"The Cumberland Mountains 



my object* was, where I was going, and whether 

 it would be worth while to rob me. They all 

 were mounted on rather scrawny horses, and all 

 wore long hair hanging down on their shoulders. 

 Evidently they belonged to the most irreclaim- 

 able of the guerrilla bands who, long accus- 

 tomed to plunder, deplored the coming of peace. 

 I was not followed, however, probably because 

 the plants projecting from my plant press made 

 them believe that I was a poor herb doctor, a 

 common occupation^in these mountain regions. 

 About dark I discovered, a little off the road, 

 another house, inhabited by negroes, where I 

 succeeded in obtaining a much needed meal 

 of string beans, buttermilk, and corn bread. At 

 the table I was seated in a bottomless chair, 

 and as I became sore and heavy, I sank deeper 

 and deeper, pressing my knees against my 

 breast, and my mouth settled to the level of my 

 plate. But wild hunger cares for none of these 

 things, and my curiously compressed position 

 prevented the too free indulgence of boisterous 

 appetite. Of course, I was compelled to sleep 

 [29] 



