i62 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
you" gracefully, or to say it at all. "Why do you 
give me this?" asked a woman, turning the little 
trinket over in her hand with a pleased and puzzled 
expression. "Nobody ever made me a present be- 
fore. I have heard of presents, but I never had one." 
How could any one with such a narrow range of 
experience say "thank you"? 
Frequently well-meant efforts to help the people 
are proudly resented. 
"Why won't you wear the aprons I gave you?" 
a Northern lady asked the young mountain girl 
who was living with her, and with whom she had 
tried her best to make friends. 
The girl refused to answer for some time, then 
said : — 
"Well, if you really want to know, I will tell you. 
I can't afford to buy aprons such as that." 
" But I don't want you to buy them ; I want to give 
them to you." 
"Well, that's just it. I have n't got anything to 
give you, and I don't want to take where I can't 
give." 
Another stranger fed a mountain woman, who, 
having come to town to "trade," stopped at the 
door tired and hungry, to sell her butter. Next day 
the woman came back with a chicken. 
"Why, no!" said the lady, "I cannot take your 
chicken. I gave you the dinner." 
"Say you did?" 
"Yes." 
"Say you gave me the dinner?" 
