Evening star., 1901-09-27
MAIDENS FROM MOUNTAINS
QUAINT SCHOLARS IN NORTH
CAROLINA INSTITUTE.
Girls Who Have Never Seen n Looking
Giaxs-Awkward in Mount
ing Stairs.
From the New York Snu.

From the New York Snu.
The auaintest college of girls in the
United States are at the normal and indus
trial institute at Asheville, C., which is in
tended for the benefit of the young women
of the mountain districts There are al
ways three four youthful widows and
child wives in the classes, early marriages
being customary among the mountaineers.
and the sudden disappearance of husbands,
either because of social feuds or the
vigilance of the revenue officers, being too
common an occurrence to excite surprise.
The first thing the girls are taught on
entering the institute is how to do without
tobacco and be content. And the teachers
have become expert in lecturfng this
subject and explaining Just why the use
of the weed is inconsistent with polite be-
havior. 1t takes several weeks to bring
the girls to the point of voluntarily reSig-
ing into the faculty's hands the little pri-
vate stores of tobacco and snuff which they
brought along in their home luggage, but
once this milestone in the training is pass
ed the pupils show such ready interest in
all that is taught that their progress is
rapid.
Sturdy, Healthy Girls.
AS a rule they are sturdy, healthy, prom
ising-looking girls, straightforward and
easy to deal with. They show remarkable
quickness Of apprehension considering
what a contrast the college discipline pre-
sents to the rough, free life they were
used to.
Few of these mountain girls when they
come to the school have ever seen a look
ing glass, or a clothes brush or even the
most ordinary of toilet or housekeeping
implements" said a woman familiar with
the school and its workings" ''They have
never held a pen In their fingers or taken
boil 90 IL
wonderful object, as is two-story house.
And most OF them go up and downstairs
for the first few weeks with all the awk-
wardness and caution Of people under
going novel sensation. The only objects
you could show them that would seem
familiar would be guns and shooting end
trapping apparatus, or the heayy-lidded
ovens for cooking over an open fire.
1T Is some time before the mountain
girls quaint dialect wears off through
intercourse with her college associations.
Miss s., there's power OF hardness
in our room, teacher will be told some
girl means that the three or four girls in
the room have quarrelled and authority
Is required to set matters straight
Mountain Dialect.
Two girls who, although they could be-
tween them raise only 81 for their expenses,
were admitted to the college, said after
ward, In describing how anxious they were
to get in. that they had just been 'a-snor-
tin to come for a long time.
"a girl who has puzzled for long over a
difficult task will tell you that she's clean,
done, plumb wore to a frazzle' over it.
LAS q class these mountaineers are down
on all affectation and do not hesitate to
speak their mind when any one of them
falls short Of the standard. Once a girl
being III her cousin carried some toast
and coffee to her room for her In transit
some of the coffee smiled ha toa or nd
the sick girl said she could not eat it on
that account The cousin deliberately took
up her sewing and proceeded to upraid her
on the subject.
Now. sairy. yer kin eat thet good
enough If you wants ter she said. We
uns waZ riz up together. What I kin eat
yer kin eat and we kin eat jtst anything.
50 yer needn't be putin on and a putin
on jist cause we've come here to live
Yer nuther sumthin' nor some nuther. Yer
jist the same old Sairy and I'm jst the
same old Jane. So nary jip. OF nuthin
else will you get but that toast
| Sometimes after the longest training in
conventional speech and expression, a girl
will revert to her native tongue, particular
ly at times when she feels strongly on any
| subject.
so your husband was your cousin and
| your mothers husband was her cousin
was said to promising pupil whose hus-
| band had been run off by government off,
| GERS a year before and who had been res
| cued from q family where she was clearly
one too many and not well treated.
| Yes she said. There's a power of
| time some on us was gittin' outen ourn
] kinfolkS.' ts-
vendettas of Long Standing.
"Those familiar with the conditions agree
| with this opinion. The particular families
| settled in given cove stay there for gen.
| erations. A man rarely goes more than
| two or three miles away for wife. Neigh
| borhood and family quarreIs are hot and
| frequent In some districts where it was
| designed to establish a. school with an edu-
| Gated mountain girl as teacher the effort
| standing vendettas that prevented any
unity Of feeling in public matters.
The local preachers of various denomi-
nations who occasionally traverse the dis
trict can barely read and write themselves.
| and for them to offer the light of fnstruc-
tion is as the blind leading the blind.
"I If you uns is got anything to give look
| in to the export Of this preachin' it will be
| gradually received heard one of these
breaches announce once when a collection
| was to be taken up.
From the beginning Of the Institution
| one Of the discouragements met with was
| the early marriages. Nearly all the girls
approached on the subject Of attending
| the school were anxious to come; but some,
! although only thirteen fourteen, were
| already married and settled, and others
! who could not arrange to enter Immediately
became wives before the next school term
] opened.
| Many Of the girls arrive at the school
| in rickety ox-carts drawn by one or two
| oxen; sometimes by a mule and an OK
! hitched together. Some walk in company
| with their elders a two three days jour-
| ney leading to an eventful end. 1t Is no.
| ticeable that very few Of the girls after
having got an insight into the world and
better order Of living show contempt for
their parents or friends. There seems a
strong tie Of affection binding them to
their kinfolk and old associations, and they
are always ready to make excuses for the
poverty and hardship at home. The teach
ers who come in contact with the young
mountain women regard them as very
promising, apt scholars"
ONE HUSBAND PER YEAR.