Squire Hawkins got his title from being postmaster of Obedstown-not that the title properly belonged to the office, but because in those regions the chief citizens always must have titles of some sort, and so the usual courtesy had been extended to Hawkins. This dwelling constituted one-fifteenth of Obedstown the other fourteen houses were scattered about among the tall pine trees and among the corn-fields in such a way that a man might stand in the midst of the city and not know but that he was in the country if he only depended on his eyes for information. There was an ash-hopper by the fence, and an iron pot, for soft-soap-boiling, near it. Rubbish was scattered about the grassless yard a bench stood near the door with a tin wash basin on it and a pail of water and a gourd a cat had begun to drink from the pail, but the exertion was overtaxing her energies, and she had stopped to rest. Hawkins or the children stepped in and out over their bodies. The Squire's house was a double log cabin, in a state of decay two or three gaunt hounds lay asleep about the threshold, and lifted their heads sadly whenever Mrs. The district was called the Knobs of East Tennessee, and had a reputation like Nazareth, as far as turning out any good thing was concerned. You would not know that Obedstown stood on the top of a mountain, for there was nothing about the landscape to indicate it-but it did: a mountain that stretched abroad over whole counties, and rose very gradually.

The locality was Obedstown, East Tennessee. Squire Hawkins sat upon the pyramid of large blocks, called the stile, in front of his house, contemplating the morning.

The Gilded Age by Mark Twain