The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-04
KENTUCKY MOUNTAINEERS.

Recent events in Kentucky should sup
ply Jonn Fox with abundant material for
more dramatic novels on the order OF 1.-The
Kentuckians.'' In that lively tale his
hero is mountaineer, self-educated and
of great natural ability. who becomes by
sheer force of education and superior in
tellect political leader among them. He
is sent to the Legislature and there distin-
cuisines himself by his oratorical powers
and the energy with which he advocates
measures in the interests of his constit-
uents- But he also encounters opposition
and arouses personal enmities out of which
tragedies grow. The scene of the story is
those who have read the tale have, no
doubt, been frequently reminded of its in
cidents during the past week. The author
gives. incidentally, an outline of the his
tory and characteristics of the mountain
GERS a class distinct from the residents
of the blue grass region. Somebody writ
ing in the New York Post about Berea Col
lege, which was established in 1851 by Gen.
Cassius NJ Clay for the express benefit of
the mountain people, covers the same
ground briefly. This mountain region, ac-
cording to this writer, embraces the noun
famous backyards of nine States, extend-
ing from Pennsylvania to Alabama, and
including a territory larger than New Eng
land. The people of the territory, he says,
are to-day more destitute of the means of
education than any other people of our
race in the world. Their condition has
come about through natural causes, so that
we cannot blame the people as negligent
or despise them as inferior. Their status"
he says, lis due to a geological accident
so vast a territory without coast or lake
or inland stream" He gives this account
of their origin:
The mountaineers are largely descended
from revolutionary soldiers of English
and Scotch-Irish stock, who settled in the
richer valleys at the end of the last GEN.
fury. They brought with them the civiliza-
ton or the colonial period, and their pos
terity nave not kept pace with The progress
or the world. There was social repulsion
between them and the shareholders of the
lowlands which intensified their isolation,
and the hard conditions of their lives
caused a gradual loss of most of the
meager "book-learning which the first
settlers brought in.
The mountains are full of strange Saxon
survivals-ShakSpeare words long obso-
lete among us, the nres.ue industries of the
loom and dye-kettle, and Odd English ball
lads handed down by oral tradition from
the times of the crusades. In word, these
people are our contemporary ancestors.
"All this" he goes on to say, SHOULD be
made account of in juggling their charac-
tiers and actions. They have no more re-
gard for the sanctity of human life than
the average Briton Oh the time of Henry
VIII. But they are an honest, patriotic,
religious. hospitable people. with abundant
native capacity" Berea College is a small
and poorly-endowed ins,,.ution, situated in
eastern Kentucky. not far from Cumber-
land Gap. but is civilizing influence Of
considerable force. Events like those Of
last week are likely to call general atten-
ton to the educational needs OIL the region
and result in supplying them. Certainly it
is to be hoped that good of this kind may
come out of the tragedy.