The "piney woods" gopher, which may be not inappropriately termed a "highland turtle," is a great desideratum in the food supply of the pauper denizens of these portions of the South.
There is nothing enticing about the appearance of the gopher.

But his flesh, properly cooked, is passably palatable.
The poor white population of the South who live in the piney woods are sunk in the lowest ignorance, and practice vices too heinous to be breathed.

They have no schools, and their mental condition hardly warrants the charitable inference that they would profit much if they were supplied with them.

Still, I would like to see the experiment tried.

Their horrible poverty, their appalling illiteracy, their deplorable moral enervation, deserve the pity of mankind and the assistance of philanthropic men and a thoughtful government.