The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-02-09
THAT Mss HOLMAN.
One OF Her Philadelphia Hearers
Doubtful About Statements Con.
corning North Carolina Mountain

M@4&&
Doubtful About Statements Con-
corning North Carolina Mountain
GERS.
From q Mitchell county minister
we learn that a Pfttsburg lady in
terested in charitable work has writ
ten him asking that he furnish her
with the exact truth as regards the
sensational statements made by Miss
Lydia Holman about the North Caro-
lima mountain people. This lady has
taken notice of the condemnation vis-
tied upon Miss Holman's methods by
and through The Observer The Asher
vile Citizen and other papers. "The
| Woman's Southern Society Of Pitts
burg, of which I am an active mems
Der" says the writer. sis at present
endeavoring to raise one thousand
dollars for the Holman Association,
The object or characterization is to do
settlement work In the town qpf Let
ger, NJ C, opening a small hospital in
connection with the other work. Tt fe
| hoped that this small beginning will
| eventually eliminate In the establish
ment of a large, thoroughly equipped
hospital, known,aI believe, as the Hol-
man hospital. Miss Holman claims
1 O4GAS OA4O E4O0S AOO0 4O4 "a AOSH4
| tai to benefit the 500 medical and SUR
gical cases within a radius of twenty
miles of Ledger" Says this inquirer in
concluding: Miss Holman's heart
may be so thoroughly in her work that
she was Internationally misrepresent-
Ting conditions to'us."
The stories which Miss Holman has
been telling might almost reduce a
Il h~oao~ sron-o 0R NE01Anh IN &oo~1 - To
they are told in good faith, they are
told in a spirit of historical imagin-
ing. There is about them an air of
~unreality which should breed doubts
even if no knowledge whatever of
the alleged facts existed or if no de-
NAL had been made. AS d. J. B. Ewing
has started. and as we r prepared
to affirm with him, the element of
truth in Miss Holman's .agoniz-
ing picture leaves almost van
ishingly Insignificant relation to
the whole. 1t has been point
ed out that the very village which
she represents as characterized by So
ciali conditions suggesting a village of
the jungles of India fifty years ago
possesses a county circulating library
of several thousands volumes and can
count five graduates of recognized
medical colleges within a short ra-
dius. Our mountain people have I'M
avoidably fallen behind the general
march of events owing to their ply
steal isolation, but they have never
fallen into wholesale degradation and,
with more and more railroads and
more and more good county schools.
they are 10Y making up for lost time
at a rapid rate. The poverty among
them has never been the cruel poverty
of the cities, in that it did not involve
the lack of bread.
To those who have wept with Miss
Holman in Northern cities we would
say that they may spare further tears.
They have been badly befooled, Wheth-
er Intentionally or not. And while a
hospital may be needed in various
parts Of the mountain region, as hos
pitfalls are needed in many rural dis
tricts throughout the country, Miss
Holman is not a proper person to- con-
duct it with ccess The mountain
people strongly and justly resent her
descriptions of them. so that when she
came upon her proposed mission as
an ambassador Of civilization she
would be persona non grata in the Elk
IRENE. Without meaning to be more
severe than necessary, We would even
say that no one who goes about the
country with such stories would pro-
badly fit any post where responsible
and judicious. management is requir-
ed. Lastly, we would advise the good
women of Pittsburg that hey them
selves investigate through a compe-
tent representative before opening
their pockets to any self-appointed
spokesman or spokeswoman for the
heather of the South.-Charlotte OBJ
server. ~