The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-12
THE "ApPALACHAN AMERICAN"

! THE .APpALACHIAN AMERICAN
me mountalneer has been a good deal
discussed since Kentucky politics got into
such deplorable tangle- The fact that
! he appeared in the streets Of Frankfort
in large numbers armed with rifles,
vovers and knives, just prior 10 the XII
ing Of Mr.. Cioebel has been the cause Of
the printing of a mass of stuff in news
papers and magazines the greater part
Of which does the mouutalneer gross in
| justice This IS pointed out in a thought
ful paper by Prof Frost of Berea (Ky)
College in the American Monthly Review
of Reviews. Prof Frost has lived among
the people and studied them, ana IS there
| fore competent to express an opinion re-
speeding them.
The mountaineer, as type is not pecu-
har TO Kentucky. but Is found in nine
states. beginning at the Pennsylvania line
and extending into Alabama He is so
distinct from the people by whom ne Is
surrounded on an sides that ne shoum he
called the Appalachian American" The
chief reason for the difference between
the mountaineer and his fellow country
men lies In the fact Of his isolation. His
territory has no navigable river no coast
line, no inland lakes, and few railroads
He lives in 'land of saddle-bags." Nat
urally. therefore. his civilization is that
Of the saddle-bag period. In other words
at the close of The nineteenth century,
when all the rest Of the country is hum
ming with electricity. and printing presses
aud looms are catering day and night
the mountaineer resides in an atmosphere
OF colonial times. when pine knots and
tallow dips were the means of illumina-
ton, and hand looms were the only ma
chimes for the production of cloth. The
balance Of the world has moved on ahead
Of the man Of the mountains, and he is
hundred years behind the times. He is
reminder of the days of chivalry, when
all gentlemen wore side arms and deemed
ii matter of honor 10 avenge all per-
sonal insults with blood. In those days
the gentleman looked upon the govern
ment as a defender merely in the matter
of protecting him against foreign foes
He held himself amply able TO take care
of his own personal quarrels And that
is the spirit of the mountaineer of the
present. He fights because his life in the
open air has made him independent and
high spirited, and he sometimes kills be
cause he regards ii as beneath the dignity
of man 10 run whining to the law 10
avenge him Of an injury done by some one
no better man physically than he. The
ancestors of the mountaineers brought
over 10 the new world with them these
IDEAS Of chtvaIry and self-protection, and
their descendants cling 10 the Old codes
still. 1t is extremely rare that deed
of blood is done in the mountains for pur-
poses of robbery or outrage. When the
gun or the knife as used it is almost in
variably because of some point of hon
or" assailed or in dispute. The "Appa-
lachian American has neither associated
nor mixed with an incoming foreign ele-
ment, and the idea of lgamation with
any other race is hateful to him. He holds
virtue in woman to be priceless. and is
ever ready to night and die if needs be in
| defense OF it.
When means of communication shall
have been opened through the noun
tain districts, schools established there,
and printing presses set up in each
county, then the people of the hign-
lands will become educated out of their
feudal ways and ideas Meantime it is
not 10 be forgotten that Lincoln, Boone
and other great Americans were noun
taineers. and that the Appalachian range
has produced some of the worlds best SOL
| diers.