A Thousand-Mile Walk 
they could steal, and that murders were some- 
times committed for four or five dollars, and 
even less. While stopping with him I noticed 
that a man came regularly after dark to the 
house for his supper. He was armed with a gun, 
a pistol, and a long knife. My host told me that 
this man was at feud with one of his neighbors, 
and that they were prepared to shoot one an- 
other at sight. That neither of them could do 
any regular work or sleep in the same place two 
nights in succession. That they visited houses 
only for food, and as soon as the one that I saw 
had got his supper he went out and slept in the 
woods, without of course making a fire. His 
enemy did the same. 
My entertainer told me that he was trying 
to make peace between these two men, because 
they both were good men, and if they would 
agree to stop their quarrel, they could then 
both go to work. Most of the food in this house 
was coffee without sugar, corn bread, and some- 
times bacon. But the coffee was the greatest 
luxury which these people knew. The only way 
[ 40 ] 
