Columbia ®ntoerattp 
 
 mtfteCttpufJtotork 
 
 THE LIBRARIES 
 
 Bequest of 
 
 Frederic Bancroft 
 
 1860-1945 
 
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 Cr/z^i^7<L 
 
"THEM MISSIONARY 
 WOMEN" 
 
 OR 
 
 WORK IN THE 
 SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS 
 
 BY 
 
 GRACE FUNK MYERS 
 
 HILLSDALE, MICH. 
 
 1911 
 
M99 1 / 
 
 Copyright 1911 
 
 BY 
 
 GRACE FUNK MYERS 
 
 /^ W3 If 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This little book is not a fanciful and 
 dramatic grouping of imaginary char- 
 acters, but rather the weaving together 
 of a chain of events and facts gathered 
 while living and working among the 
 mountain people of the south. 
 
 One noted writer has said: " Men's 
 weaknesses and faults are known from 
 their enemies; their virtues and abili- 
 ties from their friends; and their cus- 
 _r 7 
 
 toms and lives from their servants." 
 
 So we might say of the mountain 
 people, about whom much has been said 
 and written; their faults and weak- 
 nesses have too often been magnified 
 by those who felt prejudiced and un- 
 friendly toward them; while some of 
 their over sympathetic friends, too will- 
 ing to judge the whole by the conduct 
 of a few who have done marvelously 
 well, are given to writing and speaking 
 
 3 
 
4 Preface 
 
 of them with undue praise and optim- 
 ism for their future. But the faithful 
 missionary, who out of necessity lives 
 and works among them, becoming a 
 servant for all, in his, or her, humble 
 ministry, being "all things to all men 
 that they might win some," are the ones 
 who come in possession of the real facts 
 and truth concerning the faults and 
 virtues, the abilities and customs of the 
 American Highlanders of the south. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. A Four Days' Trip Over the Blue 
 
 Kidge Mountains 7 
 
 II. Opening a Mission 25 
 
 III. A Disturbing Element 38 
 
 IV. Mrs. Grundy Finds More Fault 53 
 
 V. Working Out From Headquarters. . 66 
 
 VI. Our First Christmas Celebration at 
 
 Headquarters 81 
 
 VII. Mission Converts Make Comparisons. 93 
 
 VIII. The Soldier Boy in the Philippines. 101 
 
 IX. A Cheerful Giver 105 
 
 X. A Eiot in the Cumberlands 116 
 
 XI. A Promiscuous Gathering Under a 
 
 Shed 124 
 
"Them Missionary Women" 
 Or Work in the Southern Mountains 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A FOUR DAYS' TRIP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 
 MOUNTAIN 
 
 Two strong horses, a hack and an ex- 
 perienced driver were engaged to take 
 Miss Grayson and myself for a long 
 drive over the mountains. There was 
 a lively time on that chilly October 
 morning, loading the hack with such 
 things as we were sure to need. A 
 lunch box filled with eatables which 
 would keep for several days, shawls, 
 blankets, rubbers, umbrellas, satchels, 
 and a long-handled gourd which we 
 used for a dipper, were all deposited 
 under the seats and we set out in good 
 spirits, anticipating an interesting 
 drive. We were not disappointed. The 
 air was cool and bracing, the birds were 
 
 7 
 
8 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 singing, and the squirrels ran playfully 
 up and down the large trunks of the 
 chestnut trees, having a rare feast, as 
 the great brown chestnuts had just 
 begun to ripen and fall. 
 
 As we traveled on over those rugged 
 hills, viewing the heavy foliage so richly 
 tinged with red and gold, the grand old 
 pines towering up so high, forming a 
 magnificent background for the ivy, the 
 laurel, and the holly trees, beautifully 
 decorated with clusters of red berries, 
 we were so delighted and charmed with 
 this unusual exhibition of God's handi- 
 work in nature that our hearts were 
 inspired with new thoughts of Him who 
 so often retired to the mountains to 
 pray, traveling over the hills of Judea 
 seeking the lost, and comforting the 
 poor and needy. 
 
 We passed log cabins daubed with 
 mud, with open fire-places and stick 
 chimneys; with puncheon floors and no 
 glass windows; occupied by large fami- 
 lies, whose chief employment seemed 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 9 
 
 to be hunting, fishing, and tending a 
 small patch of corn or tobacco, often 
 seen growing on the side of the moun- 
 tain, where it is too steep for an ox 
 or mule to travel; in such cases the 
 mattock, spade, or hoe is used instead 
 of the modern plow. 
 
 Stopping for a short time in one of 
 these homes, we got our first glimpse 
 of an old-fashioned spinning wheel, as 
 there was, sitting in the middle of the 
 room, one which showed signs of being 
 in operation a short time before we ar- 
 rived, as there was a fresh roll of wool 
 on the spindle. It being the first one 
 I had ever seen, I gave vent to my 
 curiosity by asking permission to ex- 
 amine it, a machine which I knew had 
 been very popular in my grandmother's 
 day. But on handling the little three- 
 legged structure, turning the wheel 
 backward at my very first stroke, I ap- 
 peared very ignorant and behind the 
 times in the eyes of her who never as 
 yet had thought of its being possible 
 
10 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 to get along in the world without a 
 spinning wheel. And suddenly to be 
 brought face to face with a person who 
 had never seen one caused her to fasten 
 her dark eyes upon me with as much 
 curiosity as I had displayed on viewing 
 the wheel on first entering the room. 
 
 Her whole countenance was a great 
 interrogation point, as she said with 
 emphasis, "And you never seed a spin- 
 nin' wheel! An' yer don't know how 
 ter spin % ' ' After finding out that along 
 some practical lines she possessed more 
 knowledge than I, she waxed friendly 
 and communicative, and with an air of 
 self-importance and satisfaction turned 
 toward the wheel and began to spin, 
 that she might enlighten me more fully 
 as to her own skill and the true worth 
 of her wheel by showing me how rapidly 
 she could transform the large round 
 rolls into knitting yarn. 
 
 Her sister, living in the same neigh- 
 borhood, not having enough money to 
 buy wool for her winter stockings, dis- 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 11 
 
 played more perseverance than is com- 
 monly practiced by the average Ameri- 
 can girl. Going into the dense forest, 
 with her own hands she split some 
 rich pine boards from the trunk of a 
 tree, and by setting them over a trench 
 which she dug, keeping a fire near the 
 timber, she succeeded in catching- 
 enough drippings to make a gallon of 
 tar, which she carried on foot seven 
 miles to the nearest town, selling it 
 for thirty cents. With this hard earned 
 money she purchased wool, which she 
 then spun, and knit into stockings. 
 
 Our driver not taking enough grain 
 with him to feed his horses, thought he 
 could buy from the farmers by the 
 way, but soon found that this was not 
 an easy thing to do, as we were now 
 passing through the moon-shine dis- 
 tricts, where the corn was all used up 
 by the corn whiskey manufacturers as 
 soon as it was ready for market. Call- 
 ing at a dozen homes, we were refused 
 each time, all making the same excuse 
 
12 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 for not selling, saying: "You see, 
 stranger, we 'uns have jist got barely 
 enough corn ter make our breadstuff, 
 an' ain't got ne'ry bit ter spare; but 
 mebby you'll find some at the next 
 place." Thus we drove on for miles 
 till our sympathies were quite aroused 
 for the poor horses doing such faithful 
 service, and in need of a good dinner 
 as well as ourselves, for the cool air 
 had given a keen edge to our appetites. 
 Coming to a larger field where a quan- 
 tity of corn was piled up in the front 
 yard, our man jumped out of the hack, 
 leaving the horses to our care, while 
 he walked over to investigate, having 
 no doubt that there he could get all 
 the corn he needed. The owner of the 
 coveted heap was a widow, who eyed 
 him with no little suspicion as he ad- 
 vanced toward the house. Making 
 known the object of his visit, he offered 
 her fifty cents per bushel for her corn, 
 that being the highest market price. 
 "Humph!" she replied, removing a 
 
Woi'k in the Southern Mountains 13 
 
 snuff stick from her mouth with a jerk, 
 "you needn't think you ken fool me 
 in a corn bargen, fur I ken git that 
 at the store over thar, an' it won't pay 
 me ter let you have it fur what I ken 
 sell it at the store." Failing to con- 
 vince her that fifty cents was the high- 
 est price being paid anywhere for corn 
 at that time, she wound up by saying 
 "she didn't care ter sell." 
 
 Amused and disappointed, we drove 
 on, but soon found all the grain we 
 needed. In conversing with these peo- 
 ple living so far back in the hollows 
 and gorges, I learned that but few of 
 them had ever seen a railroad, a type- 
 writer, a telephone, or a bicycle, and 
 that their knowledge of all the modern 
 inventions now being used by man in 
 the great busy world was surprisingly 
 limited; yet I found it refreshing and 
 interesting to talk with them about the 
 wild animals and their habits, the 
 mountain streams and the rocky peaks, 
 the birds and the most popular trails, 
 
14 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 the great cool springs and the wild 
 flowers, all of which are abundant in 
 these silent way-side places where so 
 many of the people live. 
 
 The little corn mills, located along 
 the mountain streams in almost every 
 neighborhood — the capacity of which, 
 in many cases, is about one bushel per 
 day — were among the many curious 
 things which we looked upon by day, 
 and thought of by night. The men 
 driving their little oxen with hickory 
 bark traces, and the house wives sweep- 
 ing their one room houses with a bun- 
 dle of sedge grass tied with a string, 
 gave me a new revelation of the genu- 
 ine independence of some of our 
 American cousins in the highlands. 
 
 Any student of natural history would 
 find it well worth w r hile to spend a few 
 hours with one of these belated chil- 
 dren of the forest, whose only occupa- 
 tion from childhood has been to study, 
 and enjoy, and appropriate for his own 
 personal use the things of Nature. 
 
]Yorl- in the Southern Mountains 15 
 
 The first evening after leaving home, 
 we were fortunate enough to find a 
 very good house where we stayed all 
 night, the family being exceptionally 
 kind and thoughtful of our comfort. 
 But at the close of the second day we 
 were in a place where the outlook for 
 a comfortable night's lodging was any- 
 thing but promising. 
 
 It was growing dark when we drove 
 up to the home of a very poor family, 
 who lived in a flat, swampy place on 
 the river; in an old mill house which 
 had been converted into a dwelling of 
 two rooms. The kitchen having no 
 floor but the bare ground, and the other 
 room used for sitting, dining, and bed- 
 room, had no window. A heavy door 
 made of rough boards, with a big chain 
 hanging to it, was pushed to at night, 
 and a chair set against it. After closing 
 the door and fastening it in this fash- 
 ion, our kind host looked at us with 
 an assuring smile and said, as if to rid 
 us of all disturbing doubts concerning 
 
16 "Tliem Missionary Women" 
 
 our safety — "A chair does just as good 
 as a lock that 'ud cost fifteen or twenty 
 cents; and we're not one bit afeard o' 
 robbers in these parts; for they'd soon 
 find out that there's mighty poor pick- 
 in' around here." 
 
 Our hostess was a tall woman with 
 a dignified bearing, and for an unedu- 
 cated person used good English. She 
 was warm, frank and hearty in extend- 
 ing to us the hospitality of her home; 
 and for one who was compelled by 
 circumstances to live in such sordid 
 poverty we found her exceptionally 
 tidy in her housekeeping. Her table 
 was set with more taste than is gen- 
 erally displayed by the average woman 
 in such communities; and the bed we 
 slept in was quite clean and comfort- 
 able. As I studied her finely chiseled 
 face; her firm, set mouth; her broad, 
 smooth brow; large blue eyes, and 
 thick, wavy, black hair, I concluded she 
 was naturally a strong, well tempered 
 woman, and if educated would have 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 17 
 
 stood equal with the brightest and best 
 women of the land. 
 
 Going a little deeper into conversa- 
 tion, my interest in her was much in- 
 tensified as she told me her maiden 
 name was Ball, and claimed to be one 
 of George Washington's descendants — 
 a third cousin, I believe, to the Father 
 of our Country. She became enthusi- 
 astic while discussing the subject at 
 the tea table, as she was expecting to 
 come into possession of some property 
 in Washington, D. C, which, she said, 
 rightly belonged to the Washington 
 heirs. 
 
 I shall not soon forget her attitude 
 or looks. How her sunburnt features 
 would light up between the dips of 
 snuff, of which she partook freely after 
 finishing her meal! 
 
 Seating herself in a low chair by the 
 fire, she began to unfold to me more 
 fully her financial prospects. 
 
 "Now," said she, "it comes to my 
 mind that mebby you are just the one 
 
18 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 to advise me about my share o' the 
 property; a cousin o' mine is now look- 
 in' it up, to see what can be done. A 
 hundred years ago George Washington 
 leased a piece o' land to some parties 
 in and about where the city o' Wash- 
 ington now stands. This lease was 
 made for just ninety-nine years; and 
 by this time the land would be so valu- 
 able, if w T e could succeed in gittin' it 
 straightened out, it would be a sight o' 
 help to us. The lease has now run out 
 and it ought to go into the hands o' 
 the heirs at once. As well as we've 
 been able to reckon it up, my part 
 would amount to about thirteen hun- 
 dred dollars." 
 
 Thus she talked on, growing more 
 and more confidential all the while. 
 Perceiving my interest in her story of 
 the antiquated Washington land lease, 
 she ventured further, confiding to me 
 her plans as to how she purposed to 
 use the anticipated thirteen hundred 
 dollars! 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 19 
 
 " First of all," she continued, "I will 
 buy a few acres of land, and build a 
 house on it, with three rooms. Then 
 I will buy a good cow, an' horse; an' 
 this w T ill give us a fine start, it all bein' 
 our own; and I think, as we are down 
 here by the mill, I ken make some 
 money keepin' boarders at a dollar and 
 a half a week; so then I ken take the 
 rest o' the money an' send my two 
 children to school. I never wanted 
 anything so bad in my life as I wanted 
 a education; but there wusn't much 
 chance fur me when I wus young; an' 
 I remember how I used to go out in 
 the woods alone, when I wus a girl, an' 
 think it all over an' wish, an' wish, that 
 I could get some learnin' so as to be a 
 Missionary; but it's too late fur me 
 now; but I want to do the best I ken 
 by my children, so as they ken be of 
 some use in the world." The fire in 
 the great fireplace, where the logs had 
 blazed and crackled for several hours, 
 at last burned low; and we retired to 
 
20 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 rest for the night, the greater part of 
 which I spent in turning over in my 
 mind the events of the day, and the 
 strange things which this kind woman 
 had told me of herself, her relations, 
 and her present hopeful outlook. Se- 
 cretly, I entertained grave doubts 
 about her hopes ever being realized; 
 and finally fell asleep, a little while be- 
 fore the day dawned. Sleeping but a 
 short time, I was suddenly aroused by 
 the vigorous exercising of their favor- 
 ite rooster, perched upon a pole in the 
 chimney corner, just outside of the thin 
 board partition which separated the 
 bed room from the hennery. Flapping 
 his wings energetically, he crowed at 
 intervals, about five minutes at a time, 
 until he had whiled away nearly a full 
 half hour; flapping and crowing as a 
 rooster would, located far away from 
 civilization, entirely relieved of all ex- 
 citing fears about being overthrown 
 and demolished in a pit fight, suddenly 
 consigned to the market box, or put 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 21 
 
 on exhibition for two whole weeks at a 
 county fair. 
 
 Supremely happy in serving in the 
 capacity of a family alarm clock, he 
 made that weird, lonely, hollow ring, 
 with his clear, shrill notes; and as the 
 old man crawled slowly out of bed and 
 began to stir up the fire he said: "When 
 that rooster begins to flap his wings 
 and crow in that fashion, I al'ays know 
 it's time to be gittin' up." 
 
 Breakfast over, a very old Bible, cov- 
 ered with a brown, hair skin, was taken 
 down from the shelf in the corner, and 
 we were asked to have prayers with 
 them. 
 
 Before leaving, our host gave us a 
 kind invitation to stop with them in 
 the future, if we should ever chance to 
 pass that way, adding that "they would 
 always be glad to see us; and though 
 they were too poor to give us good ac- 
 commodations, they would give us lots 
 o' welcome if we would come again." 
 Poor as they were, they refused to let 
 
22 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 us remunerate them for their kindness ; 
 and with this very unusual hospitality, 
 shown to us by perfect strangers, we 
 were much impressed and pleased. 
 
 In one neighborhood through which 
 we passed, stopping long enough to 
 visit the district school, we found about 
 thirty young mountaineers toiling up 
 the hill of knowledge in a unique way; 
 for while the citizens of that com- 
 munity had been prosperous enough to 
 erect a log school house, they had not 
 as yet been able to get it seated; so the 
 young learners were seated on the floor 
 in front of a big fireplace, presided over 
 by a young lady teacher, timid and shy, 
 and who did not seem to appreciate 
 having her school put on exhibition in 
 such an impromptu manner for us 
 strangers. We relieved her embarrass- 
 ment by making a brief call; but this 
 scene reminded us of the early strug- 
 gles of our good President Lincoln, who 
 did his first ciphering in the loft of a 
 log cabin in Kentucky, using a wooden 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 23 
 
 shovel for a slate, and a piece of keel, 
 which he picked up by the brook, for a 
 pencil. 
 
 We had hoped to reach home by the 
 close of the fourth day; but as the 
 shades of evening began to gather 
 about us we learned that we were near- 
 ly fifteen miles from our abiding place, 
 which meant that we would either have 
 to put up for another night in one of 
 the very poorest of log cabins or drive 
 three hours after dark, down a steep 
 mountain, w r here the road was very 
 narrow in places. But after comparing 
 our own beds with the accommodations 
 that we were likely to receive in that 
 locality, we decided to brave the dark- 
 ness and chill of the night and take the 
 chances on being thrown out of the 
 w r agon into some deep ravine a hundred 
 feet below, rather than put up in one 
 of those crude homes, where, for rea- 
 sons too numerous to mention, we could 
 not hope to get even one hour's rest. 
 After jogging along for about an hour, 
 
24 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 we were much relieved by seeing the 
 moon rise like a great ball of fire over 
 the way, though it was some time be- 
 fore we derived much benefit from her 
 light, as the forest was so dense the 
 moon beams could not shine through 
 sufficiently to light up our road until 
 she took a more lofty seat in the sky 
 and began to send forth her welcome 
 rays directly over our heads. 
 
 The end of our journey we reached 
 in safety, but our bodies were so tired, 
 our feet so cold, and our stomachs so 
 empty, we could not help feeling that 
 we had paid pretty dear for all the 
 pleasure we got out of the trip, and 
 fully enjoyed the luxury of our own 
 home and beds for the rest of the night, 
 though our home was only a small cot- 
 tage where we slept on straw beds, with 
 no springs, and warmed ourselves by 
 the open fireplace ; but it was our home, 
 and that made all the difference. 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 25 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 OPENING A MISSION 
 
 'Twas a bright morning in the early 
 spring when, on getting off the train 
 at a little country railroad station, I 
 walked up to the front of a dingy, 
 rickety old summer boarding house, 
 where a tall, half-witted fellow was sit- 
 ting idly on the piazza, whittling a stick 
 and humming a silly love tune. Rising, 
 he called the lady of the house, who 
 stared at me in silence for a second, 
 then invited me to come in, seating me 
 in a large, barny looking room, with a 
 bare floor which had long remained un- 
 molested by soap and water. Being a 
 curious person, and naturally sus- 
 picious and distrustful of strangers, 
 she at once proceeded to put me 
 through a long role of catechising as 
 to my name, occupation, whether I was 
 
26 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 married or single, and the religious de- 
 nomination to which I belonged. 
 
 I answered all of her pointed ques- 
 tions, without seeming to notice the 
 abruptness of her manner, for it was 
 quite evident that she (Mrs. Grundy) 
 felt herself a little above the average 
 mountain woman in that vicinity, but 
 failed to conceal the fact that she was 
 more lacking in education and good 
 manners than in self-esteem. 
 
 After learning it was my intention 
 to open a mission somewhere in the 
 mountains, she at once gave me a brief 
 history of almost every family in the 
 neighborhood, describing to me in word 
 pictures the dark record of a number of 
 individuals, whom she thought might 
 be reached and saved, if the proper 
 course was taken and the right influ- 
 ence thrown around them. 
 
 But later it was revealed that Mrs. 
 Grundy's enthusiasm had not reached 
 such heights in so short a time because 
 of her desire to see her neighbors 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 27 
 
 helped, but a happy thought came to 
 her which she believed would work out 
 for her own personal interests. i ' For, ' ' 
 said she to a friend, "if a mission is 
 opened here and they get deeply inter- 
 ested, they'll be sure to buy land and 
 make it permanent, and if I encourage 
 them they'll probably purchase some 
 lots of us, and that would give us a 
 chance to pay off our mortgage and get 
 on our feet again." 
 
 One day the startling announcement 
 
 was made in the village of that 
 
 the only empty house in the place had 
 been rented by some missionary women 
 who were going to open a day school 
 and Sunday school, visit all the people, 
 and hold religious meetings. Follow- 
 ing this unexpected announcement, 
 there was much gossiping among the 
 villagers, and such questions as "What 
 does it all mean? What do you suppose 
 they're goin' ter teach? How did they 
 happen ter come here, and what do yer 
 suppose they're paid fur doin' sich 
 
28 "Them Missionary Women* 
 
 work?" floated rife among them. 
 "Well," said old Jimmy Lynn, "if 
 them missionaries ain't Roman Catho- 
 lics, then I've missed my guess." 
 "Catholics?" said Samuel Day. "Not 
 much Catholics about them. If you 
 ever hear that little one pray and read 
 the Bible as she did in my house tother 
 day, you'd never say Catholic ag'in, you 
 shore wouldn't." "Now, looky here," 
 said Lynn, "I'm not easy fooled an' tuk 
 in, I tell yer I ain't. I've heard that 
 Catholics have schools an' women 
 al'ays teach their schools, an' if them 
 women don't turn out ter be Catholics, 
 then I'll say ag'in that old Jim's missed 
 his guess." 
 
 "Say, 'Squire," said Aunty Brown, 
 as she stood in the door of her cabin 
 home, "have you heard the good news 
 about them Missionary women a-comin' 
 here? I blieve that wonderful things 
 are a-goin' ter happen right here in this 
 'ere very settlement afore long. I do 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 29 
 
 hope when they hold meetin's they'll 
 git a holt o' my boy." 
 
 "Well, I don't know jist what ter 
 think, Aunty Brown," said 'Squire 
 Junkey. "Hit seems sorter strange 
 that they'd come here, and some say 
 that they're jist goin' ter preach an' 
 carry on dreadful, an' I'll tell yer right 
 now, Aunty Brown, I don't b'lieve that 
 any woman livin' ken preach, an' if 
 they come here an' git up on the plat- 
 form fur ter blab, then I b'lieve they 
 are men dressed up in women's clothes. 
 An' we'd better all watch 'em mighty 
 close ter see if they're any good or not, 
 an' time '11 tell. Barney Smith, I'm 
 glad you've come, fur I've been a- want- 
 in' ter ask you if you're a-goin' ter send 
 yer children ter the new mission 
 school. Some have been a-askin' me if 
 you'd been drawn in with 'em." 
 
 "No, 'Squire, I jist tell yer how it is 
 with me. One of 'em called at our 
 house t' other day an' my children tuk 
 ter her powerful, an' she talked mighty 
 
30 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 fair, too, I tell yer. But I don't like ter 
 send my young 'uns till I find out jist 
 what they're goin' ter teach. Now, 
 some say that they are a-goin' ter teach 
 ever 'thing, an' then ag'in some say they 
 ain't goin' ter teach nothin' but the 
 Bible, an' there's one thing sart'in — I 
 can't buy Bibles fur all o' my chaps 
 now, unless I knowed jist how the 
 baccer crap wus a-goin' ter turn out, so 
 I'll jist wait a spell an' see how things 
 go, an' if I find out fur sure that they're 
 all right, then I'll send all o' mine as 
 soon as I ken git 'em ready." 
 
 "Well, you'd better look out an' be 
 mighty keerful an' be sure they're all 
 right before sendin' to 'em, that's my 
 advice," said Junkey. 
 
 Little Miss Bright set out to visit a 
 neighborhood lying back of the village, 
 where lived a number of large families 
 in a lonely gorge. Walking up to the 
 door of a small but exceptionally clean 
 cabin home, where an old lady sat on 
 the doorstep knitting, while her three 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 31 
 
 grandchildren played in the yard — ap- 
 proaching her with a friendly smile, 
 she offered to shake hands. Seeing the 
 old lady's reluctance to reciprocate her 
 friendly greeting, she explained to her 
 that she was one of the missionary 
 teachers who was out visiting among 
 the people. On hearing this bit of in- 
 formation, her attitude and looks sud- 
 denly changed. Bounding to her feet, 
 her face, which bore marks of intelli- 
 gence and natural refinement, beamed 
 with pleasure. Stepping forward, she 
 she placed a hand on each of Miss 
 Bright 's shoulders and as quick as a 
 flash implanted a kiss on her cheek, ex- 
 claiming, "I've hearn about yer, an' yer 
 raly be one o' them? Come in, honey! 
 Come in! I jist hope the day '11 soon 
 come when the good Lord '11 flood this 
 country with jist sich good women as 
 you be. There's three children fur yer 
 school," she continued, pointing to the 
 children who had now gathered about 
 the door. "I never had any hope of 'em 
 
32 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 ever gittin' any larnin'. The oldest is 
 now agoin' on twelve years old, an' 
 never seed inside of a school house in 
 her life, an' never will unless you good 
 women take her in, now that you've 
 come among us ter do good." 
 
 After stopping long enough to get 
 acquainted with the children, who 
 promised to come to school the follow- 
 ing Monday, Miss Bright took her 
 leave, receiving the old lady's warmest 
 benedictions; who urged her to call 
 again, "And be shore to come stay all 
 day and take dinner." The following 
 week the grandfather came trudging 
 over the hills leading the little children 
 by the hand. At the door of the mission 
 school he committed them to the care of 
 Miss Bright, remarking, "He felt shore 
 she could make 'em larn if anybody 
 could." 
 
 A few days later Miss Bright and I 
 called at the home of Jimmy Lynn, 
 finding him sitting under a tree smoking 
 his pipe. Seeing us he hastily rose to 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 33 
 
 his feet, jerking his pipe nervously 
 from his mouth, and stared as if he in- 
 tended to try to escape without speak- 
 ing; then suddenly changing his mind, 
 he turned and, leaning heavily on his 
 cane, met us in a quiet, heroic manner. 
 
 "I suppose this is Mr. Lynn," said I. 
 "We are glad to meet you, for we are 
 strangers in this part of the country, 
 and we are told that you are one of the 
 oldest settlers here, so we thought we 
 would like to advise with you concern- 
 ing our work; besides Miss Bright here 
 is a member of your own denomination 
 and she thought she would like to meet 
 you on that account — ' birds of a feather 
 will flock together, you know.' " 
 
 When old Jimmy joined the church 
 of his choice — the anti-Mission Baptist 
 — long years before he made up his 
 mind that in all places and under all 
 circumstances he would stand by the 
 members of his own denomination. 
 What to do now he is at a loss to know. 
 He has not yet recovered from his first 
 
34 "Them Missionary Wo?nen" 
 
 suspicions that we were Catholics, and 
 he still has a nervous dread of "bein' 
 fooled and tuk in," as he expressed it. 
 Then, too, everybody was talking freely 
 about "Them missionary women" and 
 there are a thousand rumors afloat 
 about this new mission, and he, with the 
 rest, had already announced his opinion. 
 In his heart he wants to do right, and 
 our open, friendly way pleased him and 
 caused him to feel that he could trust 
 us. Understanding the situation, we 
 talked a while about things in general, 
 then telling him to what particular 
 branch of the organized church I 
 claimed membership, I said : ' ' You see, 
 Mr. Lynn, while we belong to different 
 denominations, there is nothing so beau- 
 tiful as to see Christians all working 
 together to make the country better and 
 to bring souls to Christ." 
 
 Then opening my Testament I read a 
 few verses about "having love one for 
 another" and "all belonging to one 
 body in Christ," etc. We then sang a 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 35 
 
 verse of " Blest be the tie that binds 
 our hearts in Christian love," and 
 prayed that Mr. Lynn might be 
 strengthened and that his wayward 
 boys might be reached and saved. 
 When we rose the tears were streaming 
 down the old man's face and he shook 
 hands warmly, asking us to call again. 
 
 On his way to the post office that 
 evening he met Samuel Day and with a 
 high head and a look suggestive of de- 
 termination, he said: "Day, what you 
 said about them missionary women is 
 alright; and I've made up my mind that 
 other people can do as they please, but 
 I'm goin' ter stand by 'em through 
 thick an' thin." "I thought you'd be 
 took in," said Day, "if you had a chance 
 to hear 'em pray. I do hope they'll stir 
 up this whole settlement a 'fore long; 
 goodness knows we're a needin' it bad 
 enough; we shore do!" 
 
 In a dilapidated old church building 
 which was offered us for our work, our 
 first public meeting was held on Sunday 
 
36 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 evening. The posting of bills and writ- 
 ing of newspaper notices was unneces- 
 sary to get the announcement circu- 
 lated, for the news spread like a wild 
 prairie fire on a windy day, which, when 
 well started, nothing could stop. 
 
 The people came in crowds and filled 
 the house at an early hour. Many rid- 
 ing on horse back, some behind ox 
 teams, while others trudged through the 
 mud, carrying little children in their 
 arms. Some came to hear the truth, and 
 many came out of sheer curiosity, to 
 hear and to see "Them missionary 
 women," whose presence in the com- 
 munity had excited so much wonder 
 and comment. 
 
 Aunty Brown came early so as to get 
 a front seat. Samuel Day took his place 
 near the platform and joined in singing 
 the first hymn as if the sweet strains of 
 music from a heavenly choir had 
 reached his ear, bringing his good, re- 
 ceptive soul into close touch with all 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 37 
 
 the redeemed and blood-washed singers 
 of the glory land. 
 
 Jimmie Lynn raised his trembling 
 voice in the first prayer service and 
 gave thanks to God for sending the mis- 
 sionary children among them to teach 
 them how to live right. 
 
 The first meeting was one of great 
 power, and the second night the house 
 would not hold the people. When the 
 invitation was given to the unconverted, 
 Barney Smith and four of his compan- 
 ions rose for prayer, while Squire 
 Junkey and a number of his friends 
 looked on critically from the rear of the 
 church. 
 
 Thus the work increased in interest 
 every night, till nearly one hundred had 
 sought and found Christ. Among the 
 number was Jimmie Lynn's two boys, 
 Aunty Brown's only son, and Samuel 
 Day's three grown girls. The enthusi- 
 asm was high and a blessed tidal wave 
 of salvation swept everything before it 
 for weeks and months to come. 
 
Them Missionary Women' 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 A DISTURBING ELEMENT 
 
 A minister, living in the community, 
 preached near the village once a month 
 who could read but very little and could 
 not write his name. 
 
 He quarreled with his congregation 
 during the week and hurled sarcasm 
 in their faces on Sunday. He pounded 
 the Bible with his fists and made a spit- 
 toon of the inside of the pulpit, as he 
 rarely ever addressed his audience with- 
 out a quid of tobacco in his mouth — a 
 part of his own crop. He supported 
 himself and family by working in a 
 tobacco field during the week and acting 
 as the spiritual instructor of the people 
 on Sundays, receiving for his ecclesi- 
 astical services about ten dollars per 
 year. 
 
 Becoming jealous of this new mission 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 39 
 
 attracting so much attention he held a 
 conference with his members and de- 
 cided to canvass the district and warn 
 all the people against the missionaries 
 and their work. Applying himself dili- 
 gently to his task, he w r orked with all 
 his might, believing he could put an 
 end to this new craze in a short time. 
 
 On hearing one of the missionaries, 
 who was a college graduate, give an ad- 
 dress, at the close of the service he re- 
 marked to a friend: "I thank God that 
 the skirts o' my coat never breshed 
 agin' e'ry college wall; what I give out 
 to you people is no fix up o' mine, it's 
 God's Holy Writ." 
 
 'Twas a dark, gloomy day in mid- 
 summer w T hen he (Rev. Umbry) sad- 
 dled his little one-eyed mule, replen- 
 ished his hip pocket with a fresh twist 
 of tobacco, lit his cob pipe, mounted 
 and rode aw r ay on what he considered 
 a very important round of duties, 
 namely, the speedy extinction of all 
 missionary influence in that whole re- 
 
40 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 gion. Peeling sure of success, he moved 
 forward in his work with far more con- 
 fidence than most ministers who take 
 up their duties as pastor after gradu- 
 ating with honors from some high grade 
 theological school. His prominence as 
 a leader he greatly enjoyed, and 
 chuckled at the thought of the way the 
 people would honor and reverence him 
 after their eyes were opened and he had 
 succeeded in driving error out of their 
 land. 
 
 The first person he met after setting 
 out on his round was old Joe Grimes, 
 who had been one of the worst drunken 
 sots in that part of the country, but 
 several months before was converted in 
 the mission. 
 
 Approaching him in a confidential 
 way he began to pour out his objections 
 to the missionaries and their work and 
 asked Joe if he didn't think it would be 
 better for him and for the whole settle- 
 ment to stand by the old teaching and 
 the old ways, instead of running round 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 41 
 
 after new things. Drawing himself up 
 and looking at him in a way that would 
 impress one that he at least felt equal 
 to any attack his would-be spiritual ad- 
 viser might make, and mopping his face 
 with an old tattered bandanna handker- 
 chief, Joe said: "I know what's 
 the matter with you: you're a gittin' 
 skeered fur fear that them missionary 
 women will tell you some thin' you don't 
 know. You needn't came a fishin' 
 round here fur missionary horns ter 
 blow in yer church, fur I'm a mission 
 man to my heart's core. Nobody knows 
 better an' I what kind of a pit they dug 
 me out of. Their kind o' preachin', a 
 tellin' of the love o' God ter save a poor 
 sinner, is good enough fur me. I aint 
 got no use fur your old scare religion: 
 a talkin' about them that's dead, and 
 the graveyards that's awaitin' fur us 
 all. Hit never did me nor no one else 
 in this settlement any good as I know 
 about, and others will tell you the same, 
 or Joe's missed it worse 'en he ever 
 
42 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 missed it when he drunk whiskey till 
 he didn't have nery bit o' sense, that's 
 all I have ter say." 
 
 Seeing his argument had availed 
 nothing in this case, he rode on to the 
 house of Mary Ann Jenkins, who had 
 stood aloof at first and for some time 
 after others had put their children in 
 school and were sounding the praises of 
 ' ' Them missionary women," she said 
 but little, and quietly kept her children 
 home. Being a strong, true character, 
 she believed in first looking into a thing 
 before making up her mind as to 
 whether it was right or not, and when 
 her mind was made up "then stickin' to 
 it," as she expressed it. 
 
 For several weeks Mary Ann's mind 
 had been made up that the mission was 
 just what she and her family needed, 
 and had already declared that it was 
 her intention to make missionaries out 
 of her two youngest daughters and a 
 school teacher out of the oldest, if, said 
 she, "the missionaries stay among us so 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 43 
 
 as to give 'em the proper trainin'. 
 Umbry, being well acquainted with 
 Mary Ann's disposition and her strong 
 liking for what she thought would be 
 lasting and enduring and not vanish and 
 burst like a soap bubble as soon as she 
 began to praise and admire it, at- 
 tempted to discourage her by saying, 
 "the mission work looked all right to 
 her now, but from some things he'd 
 found out lately he was sure it would 
 soon be a thing of the past, fur the mis- 
 sionaries were just here long enough to 
 gather up some o' their nickles and 
 would soon go away ter leave all the 
 people in the lurch who had been a run- 
 nin' after them, liking their work to 
 one of the mountain freshets when the 
 water w r ould run high for a time, then 
 suddenly go down, leaving nothing but 
 little stagnant pools here and there." 
 
 She listened quietly until he had fin- 
 ished, then tossing her knitting across 
 the foot of the wooden bedstead and 
 adjusting herself in her stiff-backed, 
 
44 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 split-bottomed chair and locking her 
 hands tightly in front of her, she drew 
 a long breath and said: "You may 
 think that Mary Ann Jenkins don't 
 know what she's about, but some day 
 you'll find out that her head is a long 
 sight leveler than yourn. I never had 
 any chance to git an education, but I 
 want my children to be something, and 
 to stand in with the best of 'em, and I'm 
 mighty particular whose hands they fall 
 into, and I didn't put nery child I've 
 got into that day school, nor Sunday 
 school neither, till I first went there my- 
 self an' hearn 'em teachin' the right 
 thing. Then, said I to myself, now, 
 Mary Ann Jenkins, this is your chance 
 in a hull lifetime, and you'd better put 
 all o' yourn in as soon as you can git 
 'em there. And as shore as I live every 
 one of 'em can read an write an figger 
 a-ready, and repeat more Bible then I 
 ever heard you repeat, or any other 
 preacher that ever come to these parts. 
 So I'll give you and everybody else ter 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 45 
 
 understand that while the water is high 
 Mary Ann Jenkins an' her gang are a 
 goin' ter wade in an' stay in as long as 
 there's enough left ter wet the soles o' 
 our feet; an' as fur my old man, he's 
 jist got in so deep he's got washed 
 cleaner thin I ever expected to see 'im 
 in this world, an' it wasn't through 
 goin' ter your church, an' hearin' you 
 preach that he's been made more fittin' 
 to live with, either. So now that you 
 know my mind about it, enough's been 
 said on the subject." 
 
 Eliza Grimes, Joe's wife, was very 
 generous, though poor, and she some- 
 times showed her appreciation by send- 
 ing little gifts to the mission, such as 
 vegetables, squashes, pumpkins, etc., 
 her pumpkin crop this year being fine. 
 As she gathered them in November she 
 laid aside some of the largest and best, 
 saying "she was going to send them to 
 the mission just before Christmas." 
 
 Umbrey's salary was due in this 
 month, so one of his deacons asked 
 
46 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 Eliza if she didn't think it her duty to 
 give him something, although she did 
 not belong to his church. Giving her 
 head a little toss and turning on her 
 heel with an air of great superiority, 
 she said: "I git the best gospel I ever 
 heard right over there," pointing to 
 the mission house, "and I'm agoin' ter 
 pay them missionaries well, too, if I do 
 have to pay 'em in pumpkins. So you 
 needn't come to me to help out with 
 Umbrey 's salary, for I'm not supportin' 
 preachers as can't tell me things I 
 don't know. 
 
 Becoming weary and tired with his 
 fruitless endeavors to turn the minds 
 of the people or to break up our work, 
 Rev. Umbrey at last decided that the 
 best policy for him was to be more 
 friendly with us. So occasionally he 
 dropped into our meetings, never fail- 
 ing to take part in the open testimony 
 service. 
 
 We had now enrolled just half a hun- 
 dred pupils in our day school, and a 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 47 
 
 congregation of three hundred people 
 attended the other services. 
 
 Being crowded to the utmost, all of 
 our work was carried on in rooms too 
 small for comfort. With the encourage- 
 ment and help of northern friends I de- 
 cided to erect buildings suitable for our 
 work. 
 
 Jimmie Lynn offered to donate a lot, 
 much to Mrs. Grundy's disappoint- 
 ment, who was watching every move- 
 ment of the missionaries. 
 
 One day she came to me and said 
 "she wished to have a talk in interest 
 of the work we were doing," asking me 
 if I didn't need about twenty-five acres 
 of land, informing me that she had a 
 piece she would sell very reasonable if 
 the purchase could be made right 
 away through some good northern so- 
 ciety, w r hom she knew I would be 
 capable of interesting in such a scheme. 
 But her price being far from satis- 
 factory, I failed to act upon her propo- 
 sition. 
 
48 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 Jimmie Lynn's lot not being rightly 
 located, I purchased lots from other 
 parties and commenced the work of 
 building. But this sudden blasting of 
 all of Mrs. Grundy's hopes to get per- 
 sonal gain out of our mission enterprise 
 and a certain quiet dignity exhibited 
 on several occasions by our lady teach- 
 ers who could not afford to let her con- 
 trol and manage the school work, which 
 she boldly attempted to do a number of 
 times, greatly stirred her carnal nature. 
 
 Taking a bold stand against us, she 
 made a public speech or two in small 
 Sunday schools and in day schools. 
 Ridiculing our work and workers, all 
 of whom had come from the North; 
 filling the air for miles around with her 
 poisonous hissings against the " Yankee 
 workers," as she called us, "coming 
 from the North to the beautiful South- 
 land, putting the Southern people on 
 missionary ground, instead of going to 
 China or Japan or to some other coun- 
 try where such work was needed." 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 49 
 
 Her third class boarding house kept 
 open during the summer, was a little 
 market place for many of the poorer 
 people who could not afford teams to 
 drive to the nearest city with their little 
 surplus of produce. So she flatly told 
 her poor customers that she would no 
 longer buy from persons who in any 
 way patronized the mission. But the 
 people appreciated the food they were 
 receiving for mind and soul more than 
 food for their bodies, and in spite of 
 every pressure brought to bear upon 
 them, they were true. 
 
 There was a little Sunday school near 
 by in which she worked which we had 
 in every possible way tried to help, and 
 when a new child would come into this 
 school she would tell them they could 
 not be taught there unless they would 
 promise never to go to the mission 
 school. But even the little children 
 noticed the difference between the spirit 
 of love and the spirit of evil, and they 
 not only remarked about it among 
 
50 "Them Missionary Women 3 
 
 themselves, but flocked to the mission 
 in large numbers after listening to her 
 unholy exhortations to keep away. 
 
 The following conversation, which 
 took place between one of Mr. Grundy's 
 sympathizers and a member of my large 
 Bible class, not only showed how the 
 work w 7 as appreciated by hundreds 
 who were helped by the teaching which 
 they received, but it also showed the 
 power of a good and Christ-like ex- 
 ample among those who were ignorant 
 and prejudiced against us. 
 
 One day Squire Junkey sat down 
 beside a path leading up to the mission 
 to have a talk with little Jeff Mooney, 
 who was a member of my Bible class. 
 Among other things he said: "Well, 
 Jeff, I've jist stood off and talked agin 
 that mission work 'til I'm ashamed. 
 I've done it more'n a little, but I've set 
 out to turn over a new leaf, for I'm jist 
 beginnin' to git my eyes open about the 
 whole thing since old Mrs. Grundy's 
 been tearin' around like a mad cat, and 
 
^York in the Southern Mountains 51 
 
 no matter what she says or does, them 
 missionary women jist go right on in 
 their straightforward way a tellin' o' 
 the love o' God and a lookin' after the 
 poor little children and a teachin' them 
 good things, and never say one w T ord 
 agin anybody. They are the most in- 
 dependent women I ever seed in all my 
 life, and sometimes when that one that 
 seems to stand at the head o' things 
 starts out to do something when she 
 ain't got hardly any thin' to do it with, 
 she jist moves right ahead and seems 
 jist as happy as she can be all the time. 
 Now I never seed that kind o' religion 
 practiced in these parts before, and I 
 believe it's the right kind, and it's just 
 what this settlement needs. I'm agit- 
 tin' mighty tired of all this fussin' and 
 fightin' and from this time on you can 
 call me a mission man." 
 
 "Well, I'm mighty glad you've come 
 in," said Jeff; "lots o' people are be- 
 ginnin' to see it the same way. Think 
 of old Mrs. Grundy findin' fault with 
 
52 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 the North fer sendin' missionaries to a 
 place like this, where she and some 
 others act worse than the heathen in 
 China, an' Japan. I wish they'd send 
 a hundred more like the ones they have 
 sent. I'd help to rig up wagons to haul 
 
 'em." 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 53 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 MRS. GEUNDY FINDS MORE FAULT 
 
 Our mission people, though all poor, 
 were divided into two distinct classes. 
 One class, being proud and self-respect- 
 ing, made an honest effort to help them- 
 selves, appreciating aid and instruction, 
 but never soliciting charity; showing a 
 disposition to work for all favors re- 
 ceived and would suffer rather than 
 place themselves on a level with beggars 
 and paupers. 
 
 The other class was lazy and shiftless, 
 and would not work except from dire 
 necessity, spending their time round in 
 conspicuous places whittling with a 
 jack knife, smoking tobacco, dipping 
 snuff and feeding upon the latest gossip 
 with no higher ambition than to cheat 
 as many people as possible in their little 
 deals and to draw on the sympathies of 
 
54 "Them Missionary Women' 3 
 
 the missionaries for practical assist- 
 ance; caring not how they got along, 
 just so they could in some way get 
 along without work. Comparatively 
 few of this latter class was numbered 
 among the patrons of our mission. 
 However, Peter Hans was. His chil- 
 dren were in the Sunday school and he 
 attended all the other services. By 
 calling at the mission almost every 
 week, soliciting clothes for himself and 
 family, he made himself very obtrusive, 
 not willing to be refused. He had re- 
 ceived substantial aid from our second- 
 hand clothes room, which the mission- 
 ary societies replenished from time to 
 time with their helpful barrels, ere we 
 learned that he was shiftless and un- 
 worthy. Though he faithfully promised 
 to work for all we gave him, we never 
 succeeded in getting him to do the 
 smallest job around the mission, no mat- 
 ter how much we needed him. 
 
 Our rule for the disposition of second 
 hand clothing was to set a nominal 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 55 
 
 price on the goods, giving all a chance 
 to do something for it in the way of 
 giving a little labor or produce in ex- 
 change, as we wished to elevate rather 
 than pauperize the needy. On asking 
 Hans to do some work in advance for 
 clothing, he refused and was much of- 
 fended. Mrs. Grundy, being the only 
 person to whom Hans could go to for 
 sympathy, he confided his grievances 
 to her, who so far had failed in all her 
 malicious efforts to destroy the influ- 
 ence of our work. Now she decided to 
 try again, making the most of this new 
 circumstance to get the people out of 
 confidence with their leaders. After 
 talking with Hans she felt confident 
 that she at last held the key to success, 
 and without delay took up the question 
 of the distribution of clothing among 
 the poor, telling them that the clothing 
 which they had to buy was sent there 
 to be given to them outright, and that 
 we were not only imposing on them by 
 
56 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 making them pay for it, but were im- 
 posing on the societies that sent it. 
 
 Mary Ann Jenkins was noted for her 
 business tact. If there was anything 
 she liked better than to be highly re- 
 spected and to have her own way, it 
 was a chance to take advantage of what 
 she considered a real bargain. She 
 worked hard, and, having a large family 
 whom she was anxious to educate, and 
 her six children always prominent in 
 the public school exercises, Easter and 
 Christmas entertainments, she had oc- 
 casion to call at the clothes room quite 
 often, so as to "fit 'em out," as she 
 said. Donning her best dress — a neat 
 black serge — she drove into the city 
 with a mule team to see a wealthy 
 friend on business whom she had known 
 all her life. Her friend, taking this op- 
 portunity to ask some questions about 
 the mission, said : ' ' Mary, Mrs. Grundy 
 was telling me the other day that the 
 missionaries in your village are making 
 gain of you poor people, selling you old 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 57 
 
 worn-out clothing and making you pay 
 three prices for it, and I think it a 
 shame if you are being imposed upon in 
 that way." Mary Ann had always con- 
 sidered the dress she had on a most re- 
 markable bargain, and made it a point 
 to answer all questions concerning the 
 mission by first telling her own experi- 
 ence, emphasizing all the facts about 
 the benefits she had received, and then 
 close by giving her " honest opinion," 
 with a bit of prophecy thrown in. In 
 answer to these questions she said, "I 
 don't know how others trade, nor what 
 they git, but now 7 that you've know T ed 
 me all my life, I want ter ask you if you 
 ever seed me wear a better dress thin 
 the one I've got on ter day? I got it at 
 the mission over a year ago for three 
 heds o' cabbage, and if that's what Mrs. 
 Grundy calls "three prices fur things," 
 then it'll be a bright day fur some o' us 
 poor people when everything is sold fur 
 three prices." 
 
 Rising, she stepped in front of the 
 
58 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 large bay window, catching up her 
 skirt and spreading it out the full 
 length of her arms on each side, so as to 
 let the light shine full upon it, thus 
 giving her friend a chance to see for her- 
 self the true value of the garment she 
 prized so highly, she continued: "I 
 never wore anything but a cotton frock 
 in all my life till I got somethin' better 
 from them missionary women, an' I'm 
 agoin' on fifty years old, an' there's 
 another woman down in our neighbor- 
 hood still poorer than I be — an' good- 
 ness knows I find it hard enough 
 scrapin' ter git a little somethin' ter 
 eat an' wear — an' she told me tother 
 day, an's been a tellin' others, too, about 
 the good help she gits at the mission, 
 an' she has seven children, by jist send- 
 in' the missionaries a quart o' milk a 
 day. She says that she's about clothed 
 all o' them an' herself, too, fur about 
 two years now, an' she 'lowed it wus a 
 sight o' help, too; an' said they didn't 
 have ter shiver round with the cold all 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 59 
 
 winter as they did afore them women 
 come ter help us out. An' it's my 
 opinion if Mrs. Grundy had a gone ter 
 a mission school like the one that my 
 children's in she'd a learned so many 
 good things an' a got ter be so perlite 
 ter people that she'd be o 'shamed ter 
 keep runnin' round the country a talk- 
 in' about her betters. For if any one 
 wants ter see real ladies, they can see 
 'em at the mission home any day, an' 
 mighty smart ones at that. I can re- 
 member mighty well when she used ter 
 live in her log cabin an' wear her cheap 
 cotton frocks, an' work in the terbaccer 
 field like the rest of us — that didn't 
 have any chance in the world. But 
 after her old dad nearly killed hisself a 
 drinkin' an' was so mean that nobody 
 keered fur 'im, an' he had ter die in the 
 poor house, then a preacher tuk pity on 
 her an' sent her ter school fur a while, 
 an' since she got a little education an' 
 has married an' old man with a war 
 title ter his name an' moved out o' her 
 
60 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 log cabin inter a hotel, she's been a 
 thinkin' ever since that she knows 
 enough ter run this hul country; but 
 the most of us are in favor of some one 
 o' runnin' it as knows how, an' that's 
 why we stand by them missionary 
 women; we b'lieve that they know how 
 ter run this country better than anyone 
 that has ever run it before, so as fur me 
 an' mine, we'll be our own judge o' the 
 cloth w T e git at the mission." 
 
 Not willing to be thwarted and to 
 have her advice entirely ignored by her 
 poorer neighbors, Mrs. Grundy tries 
 another plan to retard the progress of 
 our work. The missionary societies 
 having been successful in procuring 
 special freight rates on the goods sent 
 to us, she writes certain railroad officials 
 telling them the same story she had 
 been telling nearer home, using her 
 "war title" to show her good standing, 
 referring them to a certain Northern 
 minister whom she said would verify 
 the truth of her statement. Not know- 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 61 
 
 ing anything about the facts in the case, 
 the railroad men who had been very 
 kind to us were confused for a short 
 time. But the matter was so taken up 
 by persons of influence and standing 
 that the railroad companies were satis- 
 fied with their explanations and all w r as 
 well. The minister in question once 
 sought an opening with his wife to work 
 in connection with our mission. He 
 being disconnected and out of harmony 
 with his own church and connected with 
 a society not altogether orthodox, I 
 moved cautiously in the matter of giv- 
 ing him a place in our ranks. As he was 
 a good talker and w T ell educated, I de- 
 cided to try him for a few weeks, he 
 being willing to come at his own ex- 
 pense. His career during the three 
 weeks he was wdth us I would not like 
 to record here; it is enough to say that 
 he almost succeeded in that brief time 
 in breaking up our mission. His in- 
 fluence was so hurtful the result was 
 confusion among the workers, confusion 
 
62 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 among the converts and confusion in 
 the community at large. At the end of 
 the three weeks I dismissed him from 
 the field, gathered up the fragments of 
 a torn up work and moved on as before. 
 
 Concerning titles, there are many 
 county and state officials bearing titles 
 which would suggest good education, 
 popularity and high social standing, 
 and which would mean much in more 
 enlightened places, or in a country not 
 so far in the rear of the times. But 
 when these same titles are borne by men 
 who have been born and raised in such 
 districts as I have described they 
 dwindle down into a ridiculous ab- 
 surdity. 
 
 I was once driven a long distance over 
 the mountain to a little town which was 
 a county seat to see a certain county of- 
 ficial on a matter of business pertaining 
 to the religious enterprise in which I 
 was engaged. On entering a room 
 which had long been used by public men 
 filling important offices, thoroughly 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 63 
 
 varnished with grease, tobacco juice 
 and ashes, I was introduced to a man 
 who could not speak a sentence of good 
 English and to my great surprise he 
 was the man I had come to see. 
 
 Six months had passed away since 
 Hans got offended at the door of our 
 clothes room. His smaller children 
 were still in school, but Mary, the old- 
 est, he kept hard at work in the field 
 and garden, while he loafed about the 
 depot and other public places, talking 
 about how he thought mission work 
 ought to be carried on. 
 
 'Twas a cool, frosty morning in the 
 early autumn. The teachers were busy 
 in the school room, while I sat alone 
 writing letters which I wished to get 
 off on the next train. Hearing a light 
 tap at my door I answered it, when be- 
 fore me stood a little girl with a slight 
 form, pale face, large brown eyes, blue 
 lips, and a downcast look; clad in a 
 faded, threadbare calico dress which 
 had once been in our clothes room; bare 
 
64 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 footed, wearing a torn and tattered sun- 
 bonnet on her head. She timidly said 
 she was in need of clothing and asked 
 if I had any work that she could do to 
 earn some. It was little Mary Hans, 
 just twelve years of age. My heart went 
 out to her, speaking as she did in her 
 frank, humble way. Telling her I would 
 try to find something she could do, with 
 a grateful look and with tears glisten- 
 ing in her eyes, she said, with more 
 courage than she had at first spoken: 
 "I think you are very kind to me, and 
 I hope I can do a lot for you. I know 
 Pa aint done right, an' I feel mighty 
 sorry about the way he has acted, but 
 I can do right, and I'll keep my word 
 and do my best ter help yer all I can." 
 She did do her best, and became a great 
 blessing to us in running errands and 
 performing many little duties about the 
 home. After supplying her with a num- 
 ber of suits, among which was a nice 
 fitting blue serge with blouse waist, 
 sailor collar and white braid trimmings, 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 65 
 
 good stockings and neatly buttoned 
 shoes; nice ribbon bows for her thick 
 black hair, taking the place of white 
 cotton strings and a pretty sailor hat 
 pinned gracefully on her head taking 
 the place of the disfigured sunbonnet, 
 her looks were greatly improved. With 
 the consent of her parents I kept her in 
 the mission home all winter, she helping 
 about the home after school hours. 
 
 Greatly resenting Mrs. Grundy's un- 
 holy attacks on the mission, she made 
 the most of every opportunity to talk 
 with her son (Ben Grundy) about her 
 mission blessings. Later she was con- 
 verted, an account of which will be 
 given in another chapter. 
 
66 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 WORKING OUT FEOM HEADQUARTERS 
 
 Rumors had gone out into other 
 districts about what was being done in 
 the village. One day I received a letter 
 from Coons Creek, some twenty-five 
 miles from the railroad, which con- 
 tained the following invitation for us to 
 come there and hold meetings: 
 
 "Miss , August the seventh day. 
 
 We the people o' Coons Creek have jist 
 decided that you'uns are wanted in 
 this 'ere settlement to hold meetin's in 
 our school house, as we've been a hear- 
 in' a lot about the mighty sight o' good 
 you'uns are a doin' in that part o' the 
 country; and we're a feelin' powerful 
 anxious about gittin' things sorter 
 stirred up here and the people started 
 on the right track in this part o' the 
 country, as we'uns don't have nothin' at 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 67 
 
 Coons Creek. Now if you can come and 
 fetch your helpers, we the people o' 
 Coons Creek will be sure to give you 
 all a mighty warm welcome. Signed by 
 reliable and law-abidin' citizens. Peter 
 Blake, Squire Dick, Postmaster Crow, 
 Doc Curly, Deputy Sherif Hank." 
 
 In company with three other mission- 
 aries I went. Taking with us a camping 
 outfit, we made the journey in a lumber 
 w 7 agon with two little mules, driven by 
 a mission convert. Reaching there just 
 in time to hear the first w T eird notes of 
 the night songsters — the katydids in 
 the apple trees, the whippoorwills in the 
 laurel bushes, and the hoarse hooting of 
 the owl perched on the edge of a craggy 
 cliff. Driving inside of the high rail 
 fence, we unloaded our chattels in the 
 door yard of Squire Dick's cabin with a 
 feeling that we ought to write a letter 
 home at once — addressed United States 
 of America. 
 
 It being too late to set up the tent that 
 night, as we had forgotten to bring our 
 
68 "Them Missionary yeomen" 
 
 tent poles along — the only chance to 
 sleep indoors was to accept the hospi- 
 tality of Squire Dick's cabin, which con- 
 sisted of one room. Us missionaries 
 were duly assigned one bed in a remote 
 corner. A few days later one of our 
 party, whose home was in a Michigan 
 city, wrote a letter to her mother in 
 which she gave a graphic account of the 
 situation and trials of the night, a part 
 of which I quote: "Dear Mother, I 
 never spent such a horrible night in my 
 life. We had traveled all day. Had 
 had no chance to get cooled off. We got 
 in too late to have the use of our tent. 
 Had to sleep in a log cabin over night. 
 There were eleven in the room, and four 
 of us in one forty-pound feather bed 
 with roaches and other insects lively. 
 A big fire place with a roaring fire in 
 the middle of August, and the night ex- 
 ceptionally warm. Doors closed tight, 
 and no windows. My heart sank within 
 me when I saw them latched for the 
 night. Dearest mother, believe me, I 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 69 
 
 never expect to be so warm and miser- 
 able again and live to tell you about it. 
 I assure you we all got up early next 
 morning.' ' 
 
 The next day the men went to the 
 woods and cut poles for our tent, and 
 by noon it was up. As few people in 
 that community had ever seen one be- 
 fore, it proved a good advertisement for 
 our meetings. All day long teamsters, 
 equestrians and pedestrians stopped for 
 a short time as they chanced to pass 
 that way to look at our little cloth taber- 
 nacle with its red scolloped trimmings. 
 
 The meetings in the log school house 
 were well attended. Soon after the 
 opening of our work, at the close of one 
 of the services, a woman rushed to the 
 front to speak w T ith me. Her head dress 
 was a man's old felt hat with a majority 
 of the rim chopped off on one side. She 
 wore a short calico dress, considerably 
 hitched up in front, running to an un- 
 gainly point in the back, and deplorably 
 separated from the waist at the band. 
 
70 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 Her shoes, which were coarse and cov- 
 ered with mud, were buttoned on the 
 wrong side of her feet with about two 
 buttons near the neighborhood of her 
 toes. Manifesting considerable emotion 
 and great concern she said, "I wish my 
 old man was here to go to yer meetin's! 
 0! I do wish he was here this very 
 minute, fur I shore feel that they'd do 
 'im a sight o' good!" " Where is he?" I 
 asked. "Well, that's more'n I can tell; 
 you see we'uns are a havin' a lot o' 
 trouble in this 'ere settlement off an' on, 
 an' two weeks ago my old man had to 
 git up an git cause the revenues got 
 after 'im fur makin' whiskey. I'd been 
 tellin' them that he'd better let sich 
 business alone. If they ketch 'em 
 that'll mean a sight o' trouble fer 
 me. But he wouldn't listen. And 
 there's a lot o' fellers down here 
 that have ter spend about Half o' their 
 time runnin' from them officers, fer 
 they're a huntin' 'em down like rabibts 
 most o' the time." 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 71 
 
 As we got farther into this work and 
 better acquainted with the people and 
 their needs, we learned that about two- 
 thirds of the men in this locality was in 
 some way connected with illicit distill- 
 ing. 
 
 A little two-months school was taught 
 every year in the school house where we 
 held meetings, and the only preaching 
 the people had listened to there in seven 
 years was by a man that could neither 
 read nor write. We announced a chil- 
 dren's meeting, and when the time came 
 to open this service the children filled 
 the house, and the grown people filled 
 the yard. The little ones came carrying 
 old blue-backed spelling books, thinking 
 they would need them in the meeting. 
 We taught them to sing and to repeat 
 Scripture texts. We told them the story 
 of the cross, and explained to them the 
 need of Sunday schools, and the kind of 
 teaching they would receive if they had 
 the right kind of teachers. "Well," 
 said one woman, "this jist beats any- 
 
72 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 thing we 'uns ever had on Coons Creek I" 
 After working this point for over a 
 month with good results, we moved up 
 the creek about three miles, where the 
 people were not so poor, but where the 
 smoke of the still houses was much 
 thicker. 
 
 A presiding elder of the Methodist 
 church, who encouraged me to take my 
 assistants and go into this district, told 
 me that just prior to our conversation 
 about this place he preached to over a 
 dozen murderers in jail, all of whom 
 came from this neighborhood. No re- 
 ligious service had been held there for 
 nearly four years. The people received 
 us kindly, entertaining us in their 
 homes, and announcing our meetings in 
 the day school and from house to house. 
 Here we found a large public building 
 used for a five months district school 
 and Masonic meetings. Also used in 
 the past by many rambling Christian 
 workers without learning or influence. 
 A number of rough benches, a large 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 73 
 
 stove, warped, lopsided and rusty, with 
 a pen built around it about six feet 
 square and seven inches deep, full to 
 the brim with ashes, and one little lamj) 
 without a chimney composed the furni- 
 ture of this house. The pen around the 
 stove was designed for a public spittoon 
 where men, women and children de- 
 posited untold quantities of tobacco 
 juice in every public gathering. This 
 spittoon was built with much care and 
 was looked upon by all as being of far 
 more importance than lamps or stove 
 polish. 
 
 In our first public meeting all the 
 light we had in that big, dingy chapel 
 was supplied by the one little lamp, 
 without a chimney still, and one old 
 lantern with an abundance of dirt on 
 the outside and but little oil on the in- 
 side. Here we found out what all in- 
 telligent missionaries find out when 
 they go into isolated pioneer fields. That 
 the first thing to be done is to " pre- 
 pare the way of the Lord" by getting a 
 
74 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 place ready for His worship. So before 
 beginning our work in a regular way 
 we had a broom, soap, water, stove 
 polish, dust rags and a good supply of 
 physical strength applied to the inside 
 of the building. This being done, we 
 hung up a number of Scripture mottoes 
 on the walls and new lamps well filled 
 with lighting matter. On the table, 
 made out of some stray boards, we put 
 a neat table cover, and last of all a beau- 
 tiful boquet of fall flowers was placed 
 on the stand and a little organ set in. 
 The people, recovering from their first 
 paralizing stroke of astonishment, be- 
 came good listeners to all we had to say, 
 encouraging us by their presence and 
 their words, and seemed anxious to help 
 the work. 
 
 The matter of finding a home for our- 
 selves was the most perplexing question 
 of all. At first we used an old discarded 
 log school house standing beside the 
 other building, entirely open under- 
 neath, the logs resting on four piles of 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 75 
 
 stones built up at each corner about 
 four feet from the ground. A great con- 
 venience for a herd of sheep, seeking 
 protection from the heat of the sun dur- 
 ing the day, giving place to more than a 
 dozen hogs that had chosen this same 
 spot for their resting place at night, 
 making known to us by their hideous 
 squeals and loud, hostile grunts how 
 much they protested against this unex- 
 pected intrusion and how unwilling 
 they were to surrender their rights to 
 a few lone missionaries compelled by 
 circumstances to take refuge in a house 
 utterly abandoned by human beings. 
 
 Later the people offered us a half- 
 finished house w T hich was built for a 
 good dwelling, but then being used for a 
 tobacco barn. This house w T e accepted. 
 The tobacco w T as moved out and the mis- 
 sionaries moved in. The floors were 
 washed and the walls were white- 
 washed. A number of goods boxes, 
 draped with speckled calico, we used for 
 a wash stand, dresser and kitchen table. 
 
76 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 A straw mattress, a wooden bedstead, 
 a few split bottomed chairs, a small 
 table and a smokey little oil stove — the 
 only chance for cooking a meal — com- 
 posed our housekeeping outfit. On the 
 walls which the whitewash so wonder- 
 fully transformed, we hung a few 
 pictures taken from a Sunday school 
 wall role sent to us by a city friend. In 
 this way we began to fight the King's 
 battle in a place where a Sunday school 
 and Christian church was not yet in 
 existence. A lively Sunday school was 
 soon worked up, and from two to three 
 Gospel meetings held every week, with 
 almost no opposition. The workers 
 were much encouraged with the results 
 of their efforts, and the outlook for a 
 strong, permanent work was promising, 
 when all at once the attendance at these 
 public meetings became very small. It 
 w T as a sudden, rather than a gradual fall- 
 ing away. We were perplexed and did 
 not understand the situation. We were 
 sure that some false rumor was afloat 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 77 
 
 concerning ourselves, for when we met 
 the people who took hold well at first 
 and who seemed to be delighted with the 
 work from the beginning, they would 
 now shy off, giving us a distrustful and 
 cross-eyed look. 
 
 On attempting to unravel the mystery 
 our investigation proved that the diffi- 
 culty had originated in this way: A 
 number of persons living in the neigh- 
 borhood who could read but very little, 
 had told others that it was recorded in 
 history that Uncle Sam owed England 
 a debt. They had doubtless gotten the 
 thought of what England could do and 
 might do sooner or later much exagger- 
 ated in their minds. And as they talked 
 things over among themselves, they 
 were filled with fear and dread lest 
 "them fur 'en people," as they called 
 the English, might swoop down upon 
 them at some unexpected time and rob 
 them of all their earthly possessions, 
 especially the land now owned by the 
 poorer citizens of the United States. 
 
78 "Tlaem Missionary Women" 
 
 And it was through a conversation 
 which took place between the suspicious 
 persons which greatly cut down our 
 numbers at the mission. 
 
 Ed Scout who owned more land in 
 that region than anyone else, called a 
 number of land holders together. Ex- 
 hibiting some agitation he gave them 
 his candid opinion about the mission- 
 aries. Said he, "There's somethin' on 
 my mind that I b'lieve you'uns all 
 ought ter know. I've been a dreadin' 
 a sartin kind o' trouble an expectin' it 
 fur some time, an' I've been a thinkin' 
 that mebby it's right here, an' we'uns 
 don't know it. You remember Bob 
 Hurley that when them missionary 
 women first come here, I told yer that 
 they didn't look nery bit like our kind 
 o' women, an' the more I see of 'em, the 
 more I b'lieve they're English. I'd be 
 willin' to bet my old mule with any 
 man on this ground them women are 
 sent here to meddle with our land, an' 
 likely they'll take it away from us, an' 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 79 
 
 it's time fur we'uns that owns land ter 
 wake up, fur if that's what they're here 
 fur, an' we don't do somethin', then 
 we are shore ruined, ever one of us." 
 
 "Ah! shaw! you don't need ter git so 
 worked up an excited over it," said 
 Bob. "Do you think if England was 
 ready ter do that sort o' thing that 
 she'd send women over ter look adder 
 the business? I never seed a woman 
 yit that could skeer me." 
 
 "Well, I don't guess you take the 
 papers an' find out enough about things 
 ter git skeered," said Ed. "You can 
 jist b'lieve me or not, Bob, but I tell 
 yer that the whole state o' England is 
 run by a woman, and' that's jist why I 
 believe they'd be jist the ones she'd be 
 most likely ter send over." 
 
 "Well," said Bob, "if that's true, 
 there may be somethin' in it, but I hope 
 it'll turn out all right, fur goodness 
 knows we're poor enough now, without 
 havin' the little patch taken away from 
 
80 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 us that we've been a workin' in all our 
 lives.' ' 
 
 ' ' Boys," said Lee Smakey, "as we 
 don't know how this '11 turn out, an' 
 bein' they are women, we wouldn't 
 want ter run 'em out unless we knowed 
 fur sartin' they wus agin' us, an' now I 
 think that the best thing fur us ter do 
 now is just ter watch 'em real close, 
 an' you tell all the land holders on your 
 side o' the creek, an' I'll tell all on my 
 side, so as ter be ready if anything 
 happens." 
 
 "Mebby that's the best way ter man- 
 age it," said Ed, who became more 
 quiet as soon as he succeeded in getting 
 the others to fully sympathize with him 
 in his forebodings of evil. 
 
 As soon as we found out the truth 
 this difficulty was tactfully explained 
 away, after which we gathered our full 
 number together again and went on 
 with our work — I might say, with more 
 light and less hope than we had hith- 
 erto possessed. 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 81 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION AT 
 HEADQUARTERS 
 
 We were told that in the past, at 
 Christmas time, there had been much 
 drinking, shooting and the roughest 
 kind of riot carried on in this vicinity. 
 These reports caused us to hesitate in 
 arranging for a public entertainment 
 during the holidays. But after talking 
 it over with the converts we decided to 
 have a Christmas celebration and make 
 the day one of the brightest and best 
 the people had ever known. The chil- 
 dren were carefully trained in Christ- 
 mas songs, recitations and various 
 Scripture exercises, much to the delight 
 of their parents, who had never seen 
 them represented in any good thing 
 before. In the city of , New Jer- 
 sey, other preparations were going on. 
 A little band of Kings Daughters, com- 
 
82 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 posed of young ladies, were busy mak- 
 ing work bags and numerous other 
 articles which when completed were 
 neatly packed in a box with forty 
 pounds of delicious candy, and shipped 
 to the mission in time for it to reach 
 its destination to be duly distributed 
 among the members of the Sunday 
 school on Christmas eve. 
 
 When the anticipated day of pleasure 
 arrived all eyes were turned with one 
 accord toward the mission house. The 
 children came early in the morning, 
 carrying loads of beautiful ferns and 
 evergreen to decorate the chapel. 
 Three men were working on the frame 
 of a snow house. When covered with 
 cotton and sprinkled with glistening 
 mica, a number of mothers came to 
 hang the decorations and to do the 
 cleaning after all was finished. The 
 excitement was much intensified when 
 it was announced that Joe Grimes had 
 just carried the Christmas box over 
 from the depot, and that the precious 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 83 
 
 contents had been taken upstairs to my 
 room. The snow-house, the decorations 
 and the cleaning were all completed by 
 noon, and the last practice was given to 
 the children early in the afternoon, and 
 all went home filled to overflowing with 
 bright thoughts and thrilling expecta- 
 tions of what they were going to enjoy 
 that evening. For would they not see 
 a real Santa Claus come out the chim- 
 ney of the snow-house? and would not 
 each one receive some beautiful gift 
 from his hand? And 0! what a big 
 crowd of people going to come out to 
 see him ! As they pondered these things 
 in their minds their hearts swelled 
 with delight. They were so over- 
 whelmed with joyful anticipations that 
 it really did seem as if the little village 
 had been suddenly transformed into a 
 great big world of brightness and 
 pleasure. 
 
 The entertainment began early in the 
 evening, and after the seats were all 
 filled the standing room was soon taken 
 
84 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 and many could not get inside at all, 
 the crowd was so great. The order was 
 all that we could desire, and not one 
 child failed to perform their part well; 
 more than meeting the expectations of 
 their teachers and greatly pleasing the 
 people who listened attentively to the 
 exercises. When the gifts were dis- 
 tributed by the teachers, who received 
 them from old Santa, as he handed them 
 down from the chimney of the snow- 
 house which concealed one-half of his 
 body — with the dolls, workbags, pocket 
 handkerchiefs and other things, a beau- 
 tiful red box with a picture of Santa 
 Claus printed on the side, filled with 
 nice candy was given to each one. 
 
 Everything went off so quietly and 
 nice and on hearing so many expres- 
 sions of gratitude from the parents, 
 and all seeming to be helped and 
 cheered, we felt enough encouraged to 
 announce a watch night service for New 
 Year's eve. This, too, was something 
 new, no meeting of the kind ever having 
 
Work in the Soul hern Mountains 85 
 
 been held in this place before. In this 
 service one hour and a half was set 
 apart for testimony. We called it a 
 "When and Where meeting," asking 
 all the Christians to tell as near as they 
 could remember, just when and where 
 they were converted. A more interest- 
 ing exercise I never attended. The 
 people entered into it with earnestness 
 and fervor. The first to speak was 
 Willis Brown: 
 
 "I didn't come to the first mission 
 meetin' fur any good. But after the 
 Holy Sperit got hold o' me, I begun ter 
 feel mighty bad, and after I'd axed fur 
 prayers, Miss Bright gave me a little 
 tract that made the way mighty plain. 
 And as I wus a walkin' home all alone, 
 I wus so anxious ter know what wus in 
 that tract that I tuk it out 'er see if I 
 could see it in the moonshine, an' seein' 
 I could read it, I begun ter spell it out, 
 fur I couldn't read very good, but I 
 got enough of the Bible part of it ter 
 make me feel it wus fur me, an' I jist 
 
86 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 got right down there by the side o' the 
 road an' prayed, an' I know I wus eon- 
 verted an' my sins wus forgiven." 
 
 The next was Joe Grimes : 
 
 "I'd been pinted ter light up the 
 meetin' house ever night, an' the next 
 night after they begun ter pray fur 
 me, I come over ter clean the church an' 
 ter light up. But no man livin' ever 
 felt meaner than I did that evenin'. 
 An somethin' seemed ter say ter me, 
 ' Joe, this is a good time fur you ter 
 begin ter pray!' So I got down an' 
 went at it, an' shore as I live, the Lord 
 jist cleaned up my old heart, an' I 
 knowed He'd done it His sef, an' after 
 I wus lit up with His divine love, I 
 found it mighty easy ter light them 
 lamps, an' they never did look so bright 
 ter me before." 
 
 Little Daisy Dump then testified: 
 
 "There is one place on earth that I 
 love better than any other, cause God 
 converted me there. It wus jist a 
 quarter of a mile from our house, be- 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 87 
 
 hind Pa's old tobacco barn. Sometimes 
 I git discouraged, an' when I do I go 
 there an' tell Jesus all about it an' then 
 He helps me an' I feel better.' ' 
 
 Little Mary Hans said: "I wanted 
 ter be converted a long time before I 
 wus. An' one night I got so stirred up 
 in the meetin's I couldn't sleep, an' the 
 leader said fur all that wanted ter be 
 saved ter go home an' begin ter pray at 
 home, an' it was a busy time with us 
 an' Pa sent me to the field real early 
 ter hoe corn; an' I was a feelin' so bad 
 I jist longed ter pray, an' I didn't 
 b'lieve the Lord would hear me unless 
 I got down on my knees, so I knelt 
 down an' begun ter pray an' hoe, an' I 
 jist went through one row after another 
 — a prayin' an' a hoein', an' I feel that 
 Jesus heard me an' made me His 
 child." 
 
 " Uncle Billy Bowser," as he was 
 called by his neighbors, was the oldest 
 member of our mission. Being greatly 
 blessed in the meetings, his broad 
 
88 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 features, though naturally homely, be- 
 came attractive, because of the light 
 which constantly shined out of his gray 
 bearded face. He had received a little 
 spiritual life years before our mission 
 was opened, and delighted in telling his 
 experience. As he had had a very un- 
 satisfactory church history, he thought 
 this a favorable time to speak of his 
 conversion and also his church trials, 
 which had almost beset him a number 
 of times. Said he: "I can't jist re- 
 member when I wus converted, it's 
 been so long ago. But it wus in a log 
 school house, an' after I perfessed re- 
 ligion, I didn't git the kind o' teachin' 
 we are a gitten' here — not by a long 
 sight! But I did the best I knowed 
 how, an' jined the Methodist church 
 right away, an' went along with the 
 rest o' them — kinder slow like — an' 
 we had a purty good preacher then, 
 too; but he couldn't preach fur us but 
 once a month, an' that wus more'n we 
 could pay 'im fur, an' the devil he 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 89 
 
 didn't git a bit skeered at that kind o' 
 work as long as he had the ground all 
 ter his-sef the rest o' the time; an' all 
 at once he jist walked inter that meetin' 
 house an' didn't back down a inch till 
 he'd got ever member o' that church, 
 a findin' fault with some other member, 
 an' the first thing I knowed, an' before 
 the parson could fill another appoint- 
 ment, that church wus busted all ter 
 pieces, an' the class book wus taken 
 away an' hit aint been found ter this 
 day. Hit did make me feel so lone- 
 some like that I didn't know what ter 
 do. Then after a spell I went an' jined 
 the Baptist, an' they made me the 
 chaplin o' their Sunday school. I 
 stayed with them fur some years, an' 
 then the Methodist church started up 
 agin' an' that made the Baptist kinder 
 jealous like, an' they begun ter fight 
 an' thrash the Methodist wusser thin 
 the Methodist had fit each other. I 
 saw this wus all wrong, an' bein' I wus 
 more of a Methodist thin a Baptist any- 
 
90 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 way, I went back an' jined the Method- 
 ist agin. Fur I thought I would ruther 
 git licked thin ter be on the side that 
 wus doin' so much fightin'. But the 
 Methodist wusn't a doin' much good, 
 an' as soon as the missionaries came, 
 after I'd jined them again, thin they 
 begun ter find fault with them fur 
 startin' a union Sunday school, an' 
 there wus jist five Methodist members 
 in all, an' most o' them not a livin' 
 right, an' ever time I said anything 
 about the good that wus a bein' done 
 by them women, it seemed ter rile 'em 
 up powerful, an' they begun ter say 
 hard things about the mission work ter 
 me, so I jist went on an' let 'em tare as 
 they pleased, an' I begun ter ax the 
 Lord what wus ter become of a old man 
 like me that had been a huntin' all his 
 life fur a quiet, peacible place ter wor- 
 ship Him in an' couldn't find it. An' 
 I know that He wanted me ter keep a 
 goin' ter the mission, fur He jist kept 
 a blessin' me ever time I went more an' 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 91 
 
 more, an' hit made me feel so good ter 
 find a place where the leaders all talked 
 about the infillm' o' the blessed Holy 
 Sperit that makes Christians happy an' 
 gives 'em love one fur another, that I 
 just said ter the Lord that I wanted 
 ter worship an' live an' die right in this 
 mission, 'cause hit is the only place I 
 ever found yit where folks show love 
 one for another." 
 
 Tom Ruggles rose and said: "I 
 thank God that He let me live long 
 enough ter find out the difference 
 'tween jinin' the church and jinm' the 
 Lord. I'd been a member o' the 
 Baptist church ever since I wus a young 
 man, an' some folks called me a 
 Christian 'cause I had been baptized an' 
 taken in the reglar way. But I soon 
 found out that I didn't git anything in 
 that big meetin' where I first perfessed 
 religion that made me live better 'n I 
 lived before. The kind I got didn't 
 take the swear out o' me, an' it didn't 
 tone down my bad temper nery a bit; 
 
92 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 I could git fightin' mad at nothin' an' 
 stay mad fur a whole week at a stretch. 
 But after the missionaries explained 
 ter me the difference 'tween perfessin' 
 an' possessin' I tuk ter the kind that 
 makes a man feel as if he'd got some- 
 thin' fur shore, that 'ould stay by 'im 
 an' be a help ter 'im in livin' right in 
 this world and makes 'im shore of some- 
 thin' better in the next." 
 
 Others spoke in the same interesting 
 manner, out of a full heart of praise to 
 God for the many blessings of the past 
 year, and the light which they had re- 
 ceived through the teaching of His 
 blessed word. 
 
 The clock pointed to the hour of 
 twelve, when all joined in a hearty 
 handshake before starting for home. 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 93 
 
 CHAPTER Vn 
 
 MISSION CONVERTS MAKE COMPARISONS. 
 
 'Twas about three years since the 
 opening of our work, and the converts 
 had all been faithful. Their deep regard 
 for the truth, their love for one another, 
 their prompt attendance at the house of 
 worship through all kinds of weather, 
 and their loyalty to their leaders gave 
 us great strength and joy. They often 
 spoke of the marvelous change which 
 had been wrought in their own hearts 
 and homes, as well as in the community 
 at large. And though their apprecia- 
 tion was expressed in the language of 
 the unlearned, their discussions proved 
 that the truths taught in the Holy 
 Scriptures had become deeply rooted 
 in their hearts and lives, enabling them 
 to discern clearly between good and 
 evil. 
 
94 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 It was Sunday afternoon and more 
 than the usual interest had been taken 
 in the lesson taught in my Bible class 
 of adults. In this class I now had en- 
 rolled forty-nine men and women, the 
 majority of whom were converted in 
 our first meetings. The service had 
 come to a close and nearly all had left 
 the building when a number of the class 
 sat down on the chapel steps entering 
 into conversation concerning the lesson 
 taught and the reform which had taken 
 place in the village. 
 
 Among them was Willis Brown, 
 Aunty Brown's son, who had become a 
 faithful worker and was now loved and 
 respected by all who knew him. Before 
 his conversion he was considered one of 
 the roughest and most dangerous char- 
 acters in the neighborhood. With a re- 
 volver in his boot and one in his belt, 
 a quid of tobacco in his mouth, a bottle 
 of whiskey in his pocket, his coat slung 
 over his arm, his sleeves rolled up 
 nearly to his elbows and with a look of 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 95 
 
 defiance in his eye he walked into the 
 church and sat down in our first Gospel 
 meeting. But now he is changed. On 
 opening the following discussion with 
 Barney Smith, his face lit up with 
 gratitude and he spoke with great feel- 
 ing. "Barney," said he, "I've been a 
 thinkin' about the difference in the 
 teachin' we're a gittin' here an' the 
 kind o' wild shootin' we've been 
 brought up on all our lives. I'd al'ays 
 heard about salvation, but sich a man 
 as Umbrey couldn't once tell a feller 
 what it wus or how ter git it. I've 
 hearn 'im talk about jinin' the church 
 an' gittin' baptised till I wus shore sick 
 an' tired o' the hull thing, fur he talks 
 jist as if that wus all there is ter be 
 done, but I've found out since we've 
 been a havin' the right kind o' teachin' 
 that jining' the church an' gittin' bap- 
 tised is one thing, an' livin' a decent life 
 an' havin' a change o' heart is quite 
 another. If any one had a made it as 
 plain ter me as them women did right 
 
96 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 on the start, I'd a got converted long 
 ago, an' I wouldn't a waited till I'd 
 wasted most o' my life a tearin' round 
 the country like a wild buffalo, an' it's 
 all because o' the lack of the right kind 
 o' teachin'." 
 
 " That's jist so, Willis — a big change 
 has tuk place here, an' we cant tell 
 where it'll end. Do you remember the 
 last meetin' that wus held in that old 
 church before the missionaries began 
 ter preach in it? an' how some o' us 
 fellers carried on one night at Christ- 
 mas time ? Jist think of it, twenty-five 
 of us fellers, dead drunk an' a swearin' 
 till we made the preacher's head swim, 
 an' then wound up with a big old 
 Christmas fight, an' run the parson 
 clear out o' town. An' that Christmas 
 I remember that we fellers helped ter 
 ship over sixty kegs o' liquor ter this 
 station, an' the most of it wus used in 
 this 'ere very settlement, an' sich shoot- 
 in' an' yellin' as we had around here 
 fur a hull week wus enough ter run any 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 97 
 
 decent man or woman crazy; but next 
 Christmas there wus jist four kegs o' 
 liquor shipped in here an' hit wus taken 
 to another settlement, an' most o' it 
 used there I guess, fur I didn't see any 
 drinkin' ter speak of in this place. An' 
 the night we all went ter watch meetin' 
 the only noise that wus heard after 
 dark wus the people o' singin' hymns 
 an' a praisin' God fur savin' their souls. 
 An' even some that don't take much 
 ter the mission work couldn't help say- 
 in' that the change wus wonderful; an' 
 jist beat anything that they ever seed 
 in all their life. Why, old Tom Harvey 
 hasn't drunk a drop now a goin' on four 
 months, an' he aint converted either! 
 but he says that since everything has 
 got so quiet round here that he's 
 ashamed ter drink an' carry on as he 
 used ter do. An' did you ever see any- 
 thing like the way Dan Ruggles sticks 
 ter the right? He says that the salva- 
 tion he got in the mission is the only 
 thing he ever had that wus worth a 
 
98 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 copper. An' he got in jist in time ter 
 keep from killin' his daughter, too, fur 
 he told me since he's been converted 
 that he wus so mad at her that he 
 couldn't keep from plannin' it. One 
 day when old Mrs. Grundy was a sayin' 
 somethin' agin' the missionaries ter 
 Mrs. Ruggles, she jist up an' told her 
 pint blank what she thought o' them — 
 she says ter Mrs. Grundy, "I love them 
 missionary women better thin any one 
 in this hull world, fur since they have 
 taught us how ter live right an' are a 
 trainin' our children as they've never 
 been trained before, an' since my old 
 man an' me, an' my two gals have all 
 been converted; we now have love in 
 our home; an' we used ter do nothin' 
 but fuss an' fight; an' now we sing an' 
 pray in our home, yes, we sing them 
 sweet songs that they sing, an' that I'll 
 never forgit till my dyin' day. An' 
 Dan Ruggles has walked five miles ter 
 the mission meetin's an' has 'tended 
 nigh on ter two hundred a year, an' it's 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 99 
 
 meant a sight o' walkin' fur a hard 
 workin' man. But he 'lows that he en- 
 joys 'em so much, it jist rests 'im ter 
 come; so he hain't missed but two 
 meetin's now in over three years. 
 
 "I remember 'bout that Barney: an' 
 there's been a mighty big change in 
 Simon, the miller, too, since he got 
 stirred up in the meetin's an' started on 
 the right track. His wife thought it 
 would be a sight o' help to 'em ter have 
 family prayers, an' none of 'em could 
 read much, so she spells out a chapter 
 in the Bible ever' day, an' gits it so she 
 kin read it to the rest o' them at night; 
 an' she 'lows it is a sight o' help to 'em, 
 too, ter git a little o' the Bible in that 
 ways. But now that their children are 
 all in the Mission school, it won't be 
 long till they kin read with the best o' 
 them! We all be mighty poor readers 
 'round here, an' we have ter do a lot o' 
 practisin' on our Sunday School lesson 
 during the week ter git it so that we're 
 able ter read it together on Sunday; but 
 
100 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 we're doin' better on that line since 
 Miss Graves tuk it on herself ter start 
 a readin' class fur us older ones, that 
 can't go ter school any more. I never 
 got sich a drill in readin' in all my life, 
 as she give us t'other night; an' it sorter 
 makes a feller feel as if there wus some 
 chance fur 'em yit, if he can't go ter 
 school an' learn in a reg'lar way. I 
 don't guess Miss Graves ever got holt 
 o' sich a big class o' dumb skulls afore 
 in all her life, but she jist works away 
 with us as if she enjoys it; an' she says 
 that we're all improvin' a lot an' she 
 kin see it. If such women had 'a' come 
 here when we wus all small boys, we 
 might a knowed somethin' now, but we 
 kin stand by them as has come ter do 
 good; and the little children o' our 
 neighborhood will have a better chance 
 ter learn somethin' an' be somethin' in 
 the world than w r e'uns ever had." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE SOLDIER BOY IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 In calling the attention of the people 
 to a certain poor widow, our Saviour 
 declared that she had outstripped them 
 all in the matter of giving to a good 
 cause. 
 
 Living on the bank of the river, in an 
 old shanty, a short distance from the 
 mission, unappreciated, and unknown, 
 was a poor mountain widow, wno, in 
 the matter of giving to her country's 
 cause, stands first among all the women 
 in the land. 
 
 Though seldom seen away from 
 home, one morning at an early hour 
 she surprised me by rapping at 
 my back door. With tears in her 
 eyes she wished to speak with me 
 alone. Said she: "I am in great 
 trouble and I thought mebby you 
 
102 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 could help me out. It hurts me to tell 
 you how poor I am, but you know my 
 baby boy has gone away to the Spanish 
 Philippine war an' I have just received 
 his first letter home, an' I want to write 
 him a letter before he moves on to the 
 next place. I laid awake all night tryin' 
 to think how I could get some money to 
 buy a postage stamp, an' this mornin' 
 I found six fresh eggs, an' I thought 
 mebby you could give me a little money 
 for the eggs; if so, it 'ill make me so 
 happy, for then I can write my boy 
 right away. " " Oh ! " said she, bursting 
 into a flood of tears, "war is awful! 
 I've suffered more'n the most o' women 
 on account o' war. My grandfather 
 wus killed in the revolution; my father 
 wus killed in the Mexican war; an' my 
 husband wus killed in the civil war; an' 
 my brother had one arm shot off a 
 fightin' for the union; but all o' this wus 
 not so hard as to see my two boys go 
 away to the Philippines, though I wus 
 willin' for the oldest one to go, if the 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 103 
 
 country needed him, if I could only have 
 kept my baby." The candor and gen- 
 tleness of her manner, the beauty and 
 depth of her mother love, and what she 
 had really suffered for her country's 
 sake, stirred my heart with reverence, 
 and caused me to feel that she was 
 worthy of being carried to Washington, 
 D. C, in a special car, the stars and 
 stripes floated at full mast in honor of 
 her coming, and then pensioned for life, 
 instead of losing sleep over the need of 
 a postage stamp to send a letter to her 
 soldier boy away in the Philippines. 
 
 A year later, on calling at her home, 
 after being absent from the mission for 
 a few days, to see her boy who had 
 safely returned from the war, on enter- 
 ing the door, she exclaimed: "I 
 know T ed you wus home again. I am old 
 and have to go to bed early, but every 
 night the last thing I do is to step out- 
 side for a minute to see if the light is 
 burnin' in the mission; an' if I see it 
 burnin', then I lie down happy, for the 
 
104 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 light tells me that you are there. ' ' The 
 great truth embodied in the foregoing 
 incidents are better explained in the 
 wise sayings of Charles Keade: "Not 
 a day passes over the earth but men 
 and women of no note do great deeds, 
 speak great words, and suffer noble 
 sorrows. Of these obscure heroes, phi- 
 losophers and martyrs, the greater part 
 will never be known till that hour when 
 many that were great shall be small, 
 and the small great." 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 105 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 A CHEERFUL GIVER 
 
 Our temporary chapel being ready 
 for seating, lumber was purchased from 
 a yard nearby, a carpenter taking 
 charge of the work, assisted by a num- 
 ber of the converts. Never having 
 worked among the colored people at 
 any time, and not wishing to engage in 
 both lines of work — the colored and the 
 white — and with my hands and mind 
 fully occupied, I had failed to give any 
 attention whatever to a thrifty class of 
 colored people located a short distance 
 from our headquarters until my interest 
 was aroused in one particular family on 
 account of the unselfish interest mani- 
 fested by them in the work w T e were 
 doing. 
 
 The head of this family w T as a strong, 
 finely built old man, more than six feet 
 
106 ''Them Missionary Women" 
 
 in height, quiet in manner, with a soft, 
 pleasant voice, an intelligent face, and 
 a heart as warm and true as could be 
 found among the best of men. He was 
 a Christian, and worked on the lumber 
 yard. When my first order was sent in 
 for lumber, without being solicited by 
 anyone, more than a hundred feet was 
 sent over as his donation, saying: "He 
 wanted to be the first to give something 
 toward getting the house seated." 
 
 Feeling keenly the injustice of his 
 being barred from all our services be- 
 cause of his color and the inconsistent 
 and hostile spirit manifested by Mrs. 
 Grundy and her set concerning the 
 "Nigger's place' ' in religious meetings 
 — seriously objecting to colored persons 
 sitting down in any kind of a meeting 
 conducted for white people — notwith- 
 standing, she and her friends fre- 
 quently attended meetings held in col- 
 ored churches conducted by colored 
 men, and, knowing how poor Uncle 
 Hez was and how he longed to hear us 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 107 
 
 teach, I ventured to talk with him about 
 it. " Uncle Hez," said I, "your gift 
 was very much appreciated by me, but 
 it does not seem right for you to make 
 donations to help along this work and 
 then be prohibited from getting any 
 benefit from it; as the patrons of our 
 mission are the sensible class in the 
 community, and all your friends, if you 
 feel like coming to our meetings, I will 
 see to it that one seat is always re- 
 served for you in the chapel. I think 
 no harm can come of it, and I am will- 
 ing to take all the responsibility. 
 
 "Law, chile," said he, "you dun 'no 
 what you say in' now. I know e-v-e-r 
 missionary dat you brought here ; I seed 
 de fust one git off de train, an' I know 
 e-v-e-r time one goes away. When da 
 come my old heart al'ays feel so glad, 
 an' when da goes away my heart is so 
 sad, 'cause I al'ays b'lieved de Lo'd 
 sent 'em. I'd like more 'en any thing 
 to hear dem missionary women teach, 
 but, law, chile, I don' want ter be de one 
 
108 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 dat 'ud cause you good people a lot o' 
 trouble; you couldn't hire me to come. 
 Don' you worry 'bout what Uncle Hez 
 gives; de Lo'd 'ill pay him. I never 
 give anything to you'uns noway. I 
 give it to de Lo'd." 
 
 When a new chapel was erected later 
 Uncle Hez again availed himself of the 
 privilege of being the first to donate a 
 nice load of lumber. 
 
 After six years of service in that lo- 
 cality, the time came when it was 
 known that my labours there must 
 cease. In the midst of much sad dem- 
 onstration, while waiting at the rail- 
 road station for the train, with a mis- 
 sionary teacher by my side, fathers, 
 mothers, young people and little chil- 
 dren, all weeping, gathered around to 
 say good-bye. 
 
 At a distance, with arms folded and 
 head bowed, all alone, stood Uncle Hez, 
 looking quietly on, but never venturing 
 to intrude. Walking over to where he 
 was, Miss Graves and I said: " Uncle 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 109 
 
 Hez, do you think that we could leave 
 here without saying good-bye to you?" 
 A light born of gratitude broke over his 
 countenance like sunshine breaking 
 through a cloud. Every muscle of his 
 black face twitched with emotion; his 
 lips quivered, and with his kind old 
 eyes swimming in tears, he shook hands 
 warmly, but said not a word. 
 
 On another occasion, a number of 
 men coming to a ford in the river, much 
 swollen on account of the recent rains, 
 tarried all night in a hotel near by to 
 await the low tide. 
 
 In the morning, the tide still being 
 high, a white man ventured in and was 
 soon carried down over the rapids. 
 Clinging to a bush, he cried for help. 
 The entire white crowd w r as much ex- 
 cited, but not one came to the rescue. 
 Just at this time Uncle Hez chanced to 
 come along, and seeing the situation, 
 his heavy coat and coarse shoes were 
 quickly discarded, and he plunged in, 
 swimming down to where the drowning 
 
110 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 man was, and reaching him just as he 
 was sinking for the last time, he carried 
 him safely to the shore. 
 
 When the rescued man was suffi- 
 ciently recovered to speak, he threw his 
 arms around the old colored man's neck 
 and said: "You are the whitest man in 
 this crowd." No Carnegie hero medal 
 was pinned on the coat of this brave 
 old man. No purse with a few extra 
 coins was placed in his hands as a re- 
 ward for his heroic deed. No news- 
 paper notice was ever published ap- 
 plauding him for his noble act in giving 
 all of his physical strength, at the risk 
 of his own life, to rescue a man from 
 death. But the great and loving Euler 
 of the Universe, pledged to mete out 
 justice to all men of all nations, will 
 surely reward him according to his 
 work. 
 
 My experience with the colored peo- 
 ple being somewhat limited, I shall not 
 attempt to elaborate on the race ques- 
 tion; but a few facts from which I 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 111 
 
 learned some helpful lessons may be 
 worthy of mention here. 
 
 In all places where I lived and 
 labored while in the southern mission 
 field, the hostile spirit exhibited by Mrs. 
 Grundy toward the Negro was the ex- 
 ception, and not the rule. 
 
 The liberal, helpful spirit shown for 
 the colored race; the interest taken in 
 their education and evangelization by 
 the more advanced class of southern 
 Christians, greatly surprised and 
 pleased me. 
 
 The propriety of the colored people 
 having their own churches and schools, 
 where there is a sufficient number to 
 justify it, is not to be questioned, as it 
 seems to be the best way to make them 
 self reliant and happy. But for anyone 
 who bears the name of Christian to try 
 to withhold from them anything that 
 would elevate them in character, or 
 bring them in touch with that which is 
 good and holy, is unworthy of being 
 
112 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 called a disciple of Christ, who died to 
 save all men. 
 
 In one of Bishop Taylor's missions in 
 Africa a large number of African boys, 
 whose principal diet had been angle- 
 worms and beetle soup, was placed in a 
 Christian school, where those highly 
 prized dishes immediately gave place to 
 the more civilized American food. Soon 
 all sickened, and some died; when it was 
 found out that the change of diet was 
 too great and too sudden to be properly 
 digested. So, with some would be re- 
 formers who have come south, they 
 soon learned that their own ideas along 
 the line of race reform were so variant 
 from the minds of those whom they 
 sought to elevate and help that they 
 made but little progress, finding out 
 with sorrow and disappointment that 
 education and customs can not always 
 be suddenly changed without disaster 
 to their well meaning efforts. 
 
 A woman from one of the eastern 
 states with more sentiment than sense 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 113 
 
 on the race question, came south, locat- 
 ing a few hours' ride from my mission. 
 Fully determined to be an example for 
 the people around her in giving the 
 Negro better treatment than they had 
 hitherto known, believing that in this 
 way she would be able to start a reform 
 which would result in much good in the 
 way of elevating them in commercial 
 and social life, selected a young colored 
 girl, on whom she thought it wise to 
 practice her sentimental ideas of justice 
 to the dusky race. The girl was work- 
 ing in a southern home, very happy and 
 contented, though receiving but one 
 dollar per week for her services. "The 
 Yankee woman," as they called her, 
 offered the girl two dollars and a half 
 if she would give up her place and come 
 live with her. The girl, thinking it a 
 good offer, resigned her position and 
 went, her railroad ticket being fur- 
 nished by the lady who employed her. 
 On being initiated in the new home, the 
 piano was opened and she was told that 
 
114 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 she might play on it as much as she 
 liked. When the meals were prepared, 
 she was given a place by the lady's side 
 at the table, suddenly bringing her into 
 a new world where she received all the 
 advantages of her employer's social and 
 domestic life. 
 
 Two weeks later, just at day dawn, 
 my southern friend opened her back 
 door, and there stood the girl, who had 
 left her for the more promising place, 
 with a look of real distress on her face. 
 She had walked the whole of the dis- 
 tance — over forty miles — to get back to 
 her former mistress, and when ques- 
 tioned as to why she was there, said: 
 "Law, Missus Maria, I jist couldn't live 
 any longer wid dat ole thing. Anybody 
 'ud know dat lived dar dat she's no 
 'count. Law, it's jist awful de way she 
 does! She treats a niggah jist 'zactly 
 like she does a white pusson. Her 
 money shore couldn't buy me no longer. 
 I wouldn't wo'k fur her any mo' if she'd 
 pay me five dollars a week. When I 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 115 
 
 wo'ks I gwine ter wo'k fur 'spectable 
 people or none, you ken jist count on 
 this niggah fur dat!" A few months 
 later she decided to link her destiny 
 with one of the opposite sex. A white 
 lady, by way of congratulating her on 
 her marriage, said: "Well, Jany, I 
 hope your husband will be a good pro- 
 vider, then you will not have to work so 
 hard as you did when you was single. " 
 With a smile which betokened per- 
 fect confidence and contentment, she 
 replied: "Good providah? I'd say he 
 wus a good providah. He's done found 
 me three places ter wash already." 
 
116 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A RIOT IN THE CUMBERLANDS 
 
 In the Kentucky Mountains, one 
 hundred and twenty miles from where 
 I had been working, I was asked to 
 visit a town where a strong missionary 
 work was much needed. 
 
 It is with some reluctance that I re- 
 late the details of my first religious 
 adventure in this new section, owing 
 to the startling character of a scene 
 which I was compelled to witness im- 
 mediately on my arrival. 
 
 Just prior to my leaving for this 
 point, a friend of mine gave me the 
 address of a certain hotel in the place, 
 the accommodations of which she con- 
 sidered preferable to others. 
 
 On reaching there in the afternoon, 
 I walked up to the front gate, meeting 
 two ladies in the yard, whose anxious 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 117, 
 
 faces and moist eyes gave evidence that 
 they were undergoing some very un- 
 usual strain of excitement. 
 
 On asking them if I could have a 
 room for the night they looked con- 
 fused, exchanging hurried glances, as 
 if wondering what they ought to do, 
 acting all the time as if they were in 
 some deep distress which they were not 
 willing to confide to a stranger. 
 
 Unable to get a definite answer as to 
 whether I was to go or stay, I lessened 
 the embarrassment of the situation by 
 arising from the rustic seat into which 
 I had dropped for a moment, kindly 
 saying, as I did so, that I had business 
 up town and would probably return 
 later. 
 
 They at once took their former posi- 
 tions beside the gate, gazing in a fright- 
 ened manner directly across the street. 
 
 By the time I had seen a business man 
 to whom I had a letter of introduction, 
 it was growing dark, and as I turned 
 
118 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 to leave his store he asked me where I 
 intended to put up for the night. 
 
 On mentioning the hotel in question, 
 he said: "Let me advise you: don't go 
 back on that street at all, but go up on 
 the hill," giving me the name of another 
 boarding house. He added: "There 
 was a little trouble down on that street 
 this afternoon, and there may be more 
 tonight." 
 
 I had barely reached the house on the 
 hill when there was a great dynamite 
 explosion on the street below, right be- 
 side this same hotel. 
 
 The porch on which I was stand- 
 ing quivered, windows rattled, doors 
 banged, women screamed, and little 
 children running to and fro cried as if 
 frightened out of their senses. 
 
 There was so much excitement, and 
 all seemed so absorbed in watching pro- 
 ceedings on the street below that I was 
 compelled to stand there in the midst 
 of all this chaos for at least ten minutes 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 119 
 
 without being able to ascertain the 
 cause of the commotion. 
 
 The men of the house lined up close 
 together, seating themselves on the 
 banister of the piazza, quietly smoking 
 their pipes as if nothing unusual had 
 happened. 
 
 A young man, a member of the family 
 who kept the hotel, had shot an old 
 gentleman that afternoon about one 
 o'clock. His brothers locked him up in 
 their grocery store for safety, as the 
 jail in that place had been torn down 
 in a former riot some time before — 
 adopting this plan to prevent his being 
 shot down by the old man's sons, who 
 were just across the street loading their 
 guns for that purpose when I got off 
 the train and asked the two ladies in 
 the yard if I could have a room for the 
 night. 
 
 These two women were the sisters of 
 the young man who had done the shoot- 
 ing, he being locked up at this time, 
 guarded by seven of his friends. 
 
120 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 Immediately following the dynamite 
 explosion, there were about three hun- 
 dred shots fired. The victim of the 
 young man's fatal shot was not yet 
 dead, though he had but a short time 
 to live. The men in the store were 
 blown up to the ceiling, though but 
 slightly injured. The store was com- 
 pletely demolished — shelves, counters 
 and groceries all piled up in one pro- 
 miscuous heap. The murderer escaped, 
 boarding a train some distance below 
 the station, and the firing of guns con- 
 tinued all night at intervals on the hotel 
 and other houses, where it was thought 
 the young man might have sought 
 refuge. The enraged posse of boys 
 seeking to avenge their father's wrong 
 controlled the town all night; not a soul 
 dared to step outside their houses until 
 the next morning, lest they might be 
 killed by stray bullets. 
 
 The home of the dying man being 
 just two squares from my room, and 
 knowing he would soon be ushered into 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 121 
 
 eternity, and perhaps unprepared, my 
 interest was naturally directed toward 
 him. 
 
 Early in the morning I asked my host 
 if he thought it safe for me to visit him, 
 and he said he thought no harm could 
 come to me, as all seemed quiet at that 
 time. I found him conscious, though 
 unable to speak. His wife and daugh- 
 ters were at his bedside, and the room 
 was filled with men — seven sons, a num- 
 ber of nephews and other relatives — 
 whose bloodthirsty riot was unceasing 
 from the early twilight until the day 
 dawn. 
 
 On telling them I was a Christian 
 worker and would like to offer a prayer 
 for their father, to my surprise all 
 seemed grateful, and within the next 
 moment every one in the room knelt 
 down, and as I commended the soul of 
 the dying man to God there was sob- 
 bing and weeping most pathetic. 
 
 I afterwards learned that the only 
 minister living there had been sent for 
 
122 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 by the family twice in the afternoon 
 before the riot began, and«had refused 
 to go. Later he excused himself to me, 
 saying "that he had no faith to pray 
 for a man on his death bed who had 
 spent all his life in sin." 
 
 My train out was due in just thirty 
 minutes. Leaving this sad scene I 
 walked over to the store so unmercifully 
 wrecked the evening before, and there 
 in the rear end of a "blind tiger," lying 
 dead, just as they had fallen, was a tall 
 man and a large woman, killed by stray 
 bullets during the night. 
 
 The yard, stained with human blood, 
 presented the appearance of a slaughter 
 house. The woman, being a disrep- 
 utable character, was left lying there 
 three days unburied. The man was a 
 murderer, having killed two other men 
 in years past. The Bible text, "The 
 wicked shall be suddenly destroyed and 
 that without remedy," was certainly 
 verified in this shocking scene, and that 
 missionary work was much needed there 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 123 
 
 I never questioned after this exciting 
 introduction to the town; but leaving 
 the problem for some other missionary 
 to work out, I departed, feeling that 
 the surface between that place and the 
 lower regions w T as altogether too thin 
 for my comfort, and with about as much 
 faith for the tow r n in general as the 
 minister had exhibited for the wounded 
 man in particular. 
 
 This striking incident of the old 
 man's boys sending for the minister in 
 his extremity showed how firmly they 
 all believed in orthodox religion; but 
 the vicious loading of their shot guns, 
 w r ith hatred and murder boiling in their 
 hearts at the same time, reminded me 
 of the words of Colton: "Men will 
 wrangle for religion, write for it, fight 
 for it, die for it, everything but live 
 for it." 
 
124 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A PROMISCUOUS GATHERING UNDER A SHED 
 
 During the month of August, in a 
 beautiful section of the Cumberland 
 range, I was asked by a number of per- 
 sons living in a small village, without 
 a church or Sunday school of any kind, 
 to come there and give them a series of 
 meetings. 
 
 The only available place where a con- 
 gregation could be gathered was under 
 a rough shed, formerly used for mining 
 purposes, some distance from the vil- 
 lage, in the woods. 
 
 A place more weird, or a gathering of 
 people more diversified in character, 
 would be hard to find. One woman, the 
 mother of seven children, living in a log 
 cabin on a little farm, attended these 
 services, alw T ays taking a prominent 
 seat in front with an air suggestive of 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 125 
 
 great self respect, though neither she, 
 nor her mother, nor her grandmother, 
 had ever been married. A few men who 
 had in cold blood killed a number of men 
 were in attendance, and many others 
 who were addicted to drink. 
 
 As for Christian workers! Wherever 
 an educated minister or missionary suc- 
 ceeded in bringing a congregation of 
 people together in that region for prof- 
 itable teaching, it was surprising how 
 many would suddenty spring up. But 
 unfortunately, the kind plentiful were 
 of a kind most undesirable. Illiterate 
 religious brawlers, swooping down upon 
 audiences in gangs of from three to six 
 in number, never failing to avail them- 
 selves of every opportunity to air their 
 pet doctrines and to entertain the peo- 
 ple, regardless of time, with a great deal 
 of empty noise ; for with them noise was 
 power, and as their chief difficulty lay 
 in the fact that so few people were ever 
 attracted by the noise they made, in 
 order to get a decent hearing they were 
 
126 "Them Missionary Women' 
 
 forced to prey upon audiences gathered 
 by more intelligent workers, who, in 
 turn, with regret many times, were 
 obliged to quietly and tactfully make 
 such disposition of them as seemed best 
 for the congregation and the work in 
 hand, especially when they become self 
 announced to preach, and to take the 
 leadership of an orderly, prosperous 
 work fully in the hands of others. 
 
 In this first meeting under the shed, 
 the congregation being large, I was 
 honored with a delegation of this kind, 
 who thought it would be the easiest 
 thing possible to take an audience away 
 from a woman. But, having had expe- 
 rience with their kind on other impor- 
 tant occasions, I was but little incon- 
 venienced by their intrusion. 
 
 Though the leader was so intent upon 
 things going his way, and fearing lest 
 the doxology or the benediction might 
 follow the address without a period, he 
 rose while I was yet speaking to an- 
 nounce that he thought it a shame to 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 127 
 
 dismiss so interested an audience, and 
 that he would preach one hour when I 
 was done speaking. Being quietly de- 
 feated in his plans, he then called the 
 attention of the people to himself after 
 I had dismissed them in an orderly way, 
 and in tones not at all remarkable for 
 gentleness, he again announced that "if 
 they would remain another hour he 
 would preach them a sermon they 
 would all be glad to hear." But when 
 they all with one accord turned their 
 faces toward home, he, too, vanished, 
 taking his friends with him. An old 
 lady, referring to the matter shortly 
 after, said to a friend of mine: "That 
 o-l-d t-a-c-k-y p-r-e-a-c-h-e-r! thinkin' 
 he could git us ter stay an' hear him 
 after hearin' that missionary woman 
 talk. The old t-a-c-k-y t-h-i-n-g; ever' 
 body in this 'ere settlement knows 
 about the chicken coops he's robbed, an' 
 how he leaves his wife ter chop the 
 wood, while he hauls in his neighbors' 
 
128 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 chickens to roast in the fire; we'uns all 
 knowed jist how t-a-c-k-e-y h-e w-a-s." 
 
 At this time I was making my head- 
 quarters in a beautiful town not far 
 from the village, with some four or five 
 churches, one of which was presided 
 over by a courteous, intellectual and 
 spiritual pastor, who deemed it a priv- 
 ilege to attend the meeting whenever I 
 was in need of help, and to render the 
 right kind of assistance in preaching to 
 this needy flock. 
 
 Our system for lighting the shed was 
 much in the rear of the times. Those 
 who could afford a lantern would fetch 
 one along, hanging it on a nail driven 
 for that purpose on the outer rim of the 
 shed. While this simple method did 
 away with the expense of a janitor's 
 service, it also had its drawbacks, owing 
 to the fact that many on whose lanterns 
 I was obliged to depend would persist 
 in coming late; some would be unavoid- 
 ably detained at home, while others, for- 
 getting to fetch their lanterns along, 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 129 
 
 kept me in a state of vague uncertainty 
 as to whether \ would have suifficienl 
 light to read a scripture lesson or to 
 discern the faces of the people with any 
 degree of satisfaction. 
 
 The exact location of the shed being 
 in a low depression between two hills 
 in a thick forest, a favorite rendezvous 
 for that most doleful of all night prowl- 
 ers, the hoot owl, I was compelled on 
 several occasions to sit on a crude bench 
 in the dark, but for the twinkling of 
 a few T stars in the heavens, and listen 
 to the hoarse, weird strains of these 
 night warblers while waiting for the 
 people to gather for the service. Once, 
 just as my little friend, who always 
 went with me, was making some re- 
 mark likening ourselves to the "Babes 
 in the woods," suddenly there was a 
 great flashing of lights just peeking 
 over the brow of the hills. For once all 
 the people seemed to be coming at the 
 same time, and the full number of lan- 
 terns breaking in upon the darkness was 
 
130 "Them Missionary Women" 
 
 almost as impressive as the sudden 
 flashing of the lamps by Gideon's army, 
 putting the Midianites to flight. After 
 the usual exercise of stringing the 
 lights on the nails, the people being 
 quietly seated, the service opened. 
 
 'Twas at a time when I was feeling 
 the need of special help, though not ex- 
 pecting it from any source whatever. 
 While the message was being given a 
 stranger came into the meeting, mani- 
 festing an unusual interest in what was 
 going on. During the testimony service 
 which followed, my friend Avhispered to 
 me, mentioning the name of this 
 stranger, to let me know that he was 
 there, a celebrated minister and edu- 
 cator in the Southern Highlands. Of 
 this noted personage, born in the cap- 
 ital of Pennsylvania, and educated in a 
 southern Michigan college, I had heard 
 much from a number of sources, but had 
 never met him, though I had been work- 
 ing for over a year not far from his 
 headquarters. He, returning from one 
 
Work in the Southern Mountains 131 
 
 of his rounds of duties and passing near 
 
 the shed, stopped to find out the mean- 
 ing of this interested assembly in this 
 strange place, lit up in a strange way. 
 But finding the meeting and leadership 
 right in line with some of his own re- 
 ligious enterprises in that region, lie 
 fully endorsed it all, showing a marked 
 willingness to preach or to help out in 
 any way during the week following. 
 He being the best acquainted with the 
 customs and needs of the southern 
 mountaineers of any man in the south, 
 having had a long and varied experi- 
 ence in the evangelistic, school and tem- 
 perance work among them, I felt very 
 grateful for this timely assistance. 
 
 Crude as it was, the event of that 
 shed meeting could never be forgotten 
 by either of us. Not because the place 
 was weird, the lights dim, or part of 
 the music furnished by the owls in the 
 trees; nor on account of the striking 
 characters that made up my audience; 
 but for a far different reason, namely, 
 
132 "Them Missionary Womc?i" 
 
 it was the place where two Christian 
 workers engaged in the same kind of 
 work, met for the first time, who after- 
 wards decided to walk together through 
 life. This worthy and experienced min- 
 ister suggesting later that I make his 
 home (which was a good one) my head- 
 quarters, and this plan meeting my own 
 approval, at a convenient time in the 
 future I acted upon it, taking the name 
 of the one who was kind enough to make 
 the suggestion. 
 
 The amount of good resulting from 
 that evangelistic effort under the shed 
 we could by no means measure; but for 
 a particular reason known to ourselves, 
 the minister and I pronounced it a 
 grand success. 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 0035! 
 
 933.6 
 j. 94 
 
 BRITTLE DO NOT 
 PHOTQCOPV 
 
 SEP 1 b 1953 
 
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