The New York herald., 1921-08-07
How 1000 Children Have Passed Through the
Hindman Settlement School, Founded and
Carried On in True Missionary Spirit
It's here at last,
I now am hot:
Oh, how / wish
That / were not.

founder and Miss Katherine Fettit of Lex
ington her chief assistant. At present Miss
Stone holds the office of treasurer.
Eastern Kentucky joins 1t were the
back yards" of eight States; there the APP
palachian chain rises into high rugged
mountains cut by numerous creeks. It's all
up and down going and there are no valley
views. There are no roads either except the
beds of creeks. and nature seems to have
made home here for a hermit people. Hill
side farming, more difficult than it sounds.
with good deal of 'moonshining" on the
side. is all the industry possible to the coun-
try. Within ten years a railroad spur was
thrown within forty-five miles of Hindman; !;
before that its isolation was complete. Re-
Gently the railway crept closer.
The present generation vaguely compre-
hends where II came from. Handed down
from father to son Is the story of the mgra-
ton Of their "great-greats" from Virginia.
North Carolina, &C., TO these hills where
they came at first merely as campers. Why
they stayed nobody knows. Units scattered
by the Revolution were united here; de-
scendants of Scottish pioneers, many Irish
men from Ulster, Englishmen as is denoted
by predominance in their dialect of Anglo
Saxon words, survival of old English GUS
toms and of folk songs only to be found
elsewhere among the lovers of Bishop Per-
cys famous collection.
Their isolation and the severe struggle to
live has made these units one peculiar peo-
pie. Without roads other channels of
commerce, without teachers or preachers
they have persisted and their vitality thus is
shown to be tremendous. Few of the noun
taineers can read or write 1t would hardly
appear strange IL they had fallen back into
savagery but they haven't; they possess a
true religious instinct and they cherish to
an individual the hope that their young ones
or their young ones young ones will recover
the knowledge which they are proud to be-
ieve their forefathers possessed.
Who could resist this universal longing?
Where could be found a fairer field for
settlement work? These people themselves
asked for a school and after a second sum-
mer Of camping In "cloth houses the mis-
slonaries, the angels the "quare" women
came back to work in earnest to redeem
this fine stock from the plight which has
been here insufficiently depicted. The people
contributed-at what a sacrifice l-$700 and
Miss Stone and her aids bought a poor cot
tage and three acres OF land.
That was nucleus and from it has grown
recognized industrial school with twenty
separate buildings. including six cottage-resi-
dences for pupils who stay on the place and
for the teachers. kindergarten, graded sec
ondary and primary, and high school are
the branches OF learning so far attempted
that are conducted In conjunction with vari-
Gus Industrial ends. All the work OF the
latter cooking. cleaning gardening, &c. is
done by the scholars. Girls are taught to
sew. weave, cook, nurse, make baskets in
addition to their book studies; boys do the
gardening, farming, furniture making. The
school produces everything TO supply its
needs and nothing is brought in from the
outside.
In It's two decades Of wonderful work more