144 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
well as the bad blood sometimes worked out Its 
destiny In vendetta and "moonshlnlng," although 
there never existed In the North Carolina mountains 
the extensive and bloody feuds that distinguish the 
annals of Virginia and Kentucky. 
For more than a century, then, the mountain 
people lived as their pioneer forefathers had lived 
before them, retaining their language and their old 
customs modified only by the slow growth that 
comes In a fixed environment, and slowly spreading 
over the whole mountain region wherever a "cove " 
or a valley offered hope of sustenance, until to-day, 
there are some two hundred thousand of them in the 
North Carolina mountains alone. Little villages 
grew up where some natural advantage drew the 
people together, or near where the people from the 
lowlands chose to come for their summer outings. 
So while the rest of the world was advancing In a 
mad rush toward some unseen goal, the Southern 
mountaineer was simply living. The stranger who 
occasionally penetrated into his wilderness was 
amazed at the simplicity of life there, as well as at 
the native intelligence and shrewdness of a people 
so separated from all contact with the world of 
action. 
When a new tide In the affairs of man began to 
bear people again to the Southern mountains, this 
time In search of health, retirement, mines, lumber, 
or "business" of various kinds, the mountaineer 
appeared as a unique and puzzling personality, 
more or less difficult to cope with. Cautious, suspi- 
