Trying to find a book I read as a child in 1973?
The story was set in, I think Kentucky. There were two boys, one older, one younger. The older boy took the younger boy coon hunting at night. He had a hunting dog, used to aim his tobacco juice when he spit it, hunted in the hollow, ate persimmons, and may have had a pistol hidden in the woods. I don’t remember much more. I have no idea who the author was or the title. I don’t remember caring about such things back then. I sure would love to read this book now.
Hie to the Hunters by Jesse Stuart (first published in 1950)
Sparkie is a 16 year-old, tobacco chewin’, fox huntin’, overgrown teenager from the hills of Kentucky. He rescues Did Hargis from two bullies who are using him for a punching bag, and takes him home to the hills. Did is a soft city-slicker kid who is the resident poster boy of the local school. When Did first meets Sparkie’s father “Peg” and mother “Arn” he is amused at their homey mannerisms and country ways. But Did soon learns that all knowledge is not found in books. He learns from his new family more than he had ever learned from his own father who operates the local hardware store. He even learns to sleep in the barn’s hay loft with a hound dog or two for a blanket. Sparkie and Did coon hunt, fox hunt, and run a trap-line together. At first Did is all thumbs, but he soon learns the tricks of being a mountain-man and fits right in.
Meanwhile, a feud is brewing between the fox-hunters and the tobacco-growers. The tobacco-growers blame the fox-hunters for letting their hounds run through their tobacco and so they set out poison in the tobacco fields. In retaliation, tobacco barns start going up in flames one by one. Also, Did’s dad isn’t too happy about his leaving home to live among these “backward hillbillies” and gets the sheriff and town locals after Sparkie’s folks. Did wants to stay, and the result is a cornfield fight between the mountain people and the city people. The mountain folk are at the annual corn-shuckin’ when trouble breaks out. Did has just found a red ear (and thereby earned a kiss from his girl) when his dad and half the town come over the hill. Corn-stalks, fists, and insults are flying all around that night, but the issue still isn’t settled.