THE SPEECH OF THE MOUNTAINS i8i 
and welfare of all, and when an invitation for the 
same reason necessarily included every member of 
the family. 
" Howdy" is the usual form of salutation, and the 
people have the friendly habit, in common with the 
rustic communities of all civilized countries, of cour- 
teously greeting the stranger they may meet. You 
must make your bow and say your "howdy" to 
every man, woman, and child you pass, a custom 
that links people together and removes the instinct- 
ive fear the city-bred traveler has of meeting a 
stranger on a lonely road. Even in the larger villages 
the stranger receives a polite bow from any native 
citizen whose eye he meets. 
The voices of the people are low and pleasant, 
expressing the kindly nature of the speakers, and 
also one imagines the friendly quality of the land- 
scape and the climate. And their speech, although 
quaint and archaic, is not coarse or rude: one 
never hears offensive talk or low epithets, slang is 
unknown, and profanity in most parts of the North 
Carolina mountains is looked upon as a grave 
offense. 
