The men of the mountains; the story of the southern mountaineer and his kin of the Piedmont; with an account of some of the agencies of progress among them

Front matter

THE MEN »UNiMN> aVU

Cornell XHntvetett^

OF THE

Preface

America knows least of what is most American. Melting-pot of the nations, with Exirope's and Asia's dross thrown in along with their good metal, she is likely to forget, in all this conglomerate, the base of the alloy, which made the nation and which must yet preserve it. In the providence of God there has been saved to America a long wedge of that pure metal — a golden wedge of Ophir. Stretching from North to South, scarce two hundred miles inland, are the mountains that formed the frontier of English America when America became a nation. These mountains are filled with the stock of the Revolution, a race with the primitive virtues that won our liberties, that extended our borders, that preserved the ideal of freedom in its great hour of trial.

A smattering of knov/ledge — gaiaed mostly from works of fiction — has the American public of this great mountaineer race, a smattering that begets more of idle wonder and vacant amusement than of honest admiration and symapthy. Yet the Southern mountaineer is, all in all, the most admirable type of American. Schooled to simplicity, not lacking in vigor, he keeps in great degree the powers that preserve nations, powers that too many of our people are losing in the nerve-racking strain of our unexampled age. What of opportunity

4 Preface

and resource the mountaineer lacks it is the duty of more fortunate classes to supply. It is a duty of patriotism, and above all a duty of Christian brotherhood.

For an intelligent application of this aid a correct and sympathetic understanding of conditions is necessary. It has been the pleasure of a few of the mountaineer's friends to help give this understanding; yet, compared with the greater number of doubtful works that exploit chiefly his pecuharities and faults, the efforts of these friends are not too many nor too great. It is, then, with some confidence of need that this present volume is put forth, containing a brief account of the origin and history of the Southern mountaineer, of some of the most representative agencies for his development, and in particular of one widespread system that seeks to minister to the needs and to erJist more ministers.

The credit for the initiation and successful prosecution of the work on this book is due to Mrs. Ellen G. White and her son, Wilham C. White. Their deep and practical interest in the cause of Christianity in the South, evidenced in many a phase and field, led them to propose such a work as this and to make possible the research and effort which produced it.

Acknowledgment is also gladly given of the aid rendered by the teachers of the Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute and of the smaller schools throughout the South affiliated with them, as also of the assistance and encoiuragement of friends in other connections,

Preface 5

who have supplied information, corrected manuscripts, and given cordial support to the enterprise.

To the author the work has been a labor of love. Since, when a boy, his lot was first cast among the Southern mountaineers, his interests and affections have been closely entwined with theirs, and it is his confident hope that this book shall be a means of enlistkig many more friends, both youth and those in the prime of life, in the cause of the mountaineer. a. w. s.

Hendersonville, N. C, November, 1915.

" The greatest want of the world is the want of men, — men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall." Ellen G. White.

Contents

HIGHLANDS AND HIGHLANDERS

CHAMEB PiOI

1. The Explorers U