Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1890 — “SWOPPING” WIVES. [ARTICLE]

“SWOPPING” WIVES.

A Remarkable Custom in the Interior of North Carolina. A traveler through the wilds of North Carolina thus describes his experiences at a 4 -swopping match” in one of the remote counties of the -State: A ride of about two hours over the mountains brought us to the scene of a 4 ‘swopping’’ match.' In the yard and under the trees there were about a dozen horses and mules, two coons, and about ten or twenty sheep and a number of hounds. There were eight men and seven women, all clad in coarse homespun linen. Such women as wore any head-dress wore long poke or sun bbnnets. One or two of the women Were fairly good-looking, but the rest of them, like the men, were coarse, rawboned, and anything hut handsome. We bad not arrived a moment too soon to hear the preliminaries of the business for which the appointment had been made. Bill Suggs, the proprietor of the house, was the first to approach the subject, which he did in the following language: “Weuna hev met here to swop an’ trade. I hev been tryin’ to swap wimmin with Jake Long here fur some time. I hev got my woman here, an 1 so hez Jake, an’ I’m ready to trade. What d’ye say, Jake?” Jake, a big, gawky young fellow, said: 4 ‘There’s my gal, Bill,” pointing to rawbQned, dark-eyed woman of 45. 4 ‘She ken dig more ’seng, chop more wood, and kin beat anythin’ shootin’ on the creek. I’ll take yer woman an’ yer ole mare to boot.” Suggs had led his wife —Or woman—up to that of Long. The women seemed to be almost utterly indifferent, or if they did object they spoke no word or made no sign.

“That’s mor’n I’ll give, Long; that woman,” pointing to his wife 4 is a good cook and kin hoe as much com as eny woman in the naborhood, an’ she’s val’ble. I’le trade even up and no boot.” There was considerable talk and a dozen propositions, which finally ended in Suggs 4 •swopping’’ for Long’s woman and giving a red cow with one horn and two sheep as a premium or “boot.”' This settled, two others—a middleaged, red-whiskered fellow with a rather good-looking young woman for a wife, traded with a younger man for a woman who was old enough to be his mother, hut who looked as though she could perform most any kind of manuel labor. The young man turned over his property aDd took charge of the one he had bartered for. He seemed somewhat pleased by his bargain, and his new purchase certainly did not seem to have teen sorry for the. exchange. The name of the young fellow was Blodgett. There were six bargains or trades successfully closed during the day—one of which was between an old fellow of* 60 or more end a much younger man, in which they had merely exchanged for the woman the other man had in possession at a former time. They both seemed pleased to get their women back. There was no hoot or premium in the trade.

Having no other place to stop for the night I went home with Blodgett, who seemed a mild sort of a fellow, easy, good-natured hut ignorant. His new spouse was a woman of 22 or 23, somewhat good-looking, as good-look 3 went in that section. Her face was more intelligent than any I had seen, and she seemed pleased over the result of the trade. With all my powers of penetration I failed to find any repugnance or horror over the affair, either with her hr any one connected with it They seemed to take it as a legitimate transaction and I could only account for it on the ground of utter ignorance of the law, either statutory or moral. The custom of trading wives among thesh” people seemed as old and wellfounded as is the every-day and everywhere habit of trading in ordinary articles Of barter.. A,