The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-30
By Mrs. Martha eieiow

By Mrn. Martha GfelOw.
 About twenty-five years ago the woman's Home Missionary Society ol l the M. E. Church was organized and | brought into existence for the purpose l of bettering the religious and educa- i tional conditions of the emancfpated slaves of the South With but small | beginning this organization has not only established many schools Tor ne- gro girls in every State In the union,
 but has extended it's Christianizing aid
 into many foreign lands. and last but | not least, now supports and operates 1 four schools for the white girls Of ! the mountain districts of the south. The Ritter Home at Athens. Tenn, the Bennett Home at Clarkson, Miss. the
 Mitchell Home in Cedar Valley, N c, and the Rebecca McCluskey Home in Boaz, Alabama.
 1 The first mission in the Southern mountains, was established. however, l by the Presbyterian Board at Ashe- vile. N. C., some twenty years ago. and through the efforts of these un- tiring workers for humanity. thirty
 nine schools and fourteen missions now stand to their credit Other Mis- sion Boards and denominations have also joined In this noble work to up- l lift the white womanhood or the mountains, until we are-infdrmed< that there are now "sixty-eight" schools established. With sixty-eight reii- gious schools. and with public schools they need to solve the problem of the Mountain whitesr' What more do they need! That's a very pertinent question and am glad to- be able to respond to 1t What more do they need?" Well. let us see. The area
 covered by the Appalachian region ex- tends from West Virginia. throughout tof n 1n f I Is estimated to contain nearly three million people---one half of which live I in the high and inaccessible mountain tops of this wonderful and beautiful range and because of their remefeness. are cut off almost entirely from the progress of civilization. One half mtl- I lion of these Highlanders are loct@ed ! in the mountains of North Carolina-- where 1t is said that the public schools | have always been." though, of low grade and short duration" and that | they have not been uplifting to tho people concerned" Certainly the grade must have been exceedingly | Tow" not to have had more encour- aging results and it seems very evil dent that much missionary work is needed where public schools have failed to inspire and uplift." In Se- ply to this question, What more do they needT'I would say sixty-eight
 more missions, and better grade and longer system of public and indus trial schools.
 North Carolina Is a grand old Com
 monwealth. She can proudly boast of
 her many cultured men and women. and she is struggling bravely with l the problems that have fallen to her
 and to her sister States. She has lately added a two million donation to her annual one million appropria- A~S- ffFzA n m
 would gladly have donated ten mil- lions to that fund, had it been possi- ble to do so For this good old moth CT is first in illiteracy with nineteen per cent. of illiterate native-born
 white children over ten years of age.
 on her hands body of white Hit crates, that in 1900 more than dou- bled the number of the combined white
 population of her sixteen largest cit ies. (See Twelfth Census of the Uni- ted States, Vol. 1, page 25l. If North Carolina could have donated
 ten millions instead of two millions, it would not be sufficient for the work necessary to be done in her rural dis- tricts. If a mission home could be
 established in every one of her seventy five counties, 1t would not be one too
 many. With all that Is being done In
 other States for these. ''our contempo-
 rary ancestors" so called by the Pres
 ident of Berea College. much is yet to
 be done, for in the language of Miss snider. the National Organizer of the w, 1T. NJ. S., the field is so vast and the workers so few, it seems an almost
 hopeless task" And Miss Smith of the
 New York Board of Domestic Missfens.
 writes that the work among the noun
 tain whites Is both encouraging and liscouraging. Encouraging in the
 wonderful results discouraging in that
 ha orr al
 more light must be disregarded for
 lack of helpers"
 Tn fact 1t can easily be learned that in every one of these Mission Homes
 for Mountain Whites every year more
 girls are turned away than are admit
 ted-for the want of more room and
 more money" If there is any doubt
 that more helpers, more schools
 christian 'industriaP ana public"
 are needed go visit these inaccessible
 districts, where the lone mission work
 CT tolls, and see for yourself For as
 Miss Snider has told me, and as al-
 ready knew. only those who have gone
 and seen with tneIr own eyes, can ever
 know, or realize. the pitiable condition
 of these people. A very good idea of
 what work is being done among these
 highlanders of our Southern mountains
 can be easily gotten during the win
 ter season in New York city from what
 we near in the pulpit and on the plat
 form For New York is not only the
 headquarters Of "Iniiilouaires" and
 trusts" but this great metropolis Is
 also the headquarters of philanthropy
 ists and missions. and 1t is to this Mecca
 the earnest workers of the mountain
 missions and the various missionary
 fields all over the world turn for
 help, and seldom fail to receive. It
 was in New York I heard a young,
 deacon from Virginia who was on his
 'annuar solicitation visit to the me
 tropoIis tell of the destitation and ig-
 norance of thousands of the isolated
 whites of the Mother State"
 In New York heard of a worker
 from Kentucky tell by words and show
 by picture slides of the lever present
 and ever pervading poverty and ignor-
 anee of the mountain people he was
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