Evening star., 1941-05-11
BY ROBERT L. THOMPSON,

ASHEVILLE. N. c.. May 10
Hit amt so much what you make,
or neither what you git fer hit"
in the mountain cabin. The main
thing is how good hit makes you
feel, jest amakin' hit"
1t was her explanation Of the
widespread revival of handicraft in
the mountains of Western North
Carolina-a phenomenon which has
produced many skilled artisans. as
we'll as several real artists. among a
people whose shiftlessness was a by
word not so many years ago In
few other sections today is there
as great proportion of the popu-
lation, including men as well as
women, so absorbed in maxim
something purity" Hardly a noun
tain cove that does not contain
at least one cabin which houses a
weaver, potter or a carver. And
many of the craftsmen now receive
greater remuneration from what
was at first a hobby, or at best a
side line, than they ever had before
in all their lives.
Il never could have thought old
Sam would quit making corn liquor, "
said deputy sheriff of certain
mountaineer not so many miles
from here But since he did I'm
not surprised that he turns out
some of the best handmade furni-
ture you can find in the noun
tains. He was the same with his
still as he is with his tools-old
Sam always did have just the right
touch"
There are quite a few like 'old
Sam" who have gone into handi-
craft in their latter years and there
are even more women of his age
who became expert spinners, weav-
ers and dyers after they had grand
children. But for each of these
there are dozen younger people
now making their marks in Amer
ica's Oldest arts. as they are being
revived throughout the Southern
highlands.
To no one person. to no one
group, can go all the credit for
the new light which now shines
in so many mountain cabins. But
certainly to no individual should
go more credit than to a small, "a
year-old woman who for the last
half century, after arriving from
New York. has devoted her life to
the development of the creative i'm
pulse among the mountaineers of
the Blue Ridge, the Black Range
and the Smokes She is Miss
Frances L. Goodrich, or DIR. Good
rich to employ the title that goes
with the honorary degree awarded
her by Wooster College.
Among other activities, she is
collecting exhibits for the mountain
handicraft museum at Asheville Col
lege, writing various articles (the
Yale University Press published her
book, Mountain Homespun") and
keeping her contacts with the folks
back in the hills.
Frances Goodrich, during young
Womanhood, divided her talents be-
tween art and sociology. Restless.
curious and adventurous, she came
to the then remote sections of the
North Carolina mountains in the
early 1905 She taught school. fire.
quently substituted for both doctor
and preacher. helped with the cook
ing and the babies in a hundred
mountain cabins and soon won the
confidence of people who for genera
tions had looked upon all "furriners"
with sinister suspicion. But she
wanted something with which to
brighten the lives of the drudgery-
drab women who lived in the log
cabins located in a thousand iso-
lated coves Then one day one of
these very same women pointed out
the way. Grateful for Miss Good
Tich's many services, She brought
a gift. a hand-woven coverlet even
then over so years old.
Seems like you're sort of in
terested in old ways of doing" said
the mountain woman. explaining
with some embarrassment why her
present was not new.
That spread. woven in the old
double bow-knot pattern of for
gotten day, now holds the place of
honor in the museum which has
been decidated to Miss Goodrich S
work.
"It was while 7 was feeling that
beautiful old cover. and thinking of
the hours and the care it took to
weave it, that I realized what it
might mean to those people to be
able to make such beautiful things"
she explained.
1t was no simple matter to find
old. abandoned looms and to put
them into condition. Nor was it
easy to find among the older people
those who remembered enough about
the forgotten arts of spinning, Of
weaving and of dyeing from barks
and flowers to teach others. Most
difficult of all was the task of per-
Suading Work-worn women that
their lives could be frightened by
more work. In some cases the profit
angle was Miss Goodrich's most ef-
fective argument, for the few dol
lars to be derived from the sale of
a hand woven piece was more cash
than many of these women had ever
owned. But the thing that won the