THE EARLY SETTLERS 139 
population in course of time became homogeneous 
for several reasons. For one thing, it was similar 
qualities and tastes that first drew the people to the 
mountains and afterwards kept them there ; also, by 
far the greater number of these emigrants came from 
the British Isles; and finally, the conditions of life 
in the mountains was such as still further to leaven 
all society to the same consistency. 
The early settlers came in that youth of the nation 
when land was free and hopes were high, younger 
sons sometimes, and business men of small property 
who had a dream of possessing a landed estate and 
"founding a family" in the New World, the fabled 
western mountains powerfully attracting these 
seekers for fame and fortune, most of whom in course 
of time were doomed to discover that owning a tract 
of land was not the only requisite to success. No- 
body got rich in the mountains, excepting the for- 
tunate few who had placed themselves in the line 
of traffic that, in course of time, was established be- 
tween the South and West; the poor soil was an 
insuperable obstacle, as were the social conditions 
induced by slavery. The settlers in the mountains 
did not realize their ambitions, but many of them 
found a home and peace and plenty, according to 
the modest standards of those days. 
Besides those well-to-do settlers who came to 
found a family, and formed the "quality" of the 
mountains, — who are not to be confounded with 
the "quality" of Charleston, which was quite an- 
other matter, — , there were others who, for various 
