The Highlanders of the South THE MOUNTAIN MISSIONS OF THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Mountain Boys. By ANNE H. RANKIN Published by the PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION Richmond, Va. Texarkana, Ark.-Tex. Map of Mission Fields. The Highlanders of the South THE MOUNTAIN MISSIONS OF THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH By ANNE H. RANKIN Published by the PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION, Richmond, Va., Texarkana, Arlc.-Tex. Going- to Church. Foreword This booklet has been prepared at the request of the Home Mission Committee, and is designed especially for women's meetings and Mission Study classes. The work of Mountain Missions should appeal strongly to our Southern women. No woman having in her heart the true spirit of Sisterhood can fail to be moved by the conditions of the women of the Highlands. Their lives are full of appall- ing monotony and unspeakable drudgery, and worse than all, of spiritual deadness. Nor can any true woman's heart resist the cry of a hungry child. And those children are hungry, intellectually and spiritually starving. Jesus loved the mountains. He was a mountain boy. He spent much of his time in the solitude of the mountains. He preached his first sermon on a mountain. He fed the hungry multitudes on a mountain. He was transfigured on a mountain. On a mountain he sacrificed his life for us, and from a mountain top he ascended to heaven. On a mountain he gave his last directions to the disciples: "ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Can we doubt that he still looks with compassion on the hungry multitude in the mountains, and that he is still saying to his disciples "give ye them to eat." As far as possible the mountain- people have been made to tell their own story, or else those who, by lives consecrated to their service have won the right, have been made to speak for them. 4 The Highlanders of the South. Grateful acknowledgment is made to Dr. Guerrant, Rev. R. P. Smith, Rev. Edgar Tufts, Rev. W. E. Hudson and others who in letters and reports from the field have sup- plied the information, of which use has been made in these pages. If these words can assist anyone to a vision; convey to any a clearer knowledge of our opportunity and responsi- bility in this field; encourage the consecration of self, ser- vice or substance to the work of uplifting, educating and evangelizing the Highlanders of the South the purpose of its preparation will be realized. A. H. R. The Highlander of the South. A great flood of waters spread over certain cities of the west. The news flew over the wires and instantly, all over this great land eager hands were stretched out to help. As- sistance was "rushed" to them by wire and by steam. When the famine cry came from far away China thousands of dollars and ship loads of food were soon speeding on their way over the sea to their relief. From whatever part of the wide world the cry of need had arisen America has been first and foremost in noble and generous response. There is not to be found anywhere a people whose condi- tion is more pathetic, or whose hungry cry more appealing than the thousands of dwellers among the mountains of the South. A starving mind is more pitiable, and the heart and soul hunger a more desperate need than any want of the body. Strange when we are so quick to hear and relieve the cry of hunger the cry for the Bread of Life should fall upon deaf ears. What could be more heart-gripping than the hungry, hopeless cry of a certain little mountain boy: The Highlanders of the South 5 "Nobody never comes in here, and nobody never goes out. My paw jus' growed and never knowed nothin', and so did his paw afore him. Some time when I be hoein' corn on the mountain side I looks up the crick and down the crick, and wonders if there aint nobody never comin' to larn me nothin'." This is the cry of thousands of boys and girls shut up in the narrow coves of the mountains, forgotten and neg lected. Hundreds of thousands of people are living there in poverty, ignorance and sin, their pitiable condition due principally to isolation and lack of opportunity. And these are our own people. They are our countrymen, at our very door, and yet there are many who know m..re of Ihe people in China or Japan than they do of these "near re- lations." Possibly, as some one has said, this may be the very reason of our negligence, "Nearness is alwav;-: the severest test of missionary zeal." Their Location. From many of the high places of the Appalachian range one can look into seven states dovetailing neatly mto each other, embracing parts of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. The mountainous parts of these states lakcai to- gether form a great inland empire about five hundred miles long and two hundred and fifty miles wide. This region has an area about equal in extent to that of the German Empire. Here dwells a race who have stood still for a hundred years. So primitive are they and behind the times that they have been called "The forgotten man." They live in a part of the world which Dr. Guerrant has pithily called " the regions beyond," — beyond schools, beyond 6 The Highlanders op the South. churches, beyond railroads, telegraphs, and even cook stoves and sewing machines. By great towerini; mountains and impassable roads the world of progress has been shut out, and the people shut in. Some idea of the isolation of this region can be gaiued by a story told by Dr. Phillips in The Call of the Home Land. A highlander married a woman who lived on the other side of the mountain ten miles away. Before he gained her consent, however, he promised her that he would take her to live a hundred miles away in a distant State. After the ceremony the wagon was loaded for a long jour- ney, but he took her to his old home by a circuitous route. There she lived in blistful ignorance until one day she hap- pened to be walking on the mountain when she heard a cow bell. Following the sound she came upon the cow she had been accustomed to milk and was thus led to her old home. To quote Rev. W. E. Hudson, "Roughly speakuig the people of this vast region may be divided into two great classes: Those living in the valleys and along the banks of broad rivers. These number 1,146,948- They are in- telligent, cultivated, and educated, and compare favorably with any section of the world. Those living in the moun- tain fastnesses, locked in the coves, comp^^se the other class. There are about 3,034,774 of these living from one to thirty miles from any railway. The roads are poor, at times im- passable. Often the people have to cross four or five moun- tain chains to reach the railroad or the outside world. We are reminded of a frail Christian teacher who was taken ill at one of these isolated points; her only way to reach the nearest railroad station was by means of a rude ox-cart. The mountain descent beecame so dangerous that The Highlanders or the South. 7 the ox had to be taken out, and the sled was kept from sliding over the steep precipice by the efforts of soire ..'trong men." ' , . Their Origin. It is generally agreed, that the Southern Highlanders are descendants of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ancestors, probably driven to this country by English persecution and tyranny. These are the same people who, in happier environment, have produced the noblest people of our land. Of them Dr. Talmage said: "The poor whites of the Southern moun- tains are rich in the quality of blood which flows in their veins. Their's is not a mongrel blood. It is the blood- of a human thoroughbred. Kentucky, which lies at the foot of these mountains, should well understand this fact. Ken- tucky has the mighty horses, descendants of a long line of thoroughbred sires and dames, which are being trained for the race track, to repeat the triumphs of their ancestors. Also I have seen there the descendants of famous families of men and women, who, generation after generation, wrote their names high upon the scroll of fame, and these de- scendants as mighty as the parents who gave them birtJi. I want to tell the people of the South and of the North and the East and the West, that not one of your families has purer or more honorable blood than do these Highlanders, whose bodies bear the stamp of the race from which they sprang." They are purest American, immigration never having touched or tainted them. A keen student of character has said of them: "I regard these people as the finest rough material in the world, and consider one of them modeled into available shape worth to society a dozen of ordinary 8 The Highlanders of the South. people." All they need is an opportunity. Educated and Christianized they become leaders among men. In the Revolutionary War a company of mountaineers of the bet- ter class from North Carolina and Tennessee did splendid service under the brilliant leadership of John Sevier. To them, mainly, the credit should be given for the victory of King's Mountain. When no longer needed they returned to their mountain fa;stnesses to be heard of no more till once again the call "To arms!" brought them and their rifles to the front. Cowardice, or want of patriotism can never be laid to their charge. They have furnished their full quota of men who have dared to die for their country. Ch AR ACTERIS TIC S . The Highlander is honest and hospitable to a marked de- gree. Poor they are, and unprepared to entertain guests, yet the stranger is welcomed and given the best they have. They are undemonstrative and non-committal, which often arises from a desire to shield themselves and preserve their independence. Strong tribal feeling runs through mountain families, and an injury done to a member of the family is promptly avenged. Their independence is one of the most notable and promis- ing traits of character. It is a splendid foundation upon which to build. They accept help, but only as an aid in reaching higher things. In this they differ from the poor of our cities, who are often but parasites, using proffered help not as a means to rise, but an opportunity to lie down. The mountain people, on the other hand, are self-reliant and ambitious. The Highlanders or the South. 9 Their Present Condition. Physical. The problem of the Highlander is a ]irobleni of isolation. Shut in by towering mountains and impassa- ble roads they have slept on for a hundred years, undis- turbed by the march of civilization. Mountain Family at Home. Their houses are poor and bare, a log cabin of one or two rooms, windowless, or having rude wooded shutters, excluding both light and air. In these cramped quarters live the entire family which is always large. For furniture they have a rough table, a few chairs, and shuck mattresses. Cook stoves and other labor-saving devices are almost un- known. They are extremely poor, due in part to the pov- erty of the soil. Dr. Guerrant says: "It was not hard to persuade them that God has a better country for them. It is a continual struggle for bread here. The steep mountain sides soon wash to the rock, and it is a battle with ground- hogs and ground-squirrels from the time it is planted to the day it is gathered." 10 The Highlanders of the South. Mental. — One of the most appalling effects of this isola- tion and poverty is the mental barrenness of the people. A minister in conversation with a mountain woman asked her how they spent the long summer days. "Sometimes we sets and rocks," she answered, "and sometimes we just sets." Think of the mental poverty of one who "just sets!'' Con- trast your own thoughts when you have stood with bared head and swelling heart and gazed upon these same glorious mountains, which have been called "God's thoughts piled up." In your measure you have been able to "think God's thoughts after Him." Surely these people need thoughts more than bread, "some great thought to feed their souls on." All the day long they must endure the awful silence and terrible monotony of these mountains with no thought of God. The Highlander has had practically no chance to receive an education. The local schools, where they have them, are in session only a few months during the year, and often have inferior teachers. One girl before entering a mission school said she had attended five schools, and she had never learned her letters. Another said she had gone to three schools, and added: "I never larned nothin' at ary one of them." Spiritual. The Highlander is intensely religious. Rarely, if ever, is a sceptic found among them. They believe in God, the Bible, and the Church where they know anything about them. Many of them never saw a Church or heard a sermon. A mountain evangelist said after travelling over a large section, that he had not found one Bible, one Church, or one Christian. The people will walk miles through cold and snow for the privilege of hearing a ser- The Highlanders or the South. 11 mon, and sit for hours on the rudest benches. A great hunger is "characteristic of them all, an eagerness to learn and to rise. "It is too late for me," was the pathetic cry of an old man, "but I want you to learn my boys and girls." The Women of the Mountains. A woman's life in the mountains is one of unspeakable drudgery and hardship. In answer to some question of a stranger one of them said, "Men and dogs has an easy time in these parts, but it is awful hard on women and steers." There seems to be no conception here of the right relations of a woman to her husband and family. The Woman's Life Not Easy Here. "new woman" and "woman's rights" have not yet penetrated into these remote places. No where in our land, not even among the negroes, is a woman's life so hard. Rev. Edgar Tufts, who has devoted his life and his splendid energies to the physical, mental and moral uplift of the mountain woman, says: "The mountain woman is bcrn to work. 12 The Highlanders oe the South. This begins as soon as she is large enough to hold the baby, if there snould be one, which is usually the case. Washing dishes, bringing in wood, and cleaning up the house are begun not many yearss after she has learned to walk. Milking the cows, cutting wood, and hoeing corn are con- sidered a part of her duties, as much as it is the privilege of her older brothers to loaf around the village store or the blacksmith shop. Many a time I have seen a small girl going to mill with a peck of corn on her shoulder, or coming from the ' store with a twenty- five pound sack of flour on htr hip, or bending over the wash tub doing the work of a grown woman. "Married life which if often begun at a very early age, brings no let-up from the hard labors that have been weigh- ing heavily upon her shoulders since early childhood. Indeed, they are now increased, for there will be babies to care for while the work is being done. If company comes she is expected to wait on the table while the men eat. On 'Meetin' Day,' if she can go to Church at all, she has to take her children with her. "Difficult enough would all this be even if surrounded by every convenience of modern invention. But when it is remembered that usually the spring from which the water is carried is a hundred yards from the house; that the barn where the milking is done is very open and across the road; that the house is small, dark,, and full of big cracks; that the stove is small and worn out; that the wood pile is not under a shed; that whether the men work or not, they expect their breakfast at daylight; that when sick- ness comes it is sometimes impossible to get a doctor, it will be seen that her life is a hard one. The Highlanders op the Soutpi. 13 "Besides these terrible burdens, there is the day by day, month by month living without any change. No social gatherings to which she can go, except the monthly meeting at the Church, which, by the way, if it meant nothing but . an opportunity for the people to meet together and sing, would be worth the cost. No pictures on the walls, except, perhaps, the advertisements on the newspapers that have been pasted over cracks. No music to enliven her home except the crying of the baby and the quarreling of some of the older children. No books, except, maybe, an old worn out hymn book or a fine print Bible." The idea prevails here as elsewhere, that girls do not need much education. Reading and writing is considered a liberal education for them, and it is very hard for the girls to be spared from home. To break down the custom of making girls work in the fields, and teach them the more important duties of housekeeeping, is one of the reasons why Mr. Tufts runs his school in the summer. Methods or Work. The Highlander must be helped in the true spirit of brotherhood. Any assistance proffered in a spirit of con- descention or charity would be resented and rejected. What they need is consecrated ministers and teachers, inspired by a great love for the people, who will live among them, teaching and training them. Rev. W. E. Hudson, Superin- tendent of Mountain Work, says: "The old method of evan- gelization by sending out circuit riders once a month did much good, but it would require several generations to evan- gelize these people in this way. If we could only send out a Christian teacher to every community we would solve this 14 The Highlanders of the South. problem in one generation. We have only been playing at it in past years. Many mountain people have been won to Christ by the holding of special evangelistic services, which are still greatly needed to-day, but after an experience of forty years Dr. Gucrrant has decided that the only way to * obtain permanent results is by placing small schools and churches near these cabin homes, where these poor children, whose parents cannot pay tuition, may be moulded by a Christian teacher; and then the establishing of industrial and boarding schools at convenient centers, which remove the young people to a more elevating Christian environment." Our Southern Presbyterian Church has recently estab- lished a new department, which is called The Department of Mountain Work, with Rev. W. E. Hudson as Superintendent. Through this Department of Home Missions the Committee is endeavoring to assist schools already existing and to es- tablish new ones. A Heroine at the Plow. Rev. R. P. Smith says: "The following cut is no fancy pic- ture; it is one from real life, such as we often see in remote country districts. This is a fatherless child only twelve years old. She is the oldest of five children — all girls. The widowed mother with the help of the two older children is making a brave struggle to keep the wolf of hunger from the door. When the writer visited the home the oldest child was plowing the field (just as you see in the picture), preparing the land for a crop. Not a word of complaint was heard, but a spirit of bravery and independence was manifest in every movement. All honor to them, since they are doing the best they can. Such children would do better, yes, they 15 The Highlanders of the South. would do great things, if they had a chance. Our work of Christian education is reaching out a helping hand to this ■■■■HiiliiMiaiMiil^^ Heroine at the Plow. class of boys and girls, that they may have a chance to make useful men and women." The Society of Soul Winners. The story of Mountain Missions in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee is largely the story of the Society of Soul Winners. The first champion of the people in this region was Dr, Stuart Robinson^ through whose influence missions in 16 The Highlanders of the South. the mountains of Kentucky were inaugurated. Dr. Edward O. Guerrant was called from the First Church in Louisville to serve the Synod of Kentucky as evangelist. The story of the beginning of Dr. Guerrant's work was beautifully told in a sermon preached by Dr. Talniage in his church in Philadelphia after a trip through the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky. "Many years ago a soldier in Morgan's Con- federate army rode over the mountains of the South. There for the first time he came in touch with the misery and ignorance and nobility of the mighty Highlanders. After the war was closed this brave soldier of war entered a theo- logical seminary and became a soldier of the cross. Called to one of the chief pulpits of Louisville, he felt that barrack duty was not the place of honor. He longed for the pick t line. He wanted to fight at the front, as he did in Morgan's brigade. Called to be a Synodical Missionary, at once he accepted the appointment. As the Synodical Missionary his thoughts immediately turned to the place of the greatest want and wretchedness, to the Highlanders of the Mountains. He organized church after church. He sent missionary after missionary into the hills. Then the Synod met and began to count its money. Little money was there. Then the officers of that Synod or- dered this missionary to retrench and not to build so many churches and schools, as they could not afford to pay for them. Then a wonderful thing happened; wonderful be- cause it was so simple in a man of great faith. Dr. Guerrant resigned as the Synodical Missionary. Be- fore that Synod he uttered these words: "Brethren, if you cannot afford to pay for the schools and churches and the missionaries for the poor Highlanders, God can pay for them." Dr. Guerrant went back to his home in Wilmore, The Highlanders or the South. 17 Kentucky. There he knelt and asked God to help. The money commenced to pour in. Church after church has been established. School after school has been built. Mis- An Orphan School in Kentucky. sionary after missionary has been sent to these lields. The orphan children were gathered into a home. Though won- ders have been accomplished by this man of prayer, yet only the outer edge of the harvest has been gathered." In 1911, on account of advancing age and delicate health. Dr. Guerrant turned all the work of the Soul Winners' Society over to our General Assembly, with all the mis- sionaries, schools, etc., together with mission property valued at $50,000. Since then it has been under the management of our Executive Committee of Home Missions. The com- mittee elected Rev. W. E. Hudson as Superintendent of the Mountain Work, while Dr. Guerrant continued in charge of the publicity department, editing the paper. The Soul Winner, and raising funds to carry on the work. 18 The Highlanders of the South. Our Mountain Schools. Of our mountain schools Rev. W. E. Hudson says: "The Southern Presbyterian Church has 43 schools, 129 teachers, 2,851 scholars, property valued at $414,100. The Assem- bly's Committee supports in full 15 of these schools, which have 33 teachers, 688 scholars, property valued at $50,000, with an annual expenditure of about $8,570. The Assem- bly's Committee also assists in the support of a portion of the remaining 27. Through the Department of Mountain Work this Cojtiimittee is endeavoring to assist all these schools in doing more efficient work, and in securing a better equip- ment. Our Church, therefore, has more than 2,500 bright mountain girls and boys who are being trained for future usefulness. There are a number of young men who are can- didates for the ministry in these schools. Is there any more promising work throughout our entire Church than this?" Besides secular learning these schools teach the Bible, domestic science, and industrial training. In thousands of homes insolation, poverty and lack of intelligence make con- ditions such that home training is impossible. In the schools nourishment is provided for body, soul and mind, and they are trained in all that makes for noble character, sweet and hanxionious home life, and success in occupation. Every boy and girl who goes out from these schools becomes a trained worker among their own people, or establishes an in- telligent Christian home, where the children may know care- ful religious training and grow up under favorable conditions which would have been unthinkable to their grandfathei s, Thus every boy and girl educated and converted in these schools becomes the centre of a new influence in Christianity The Highlanders of the South. 19 and civilization. In this fruitful field it would be impos- sible to overestimate the opportuuity of our Church. Are we living and giving in proportion rn our opportunities ? Too much cannot be said in appreciation of the ministers who are serving these Home Mi"csion churches, and the cul- tured and efficient teachers whn are engaged in our Home Mission work. Some of them Have relinquished large sala- ries to teach in these mountaii'- schools or to preach in re- mote places because the need was more urgent and the min- istry more Christ-like. Many nf this noble company of men and women receive but $15 per month, and others give their services without pay. Scores of consecrated men and women are spending their summer vacations in destitute places in the mountains teaching for no salary other than their board. The following information has been gathered from letters and reports from these schools from the Missionary Sur- vey and other literature: Lee's-McRae Institute. Girls' Department, Banner Elk, N. C. — Lee's-McRae In- stitute is the oldest, the largest, and one of the most success- ful mountain mission schools under the care of our Church. Rev. Edgar Tufts writes as follows: "The Institute is unique in its origin. Its beginning was very insignificant. Just a little summer school of two months duration, where a lady taught a handful of small children for no guaranteed salary above her expenses. "Another step in its history was when the evangelist in charge of the church gathered around an open fire in his own room less than a dozen of these girls and boys, and during the winter months endeavored to further stimulate their minds to higher ideals in life. 20 The Highlanders oi the South. "The following year, through the liberality of many friends, a dormitory was erected and furnished, with room for the teachers and twenty-four pupils. School at Banner Ellk, N. C. "Two important and wise changes that have since been made were: first, the separation of the Boys' Department, and locating it at Plum Tree, and, second, the change in the time of the sessions of the Girls' Department, so that they now begin in the spring and close in December. By these changes the objections that some may have to a mixed school have been eliminated, and at the same time the girls are given the benefit of a most delightful summer climate while they are pursuing their education." In addition to the ordinary course of instruction, there is a full and well-equipped Department of Industrial and Manual Training and a hospital, which is part of the school. The hospital is virtually self-supporting, and is succeeding beyond all expectations. It is doing a splendid work for the sick of the mountains who are brought here for treatment, The Highlanders of the South. 21 and as a training school for nurses. This practical knowl- edge of how to care for the sick will be of incalculable value to the girls in their homes, though they may never become trained nurses. Special attention is given to the social and religious train- ing of the pupils. Since its beginning in 1899 over seven hundred girls have come under its influence, and a large number of them have united with the Presbyterian Church while there. The girls and teachers do all the housework. This helps to reduce the expense and at the same time gives the pupils practical instruction in all the duties that pertain to good housekeeping. P'ifty-six dollars ($56.00) will pay the board and tuition of a girl" for an entire session of eight months. One thou- sand dollars ($1,000) will endow a permanent scholarship that will annually support a girl. Scliool lor Boi « at iUuuitroo, N. C. The Boys' Department of the Lee's-McRae Institute is situated at Plum Tree, N. C. It is doing the same kind of work for the boys that Banner Elk is doing for the girls. 22 The Highlanders of the South. Glade Valley High School. Glade Valley School, Glade Valley, Va. The newest of the mountain schools of our church is situ- ated on the crest of the Blue Ridge, about the center of the five mountain counties of Orange Presbytery. Its location is well-nigh ideal, being some 3,200 feet above sea level, on the high mountain plateau that stretches far across into Vir- ginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia. Innumerable mountain peaks, swelling hills, deep valleys and beautiful meadows give delightful variety to a country thickly popu- lated with a hardy, vigorous and naturally intelligent people. The counties contiguous to the school are said to contain a population of 75,000. Glade Valley is on the main highway between Elkin and Sparta, N. C, five miles from the latter, which is the county seat. The aim of the Presbytery, through its competent board of trustees, is to maintain a High Grade school for boys and girls where the principles of the Christian religion will be taught and emphasized. The necessity for such schools, where positive moral and Christian influences are exerted and exemplified must be ap- preciated more and more by parents, if we would raise up a The Highlanders or the South. 23 generation of good, forceful men and women. The aim will be, not to emphasize denominationalism, but to make the school a most important factor in the intellectual, material, and spiritual development of the people. Rev. W. F. Hollingsworth, the principal, says: ^'Ours is the same cry that is going up from all our mission workers at home and abroad — the cry for adequate equipment with which to do efficiently the work which the church has laid upon us and is expecting us to do." Our Mountain Orphanage. This Home had its beginning when Rev. R. P. Smith, the children's friend, travelling through the remote districts had his heart stirred to deepest sympathy for homeless orphan children and for poor abandoned children, whose condition was worse, perhaps, than that of the orphan. He once found a homeless little boy who had been spending his nights in a stable using the hay for a bed. Another time he found a little girl whose home was in a hay stack, where a vagabond mother had placed her. In 1904 the Home was established by a few individuals, who were deeply impressed by the painful destitution in which many homeless children were found and nothing be- ing done for their relief. A small house was fitted at Crab- tree, in Haywood county, six. little children were gathered up and placed there under the care of an earnest Christian woman. The little house was soon filled and many needy applicants had to be turned away from its doors. Then the Home Mission Committee of Asheville Pres- bytery, seeing the conditions and realizing its responsibility in the matter, took this work under its care and has made it one of its missionary enterprises. 24 The Highlanders or the South. This is pre-eminently a Home in every respect. The children are made to feel that it is their home, and they are being trained according to the principles followed in a well regulated Christian family. This is a home for destitute children, strong in body and mind, who cannot find admit- tance into other orphanages; it is sometimes called "The Home of the Left-overs." It is always full and many appli- cants stand waiting. The boys are trained in different kinds of farm work, which yields a good part of the support. The girls are trained in domestic work. Every child in the Home has manual labor of some kind to perform each day. Children from four to twelve years of age are received and trained till they reach about sixteen, then the girls are trans- ferred to the Morrison Industrial School, and in like man- ner the boys go to the Maxwell Home and School. This Home is supported entirely by voluntary contributions. Often the treasury is empty, but there has been no suffering for want of food. However, at times a few friends have stood between the children and dire want. With what the boys make on the farm, $5.00 per month on an average will fur- nish ample support for a child. Morrison Industrial School. Morrison Industrial School was established in 1911. It is located in Franklin, Macon County, N. C, at the foot of the great Nantahalah Mountains. The grounds and sur- roundings are ideal for school purposes. The buildings are situated in a grove and on a knoll overlooking the Little Tennessee Valley. These buildings are new and were de- signed especially for the kind of work that is being done. They were planned with a view to convenience, comfort and sanitation. The Highlanders of the South. 25 The object of this school is to give worthy girls of limited means the privileges of a first class academic education. There are vast numbers of young people in the mountains waiting for opportunities of this kind. The aim is three- fold: to train the hands, the mind and the heart. The domes- tic work is done by the girls, each one shares in turn the several household duties. No servants are employed, thus making the dormitory a real home. By such methods the rates for board are greatly reduced and the girls are taught the art of good housekeeping. Teachers and pupils live to- gether as one family, having the same table fare, etc. And above all else this is a Christian home, where the teachings of God's Word are held up as the standard for right living. Also, the school supplies a long-felt want for the chil- dren of the community. They now have good educational advantages at very small cost. A $50.00 scholarship will pay the expenses (except books and clothing) of a girl or young lady in the school for an entire session. A writer says: Furnishing a scholarship would, in my judgment, give the donor a part in one of the most wonder- ful and effective educational movements now being carried forward in our mountains. The Maxwell Home and School. Rev. R. P. Smith writes: "Of the many gifts that have been made fOr mission work the most generous one that the writer has ever known came recently from the hands of a man and his devoted wife who live in the mountains of North Carolina, where they were born and reared. Though not at all wealthy, they have given a splendid farm of 530 acres for the purpose of establishing a home and school for home- less boys. This gift takes a great part of their property, 26 The Highlanders op the South. which has been accumulated by their arduous toil and close economy. They have been co-workers in making the prop- erty, and the wife joins most heartily with the husband in the gift. They have three small children of their own de- pendent upon them for a support, yet they have heard the call of the homeless in this region, and their hearts have responded in a most generous manner. This work, the Max- well Home and School, is under the care of the Home Mis- sion Committee of Asheville Presbytery. It will be enlarged and made more efficient as funds come in for this purpose. The aim is two-fold : first, to save destitute boys from igno- rance and vice; second, to teach them how to support them- selves. We are reaching the children and the young people with the Gospel through the channel of Christian education. By giving a boy who is large enough to work $30 to $50 for a start, he can make his own way through school, and to a position of useful citizenship." Maxwell Home and School. The Highlanders or the South. 27 Highland College. ✓ Highland College, situated at Guerrant, Kentucky, is sys- tematically graded, and has flourishing High School and Normal departments. Four of the students taught public schools throughout the summer and fall; one became a nurse in a Lexington hospital, and a number assisted in Sunday school work. The Bible work is the feature of the course of study, all grades taking Bible study thirty minutes daily. Most of the students are Christians, being members of Highland Presbyterian Church, Guerrant. A wing costing $800 and containing two large class rooms was added to the college. But even with this improvement the school-house was greatly crowded. All available space in the dormitory and dining room was used, and some pupils did not come for lack of accommodation. A new hospital was also built, occupying a commanding site overlooking the campus. The Highland Church, Louis- ville, was the principal donor in the building of the hospital, assisted by many others. A competent Christian nurse and doctor have been installed. Matthew T. S. Scott, Jr., Academy. The gift of Mrs. Matthew T. Scott, has enabled this school to secure a farm of seventy-five acres and a new domestic science building, which has just been completed. The school has buildings valued at $10,850; land worth $200; a farm worth $2,500, and cattle, mules, wagon, farming tools, etc., to the value of $700. Nine years of school and religious work have produced lasting results. The school and the Gospel go hand in hand. The Bible is taught and the cate- chism emphasized every day by both teachers and pastor. 28 The Highlanders of the South. The Mission School at Heidelberg, Ky. This school is equipped with a Bible teacher, a music teacher, and three regular grade teachers, doing all the work of the eight common school grades and two high school grades; and, in addition, all the house work, cooking and chores necessary for their temporary housekeeping, in the four upstairs rooms. The school, therefore, is able to give these children a good common and high school education. With an enrollment of 110, and a bright prospect for increas- ing numbers, the crying need is a dormitory and teachers' cottage combined, so that the teachers may have a home and boys and girls from further back in the hills may have the advantages of the school. Lee's Collegiate Institute. Lee's Collegiate Institute is situated in the town of Jack- son, Ky., and has patronage from several neighboring coun- ties. It was commenced in the year 1884, as Jackson Academy, by a few public-spirited men who saw the great need of such an institution in a town which had no school of any standing — simply the merest pretense of a public school. There is no doubt about the popularity of the school in the community, for the best of teachers are employed, the in- struction given is thorough, and the attendance in recent years has been sometimes overflowing. In Georgia the "Nacoochee Institute," at Sautee, in Athens Presbytery, is a high-grade school for boys and girls. Four Sabbath schools in the surrounding country are maintained by the teachers and students. The Highlanders of the South. 29 In Missouri, at Forsyth, is the "School of the Ozarks," under the control of the synod. Located in a section where there is no school of similar grade or character, it is bring- ing the blessings of a Christian training to five counties in Missouri and a corresponding territory in Arkansas. We have not space to give a complete list of our mountain schools, or to tell the whole story of the splendid work be- ing done by our church in the various mountain sections. Assembly's Home Mission Committee is assisting mountam Presbyteries in building churches and schools and support- ing ministers and teachers. Much has been done, and still the outer edge of the harvest only has been touched. Sunday School Extension Work. The Executive Committee of Publication is putting all the men and money they can get into Sunday School Exten- sion through missionaries. From an experienced worker we gather the following: I believe this to be the most practical and economical method of pushing Home Missions that we have. It can never take the place of the Home Mission preacher just as the Sunday school can never take the place of the preaching service; but as a pioneer, a scout, a "sapper and miner" for the preacher, it is an admirable plan. The thing that appeals to me, in it all, is that for the most part it is occupying ground not occu- pied by other Christian workers. There are vast numbers of such places all over this country, small communities, it is true, but needing the gospel and he can go in and open the way for the preacher as no one else could. This kind of work is promptly and vigorously followed up by the Home Mission Committee. Every Woman's Society should plan to hold at least 30 The Highlanders or the South. one meeting a year, in which the program is devoted to the work of Sabbath School Extension. Sunday schools are needed in every neighborhood where even a small number may be brought together; to be organized, equipped, and con- ducted according to modern ideals. The best religious litera- ture is needed in the form of books, papers and tracts. Our city Sunday schools can help in this work by gathering all left-over or waste Sunday school literature such as quarter- lies papers, cards and picture rolls, and sending them to these destitute places, where a Sunday school could be started. Where there is no mission school in the home church, Sunday school classes might band together and sup- port a school in some remote mountain cove. This is foun- dation work, for these mission schools grow into Home Mis- sion churches and these in time become strong organizations doing their part of our church work. The Sunday School Mission found these little ones living like animals in their "shack" in the mountains. Their mother is dead and their father in the penitentiary. They presented a sad spectacle of squalor, ignorance and helpless- ness. As they appear in the picture, they are wearing every thread of clothing which they possessed at the time. A Paying Investment. Now the practical question is how can you and I help these people? They are right at our door. They speak our language. They are easy to reach. They are hungry for the bread of life, and they take it eagerly when it is offered to them. They are pleading for strong consecrated men and women to come to their help. God has many noble men and women in our great mountains who ire enduring hardness as The Highlanders or the South. 31 good soldiers of Jesus Christ, who are living the gospel of love and teaching the way of life to hundreds of His dis- tressed and helpless ones. May He not be calling you to give your life to this work? The Highlanders, like their Scotch forefathers, are intense in their affections and repulsions. This wealth of affection is demonstrated in love for their family and friends, and passionate devotion to their mountain home. Even their feudal hate is fruitful soil when softened by Christ-love. A man who will die for his friend will not turn his back on his Saviour. It was of such stuff as this that the martyrs and covenanters were made. Someone has said that when you lead a mountaineer to Christ you are not dealing with a pigmy, a nonentity, or a weak personality. You are dealing with one who will be a leader among men. "They are a mighty race. Mighty in body and mighty in nerve. Mighty in capabilities of brain, and mighty in possibilities of good and evil." To quote another authority on mountain work: "To-day in many of our Southern colleges and universities young men and women from these simple mountain homes are making brilliant records in scholarship in the face of difficulties that would overcome people of less sturdy and resourceful stock." Should an able financier present for our consideration an investment which was absolutely safe; an investment which paid a hundred per cent., and which would go on drawing interest throughout eternity, how many of us, like the man who found the "pearl of great price," would sell all that we had and "buy that field." Such a field is our Department of Mountain Work. What investment could be found to pay such magnificent dividends as "stock" in these sturdy moun- tain boys and girls. It was Christ, the great financier, who 32 The Highlanders of the South. said, "Sell that thou hast and give alms, provide ourselves bags that M^ax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not." No Christian work, has ever been more abundantly blessed by God or more fruitful in results than the mountain work. Every investment of prayer, or money, or service has paid a thousand fold. It should be a coveted privilege to help in the v^^ork. As Dr. Guerrant has well said : " The question is not whether they can be saved without the Gospel, but whether we can be saved if we do not give it to them." "There comes a time in the future near, When this life has passed away, When these needy ones will stand with me In the light of the Judgment Day. When the angel reads from the book of life. My deeds for that great review, If our Lord should speak and accuse me there, I wonder what I should do? The Son of Man, with his angels fair. Will sit on the great white throne; And out of the millions gathered there. He will know and claim his own. If he says to me those words I've read In that Book so old and true, 'Inasmuch as ye did it not to these,' I wonder what I should do?" Home Mission Pamphlets A series of interesting and informing pamphlets dealing with the special Home Mission problems of the Southern Presbyte- rian Church. 32 pasem Illustrated. Price, 5c. each, postpaid. Texas-Mexican Missions Mrs. R. D. Campbell. Tlie Country Church ...Mrs. B. P. Bledsoe. Our Work Among the Negroes. . .Miss S. O'H. Dickson. The Highlanders of the South... Miss Anne H. Rankin. The Frontier...... ........Rev. S. M. Glassrnw. Concerning the Foreigner ..Mrs. D. B. Cobba Our Indian Work ........ .Mrs. Bella McC. Gibbons. 50,000 Subsccibers Wanted for the Missionary Survey The Missionary Survey is the General Assembly's official Church magazine. The reading matter and illustrations forming its contents are supplied by the Assembly's tour Executive Committees, giv- ing the latest authentic reports from the active forces of' these committees in the field at Home and Abroad. The Mi.«isIonary Survey is therefore a faithful mirror of all the Assembly's benevolent activities. Its contents are not only of an informing and educational character, but also of highly suggestive and inspirational value The magazine is helpful in this vsray to Individuals, to fami- lies, to societies, to leaders and workers iii every department of the Church. No wide-awake Presbyterian home, interested In the Church' work and success, will be without this monthly visitor. Subscription price, 75e per year. Clubs of 5 or more, 50c. Valuable preiiilnms for new subscribers. Write for sample copies and premium list. Help yourself — belp your neiKbhor— belp your pastor— belp your ebrtreh— by helplnp: tbe MISSIONARY SURVEY to find Its "ji.v Into nil the homes of our Church. You could not do a more g:racious» work. Address PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION Box 1176, Richmond, Virginia. UEST HOOKS OM HOMB MISSION PROBLEMS. Immigrant Forces , W. P. Shrever. Paper, 35c.; Cloth, 50c. The New America Mary Clark Barnes. Piiper, 35c. ; Cloth, 50c. America, God's Melting Pot.. Mrs. L. G. Craig. Paper, 25c. Comrades from Other Lands.. .....Mrs. Dimoek. Paper, 35c. Indian and Spanish Neighbors... Julia H. Johnston. Paper, 35c.; Cloth, 50c. The Burden of the City........... ....Horton. Paper, 35c.; Cloth, 50c. The Challenge of the City. Josiah Strong. Paper, 35c.; Cloth, 50c. The Twentieth Century City.... Josiah Strong. Paper, 35c.; Cloth, 50c. Boys of the Street and How to Win Them. .Chas. Stelzle. Cloth, 50c. Christianity's Storm Center. ...Chas. Stelzle. Cloth, $1.00. Christianity and the Social Crisis. ...... .Rauschenbush. Cloth, 60c. The Church and Young Men.... j Cressy. Cloth, $1.25. Jesus Christ and the Social Question Peabody. Cloth, 60c. The Church and Labor .Charles Stelzle. Cloth, 50c. Messages to Working Men Charles Stelzle. Cloth, 50c. Letters from a Working Man Charles Stelzle. Cloth, $1.00. At Our Own Door ...S. L. Morris. Paper, 35c. ; Cloth, 60c. Call of the Home Land A. L. Phillips. Paper, 35c.; Cloth, 50c. Galax Gatherers E. O. Guerrant. Cloth, $1.00. Rura,l Church and Country Betterment Rubert. Cloth, $1.00. Country Church and Rural Problems Butterworth. Cloth, $1.00. Country Boys and Girls. .McKeever. Cloth, 75c. Conservation of Life in Rural Districts Robertson. Cloth, 25c. PGR YOUNG PEOPLE. Best Things in America Miss Crowell. ' Paper, 25c. Coming Americans . .Miss Crowell. Paper, 256. Grandma Bright's Home Mission Evenings. S. O'H, Dickson. Paper, 15c. Wigwam Evenings , Eastman. Paper, 25c. The Finding Out Club. Paper, 25c. Old Country Hero Series. Illustrated. Cloth, 25c. Just Plain Peter. Paper, 25c. Order from PKESBTTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. Richmond, Va. Texarkana, ArU.-Tex.