LETTERS FROM THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS — IV
A Hike to
Alum Cliffs
The .si/e of fhe Alum Cliff Is illustrated by the figures of the people on the
brink of the precipice. — (Photo by Elliott Lyman Fisher.)
В I/
JOHN LANMAN
Having spent a Sabbath in Franklin,
I obtained a little information with re¬
gard to the religious condition of the
people in this section of country. The
only denominations who have preach¬
ing here are the Methodists and the
Baptists. Among the latter class, the
Bible custom of washing feet is still
kept up with rigor. The preachers of
both denominations arc itinerants, and.
so far as I have seen, arc worthy, up¬
right. and sensible men. They seem to
think more of preaching the doctrines
of Christ than proclaiming their own
learning or advocating their own opin¬
ions; and it is therefore always a
pleasure to hear them; they know their
duties, and faithfully fulfil them, and I
believe accomplish much good. The
people attend the Sunday meetings
from a distance of ten and fifteen
miles; and, as the men and women all
ride on horseback, and as they often
come in parties, their appearance on
approaching the church is often ex¬
ceedingly picturesque.
On the day of my arrival in this
village, a negro teamster met with an
accident while passing over a neigh¬
boring mountain, which resulted in his
losing one of his four horses, which
happened to step over a log. and. on
being cut loose, fell down a precipice
of forty feet into a pool of water. On
being questioned as to the manner in
which the animal fell, the negro briefly
but /«-//ingly replied, " Ka wallnp, ka
walhtp. ka wallup . ka swash
/”
I
thought this a most forcible descrip¬
tion, and could not but admire the
man’s ingenuity in representing each
somerset by a single word.
Within a few days past I have be¬
come acquainted with two insects
which I have never seen described,
but which arc found in abundance
throughout the South. I allude to the
dirt-dauber and the slump-stinger. In
their general appearance they both re¬
semble the wasp. The first lives in a
cell, which it builds on the inner side
of a shed or piazza. It is a noted
enemy of the spider, and possesses the
art and the habit of killing that insect
in great numbers. But what is really
remarkable, they have a fashion of
stowing away the carcasses of their
slaughtered enemies in their dwellings,
as if for future use; and after the cell
is full, they close it with mud, and pro¬
ceed to build another cell, so that the
opulence of one of them may be cal¬
culated by the number of his closed
dwellings. The stump-stinger is re¬
markable for having attached to the
middle of his body a hard and pointed
weapon, with which he can dig a hole-
one inch in depth in the body of even
a hickory tree. This weapon he usually
carries under his tail, but when about
to be used makes him resemble a
gimlet in form. The instrument is very
hard, and composed of two pieces,
which he works up and down, like a
pair of chisels. It is supposed that he
makes this hole for the purpose of de¬
positing an egg, and it is alleged that
2
the STATE. October 23. 1954
