Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-14
NEED CT THE SOUTH
Great Lack of Educational
Facilities in Rural Districts.
nLITERACY IN MOUNTAINS
Millions of Sturdy, High-Souled, But
Ignorant Toilers.
STATES NEGLECT THEIR DUTY
Meager Provision for Teaching the
Children-Record of Grant
University.
lLITERACY IN MOUNTAINS
STATES NEGLECT THEIR DUTY
BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
The recent striking interview between
Senator Tiliman and Mr.. John d. Rookie
Teller. they rode together on a railway
train through a destitute section of the
routh. has excited considerable attention
Mr.. Tillman pressed upon the millionaire
philanthropist the educational needs Of
the multitudes Of mountaineers, who are
usually termed poor white and Mr..
Rockefciler promised to do something for
them. Knowing that President Thirkield
of Howard University has given quarter
Of century to mission and educational
work IN thai class. l asked him as to the
conditions ar1ong the whites in the foot
hills and mountains.
From 100 to 1906 I was general
officer CT he Methodist Episcopal Church
and had oversight of nearly a score of
institutions for the education of the
American Highlanders." said DR.. Thir-
kield: 1.-The problem of the south is not
Of one race. but of two races, and the
solvent is the broadening. softening and
uplifting influence of education among all
classes of the people. white and black"
iic are the american HlRnIanderSv
Where are they?' I asked.
The American Highlanders.
Well. am reminded of the reply of
Macaulay when once asked as to the
Scotch I1ighlanders. He said: Not one
gentleman in twenty who meet at Wills
Coffee House in London knows that less
than 800 miles away there exist such a
condition and suct' a people as the Scotch
Highlanders.' And SO here in America
Most people are ignorant as to the where
abouts. the character and the life of sew
eral millions of sturdy. high-souled clean
blooded Anglo-Saxon Highlanders of the
central south. AS the moutain ranges
where ,tey dwell form the backbone Of
the country. so these Highlanders of ma
tive American stock NiriIc in faculty
large In capacity. of free and unbroken
Spirit. form the backbone of the people
They are found in the hill and mountain
country of northern Alabama, Georgia,
Kentucky. Tennessee North Carolina
South Carolina, Virginia and West Vir-
ginia.
1T is region about 600 miles long and
200 miles wide. covered by noble noun
talns which are cut up by swift and mar
row streams into valleys gorges and
coves. There is the land of the sky.'
And here is population Of over 5000, 900.
more than that of half a dozen western
states put together.
ana IN poverty. the name poor whites
does not fit them. In their high-souled
independence the spirit of these mountain
people Is portrayed in the lines of Mrs
Hemans:
For the strength Of the hills we bless Thee,
Our God. our fathers God:
Thou hast made Thy children mighty
BY the touch Of the mountain sod
Thou hast fixed our ark Of refuge
For the strength of The Ellis we bless Thee.
Our God. our fathers God:
Here. for generations. shut of from
civilization. without adequate schools, and
often with an -nliterate ministry. hun
dreds OF thousands of these people have
lived and reared their children. And.
mark YOU. there Is no. race suicide there
AS DR.. Ryder of the American Missionary
Association was riding along a winding
bridls path some years ago he met
mountaineer. who said: Elder that is my
house over yonder.
To the question How many children
have yOu?' he replied:
Twenty-Five: eighteen of them are boys.
and they were all in the Union Army
1t is no uncommon thing for a dozen
people to live in a One-rOom cabin.
Sturdy Patriots.
Their ancestry traces back to colonial
times. The mountain walls have cut
them of from the rest Of the country
Shut up in the coves and valleys cling
ing to the rough mountain sides. cut off
from an advancing civilization, they have
remained primitive people. living as
their fathers lived. retaining their quaint
forms Of speech and Anticipated tools of
toll. There is found the largest percent
age Of people in the nation OF pure Eng
lish and Scotch-Irish descent-in many
counties averaging from o. to 96 per cent
OF pure. clean blood uncontaminated by
the vices Of civilization. they love their
native hills: they are children or liberty
CT &,s~
saved the day in the crisis at Kings
mountain. At the battle of Guilford
Courthouse they did heroic service Here
is the largest percentage of the descend
ants of revolutionary soldiers Hun
dreds Of families hold government land
titles. coming down from the early days
of the republic. In the great civil strife
that threatened the life of the nation
from these mountains 10000 volunteer
patriots. lovers of liberty and loyal to
the Union. came forth at the call of Lin
coin. They saved the border south to the
nlon And what fighters they were.
\ mountain guide once described the ter
rifle day when these men first met in
battle:
Tell We what. them men was fighters
They'd ben used to Hckin' everythn' they
met. and when they struck the Army of
the Cumberland they didn't know what
fired in their faces. but still they kept
a-comin'. Men that was shot i'm their
feet got on their hands and knees and
kept a-comin. and We couldn't git shet
of 'em till We killed 'en dead"
What is their intellectual capacity?"
Fine Mental Capacity.
The mountain people are of fine men,
tai capacity. man of affairs and a deem
student of character once said of them.
They need only an Introduction to civi,i-
zation to prove themselves equal 10 any
men In the world i regard them as the
finest rough material in the world. and
shape. worth TO the world a dozen ordi-
nary people And yet today hundre, 8 of
thousands of these patriotic Americans
are more ignorant and more destitute of
the opportunities which go with educa-
ton than any other body of Anglo-Sa xon
people on the face of the earth Only one
who has given his life for this yiril vet
backward people has a right to pass iudC
ment upon them. Rev. H. p. Smith SUI
perintendent of missions of the Southern
Presbyterian Church, in pamphlet on
Some Results of Mission ), ork in
the Mountains of North Carolina
deplores the fact that some writ
ers have not Disseminated between the
cultured population of the valley sections
and the illiterate classes that dwell in the
remote coves and on the rugged noun
lain slopes. He gives some such alarming
facts as these:
In a certain mountain county there
are 1883 white children of school age
3.212 of whom have never attended
school. II would take fifteen or twenty
more school houses to accommodate them
liytr-