84 NORTH CAHOLINA 



cabin doors, it was impossible not to look 

 upon them as born to a narrow and cheerless 

 existence. Possibly the fault was partly in 

 myself, since I have no very easy gift with 

 strangers, but I found them, young and old 

 alike, rather uncommunicative. 



I recall a family group that I overtook 

 toward the end of an afternoon ; a father 

 and mother, both surprisingly young-looking, 

 hardly out of their teens, it seemed to me, 

 with a boy of perhaps six years. They were 

 resting by the roadside as I came up, the 

 father poring over some written document. 

 " You must have been to the city," said I ; 

 but all the man could answer was "■ Howdy." 

 The woman smiled and murmured some- 

 thing, it was impossible to tell what. They 

 started on again at that moment, the grown 

 people each with a heavy bag, which looked 

 as if it might contain meal or flour, and the 

 little fellow with a big bundle. They had 

 four miles still to go, they said ; and the 

 road, as I could see for myself, was of the 

 very worst, steep and rugged to the last 

 degree. Partly to see if I could conquer 

 the man, and partly to please myself, I beck- 

 oned the youngster to my side and put a 



