Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-12-24

two, wound aroand the foot of the
hill and up the path to the main
hall, whose auditorium would by no
means hold them all. 1t was hard
to realize that this scene differed
very much from hundreds of others
in our country, yet it is no eXagger-
alton to say that our country has
nothing else like it.
WHAT SORT OF FOLK ARE THE KEN
lucky HIGHLANDERS?
The president of the school had a
scar on his head, put there, possibly,
by a rifle in the hands of one of the
audience. Men marched side by side
in that procession who fifteen years
before would have shot each other
on sight. Children sat with fathers,
who but for that mountain school
teacher would in all probability have
at that moment been orphans. Boys
and girls sat there who but for the
influence Of that rugged man would
never have been born. Ny imagi-
nation ran riot as | looked at that
audience Of scholars, alumni, and
friends. There were schoolteach-
ers, bankers, a judga, and young
men recently graduated with honors
from great univers; who had
come into the heart of the hills to
renew their ties with the school that
had transformed all life for them.
| was distinctly conscious that
was forming a very new idea of
what sort of people these Kentucky
Highlanders were. We had so often
heard them called The Mountain
Whites" with the implication that
there were black people in the noun
tains, aud that these whites were a
weakened if not degenerate people.
Nothing could be more wide of the
truth, for there are practically no
blacks in the Kentucky mountains,
and these people are of as fine An
glo-SaXon stock as our nation can
produce. They are the descendants
of the English and Scotch-Irish set
tiers who came into these mountains
in The days of Daniel Boone. The e
were of the very best stock that ever
came to the New World, and their
descendants are no weakened race,
but q bold, keen breed that our
country may we'll be proud of. They
never were slave-owners, and they
sent one hundred and twenty thou
sand expert rifIemen into the Union
Army.
You will not find handsomer boys
and girls in any part of our land
We were much engaged with their
clear skin, frank and intelligent
eyes, and a certain native dignity
and kindIiness of manner that often
gave them a bearing that a prince
might envy. Almost uniformly we
observed they spoke with gentle
voices and soft, slowly spoken sent
ences that were most beautifully
free from slang or coareness Of any
sort. The hard conditions of life
frequently wear down this promis-
ing youth all too soon, yet the stock
is elastic and, given just a little
chance, shows it's intrinsic worth.
Their life is by no means free from
violence, and the two greatest dang
ers have been the feuds and all the
evils that follow in the train OF
whiskey, - for moopshine whiskcy
though amateur in constructions, is
as bad as any to produce quarrels
and poverty.
Something like this sadness tool
hold of the heart Of James Burns
5 about twenty years ago. He was
7 caught in the meshes of the Baker
, Howard feud and fought in many ;
! mountain battle. In one of thest
I he was wounded, thrown over ;
0 fence, and left for dead. But h
, regained consciousness, and findinl
Y that he was able to walk, painful!
e made his escape to a distant part o
e the mountains. There he waited t,
d recover from his wound, and, Will
e waiting, he had time for seriou
d meditation. He says that it seemet
e to him like this: Il have been dead
s | have been brought back to Hf
a again. 1t is for a purpose. Tha
n purpose is Gods. Now | shall tr
Al to find out that purpose and folio,
is it up" AS yet he had not had VIVA
d is rightly called an experience 0