Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1911-07-20
The "Mountain Whites for Us.

We have never been one 0f
those who took kindly to that
fad of advertising the people OF
Western North Carolina as dia-
monds in the rough who were
SPECIAL objects OF charity in Or
der that their natural brillianre
might be uncoverrd-that il,
above any other people or Sec
ton. We have known the noun
tain people and kn' W that, While,
by force of the circumstances OF
isolation they did notall patron
ize the barber daily norlay n'uch
stress upon the swallow tail 80
necessary to some of the low
land dudes, the land that sent
forth to the country at large
such men as Vance, Clingman,
Davidson. Doughton, Newland,
and hundreds OF Others whose
lives have npllfted their fellow
men. had compensatory advan-
tnges that would make the ap-
pellation "mountain white" a
badge of honor to be sought af-
ter rather than a term OF re-
pronch or a call for special aid
beyond that of other sections.
But while we had that general
aversion to the prevalent idea
that these good people were cry
ing out wont you'ens come
over and help we'ens?', as n class.
we yielded to the desire TO aid
those who were reported to be
80 plaintively calling, even If the
call be individual and isolated.
There is much splf-satisfaction
in turning over your nickle to
help the distant hpathen that we
have accomplished that Fat
more than once, when we are
convinced that ii we had kept
our ear to the ground we might
have heard our nearer lowland
children crying: wont you
ems help we'uns?'
The iact is, as it was in the
days when the young man ofGal
lilee event about doing good
: and as it has been throughout
the succeeding centuries and will
10 until the millennium shall he
usherei ln-"The poor ye have
with We alway'-in all countries
? and all sections. We ONE man
3 aged the business of a small yarn
8 mill-a position that required
the giving up oI half our salary
, that real physical suffering might
e he partially relieved. With this
q experience how could we point t'
the hills and exclhim ''behold
j. the poor mountain white?" The
J. fellow who comes to us with thai
= CRY hereafter must be prepared
t to point out some individual case
n or defend himself against fierce
}; assault. We can take no othe1
d position after our visit to Le
noir, Blowing Rock, Linville ane
'r Boone last week and the lessons
n we learned remains with us w
met there men, women, boys ant
e girls who by virtue OF what the.
u knew made our mind snap ant
n, crack and feel the exh,leratlon o
'e the entrance OF new truth. Tall
o about "poor mountain whites,
why over at Boone we learne'
u II from the speech of welcome deliv
ID cred by Solicitor Llnney, tina
b. Watauga county has only tw'
thousand vott re-, while two tho
sand and Two hundred odd ow'
- their own homes and farms
in "poor mountain whites" Tor
Ii. sooth!
an Boone is isolated, no railroa
ey penetratps the county Of Watal
" " ga of which it is the capital. l.
of ing over the Blue Ridge with til
Ii. Stone mountains dividing it frol
:al the state of Tennessee, it's onl
!n VI egress is by such pixies as the er
-, 70 terprise of her citizens have cal
"a we'd out of the rocks through TT
las natural masses over mOuntal