The farmer and mechanic., 1913-12-02

children. Now that the timber and
game are gone the men have lost
their occupation. and. strangely
enough, it has not yet occurred 70
them to relieve the women OF their
burdens 1t is a question whether 1t
has occurred to the women, who are
raised" to be child-bearers and day
drudges for their lords. who speno
their time in taking corn to mill and
saving the politics of North Carolina
at the little store at the cove.
But this is not telling the story of
the trip to the Big Laurel and l will
not do 1t this time, having spn the
yarn too long. Let this suffice: We
climbed up and up. The blizzard
struck us half a mile below the gap.
The bitterness Of the downpour was
too much for my light clothes, SO l
had to get out and foot it, and we'll
it was, for just then fallen tree
stopped the procession. That the
mountaineers are always on the
watch was attested by the Quickness
scene with saw and AK to release us.
Half way down the other side dark
ness came upon us. Just how the
little ponies picked their way down
is more than I can understand. l
just shut my eyes and awaited deVel-
opments. But we got down thanks
to much horse sense, and reached
time for late supper and the evening
meeting.
Here's One Big Mistake.
Now a word about the schooling Of
our mountaineers, for US who are SO
accustomed to boast of our public
school system. Know. then, that
from the beginning of the Republic
up to last year whole counties in
the mountain regions have had nc
public schools Whatever. For gener-
ations the people grew up entirely
illiterate. Even now many Of the
mountain preachers cannot read the
| from! Those early times were the
days Of bloody feuds and resistance
| to government. Then a remarka able
| home mission work was begun by the
Presbyterian, Christian and Other
Protestant denominations Mission
schools were built in the coves. These
reached the children and through
them ameliorated the condition:
| somewhat. In the field Of my visit
met with the cOnsecrated mountain
workers of the Presbyterian church
who have been supplying all the ed
| ucation Of Madison, Yancey and
third county close by "Hell-fer-sart rtin'
creek. They found things in fearfu
| condition and have done great gOot
in changing the mountains. Murder
are not common now; social vice i
almost unknown; even typhoid an,
consumption are on the decrease Blu
in spite Of all this the leaders ar
frank to realize that the kind Of edu
cation the schools have given has no
added thrift to the mountains; for a
soon as a young man or woman ge
"larnin' he bids good bye to the lone
some pine and goes out into the worl
of the "furriners.'
Last year the State of North Caro-
lima began to open short term school
where the mission schools have work
ed, and this is as it should be; bu
such schools alone cannot redeem tn
mountains. The Presbyterians ar
ready to withdraw from the field S
far as running mission schools ar
concerned; but not before they hav
been instrumental in aiding in tn
, building Of a school that can TAX
care of all the people in the noun
tains, young and old alike. Th
: school that will do this work is, n
doubt, an adaptation of the DAMS
! ! folk high school, such as was discuss
l ed at the conference and held {
E Kirksvi1le recently. Plans for thes
! schools will be matured and the fir:
I steps taken at a meeting to be held {
I Knoxville early next spYing But thu
also is another story