Carole, if you have a chance to read the book, hope you will get back to
me.
M.

On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Carole D. Bryant <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> "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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