l^he Cumberland Mountains 



far behind the age. There is scarce a trace of 

 that restless spirit of speculation and inven- 

 tion so characteristic of the North. But one 

 way of doing things obtains here, as if laws had 

 been passed making attempts at improvement 

 a crime. Spinning and weaving are done in 

 every one of these mountain cabins wher- 

 ever the least pretensions are made to thrift 

 and economy. The practice of these ancient 

 arts they deem marks of advancement rather 

 than of backwardness. "There's a place back 

 heah/' said my worthy entertainer, "whar 

 there's a mill-house, an' a store-house, an' a 

 still-house, an' a spring-house, an' a blacksmith 

 shop — all in the same yard! Cows too, an' 

 heaps of big gals a-milkin' them." 



This is the most primitive country I have 

 seen, primitive in everything. The remotest 

 hidden parts of Wisconsin are far in advance of 

 the mountain regions of Tennessee and North 

 Carolina. But my host speaks of the "old- 

 fashioned unenlightened times," like a phi- 

 losopher in the best light of civilization. "I 

 [37] 



