Some Sample Walks 51 



they regulate their own affairs justly. The 

 rule of the poor is right It is the rule of 

 ignorance that is wrong. 



Speaking of ignorance, it is one of the 

 things that make it hard to walk in certain 

 parts of the country which are naturally 

 attractive. There are the Big Smoky 

 Mountains, for example. What a glorious 

 region for a tramp ! But a journey through 

 them is like a journey in Alaska or Bolivia. 

 The roads are -vile ; often there is nothing 

 but a trail between the "settlemints," a 

 trail on which you meet shaggy men riding 

 on mules and oxen with a rifle and meal- 

 bag in front of them ; sallow, barefooted 

 women, with homespun or calico skirts 

 flapping against their legs, and their faces 

 half-concealed in grave cloths and sun- 

 bonnets ; plump girls smoking pipes and 

 boys carrying jugs of moonshine whis- 

 key. The houses are cabins, public ac- 

 commodations are few, cooking is a wallow 

 of melted pork, and strangers are "suspi- 

 cioned" as revenue officers. The grandeur 

 of the hills and the beauty of the rivers 

 have not lifted or broadened these people. 



