Evening star., 1934-09-02
By KATHERINE GLOVER.

THE NEW ORDER-MODEL LIvI
BY KATHERINE GLOVER.
1T WAS moving time down in the
Monongahela Valley. Fifty fami-
lies were leaving their himsy,
| 4 smoke -grimed shacks in Morgan
town and Scots Run and settling
in the new little white houses set In
the midst Of i've acres Of hopeful land
on the rolling hillsides of Reedsville
Fifty families turned their backs
upon the old, their faces toward the
new. And with that moving day in
the West Virginia hills these so fam
lilies turned their faces away from the
old and toward the new.
I went to Reedsville by way Of
Washington. ! didn't expect to 90
there at all. I had read a good deal
about the substance homesteads; ]
thought the story was told. But when
I talked with people, even those in
Washington who were quite close to
this particular phase of the new deal,
I found they really knew very little.
On our way to Reedsville we
passed through cindery little towns
with houses as ugly as pockmarks,
and the faces Of the people made one
feel they had looked too much into
the earth and not enough at the sky,
They weighed like o stone upon
ones heart, coming fresh from the
lavishness Of Natures scene.
Village Like Thousands.
At last over the slope Of q hill we
came suddenly into Reedsville, vii
lage like many thousands sprtnkled
over this land, struggling along its
main street, dusty, without sprig
Of green. The post office, the red brick
church with dingy white steeple.
rambling hotel hugging the roadside,
the squarish red, brick school house.
Beyond the school, beside the railroad
track, was the abandoned ofice Of one
of the big coal companies, now con-
verted into the headquarters Of the
Experimental Community.
Over the rise of another hin We
saw the new white cottages surrounded
by freshly ploughed earth. We passed
q. half finished building of native stone
with men at work. Dust whirled into
the air as workmen's trucks passed US
and disappeared down freshly cut
roads. Everywhere activity, hope, q
new world building.
A woman trudged along the road
In front Of US carrying Q big sack.
It was hot and we offered her q lift.
EIa e1o TIxv nnna~,%aN VIZ %,.,x,a ,%a -
some Of the new houses and turned
on into q bumpy lane.
Was she q homesteader2 my friend
and I asked as we drove along.
mo. We got our own place. 'Taint
much. It's jes simple, but it's home.
We're mighty lucky to have it."
She lived here on the edge Of that
new world and watched 1t take shape.
It was interesting to us to see 1t first
through her eyes. What do you
think of it?" we asked.
Amt no good my thinkin' bout It.
There tits. Can't do nothin' by
thinkin' bout it."
But even while she was unaware
that the experiment touched her, she
showed US with pride some OF the
changes she was making in her own
home-cleaning and painting-because
those other houses, so close by, 90
neat and coy, had stirred o desire to
improve her own. And the two mem
folks who were at home-her husband
and the younger son-who had had no
work for years, now had two days
work q week on the homesteads. And
five boarders were some how tucked
away In addition to the family In the
fve-room house. Already life had be-
come very different
She told us her story and 1t helped
us to understand the others who had
been less fortunate. Back In the days
before '26 times were booming in the
valley" The world needed coal and
paid high prices for 1t. Farmers had
left the land and come down into
Morgantown and nearby places to
work In the mines. Life In the Mo-
nongahela Valley was like life in many
other places. The miner dug the coal
out Of the earth, the operator shipped
1t out to the great cities, to foreign
lands. He paid the miners good wages
because his profits were large. Miners
spent their money, bought some Of the
things that to them meant comfort
and luxury, lived In today and gave
little thought to tomorrow.
Home In Morgantown.
| Our friends family, the D-s, had
their home In Morgantown, In thu
miners quarters. They bought ar
organ, put some Of their money in tht
bank, planned to send the sons *
college. The elder son even got
start in the university, but had Il
leave when the slump came. Depres'
sion hit the coal region several year
before it did the rest Of the country
Mines laid of men; some Of them oper'
ated with just force enough to keeI
the mines from falling into ruin
others closed down entirely. Pro-
ducers In the Monongahela, operating
at q loss, could not afford to pay
decent wages. Banks failed-Seven ir
Morgantown alone.
Everything the D-s, had was wiped
out. Fortunately there was an ole
farm which had belonged to Mrs
D-'s father. It had lain unused ir
the days while the mines doomed. Al
last, with no other hope In sight, they
moved back to the land. They wert
among the fortunate ones. AS oul
friend put It in the picturesque Ian
guage Of the hills, I'VE done jes like