I am glad they use the word Hollow. I grew up in the Shensndoah Valley and
the word was Hollow, but where I live now, in East Tennessee, they say and
spell it Hollar. Which I say means yell. One local woman told me that
they were called Hollars because people had to yell to each other. I told
her where I grew up, a hollow was a small valley. We did not communicate
well.
Kitty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carole D. Bryant" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2012 3:57 PM
Subject: Re: About bedcovers... was inventory
> "Hollow Folk" ! I reckon those folk were anything but "hollow" ! Such
> living most often results in solid personal character -- the kind of
> people
> some of us would like to have for neighbors ! ! ! Kind and generous,
> honest
> and faithful, God-fearing and spiritually strong.
>
> I know my comment is a bit "off subject," but I couldn't resist. The term
> just jumped out at me. There are exceptions, of course, but generally
> our
> "soft living" today is producing an unkind and greedy, deceitful and
> incompetent, immoral and spiritually dead society ! Give me the old
> "hollow
> folk" ANY day !
>
> Carole D. Bryant
>
>
>
>
> In a message dated 11/18/2012 3:19:52 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> Carolyn, what a nice response. Many of my kin came to the Shenandoah
> Valley in the 1730s. I can't imagine how tough the conditions were while
> they tried to put up a cabin. I look at how spoiled I am (can't be too
> warm or too cool) and wonder how, genetically, my line survived.
>
> Your comments reminded me of a book I read ...Hollow Folk by Mandel
> Sherman
> and Thomas R. Henry. It was written in 1933 and tells of life in the
> hollows on the Blue Ridge Mountains. From the tone of your email....I
> think you may enjoy it.
>
> Regards,
> Madaline
>
>
>
> On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:11 AM, Carolyn Bruce <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Quantities of blankets, quilts, and coverlids (a.k.a. counterpanes or
>> "countypins") were necessary in homes in which there was no central
> heat...
>> and if the fire went out, no heat at all. Most homes were of wood and
>> had
>> no insulating materials. In addition, kinfolks might come to stay
>> awhile,
>> often around the holidays... maybe with numerous children, which would
>> require providing pallets or some form of bedding to be able to sleep
>> everyone comfortably. Straw or corn shucks would be stuffed into "straw
>> ticks" which made rudimentary mattresses that were laid on the floor to
>> accommodate visitors, especially young un's.
>>
>> My mother told of growing up in a house with all her brothers and
> sisters
>> (there were ten) at home at one time, sharing beds among them, two or
> three
>> in a bed. There were two upstairs bedrooms, one for the boys and one for
>> the girls... but come fall of the year, teachers often boarded at their
>> house, and the boys were pushed out into an attic space. Cold wouldn't
> even
>> come close to describing the conditions. At times it was truly freezing
> in
>> the bedrooms and they would have to break ice on top of the water in the
>> wash bowl and ewer to wash their faces when they arose.
>>
>> In the time frame of your "wagoner", it was even colder than in the 20th
>> century, at least in the U.S. and Europe. Around 1700, it was so cold in
>> the area known as Alsace-Lorraine, it is said that birds froze in flight
>> and fell from the sky. Heavy snows fell in most of Europe, and canals
>> and
>> streams froze. Remember Hans Brinker, the poor boy (and his sister) who
>> competed in the traditional speed-skating race from one town to the next
> on
>> the frozen canal? And all those snowy Currier and Ives prints from that
>> period? That was during a centuries-long dip in temperatures that
>> started
>> in the early 1300s and ended about the mid-1800s... called the "Little
> Ice
>> Age". So your wagoner would have been most appreciative of having a
>> large
>> stockpile of warm blankets and other bedcovers, as would most of his
>> neighbors.
>>
>> Thank goodness for central heat.
>>
>> Carolyn
>>
>> --
>> Carolyn HALE BRUCE
>> Virginia Beach, VA
>>
>>
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