment upstairs nearly all country houses a are re built after this fashion varying in the number ot of rooms and the fluis hing A thin blue him of smoke curled from a raber clumsily built route rock Chiff chimney lile y betokening that the lady on whom bis big letter directed him to calleas call was at home would she deceive him it was too late to go in quest of the elders lie he had no money to pay tier for or staying over night for he be had begun his bis travels as the scriptures direct diric t f abe lie blood rushed to his bis tape face as he be thought of having to ask a stranger strange r for a nights lodging these delicate questions made him hesitate but concluding that everything must have a beginning he leutu ventured red to knock A dignified kind faced old lady appeared at the door A sweet smile bow sweet to our doubting elder broke oer her face as ag she observed the satchels 1 I am au an elder of the on come in come in and take a cheer broke in his new friend ive always got a roof for the elders aldeis you roust must be pretty tired bring your cheer up to the fire brother K and E are up stairs iving on the bed almost worn out they walked clean from Rot anake today to day they sort a expected you it was well the old lady kept on talking for our elder bad all he could do to prevent his gratitude from manifesting itself in unmanly tears As it was his bis thoughts forced upun him this le conclusion that she was the genial possessor of a warm heart and a vers versatile atil le tongue in which respects specia re she is a perfect type tipe of the majority of his hostesses since that time it is not the intention nor within the power of the writer to describe the meeting of mountain boys in the world this may safely tite ie left to the rea readers ciers imagination but it may not be uninteresting to take a look inside this VIRGINIA DOMICILE the first thing that attracts the eye is the broad gea generous rous fireplace fire place spacious enough to hold almost a quarter of a cord A short chain with a pothook hanging from a cross crossbar bar up the caim chimney cairney ney upon the broad flagstones flag stones in f rout front were many cooking utensils prominent among which was that relic surrounded by volumes of frontier re collections the baciu baking skillet illet the coals glowing above and beneath the wall surrounding the fireplace was adorned with and in one corner was a well worn safe or larder on top of which an irregular row of unpretentious tin pots pota wiell a wad of paper squeezed into each was very suggestive of hoarded boarded knick knacks hair pins needles strings buttons etc garden seeds roots and herbs sticks or lumps of candy and sugar well wrapped up such as every boy is acquainted with who nas has access to his is grandeas grandmas grand rand mas mals storehouse store house A stoutly built tuilt built homemade home made roade bedstead stood in another corner the wall opposite the hearth was more or less completely lined with clothes suspended from nails A pine board table a few home made chairs a bookcase a water stand and a bench comprised the remainder of the furniture if wr we add to this description a few out buildings such as a barn usually very small a spring house where milk Is kept a smoke house for storing meal etc corn cribs workshops and a house hoube for storing and drying tobacco all built of logs and thatched with hand made shingles or clap boards we h have ave a fair outline of the majority of rural homes it becomes evident to the visitor that MOTHER GRUNDY rarely raises her head in such districts thongs at the railroad cities possibly within half a days drive she bears supreme sway and should an extra flounce or fol derol de rol bloom on the person of a vain coli country lass as the result of having her fancy tickled by that irate despot it becomes at once the theme of many a quilting circle or apple paring bee inere it is discussed pro and con accompanied by many a solemn ejaculation as to what this world is coming to such is the constitution ution of human nature however that never loses an inch of ground once gained this rural state of things is by no means to be deplored for the efte absence of straight laced formality is fully made up by GENUINE cordiality when a visitor sits up to the table he is invariably told make boursell yo yourself ursell at it homa and help yourself were all dutch here the writer was not a little amused to hear on one occasion instead of the latter espre expression slon we hant no quality cuts here the the host sits aits at one end of the table superintending superintend super intending irig the meat plate etc while at the other end sits the hostess dispensing coffee a platter splatter before her containing the complete paraphernalia will you take cream eream and bugarin sugar in coffel coffe I 1 I 1 asks our hostess thank you madam we rep reply T awe we prefer a glass of et water or milk if it happens to be the evening meal it is passed over as a matter of tact act out but when the same reply is made the next morning her eyes open with considerable sid erable amazement do you never drink coffee then 6 no maam we stick to adams adams ale believing it to be the most wholesome ollala drinks well but bat asks our host Is this a principle of your religion yes sir it mar maj be so called our people believe in being temperate in all things tobacco and whisky are very little needed tea and coffee we regard as unnecessary not notto to say injurious stimulants stimulant a therefore our people as a rule abstain from them of course were there are exceptions but these do not live according to the letter and spirit of our reunion religion 11 our host then usually concludes oh lob its only a habit A person might inight as well do without it it he got used to it so adds our hostess but I 1 dont see see what wed do without it 1 dont believe I 1 could eat cat a bit of breakfast without my coffee such a conversation our elders haye a chance to engage in at every new house hous they ethey enter for coffee drinking is so general that nothing but the sheerest she erest poverty ean prevent its ll 11 being on the table indeed the writer has stopped wita families where the children were obliged to go barefooted all the year round but still TEM could be ba seen it steaming earning from the cups at the brek fat table lable when |