Now these young men taught me nothing, for I had seen many such
before; but through them I took a fresh and a very impressive
glimpse into a style of life that abounds among the rural
population of America, and shows but feeble signs of improvement.
These men, who, when they eat, only "tuck away grub," of course
"go to roost" when they sleep. They call the sun "Old Yaller,"
naming him in honor of a favorite ox. When they undress themselves
"they peel off," as if they were onions or potatoes; and when they
put themselves into their Sunday clothing, they "surprise their
backs with a clean shirt." When they marry, they "hitch on," as if
matrimony were a sled, and a wife were a saw-log. Every thing in
their life is brought down to the animal basis, and why should it
not be? They labor as severely as any animal they own; they are
proud of their animal strength and endurance; they eat, and work,
and sleep, like animals, and they do nothing like men. Their
frames are shaped by labor; and they are only the best animals,
and the ruling animals, on their farms. As between the wives and
children who live in their houses, and the horses and cattle that
live in their barns, the latter have the easier time of it.

Having brought every thing down to the animal basis in their homes
and in their lives, their intercourse with other men will
naturally betray the ideas upon which they live. They are usually
very blunt men, who "never go round" to say any thing, but who
blurt out what they have to say in a manner entirely regardless
of the feelings of others. They enter each other's houses with
their hats on, and "help themselves" when they sit at each other's
tables, and affect great contempt for the courtesies and forms of
polite life. They are exceedingly afraid of being looked upon as