Thursday,
January 28, 1914
Oh, the rot-gut liquor on which F. O. Blue has landed;
The kind that makes a rabbit fight a bulldog single-handed;
It has gone from his midst, and the young man’s face is clearing,
And his outlook is good and his worldly prospects cheering;
For the baleful ustulation, of the hell-fired distillation,
Is the curse of many a mortal and the cause of his damnation. – Old Temperate Ballad
DOUTHARDS CREEK
Plenty of snow and ice in this section, but feed is scarce.
T. A. Clarkston caught a very large coon while out rabbit hunting Saturday.
We have not heard the whistle of the T. K. Moore Lumber Company’s locomotive for some time as the flood washed all the bridges out.
Rabbit hunting seems to be the order of the day around here and lots of rabbits are being killed.
GREENBANK
Old winter is still with us.
The health of the community is very good. John Warwick’s health is about as usual.
The oyster suppers were very well attended both nights, considering the inclement weather. The amount realized was near $60. This was a good showing for those hospitable people. Oysters, ice cream, chicken, mince pie that could not be surpassed, cake of every hue and kind. And, eating, I never saw the like, especially by the Old Virginia Reel Veterans.
BUCKEYE
Mrs. Lucy Armstrong came home from the Marlinton Hospital Saturday, somewhat improved in health. Mrs. Auldridge and little Lily Jackson are in the hospital yet.
Clark Kellison fell off a fodder stack he was building and got badly hurt, but is now better.
I think the Honorable County Court ought to stop the skidding of logs on the public roads. The new road is almost shut off from public travel. It is very icy and when the teamsters get to the top of the hill they double up a trail so that it about fills the road from side to side so that no one can pass with a wagon or buggy. Some of the travel from off the creek goes to Buckeye and up the pike to get to Marlinton.
I must agree with the Taxpayer from Huntersville district, that we don’t have teachers now that take the interest in children that they did forty or fifty years ago. Then we got to the schoolhouse by 7 o’clock and kept at our books until 5 in the evening. Now it is 9 to 4. Map-drawing is the study now, and when the girls get home the first thing is map work, and mother cannot get them to help to get supper.
Excerpts from
R. W. Hill’s letter
PASCO,
WASHINGTON
I have been trying for some time to pull myself together long enough to write a line for your good paper, that comes to us every week. This letter may be interesting to few of your readers…
On Sunday we visited some of our friends at and around Farmington – the McNeels, Hills, Grimes, Moores, Overholts, and others. To my mind they could not have shown better judgment than they did in the selection of good homes in one of the finest sections of the state.
E. W. Hill has a fine ranch seven miles out of town. He also owns a lovely home in the city, where they are close to the school. “Bud” reminds me very much of his much honored and highly respected grandfather, Thos. Hill, who died during the Civil War on the farm where J. W. Kennison now resides.
Will Hill is a fine businessman also; weighs over 200 pounds and is very much like his father, Geo. Hill, of Renick, Greenbrier county, whom the people of that section love to call their Grand Old Man.
C. B Grimes is making good. He has a fine home in which I spent a very pleasant day. Mr. Grimes is doing good work in the city school as a teacher, and his accomplished daughter is teaching in the same school. As he did in West Virginia, so here Mr. Grimes stands by the church, never flinching from duty.
F. C. Moore is a good businessman, much respected by all, and has a good home. Frank is a true type of his sainted father, the late James. E. Moore, of Pocahontas, whom everyone loved and honored for his noble, christian character.
W. E. Overholt has made good here. He has a good home and a fine tract of land near the city. Willard tried to make a mule do as he, Willard, wanted him to do, but the mule did not agree with him, and the result was that Mr. Overholt was sent to the repair shop for 6 months. So after Mr. Overholt got up on crutches, and being of that type of Democrat pleasing to our great President, Mr. Wilson, he was given the post office, and he is giving perfect satisfaction.
I was in the home of Mr. Kruger, who married Miss Ada Beard, daughter of W. W. Beard. They are in the midst of plenty of the world’s goods. Everything around them shows prosperity.
Now I come to the home of John McNeel, son of the late W. L. McNeel. John possesses many of the noble traits of character of his grand old father. I was in his home two days and they were pleasantly spent. John has a splendid home; his land is fertile, his buildings all good, and everything around them to make them happy, but the main source of their happiness is their son, Grady.
While he is blind, yet he is a bright and shining light in his home. He is thoughtful of his mother and always has an open ear and a willing hand to assist her in every way he can. There are few things that Grady cannot do about the house to lighten the work of his mother…
Farmington is the oldest and highest town in the Palousi district. The elevation is 2,700 feet. The surrounding country is the garden spot of what I have seen of the State, and the farmers are using every foot of the land. Fine farm houses all over the country. Every farm you pass gives evidence of industry and thrift. The warehouses were full of wheat – with Will Hill in charge of one company’s houses and F. C. Moore in charge of the other. Will told me he had over 100,000 bushels of wheat in storage; had shipped several carloads and he was buying heavily while I was there…
There are many things I would like to say, but as this letter is long now, I will defer them to another letter. I wish all the readers of your good paper and all the people of Pocahontas County a happy and prosperous year. I am thankful I lived to see the new year.
R. W. Hill
