Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-01

indistinguishable a few feet away.
There are Just the mounds and rocks
that one stumbles over.
Intense EmotionaliSm.
Sometimes the minister stll preacneS
at the funerals. These are scenes OF
intense emotionalism, practically the
only emotional outlet Tor the people
during the Winter months. The Gus
tom survives of placing in the CONN
the objects the dead person most cner-
iShed In life.
Miss Sizer, the school teacher, OFF,
ciated at one funeral in the last COM
munity where she taught on the other
side of the mountain. She read the
Episcopal service. There was NOBODY
else available who could read. Inc
dead woman had played with ooil
all her life. She was buried WIN tne
doll in her arms. Sometimes, accord
ing to the teacher, the emotionallsm Is
SO intense that the people tear the
body from the coffin.
The superstitions of the hollow PEG.
pie are vague. One toothless ola
woman, whose lover was killed In a
quarrel with her father many years
ago, still sees red flame arising from
his grave. Some say there are rem
nants of witchcraft in the holloWS, but
the people are silent regarding their
beliefs.
Marry i'm the Valley.
They go to the valley to be married.
Sometimes this is the only occasion
when the woman gets out of the noun,
tainS. The people marry young ana
age rapidly, with the hard living con-
ditions, poor diet and constant sue.
cession of babies. They are all flrst
and second cousins. Families seldom
are broken up. Both fathers ana
mothers are kind to their children and
wall heart-rendingly when baby dies.
But they have nothing to give them,
and they lose control OF them alto
gether at about the twelfth year. when
the Youngsters become the mental
equals of their parents.
The lack of moral training. accord
ing to the school teacher, is very evi-
dent in the children. The intense in
dividualism. without moral code, leads
to unrestrained lying and stealing:
There is no appeal to the sense Of
honor. The children seem unable to
grasp the conception of honesty and
truth. Any worker among these chill
dren. she says, simply must take for
granted that anything left unmatched
will be stolen.
Most of the cabins are utterly devoid
of all cultural objects such as books
or pictures. But one old woman mas
taken a mail order catalogue and
papered part of her walls with its pages,
due to the inspiration of the school
mistress She is finishing the job with
old newspapers occasionally dropped on
the mountain trails. The paper will
keep out some of the Winter. winds.
She takes a pathetic pride in her ar
tistry and in families like this the
possibility of uplift is obvious.
Time and distance largely have lost
their significance to these people, who
Just sit and wait. Most of the men
have watches. in which, together with
their rifles. they take great pride. But
generally the only time measures are
the coming of daylight and dark.
Curiously enough, there is little ap-
probation of money values. Wash
ington philanthropist, affected by the
sad plight of the mountaineers, found
the woman he tried to aid unable to
distinguish between a SIS and $40 bill.
The yearly income is SO slight that the
$50 bill was altogether too great for
tune for her to appreciate.