The Worcester spy., 1899-11-10

Is precious. 1t gives Berea an ac-
cess to the southeon people which no
'carpet-bag" institution could have.
The things that are eminently respect
able and influential in Dixie are the
things that were there before the
war" And Berea is doubly effective
for the principles 1t represents from
the fact that it grows out of the lib
eral sentiment Of the south itself.
And this history greatly assisted Be-
rea in taking the bold stand to which
Mr.. Gable has alluded of admitting COL
ored students. We can now speak of
an experiment which has lasted over
30 years, and IS an experiment no
longer. The evil results which many
good people expected from this course
have not appeared. There have been
no collisions of races, and no inter-
marriages. We have not done this
thing with any denunciation; we do not
assert the brotherhood Of man; we as
sumo It'll
We do not force the opinions Of our
southern students, but it is a part of
their education to see black men treat
ed according to their character and
ability. And it is part of the educa-
tion Of a black man to measure HIM
self by the standard of the more IA
vored race. And white students are
and oolored students are every year
taking higher and higher attainments.
They took colored man out Of our
sophomore class to place over the col
ored schools of Lexington, and one OF
the white commissioners remarked: u
can always tell a Bere2 niger when
he comes into my office, for he will be
neither cringing nor obtrusive!"
But I am expected to speak mainly
. N1f k.,4w,
pie, which was interrupted by the war,
and again by the fnterregnum follow
ing the death of President Henry Fair
child, but which is now assuming large
| proportions.
The mountain region of the south,
which we are trying to name Appala-
chan America, consists Of the rugged
back yards of eight states, grouped
around West Virginia. This region has
been concealed in it's essential unity by
the fact that 1t was thus parceled out.
But it is one grand division in essen
tial characteristics, and larger than all
New England. It's one dominant feat
ure is that it is a country without
| roads. In fact, it Is the largest horse
back area inhabited by people Of our
race.
This single fact puts the population
back into the colonial period. The
northern pioneers had the sea for a
highway. Then they ascended the
Connecticut and the Hudson rivers.
When the Hudson was too short, De
Witt Clinton heightened it with the
Erie canal Then came the great lakes
and then the railroads. But Appala-
ohian America has none Of these nav
igable rivers, inland lakes, or kindly
arms Of the sea. You can never know
what isolation means until you have
ridden with me for fifty miles on horse
back, up and down the banks and beds
Of streams. BY the bride path we
shall see the little log cabin--sometimes
two cabins for one family with roof
extending from one to the other. And
behind the cabin rises the cornheld so
preeipitously that they must prop the
pumpkins to keep them from breaking
from their moorings. And occasionally
We shall meet man who tells us that
he has been lame ever since he fell out
Of his cornfe1d.
And the children of that cabin, if
they wish to see the world, can only
go up stream or down stream to see
other cabins and cornfields like their
own. AS we have a fresh air fund for
the children of cities, we ought to have
a fresh idea fund for the children of
solitude.
can quickest give you an idea Of
the case of the mountaineer by reading
a family history just published in the
Berea Quarterly.
Now, my friends, Sarepta Gabbard is
representative and a type of between
two and three million native Amer
leans. This is an element not yet
listed, and appraised among our ma
| tional resources. Consider that these
people are not at all the poor white
trash, degraded by competition with
slave labor They are not degraded
people, but a people not yet graded UP.
In fact they are a survival of that
sturdy Saxon race from which we are
| ourselves sprung. Their dialect is full
Of good old Shaksperean English. Their
social customs and 1reside industries
all remind us of our pioneer fore
fathers In fact they can be best ex-
planned in single phrase by calling
them our contemporary ancestors.
Now, friends and neighbors, what
does America need today so much as
Americans? And here they are-ro-
bust, Protestant patriotic, ready for
northern guidance lacking nothing but
an initial impulse in education such as
we have given to every pioneer com
munity in the west
And 1 am glad to submit to such a
! COIIlpduy DIS lulS our program Tor set
| ting this belated population in step
| with the world. OF course such a pro-
gram must be an educational one, but
! it must be education carefully adopted
First comes our extension work, for
we cannot wait for all the mountains tC
come to school We send out small
libraries Of simple books and papers
and leaflets adapted to the condition OF
the people. And we send out lecturers
to speak at teachers Institutes and in
the little log school houses, and in the
county seats on court day. This year
we employed a man from Utah, who
encountered the Mormon missionaries
| and drove them out of several counties
This work is leavening wide
region. And it has more permanent
results than we expected. If l visit a
place where an extension lecture was
given the previous year, the people will
give me very adequate account OF
what was told them twelve months be-
fore.
Next come our trade schools, rude
affairs to be sure, in which strapping
boys and girls who have very little ed
ucation are taught carpentry house
work, or printing. We shall teach them
new wants. and we must teach them
how to supply those wants.
Besides these are the model schools,
connected with the normal department