130 



would eat me out of home."' Sometimes the mountaineer is disappointed 

 in his hospitality to strangers. 



There is a kindly, affectionate courtesy for one another among the 

 people, which, it is hoped, will survive. 



There is such a great need for improvement in sanitation that what 

 has taken place is negligible. 



The native is accustomed to work in his fields by seasons, with 

 periods of rest between. During an ''off'* period in September but two 

 men were seen at work in the field during eleven days of travel. It has 

 been his wont to work during the favorable time, or when the larder is 

 empty ; or to rest during the unfavorable season, or while provisions are 

 at hand. Therefore, in general, the population is unsuited to the routine 

 of work in the mines, the manufacturing plant, and the lumbering camps, 

 now appearing in the region under the control of outside capital. Fur- 

 thermore, it is without a disposition to cooperate. Hence such workers 

 are at once the despair and menace of the employer and the labor union. 

 Consequently, foreign labor is imported, and the mountain man is in the 

 way, as was the Indian. He will not necessarily become happy if, to meet 

 modern industrial conditions, he throws off lightly his old attitude toward 

 life gained through centuries of adaptation in the mountains. A few of 

 the most versatile natives are profiting by the rapid changes ; but the 

 great majority, formerly independent land-owning farmers, are not. Many 

 are seeking employment in mill or mine, or are contracting to the head- 

 waters. It is significant that the leaders in the mountains, native and 

 mission, deplore the rapid advance of industry into the region, and that 

 they are bending every effort to prepare a civilization over a century in 

 arrears, to meet the rude shock of the worst of our culture. In the 1911 

 term of court, Perry County, being invaded rapidly by railway construc- 

 tion, had nearly 600 cases ; Owsley County, without access to railways, 

 had less than 40 cases. A mountain guide in Pound Gap lamented, "The 

 devil is coming into the mountains on wheels." Eight years ago I re- 

 joiced with a clean cut. delightful, energetic man who was returning home 

 from the Kentucky mountains buoyant because he had doubled his for- 

 tune by securing some of the primitive forest at an absurdly low price. 

 He was bringing wealth and good cheer to his northern family. Now. 

 with those slopes in mind, deforested, gullied, scorched, and sold ("un- 

 loaded"'). I am glad that I did not smoke then, for I probably should have 

 acceped some of his fine Havanas. The rapid exploitation of the natural 



