The Red Flannel Rag

Part Four

MOONSHINE

Run from what’s profitable and comfortable.

If you drink those liqueurs, you’ll spill the

Spring water of your real life.

Rumi (5)

* * * * *

If one universal characteristic of the Appalachian people had to be pointed out, it

would be the practice of moon shining. The practice was carried from Europe, but was

revived by the mountaineer in order to make his dull, harsh, dangerous life more

bearable. When the mountaineer realized there was money to made in whiskey, moon

shining took on a whole new significance. The practice of moon shining ingrained in

him a habit so deeply rooted that generations of revenue officers have been unable to

stamp it out. (6)

Moon shining was so popular and widespread that stories of narrow escapes from

the authorities and premonitions of death were part of everyday conversations, and even

songs. One song I remember my daddy and Uncle Shirley singing goes like this:

"My brother Bill has a still on the hill

Where he turns out a gallon or two.

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