220 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
long-drawn and hysterical "ah" — thus, "Oh, 
Lord — ah — be — ah — merciful — ah — to these 
thy — ah — children — ah," and so it goes, with 
increasing intensity for an hour or more. The effect 
of this must be heard to be appreciated. To preach 
less than an hour, no matter how much or what may 
be said, is a sign of incompetency. 
On "preaching-Sunday" the people conscien- 
tiously go to church, however distant it may be, but 
the prayer-meetings introduced by newcomers have 
slight attendance. "I reckon they're clar plumb 
dilatory," the Baptist minister's wife, who washed 
clothes for summer visitors, explained of her neigh- 
bors who could not be induced to attend a mid-week 
meeting. 
Besides the orthodox Baptists, there are various 
offshoots, such as the "Washfoot Babdists," and 
very popular just now, the "Wholly Sanctified," 
the mystic meaning of whose doctrine, being liter- 
ally Interpreted by some erring brethren, is a cause 
of much trouble both to the defenders of the faith 
and the community at large. Under the Smoky 
Mountain we heard of a sect of " Barkers," who, the 
people said, in their religious frenzy run and bark up 
a tree in the belief that Christ is there. 
The mountain school, like the mountain church, 
varies with the locality, out in the country resem- 
bling the barnlike church-house, only being smaller 
and, until very recently, built of logs. It sometimes 
stands In the lonely forest so far from any one that 
finding the school-house seems to be the child's first 
