Child Life of 
 the Southern 
 Mountaineers 
 
 WOMAN'S BOARD OF HOME 
 MISSIONS o/^AePRESBYTERIAN 
 CHURCH. ONE FIFTY-SIX 
 FIFTH AVENUE. NEW YORK 
 
Child Life of the 
 Southern Mountaineers 
 
 00 you know the nickname of natives of North Carohna? 
 It is " Tarheels." The people are so called as tar is one of 
 the principal products of the state. It is a popular name, 
 not applied in the way of ridicule but of familiar usage, and the 
 North Carolinians are 
 proud of it. To those of 
 us who know them well 
 the word "Tarheel" at 
 once suggests the staying, 
 wholesome, staunch traits 
 of character the average 
 native of the Old North 
 State possesses. Now in 
 one sense the inhabitants 
 of all the Southern moun- 
 tains might be truly de- 
 scribed by that name, 
 since, as a class, they have 
 for so many generations 
 stuck to one spot of the 
 soil. Their loyalty to the 
 mountains, their love for 
 the coves, and gravitation back to the soil when they have been 
 tempted to seek their fortunes in other places are told by names the 
 mountaineer women give to some of their patchwork quilt patterns, 
 such as " Road to Cahfornia and Back" and " Texas Cross-roads." 
 In spite of distance and necessity of trying many expedients to get 
 back, by far the greater majority who go away return after a year 
 or two to the mountains and the springs they were " honing " for 
 every day of their absence. This is especially true of the men who 
 cannot read and write. 
 
 The little mountaineers my subject pledges me to tell you 
 about seldom get out of their own coves or settlements. Among 
 
 Little " Tarheels: 
 
them is found as great variety of disposition and character as in 
 any other equal number of children ; but because of their shyness, 
 reticence, or the Scotch and Scotch- Irish conservatism of most of 
 them, it takes a longer time to find out what they are really thinking 
 about. Indeed, a good many of them run and hide from strangers, 
 but see to it that the strangers are not hidden from them. Often 
 have I turned while sitting in a cabin talking to a mother and seen 
 through the spaces between the logs of the wall several pairs of 
 ■eyes studying and classifying me. I felt, too, they found out the 
 
 A Useful "Branch. 
 
 truth about me and clapped me into the right pigeonhole. All of 
 them are not shy, or some of them are not shy in the presence of 
 all strangers. 
 
 Rev. Frank M. Fox, one of the first of our Church mission 
 preachers in North Carolina, usually won the children's confidence 
 on the spot. Let me illustrate by a story : 
 
 Mr. Fox was taking a long ride on his horse "Fleet," to 
 Presbytery meeting. Mr. Fox had to go nearly a hundred miles, 
 and, of course, must spend nights somewhere along the road. He 
 stopped when night was about to overtake him at a double log- 
 cabin, that is, two cabins joined by a covered passageway open at 
 
 2 
 
both ends. The mountaineer himself wanted company, but was 
 afraid he was not properly fixed to entertain a preacher; so he said, 
 " You uns is plumb welcome, but '11 not fare good, seein' as how the 
 childer hev done broke up mighty nigh all the dishes." 
 
 When the father "carried " "Fleet" to the stable and fed him, 
 the twin boys, Castor and Pollux, aged ten years and named for 
 the ship's sign (Acts, xxviii chapter) "carried" Mr. Fox into the 
 cabin and seated him in front of the open fireplace. Immediately 
 they in confidence began both at once: "Say, Mr. Fox, don't you 
 tell dad, but we uns never nary done that there, 'cause there never 
 were nary dishes for to break." There was much interesting, whole- 
 some, humorous and mutually helpful conversation during that visit. 
 
 The next morning Mr, Fox, according to the family custom, 
 went to the "branch," a mountain brook nearby, to make his toilet. 
 He tucked his collar in low and , 
 rolled his sleeves up high, and so 
 did the job on hand pretty thor- 
 oughly. Using the toilet articles 
 from his saddle-bags, he spent 
 some time and looked fine when 
 ready to return to the cabin. The 
 signs of the ship sat on stones 
 on the bank, silent and motionless 
 as their seats, solemnly watching 
 all the proceedings. Then they 
 were ready to make a deliverance. 
 Castor inquired, " How often do 
 you uns do that there ? " When 
 told once every day at least, and 
 sometimes oftener, Pollux chimed 
 in, "'Pears to me you uns must 
 be a heap o' trouble to yourself. " 
 
 You may think the names of 
 the twins remarkable, but there 
 are many others equally interest- 
 ing. They are counted as specially fit when taken from the Bible. 
 Talitha Cumi, a girl's name, is in frequent use. One large family 
 has the names of all the major and some of the minor prophets and 
 ends with a little Zipporah, in honor of Moses' wife. Many girls 
 have the names of the states to which the fathers wandered and 
 returned — Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Tennessee, etc. Some names 
 
 3 
 
 ^'■Talitha Gumi" as she came to me. 
 
dip back through every generation to the land of their ancestors. 
 There are many named Caledonia, lona, Aileen, Knox, Calvin. 
 
 I shall not tell you of the interesting history of the mountaineers, 
 but ask you to read "The Southern Mountaineers," published by 
 our Boards of Home Missions and costing thirty-five cents. 
 
 There are many American historical names and some titles, 
 such as General, Colonel and Doctor given as Christian names. Let 
 me tell you how one of them served to help a boy live up to the 
 character suggested. The floods in mountain streams are sudden 
 and dangerous. On occasions every footlog is either covered or 
 
 carried away. Boats are 
 of no use on the swift and 
 rocky mountain streams, 
 even at ordinary times. 
 Horses and mules cannot 
 cross when the water is 
 raging. People must wait 
 on the side of the stream 
 they happen to be when 
 the flood begins until it is 
 safe to cross. Such a 
 flood cut off the Presby- 
 terian schoolhouse from 
 the rest of the mountain 
 districts. No one got to 
 the schoolhouse that day 
 except the teacher and 
 the few children near at 
 hand until Columbus came 
 in at ten o'clock. The telling of his adventure was little less thrill- 
 ing than was his great historical forebear's story of the crossing of 
 the Atlantic the first time. 
 
 Speaking of the footlogs reminds me to tell you that one very 
 seldom sees a bridge in the mountains. These are found only over 
 the streams in the richer valleys. Indeed, sometimes one crosses 
 the same stream a dozen times in a few miles' ride or drive, and 
 very often for long distances the road and the bed of the stream is 
 one and the same spot. To be a successful missionary or a happy 
 traveler in the mountains one must verily rejoice in walking foot- 
 logs and in riding any sort of "critter" that will carry one on its 
 back over the mountains and through the creeks and rivers. To go 
 
 4 
 
 A Footloy. 
 
on wheels is not only unsafe and ruinous to person and property in 
 most places, but very many of the most interesting spots and most 
 attractive and needy people cannot be reached in that way. One 
 very kind and thoughtful man whose sick wife could neither walk nor 
 ride a mule took her in a wheelbarrow to visit her mountain neighbors. 
 
 From four to six of a family can get to church riding on two 
 mules. The little mountaineers know how to stick to a mule's back 
 as well as a burr sticks to his tail. Often when fording a river the 
 water wets the feet of grown-up people (in this connection it would • 
 be proper to say grown-down people), and when the weather is cold 
 the wet shoes quickly freeze to the stirrups. 
 
 The parents love their children devotedly and would not risk 
 their crossing the swollen streams alone, even on an important 
 errand. They are right in this ; but in far too many instances the 
 parents' affection has too much of fondness and too little of discre- 
 tion and wisdom. There is not enough of parental compelling power 
 to guide the strong-willed little mountaineer to do the right thing as 
 the parent sees it if the child expresses himself as not able to "git 
 the consent of his own mind" or " cayn't feel sadisfied " to do the 
 thing requested. Because of this lack on the part of the parent 
 many a child misses the moral training he needs and the educational 
 advantages afforded. 
 
 In our dealings with parents who bring daughters to the Home 
 Industrial School we find this trait in many. Nevertheless, there are 
 always hundreds of children of wise parents waiting to take the 
 place of one who is removed because " Hit 'pears like she cayn't git 
 sadisfied." I believe that weakness of character is made more 
 marked by the prevalent use of tobacco by men, women and children. 
 It makes them too easy going and takes away their capability for right 
 ambitions. The fact that many of the parents are uneducated has 
 much to do with their reaching wrong conclusions. They fail to 
 reason that being kind to their children at the present moment may 
 in the end prove the most unkindest cut of all. I shall not under- 
 take to tell you the need of teaching the grown-up people together 
 with the children, but again refer you to " The Southern Mountain- 
 eers." 
 
 In spite of numerous exceptions there is much beautiful family 
 life among the Southern Mountaineers. To impress this upon your 
 mind I want you to look again at the cover of this pamphlet, "A 
 Madonna of the Southern Mountains." See the picture, also, of the 
 fine Rooseveltian family. ' None of these children was more heartily 
 
 5 
 
A liooseveUian Family. 
 
welcomed than number thirteen, dear little Portia, named by a bro- 
 ther who got a taste of Shakespeare in one of our church day schools. 
 The father of this family is a well-to-do mountain farmer, living a 
 number of miles from the railroad. Neither he nor his wife have 
 had much in the way of educational advantages, but they have a 
 keen intelligence which makes up for lack of book learning. They 
 lay hold for themselves and their family on all the good they can get 
 from Presbyterian church and school work in their neighborhood, 
 and are staunch and self-sacrificing supporters of that work. The 
 father is an elder in the church. When I think of these good people 
 in the midst of their fine family and remember that in addition to 
 the thirteen children born to them they have taken two orphan girls 
 into their home and are bringing them up in such a way that they 
 will become intelligent and useful women, I cannot but contrast the 
 large mother-heart of this woman with the shriveled or perverted 
 affection and useless, unhappy life of the self-centered woman and 
 the woman who has only the interest of a small dog to claim her 
 attention. 
 
 The father of this family has eight sisters and three brothers, 
 and all are married and have large families. The grandparents of 
 these children are still living. What a fine group they would make 
 if they could all be gotten together! Being endowed with such 
 moral and mental qualities as they possess, what a power for right- 
 eousness and progress they would make if they could all have 
 educational advantages! Our Presbyterian day schools are doing 
 much for these and for others like unto them. Into our church 
 boarding-schools one member of a family may be taken at a time, 
 but our limited room and small amount of funds for support can 
 allow of no more, since we want to touch and help as many families 
 as possible. 
 
 Dear little Portia will not have a first-class chance to get 
 acquainted with her sisters, as they all married young and had left 
 the family before she came into it. Nevertheless, some of her 
 brothers are young enough to give her the sort of valuable training 
 a lone chick in a family needs in order that she may be made 
 ready to make the best and the most of life. You can imagine 
 what fun a family of even half this size have in their play together. 
 Sometimes we boarding-school teachers are inclined to think the 
 mountain children have no games. In this we are mistaken. Their 
 kind of games is not adapted to boarding-school life. I will tell you 
 of a few of these games : 
 7 
 
Here is a picture of a party ready to start on a toboggan slide 
 down a red clay bill. If tbere be some mica in tbe clay it becomes 
 almost as bard and slippery as ice. 
 
 Soon after a mission scbool was opened in a remote mountain 
 district tbe teacber noticed tbe cbildren playing a mysterious garne. 
 For days sbe watcbed tbem, but could not make it out. Tbeir 
 
 equipment consisted of 
 boxes, pails, ropes, and 
 various queer tbings 
 placed in secluded dells 
 among tbe tall, tbick 
 rbododendron growtb. 
 At a little distance, 
 evidently imagined to 
 be miles away, was a 
 very large packing box 
 in wbicb some of tbe 
 teacber's bousebold 
 goods bad come. Tbere 
 were tbree divisions of 
 tbe cbildren : one com- 
 pany slinking off to 
 work in tbe dells, one 
 small company some- 
 times in tbe box, and tbe otber constantly on tbe move and swooping 
 down wben unexpected among tbe rbododendrons and apparently 
 breaking up tbe macbinery and dragging off captives to tbe big box. 
 Tbese sbortly would get out of tbe box and again be at work in tbe dells. 
 All seemed to be most serious business, but evidently furnisbed tbe 
 keenest pleasure, even to tbe little girls wbo sat in tbeir play bomes 
 and wept crocodile tears. You bave guessed tbat tbese cbildren 
 were playing at raiding moonsbine distilleries and making arrests. 
 
 A moonsbiner is by no means tbe most depraved sort of man 
 our country affords. He is usually far superior to tbe man wbo 
 keeps a licensed dive in our cities. He shows be is open to convic- 
 tion, witbout our taking any aggressive measure against bim, to 
 give up tbe iniquitous business, as is done in tbe mission scbool dis- 
 tricts. In fact, be is just about one hundred years behind the times 
 on the temperance question and very much in the same attitude of 
 mind the ancestors of many of us were wben they got up the 
 Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania. The trouble and 
 
 Ready for a Slide. 
 
A MoonsJdne Distillery. 
 
crime wrought by the use of intoxicating drinks in the mountains is 
 much to be deplored, and it is very sad to know that many of the 
 children are allowed to acquire a taste for alcoholic drinks. 
 
 A vigorous and interesting • game for the boys is logging and 
 saw-mill work. This is in imitation of their fathers' occupation. 
 Several of them are yoked as mules or oxen to drag logs or to haul 
 lumber on right good little wagons or sleds of their own make. 
 They also construct dams in the streams and set ap something to 
 represent corn-mills and saw-mills. They "snake " good sized sticks 
 down a moderately steep hill, and " bally hoot " them down the very 
 steep ones. This strenuous play develops the muscles, and the get- 
 ting ready for it without a penny's cost is a fine substitute for the 
 expensive manual training so much needed by our city children. 
 The daily work of the children in helping to bring and to chop the 
 wood for the big, open fireplaces in their homes and taking the corn 
 to mill and bringing back the meal is also a means of development 
 
 in some ways, and in 
 other ways a means of 
 arresting development. 
 Industry is always a 
 good thing to be culti- 
 vated, but tasks may 
 be too hard for the little 
 people. Once I asked a 
 new little Home Indus- 
 trial girl, twelve years 
 old, what she did at 
 home, and she prompt- 
 ly replied : ' ' The millin' 
 an' the choppin'." It 
 took us some years to 
 get this little Lodusky 
 straightened up and to 
 prevent her walking as 
 if she had a half -bushel of corn or corn-meal on her back. That 
 family was too poor to own a " critter " to ride. 
 
 The boys and girls have a number of interesting running games. 
 The little girls have fine chance for play-housekeeping under the 
 beautiful shade trees, with plenty of moss near at hand for carpets 
 and lovely stones and chips of every shape and size for all sorts of 
 furniture. They are as happy with tiny bones of wild game for 
 
 10 
 
 ' ' A Bit of Linsey - Woolsey " 
 
cutlery and broken bits of dishes for chinaware as children who have 
 expensive toys. Indeed, in many families the toys the children get 
 off our mission school Christmas trees are considered too fine for use. 
 One sees a very ordinary doll wrapped in paper or cloth and hung 
 high and dry on the rafters, play dishes on the highest shelf, and a 
 drum far out of reach. It is well the children can be so happy with 
 their homemade toys or their use of things at hand. It is interesting 
 to see what fine herds of cows, horses and 
 pigs they can make of cornstalks. We 
 had a little fellow in our family who, from 
 the time he was three years old until he 
 was six, called beans, even when cooked 
 and on the table, "cows," because he had 
 enjoyed himself so much playing with 
 beans as herds of cows. This reminds 
 me to tell you of another little fellow, 
 three years old. His favorite plaything 
 was a nice, smooth, shoulder-bone of a 
 rabbit. While the mother was visiting 
 with a friend the dog took the bone, and 
 there was a wail of complaint from the 
 little man. Because the dog was inclined 
 to be vicious he could not get his treasure 
 by snatching it and no one came to his 
 rescue or paid any attention to the loss 
 of valuable property. In a short time the 
 little man had a shovelful of ashes, a bit 
 hot, and threw these in the dog's face. 
 The enemy was prompt to retreat out- ^ Carolina " Com-fed." 
 
 doors, and the treasure was recovered. Ought not a natural born 
 strategist like that to have a chance to be educated ? 
 
 Because the youths and maidens marry so very young the play- 
 time and the years in school are far too short. Very many of the- 
 girls are only from fourteen to sixteen years of age, and the boy& 
 from seventeen to twenty. 
 
 As the games are in close touch with nature and the environment 
 of the children, so are many of the figures of speech in common use.- 
 A girl already admitted into a boarding-school and making application 
 for her sister, said, "She's jist a-snortin' to come" — like a horse- 
 eager to go. One angry, like a kicking horse, is "jist a-rearin'." 
 It is no uncommon thing to hear a mother command her child to- 
 11 
 
^' stop a-wallowin' on that there bed." An ambitious person having 
 a good start is described as having " done stuck his toes in to git up 
 -where he's aimin' at." The figure is drawn from successful climbing 
 of a rocky mountain. Many more like figures could be quoted, as 
 might also some interesting English words in common use centuries 
 
 ago. This leads me to- 
 remark that among the 
 mountain lads and lassies 
 are very many unrecog- 
 nized Sons and Daugh- 
 ters of the Revolution. 
 This fact is set forth 
 clearly and interestingly 
 in Chapter III, "The 
 Southern Mountaineers." 
 
 I wish you could go 
 with me to call at some 
 of the mountain homes; 
 but you cannot have an 
 invitation to do so except 
 as a friend, not as a critic 
 or investigator. These 
 mountain kinfolks of ours 
 have been unkindly dealt 
 with by many persons 
 who take time to see only 
 A Carolina ''Nut-fed." surface of things and 
 
 go off and cover their 
 ignorance with the use of many words. The words come rolling 
 back down the mountains with a force that makes them hit hard 
 and do great harm. It is true the houses as a general thing lack 
 what we count not only as comforts, but as necessities ; but a great 
 number of them enclose the real home spirit, and however poor the 
 mountain farms and homes may be, they are rich in having large 
 numbers of beautiful children. 
 
 I wish I could show you some of the most thrifty and industrious 
 families where the children and grown people wear homespun of good 
 quality and bright colors. These colors make the people as they 
 walk about bright and pleasing spots on the landscape, and cause 
 them to be more cheerful than they could be if dressed in brown and 
 gray amid the dense woods and dark green of the surrounding moun . 
 
 12 
 
tains. The people are unconsciously doing the natural and becoming 
 thing, just as the holly tree in their midst brightens itself with red 
 berries and the dark, austere rhododendron bush puts on its glory of 
 blossoms. Usually there is but little Kght and brightness inside the 
 home walls, the native schoolhouses and churches. The windows 
 are none, or few, or small. 
 
 Music is not, or is in the minor key, or of very poor quality in 
 most places. The violin and banjo are counted wicked instruments, 
 and, indeed, they are such, because the use they are put to in the 
 mountains depraves both the taste and the morals of the young people. 
 As to the songs, some of them are of most interesting origin. They 
 always speak of the melody of a song as the tune, and of the words 
 as the ballad. 
 
 The mountain land is very poor, but white corn grows well, and 
 although there is not a great variety of food, yet the children of in- 
 dustrious parents are well fed. Unadulterated corn-meal, thoroughly 
 cooked, is as good, if not better food, than the roller-process white 
 flour of wheat which we eat at our own tables. There are also great 
 quantities of nuts, which are reckoned to be among the most nutri- 
 tious and wholesome 
 foods. The mountains 
 also produce abund- 
 ance of wild fruits in 
 their season, and gar- 
 den vegetables are 
 grown, together with 
 beans climbing on the 
 cornstalks; and there 
 are fields of cow-peas. 
 Many of the fruits and 
 vegetables are dried 
 and hung up in pokes 
 together with bunches 
 of dried "yarbs" on 
 the rafters and walls 
 of the cabins. Not only the children, but the grown people also 
 earn something by picking berries, carrying them many miles to 
 barter at the cross-roads or railroad station store. For meat there 
 is the hog, fattened mostly on acorns, which give the meat a 
 fine flavor. There is considerable small game, such as rabbit, 
 squirrel, quail, and in some places fish still abound. In very, very 
 13 
 
 A Mountain Home. 
 
A Stimulating Example, 
 
 many cabins the cooking is still done on the open wood fire burning 
 on the stone hearth of the big chimney. The kettle is set on stones 
 or hangs from a crane; the roast, fixed on a spit; the flapjack, baked 
 on a board, or the ash cake on the hearth. Some things are baked in 
 
 the old-fashioned iron pot 
 oven which your great grand- 
 mother must describe to you. 
 It is set on hot coals and has 
 hot coals placed on its scoop 
 lid. It is hard work for a 
 woman to cook on an open 
 fireplace, a,nd most of those 
 who do it are living in a 
 chronic pioneer state instead 
 of in a home. In one of the 
 very poor settleme/i^s where 
 a Presbyterian teachers' cot- 
 tage of four rooms was built, 
 one of the women, after see- 
 ing through, remarked sadly, 
 "We uns don't hev homes like you uns. They's jist stay places." 
 
 It is good to see how many cabins have given place to good 
 homes because of the example of the teachers' cottages set in the 
 mountain coves. Take a good look at the pictures, "A Mountain 
 Home" and "A Stimulating Example," and contrast them in thought 
 with such a ' ' stay 
 place, ' ' where the 
 pitiful looking lit- 
 tle children have 
 a wicked, lazy 
 father who goes 
 off hunting and 
 fishing much of 
 the time. Some 
 generations ago a 
 man could get food 
 for his family in 
 that way ; now 
 game and fish are 
 too scarce in most 
 
 places. The Old School and Church. 
 
 14 
 
Please note the two other contrasting pictures, the old school- 
 house and the new. How much education do you think you could 
 ■secure by going into a pen like that for a few weeks of the year ? 
 That, too, was the only church within several miles. Are you not 
 glad those children now 
 have such a nice school- 
 house and that it is fitted, 
 also, for Sunday-school 
 and church services ? A 
 large number of Presby- 
 terian schoolhouses just 
 such as that are needed 
 in the mountains of Ten- 
 nessee, Kentucky, West 
 Virginia and North Caro- 
 lina. For want of an 
 education these little 
 "Tarheels" are sticking 
 to the mountain soil so 
 close together they are 
 fairly running their 
 elbows into each other, 
 while the State, the nation, the Church are needing just such 
 service as they, if cared for and educated, could render. 
 
 The picture on the next page is one who, if she could not have 
 been taken into the Home Industrial School at nine years of age and 
 furnished a scholarship of seventy-five dollars per year, would have 
 been fitly described as so many others, " She done had no raisin', but 
 were jist jerked up." Instead, she is now a beautiful, happy, useful 
 Christian woman. Do you want to do some boy or girl a like kind- 
 ness for the love of Christ and in His name ? 
 
 Floeence Stephenson, 
 
 Home Industrial School, 
 
 Asheville, IST. C. 
 
 February 2, 1907. 
 
 Church and Schoolhouse at Allanstand, 
 
 No. 366— 1st Ed.— 5, 1907. 
 
 Price, tea cents per copy; $8.50 per 100. 
 
 15 
 
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