Tales from Sacred Wind

by Williams, Cratis D.

• ISBN13: 9780786414901
• ISBN10: 0786414901
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-04-01
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing

Summary

Prior to his death in 1985, Cratis Williams was a leading scholar of and spokesperson for Appalachian life and literature. This book is an edited compilation of his memoirs of his childhood. Included are the stories "The Double Murder at Sledges, " "Preacher Lang Gets Drunk, " "My Schoolmates at Middle Caines Creek School, " "I See a Baptism, " and "Ye Offspring of Vipers."

Author Biography

David Cratis Williams, son of Cratis, works in speech and media studies at the University of Missouri at Rolla Patricia D. Beaver is director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	v
Introduction	1	(28)
In the Beginning	29	(55)
I See a Baptism	32	(7)
Preacher Clem Boggs	39	(1)
Grampap Jake and Granny Feeb	40	(8)
Postmark: Sacred Wind	48	(1)
A Cathide Banjo Head	49	(4)
My First Drunk	53	(6)
Appalachian Folkways: Food and the Country Stores	59	(5)
Old Shep	64	(2)
A Basket for My Rooster	66	(3)
My Great-grandparents: Gabriel Griffith and Elzina See Griffith	69	(3)
``Mutts Mag''	72	(12)
Growing Up in Sacred Wind	84	(42)
Starting Elementary School	84	(3)
Uncle Wash	87	(4)
Elementary School Days	91	(2)
World War I on Caines Creek	93	(5)
The School Goes to a Funeral	98	(3)
Appalachian Folkways: Death, Dying and Funeral Rituals	101	(5)
Hugh and Hannah Boggs (Granny Hanner)	106	(1)
My Great-grandparents: John D. (``Hamey'') Boggs and Nancy Griffith Boggs	107	(5)
Uncle Jesse ``Kirby'' Boggs	112	(1)
``The Old Sow Hant''	113	(2)
The Nipperses	115	(5)
Dow Boggs	120	(6)
Beyond the Big Sandy ... and Home Again	126	(64)
Tenants in Ohio	126	(41)
Our Hardest Summer	167	(11)
Appalachian Folkways: At Play	178	(3)
Appalachian Folkways: Borning, Child Rearing and Family Life	181	(9)
In the Family Spirit(S)	190	(49)
Grampa Jeff Gets Drunk (on my whiskey)	190	(1)
A Bottle of Liquor at Each End of the Corn Row	191	(10)
A Man Dies When His Time Comes	201	(2)
The Whitts	203	(9)
Cal Tolliver	212	(2)
Ye Offspring of Vipers	214	(5)
Preacher Lant Gets Drunk	219	(8)
Moonshining in My Family	227	(4)
Liquor from Wallowhole	231	(8)
A Day's Ride by Mule to High School	239	(103)
High School: First Year	250	(50)
High School: Second Year	300	(7)
Grampa Takes Me to School	307	(10)
Levi J. Webb	317	(4)
The Bad Man at the Boarding House	321	(6)
Finishing High School with William H. Vaughan	327	(10)
Why a Mountain Boy Should Be Proud	337	(1)
Salutatorian Address	338	(4)
Moving on to College and the ``Big World'' ... and Beginning to Look Back	342	(69)
Taking Thanksgiving at Big Creek	343	(24)
Appalachian Folkways: Holidays	367	(8)
The Double Murder at the Sledges	375	(8)
My Tonsillectomy	383	(7)
Appalachian Folkways: Illnesses, Accidents, Healing and Curing	390	(11)
My First Hitchhiking Trip	401	(5)
The Person and the Big World: Commencement Address at Cumberland College, 1982	406	(5)
Appendix A: Family Expressions and Comments	411	(10)
Appendix B: My Schoolmates at Middle Caines Creek School (District 49), 1917--1924	421	(6)
Appendix C: At the University of Kentucky	427	(2)
Appendix D: Some of Cratis Williams's Kin	429	(2)
Index	431