XVI 
THE PEOPLE 
TO come from the turmoil of city life to these 
mountains is like taking a journey back into 
the history of the past. Notwithstanding the changes 
begun by the recent intrusion of the outside world, life 
here In many ways is yet primitive. One breathes 
fresh air and gets down to elemental things. 
"Stoves?" said an old man; " I ain't never owned 
a stove and I don't never aim to. I don't see no use 
in stoves noway. I would n't have one in the house. 
You can't bake bread in a stove. I don't want nar' 
thing but meal and water mixed together and baked 
in the fire. I don't want salt in the bread. I was 
raised on that bread and it is the best in the world." 
Imagine a condition where one's physical wants 
are reduced to corn-meal and water! 
Because the people are so obviously untutored, 
the chance visitor is prone to imagine the whole 
mountain a favorable missionary field, but finds it 
a field that contains many disconcerting surprises. 
A favorite grievance of the average good Samaritan 
is the "ingratitude" of the people. They take what 
you do for them as a matter of course, if they take it 
at all, and do not often say " thank you." What the 
donors do not understand is, that it takes a good deal 
of social training to enable any one to say "thank 
