202 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
but as " illicit," a nice distinction, it is not a question 
of morals but of rights. 
Formerly, when no odium was attached to it, the 
distillation of whiskey was universal and respect- 
able, according to the customs of the time, and, in 
spite of the supply of whiskey kept in every house, 
the people were not intemperate. Even to-day, the 
word "whiskey" has no such sinister meaning in the 
mountains as it has acquired in the outer world, 
where its use has been so long abused in the cities, 
although its distillation, because of its secrecy, its 
hidden ways, its "illicit" character, has made it the 
most destructive to character of any one pursuit. 
At the beginning of the Civil War for the sake of 
revenue a very heavy tax was placed upon all dis- 
tilled alcoholic liquors. After the war was over, the 
tax was not removed, and this is the grievance of 
the mountaineer, who says the tax should have been 
removed, that it is unjust and oppressive, and he 
has a right to do as he pleases with his own corn, 
and to evade a law that interferes with his personal 
freedom. We read in the stories of English life much 
about the rigkt of smuggling, the practice of smug- 
gling being not only right but heroic, and it was 
doubtless in accordance with this sentiment, which 
may have been strengthened by his desire to taste 
the forbidden fruit, that the mountaineer continued 
as of old to make his own whiskey, omitting the 
costly formula of obtaining a government license and 
thereafter subjecting himself to government super- 
vision. At first, because of his remoteness, he was 
