Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1907-05-22
CHRISTIAN END iAvOR.
Prayer Meeting Topic For the Week
Beginning May rs.
BY REV. S. Il. DOYLE

Topic.-Home missions The progress of
nhe southern mountaineers.-Isa Iii, f-l2
q The southwestern part of the Appa-
lachian mountl.n system is inhabited
by one of the most interesting ana i'm
portant of the exceptional populations
of the United States. President Roose-
welt in THE Winning OF tie West
rails their ancestors "backwoodsmen
of the A,leg.sanies'' DIR. Charles l..
Thompson. secretary of the Presbyte-
rian board of home missions. denoni-
mates them "our h.ghlanders,' and by
10 distinguished southern writer the IN
habitant of this region has been called
t'the forgotten man" In missionary
lparlance they are called 1.-The noun
ttaineers" or mountain people of the
|south. In round numbers there are
about 100000 of these people, princi-
pally living in the mountains of North
Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and
West Virginia. They are divided into
two classes. The first are the valley
lfolk," who live in the fertile valleys at
tthe foot of the mountains and have en-
joyed the advantages of education, cul-
iture and civilization. In the second
place there is the true mountaineer
with whom the missionary has to do,
He lives in his cabin home far distant
from the city and the village, in the
deep valleys and on the mountain sides.
iand makes a scant livelihood by the
practice of rude agriculture and by
hunting.
| The southern mountaineerS are the
descendants of Scotch Irish Presbyte
irians who came to the country because
of religious persecution in the reign OF
Queen Anne in England. For years
they came in great numbers TO Amer
nca, some settling in eastern and
western Pennsylvania and others go
ting to the mountains of Virginia and
1.-THE Carolinas and thence westward
Ito Tennessee and Kentucky. Toward
the close of the eighteenth century
two factors entered into the lives of
these early settlers of the southern,
mountains which led to their impov
ierishment and their being driven back
Into the mountains. The first of these
was the Revolutionary war. 1t is need
less to say that they were enthusiastic
fin support of the movement for inde-
jpendence. To this cause they not only
Offered their lives, but their fortunes.
and when the war was over they were
poor. In the second place, they were
strongly opposed to slavery, and this
kept them poor, and they were grad
ually pushed back farther and farther
into the mountains until they scarcely
ever came into touch with civilization.
were lost sight of and were indeed
forgotten. 1t seems like romance
that such population, with such an
ancestry, could have drifted thus al
most out of sight of the throbbing
world, which, after all, was not far
distant. But 1t Is no romance, but an
awful tragedy, that almost lost great
multitude Of really noble people to the
world.
The conditions of life under such cir
cumstances may readily be imagined.
as also the terrible results that must
surely follow. Life in the mountain
cabins was hard, and as the mountain
GERS descended deeper and deeper into
poverty they also descended mentally
morally and spiritually until they had
reached a most degraded condition.
And then the missionary appeared.
and from that time on progress has
been made.
The progress of the mountaineers
has been most remarkable. This was
largely due to the inherited tendencies
of the people. Their ancestors had
boap C<rio<yv roliuiovc ap1 tv cvifa ~
all their ignorance and degradation
there still chung to them a strong faith
in God and, above all, a deep reverence
for the Bible and sacred things. In
many a mountain cabin an old copy of
the Bible could be found, which was
frequently read by mothers and grand
mothers to the children. And the men
while rough In many ways, had not
lost all the principles of true manhood
The soil was good, and when the seed
was sown upon 1t 1t brought forth
good fruit In single generation
men of education, Of great force of
character and capable of doing things
were produced even from such sur
roundings, and the progress continues
The school and the church are lifting
up that mighty population, and the
entire lives Of the mountaineers are
being transformed. But the need for
mission work was never greater than
at the present. Railroads are being
pushed back into the mountains to
bring forth its rich ores. Towns and
cities are springing up, but the infiu-
ence Of these mining towns tends to-
ward greater degradation rather than
toward the uplifting Of the people.
Therefore instead of relaxing our eff
forts in their behalf we should redou-
BILE them. The present is the most
critical moment in the lives Of the
mountain people of the south. and. this
being the case. we should put forth re-
doubled efforts to win them for Christ.
BIBLE READINGS.
Ez. vi, $40; Neh. ii, Ills; Nah. !. Is;