248 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 196 



creates an oppressive atmosphere in the small kitchen. Near the 

 stove are a table and an odd assortment of chairs. Fuel for the 

 stove is cut from the wooded uphill land behind the house; seldom is 

 there a large supply of cut wood for it. More often wood is cut as 

 needed, so that in wet or dry weather one of the Runners can usually 

 be found "getting in some wood." John and the older boys bring 

 it down from the mountain, but Liza frequently splits it. 



A small spring courses down from the mountain near the house; 

 its travel is interrupted by a half-circular dam over which the water 

 continues to flow. Here Liza does her washing, the little children 

 play, and several ducks take their noisy turn in the water. A kitchen 

 garden is in the small flatland beyond the brook. John seldom works 

 in it, except to do the initial soil preparation. Liza really "makes" 

 the garden. 



John sits on the porch during the first days of spring; such days 

 are warm with an ethereal quality. In the summer, he sits there 

 after work. Liza joins him when her work is done, or she makes her 

 baskets there. They break the silence to exchange comments, 

 murmuring in Cherokee. The little children sometimes play there 

 too, pushing a battered toy over the rough boards. The porch 

 aflFords a view of the road, and John rocks forward on his straight 

 chair to watch either a neighbor or a stranger passing along it. 



John Runner works about 6 months out of the year for the Park 

 Department as a wage laborer. One of his sons works as a guide in 

 the Indian village during the summer. Liza supplements the family 

 income by making oak-split baskets. Some welfare assistance is 

 provided during the winter when John is idle. The Runners are in 

 their late 30's, but they have a large family, as they were married 

 before they were 20. There are three older boys; one is in the ninth 

 grade and two have dropped out of school. John is the "bread 

 daddy" but not the "real daddy" of the oldest boy. Three girls 

 between 7 and 12, a 4-year-old, and a baby of about 15 months make 

 up the rest of the family. The older boys have little to do around 

 the house. Liza is glad that one of the girls is finally old enough to 

 help with the washing, and she does all the cooking when Liza is 

 menstruating. Liza has been worried about John and the boys 

 eating her cooking when she was "that way." When the Runners 

 go to a box social, or down to Cherokee to play Indian ball, Liza 

 carries the baby on her back anchored there by a sheet or a blanket. 



John attended boarding school through the fourth grade, but he 

 did not like it. Despite the fact that he was made to wear a girl's 

 dress to keep him from running away, he succeeded in escaping from 

 school. Liza attended school a year longer than her husband did. 



