20
THE HILLBILLY
IN 1960 the Springfield, Missouri, Court of Appeals ruled on a divorce case involving the use of the term "hillbilly." Judge Justin Ruark, in the case Moore v. Moore (337 S.W. 2d 781) made the following statement in his decision:
In respect to plaintiff's evidence that Minnie once referred to relatives of the plaintiff as hillbillies: We suggest that to refer to a person as a "hillbilly," or any other name, for that matter, might or might not be an insult, depending upon the meaning intended to be conveyed, the manner of utterance, and the place where the words are spoken. Webster's New International Dictionary says that a hillbilly is "a backwoods man or mountaineer of the southern United States;-often used contemptuously." But without the added implication or inflection which indicates an intention to belittle, we would say that, here in Southern Missouri, the term is often given and accepted as a complimentary expression. An Ozark hillbilly is an individual who has learned the real luxury of doing without the entangling complications of things which the dependent and over-pressured city dweller is required to consider as necessities. The hillbilly foregoes the hard grandeur of high buildings and canyon streets in exchange for wooded hills and verdant valleys. In place of creeping traffic he accepts the rippling flow of the wandering stream. He does not hear the snarl of exhaust, the raucous braying of horns, and the sharp, strident babble of many tense voices. For him instead is the measured beat of the katydid, the lonesome, far-off complaining of the whippoorwill, perhaps even the sound of a falling acorn in the infinite peace of the quiet woods. The hillbilly is often not familiar with new models, soirees, and office politics. But he does have the time and surroundings conducive to sober reflection and honest thought, the opportunity to get closer to his God. No, in Southern Missouri the appellation "hillbilly" is not generally an insult or an indignity; it is an expression of envy.
A debt is owed to Messrs. Randy and Mel Carnahan for tracking down this citation. Any attempts to expand or improve on it would be comparable to polishing up Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
“‘In Place of creeping traffic he accepts the rippling flow of the wandering stream.’”
East of Edgar Springs off
Highway O
“‘He does not hear
the snarl of exhaust, the raucous braying of horns’”
“‘perhaps even the sound of a falling acorn in the infinite peace of the quiet woods.’”
Near Rich Fountain, Missouri; note gables, tin roof, and “bob wahr.”