200 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
needles. Why waste money on a washboard when all 
your ancestors paddled their clothes on the end of 
a stump? But sometimes the woman has no tub, 
and that really is serious. Once, over towards the 
lovely Nantahala Mountains, we came upon a 
woman washing in a wooden box. She was young 
and a baby sat on the ground at her side. The blue 
mountains were a heavenly vision behind her, a 
clump of brilliant wild flowers rose above her head. 
But her eyelids were swollen, she had evidently been 
weeping, and the tiny cabin higher up the hill was 
very bare inside. Was there a "still" down in the 
ravine? Had her young husband been carried away 
by the " revenuers " ? Or had he fallen a victim to the 
seductions of his own industry? Our hearts were 
troubled, but we could do nothing. She turned her 
head aside and would not look at us; so, respecting 
her sorrow, we passed in silence, flooding her with 
warm good will and heartfelt hopes that life would 
soon grow brighter. 
