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Mountain Life & Work vol. 32 no. 4 1956

Mountain Life & Work vol. 32 no. 4 1956 Council of the Southern Mountains 400dpi TIFF G4 page images University of Kentucky, Electronic Information Access & Management Center Lexington, Kentucky 2003 mlwv32n41056 These pages may freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Mountain Life & Work vol. 32 no. 4 1956 Council of the Southern Mountains Berea College; Council of the Southern Mountains Berea, Kentucky 1956 $IMLS This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has been done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. z5c J LIFE and VVORK MAGAZINE OF THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS MOUNTAIN LI FE & WORK VOL.-_XXXII_-_ NO ~-4 ---------- 1956 PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS. INC. SEALE BUILDING. MAIN STREET. BEREA. KENTUCKY. ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER AT BEREA. KENTUCKY. Wea~ MANAGING EDITOR -- Charles Drake, College Station, Berea,Ky. choo: ~ time PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE: Miss Florene Brooks, Chairman Dr. Robert Cornett Join Miss Maureen Faulkner Miss Mildred Hines use l Dr. Jess Ogden your STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS: Ed Dupuy, Roy Waiters A lar STAFF ARTIST: Mrs. Burton Rogers mod( ----------- shipn Mountain Life & Work is published quarterly by the COUNCIL OF THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS, INC., Box 2000, College Station, Berea, Ky. N EIA Perley F. Aver, Executive Secretary. Subscription price: $1.00 per year to non-members of the Council. This subscription price is included in the member8/2 ship fee of the Council and all members receive the magazine. cottc Subscriptions should be sent to: oz. t THE COUNCIL OF THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS, INC. Box 2000, College Station Berea, Kentucky Wrifl SAM ARTICLES for this magazine should be sent to the above address in care of the Managing Editor. SIGNED OR QUOTED ARTICLES ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE EXPRESSION OF EDITORIAL OPINION. NOR DO ARTICLES APPEARING IN THIS MAGAZINE NECESSARILY CARRY THE ENDORSEMENT OF THE COUNCIL OR ITS OFFICERS. PICTURE CREDITS COVER: NORTH CAROLINA STATE COLLEGE; PP. 12 AND 17; DANIEL J. RANSOHOFF; P.ZO: M4YOR'S FRIENDLY RELATIONS COMMITTEE OF CINCINNATI; P. 23 RALPH WHITE; P.26 :DOROTHY NACE THARPE; PP.34 AND 44: CHAD DRAKE; PP, 41, 42, 43 AND 44: ROY N. WALTERS Weavers who know quality and value best, choose LILY'S yarns and supplies everytime Join the thousands of happy weavers who use LILY'S high-quality yarns and turn all your weaving into winners. A large and complete stock, in all the smart modern colors, is available for prompt shipment. NEWEST addition to this na ally popular line is Art. 108 8/2 unmercerized dull finish cotton - on 1 lb. cones and 2 oz. tubes. Write for FREE SAMPLE today ORDER ALL YOUR SUPPLIES FROM THE HANDWEAVER'S HEADQUARTERS LILY MILLS COMPANY, Dept. HWB, Shelby, N.C. is the HANDWEAVER'S CHOICE SEND FOR CATALOG 40-page catalog containing 12 sample 04and color cards of linens, cottons and wools-and samples of the weaving wools described above-all for $100 postpaid ~ which will be refunded - first order of $10 - more. 9) WA);AgV 0 b. w WJVrat~ r~ Golden Rule Products, always known for its vast stocks of imported linen yarns, has acquired the stock and exclusive sale of PATONS and BALDWINS Weaving wools from Scotland You weavers now can explore an excitingly new world of checks and plaids, using these glorious wools that made Scotland and Scottish weavers famous . . . the Golden Rule "Woodpecker" and "Tweed" from Scotland and Tam O'Shanter "Worsted" made in the U.S.A. All of them offer almost limitless possibilities. They come in convenient tubes, ready to use. Suitable for both warp and weft. Send 10 cents for samples and prices All the leading looms: including "Missouri", "LeClerc" and others from belt looms at $2.98 ~I ~,QUAR~M~~~~ '~ AZ J FA~VC~'1T II IMPORTED LINEN YARNS FOR I-IANDLOOM WEAVING METLON NON-TARNISHING METALLIC YARNS LANE LOOMS PORTABLE - JACK TYPE COUNTER BALANCE Before you buy - see the new PURRINGTON FOLDING LOOM Write us for the name of your nearest sales outlet and demonstrator Send 35¢ for yarn samples FREDERICK J. FAWCETT, INC. Dept. M. 129 South St. , Boston 11, Mass. ? ? ? ARE YOU CHRISTMAS LOOKING? ? ? If you are interested in the folk arts of the Appalachian South here you will find suggestions for Christmas giving and keeping. Though not a sales agency, the Council carries these items for your convenience. Write Box 2000, College Station, Berea, Ky. FOLK TALES I Leonard Roberts: I BOUGHT ME A DOG, a popular collection of twelve tales reprinted from MDUNTAIN LIFE & WORK . 50 SOUTH FRAM HELL-FER-SARTIN, a scholar's collection, with extensive notes and reference material 3.75 Richard Chase: AMERICAN FOLK TALES AND SONGS, a Signet Key book, new, see review in this issue .50 JACK TALES and GRANDFATHER TALES, each 3.00 JACK AND THE THREE SILLIES, a single tale, profusely illustrated by Joshua Tolford 2.50 FOLK SONGS AND SINGING GAMES OLD SVGS AND SINGING GAMES, Richard Chase .50 FOLK DANCES OF TENNESSEE, Flora McDowell, see review 1.00 THE SWAPPING SONG BOOK, Jean Ritchie, 21 songs, illus. 3.50 CIRCLE LEFT,collected in Eastern Kentucky .50 PROMENADE ALL, Helen and Larry Eisenberg 1.00 SONGS OF ALL TIME, revised and re-issued by the Council .25 SINGITG FAMILY OF M CUWERLANDS, Jean Ritchie, a unique biography of the Ritchies with words and music of 42 songs 4.00 RECORDS , Appalachian Hymns and Ballads, sung by Berea College Chapel Choir 4.25 Jean Ritchie: A Field Trip, a comparison of her family songs with variants she recorded during a recent trip through Scotland, Ireland and England 5.00 *Saturday Night & 9anday, Too, a weekend with the Ritchies *Courting SDngs* *Jean Ritchie Sings* *Kentucky Mountain Songs* each 3.50 A subscription to Mountain Life & Work at $1.00 will remind the recipient of your thoughtfulness four times during the year. LEONARD ROBERTS shares with us... 10A tale-4 lor Eellirty 1ri NIPPY AND THE YANKEE DOODLE This story is Type 328, a close relative of " Jack and the Bean Stalk, " the unique British form of the Old World tale about stealing from a giant. Some versions depict girls in the leading roles, as does " Molly Whuppie " in ENGLISH FAIRY TALES and " Mutsmag" in GRANDFATHER a TALES; boys play the parts in "Nippy" in SOUTH FRQhf HELL-FER-SARTIN and in this version. This tale was told by Lige Gay, Dry Hill, Leslie County, Kentucky. ONCE THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN who had three sons named Jim, John and Nippy. One week end Jim and John told their mother to bake them a cake because they's going to see their girls. Nippy, the youngest and the one they thought foolish, spoke up and said, "Let me go with you. " And they said, "No, you're a foolish boy and you had better stay at home with your mammy. " They started out and Nippy wentto his mother and said, "Mommy, bake me a cake. I want to go and foller my brothers. " 8 And she says, "All right, Nippy, if you'll take the riddle and go down to the spring and get me a riddle full of water I'll bake sto, you a cake." She thought this would be a way to keep him at home. you He went down to the spring with the riddle, dipped it up full of water and started. It all poured out of course right on through it. He'd dip it up again and it'd pour out. He tried it several times old and never got started with no water. And he heard a little bird up ne), on a tree, said, sa3 Daub it with moss and slick it with clay me Annd you can carry your water away. go] He looked up and said, "What did you say, little bird?" It said, Nil Daub it with moss and slick it with clay to And you can carry your water away. wa So he daubed the riddle with moss and then slicked it over good ha with clay, filled it up with water and went to the house. His mother a I thought he had done a smart trick so she baked him a big cake and st; put it in a poke and let him set out follering his brothers. Caught an up with 'em sometime that evening, and that night they went to see sn an old man's three daughters that lived by the river. up Next morning the oldest boy Jim wanted to marry the man's Ni oldest daughter, and the old man says, "I'll tell ye what I'll do," ba says, "you go over to that old man's house across the river and ~/ ~/ get his three gold lockets and gold staff," and says, "I'll let you he marry my oldest daughter. " b` So all three of them went across the river where the old man st lived and asked to stay all night. He let 'em come in and stay. He ec had three daughters and they all slept on pallets on the floor, the Itl girls on one side and the boys on the other. Nippy he was kindly scared and stayed awake till along way in the night. Some time be fore the fire went out the old man come in and he brought three gold ti lockets and put around his three girls' necks and then eased out of d' the room. So Nippy saw what he was doing and was afraid he would come back in and kill the ones that didn't have gold lockets on. y When everything got quiet again he eased over and took the gold n lockets off the girls' necks and put 'em on him and his brothers' o necks. b Some time later in the night the old man come in and cut his three daughters' throats. Next morning right at the edge of day light, why, Nippy got his brothers up and they took the three lock- V ets and the old man's gold staff and headed back across the river. About the time they got across the river the old man come to the h edge of the river and called, "Hey, Nippy, when are you comin' back?" Said, "You've caused me to kill my three girls and you've s 9 stold my three gold lockets and my gold staff. " Said, "When are you comin' back to see me ?" ,f Said," I'll be back some time, Grandpa." They went on in to the man's house and Jim married the man's oldest daughter. Some time the next day John wanted to marry the next oldest daughter, and the man says, "I'll tell you what I'll do," says, "if you'll go over the river to the old man's and get his half moon," says, "I'll give you two yoke of oxen, a half a bushel of gold and my daughter. " The next day the older boys talked around about how foolhardy Nippy was and got him to go over by himself. He went over there to get the halfmoon. The old man weren't at home but his old woman was making hominy. He had to wait around awhile till she got the )d halfmoon to go in the dark kitchen to look at her hominy. She took er a long time going to look at it, so Nippy eased up on the roof and started pouring salt down in the fire. The fire started crackling and burning blue blazes. The old man come in about that time, smelling around and said, "Old woman, you're burnin' your hominy up. " She grabbed the halfmoon and run to look at her hominy, and Nippy pushed her on in the fire, grabbed the halfmoon and headed back across the river with it. L Time he got across the river the old man run to the edge and hollered at him, says, "Hey, Nippy," says, "when are you comin' back to see me?" Said, "You caused me to kill my three girls, you stold my three lockets and stold my gold staff, and now you've push , ed my old woman in the fire and gone with my halfmoon," says, "when are you comin' back?" He said, "I'll be back to see you again, Grandpa." .- He took the halfmoon in and give it to the old man. John got Id the two yoke of oxen, the half bushel of gold and the next oldest I daughter. d After the celebration Nippy decided he wanted to marry the youngest daughter and so he asked the old man for her. The old man says, "Tell ye what I'll do," says, "I'll give you two yoke of oxen, a half a bushel of gold and my youngest daughter if you'll go back over to that old man's house and get his Yankee Doodle." So he went over after the Yankee Doodle that evening. They were gone to church and about the time he got it and started he saw them coming. So he hid under the bed with the Yankee Doodle. Along after dark when the old man and the old woman went to bed, he started playing on the Yankee Doodle under there. The old woman said, "Old man, you're getting awful good all at once," said, "you just get back from church and start playing the Yankee Doodle. 11 10 He said, "Why, old woman, I've not thought of that Yankee Doodle in forty year. " She said, "Well, Nippy must be around again." So he reached under the bed and pulled Nippy out, says, "Now I've got you this time, Nippy. " Nippy says, "What are you goin' to do with me, Grandpa?" He says, "I'm goin' to kill ye I" Says, "I wouldn't do that if I was you, Grandpa. " SaysSays, "If I had you," says, "I'd put ye up in the loft and feed ye on eggs and . butter till you got right fat and then kill ye and invite all the neigh bors in for a feast. " He says, "Well, that's just what I'll do with you, Nippy." So he put him up in the loft and fed him on eggs and butter for about two weeks and decided he was fat enough to kill. He went up and says, "Well, you're fat enough to kill now, Nippy. I'm goin' to lay you on the coolin' board. " Nippy says, "You don't have to take time to kill me, Grandpa. " Says, "I'm easy killed and Grandma can do that while you go and in- th vite all the neighbors in. " b, He said, "All right, that's what I'll do, Nippy," says, "I'll go fl and invite all the neighbors and tell her to pop you in the oven for at a feast. So Grandma puts on the clay oven to get it right real hot. She`N `~"o1 kept going to look at the oven to see if it was hot enough. And Nippy waited till it got real hot and when she went the next time he slipped m up behind her and pushed her in the oven and popped the lid on her. He grabbed the Yankee Doodle and took back out across the river. dE The old man come along about that time with some hungry neigh- fr bors, saw what Nippy had done. Said, "Hey, Nippy," says, "When p, are you comin' back to see me?" Says, "You caused me to kill my ai three daughters, you stold my three gold lockets and my gold staff, you pushed my old woman in the fire and stold my halfmoon, and nE now you've killed my old woman and stold my Yankee Doodle." Says, to "Now when are you comin' back to see me ?" cl Nippy says, "I don't guess I'll ever be back to see ye, Grandpa." He took the Yankee Doodle back to the old man and got his two rE yoke of oxen, the half a bushel of gold and the youngest daughter to til marry. Nippy played the Yankee Doodle while they all danced and in celebrated their weddings. They took their oxen and their gold ar their wives home, built houses and settled down and lived happy ever after. ##### r_ 11 WHEN FAMILIES MOVE... FROM CINDER HOLLOW TO CINCINNATI I plany northern cities are suddenly awakening to the problem of masses ' of migrants from the Appalachian h- South who have come north to work. What is involved in this migration is qraphicall~y described by ~ the head of the Department of Sociology, ///// Berea College. This article is an r ROSCOE GIFFIN expanded version of an address he gave at the annual meeting of the tp ///// National Federation of Settlements t9 at St. Louis in May of 1956. NO PROOF IS NECESSARY to document the presence of large numbers of migrants from the Appalachian South in cities of in- the Ohio Valley and midwest. Their presence is well recognized by other residents of these cities, so much so in fact that they are frequently referred to with words which convey not a little hostility and prejudice. ~ ', The migration of these people is not, however, a phenomenon le~ ~"of only the last few decades. Since 1870 at least, the states in the ppY east South Central region have been an important source of people ped moving to such midwestern states as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and r' Michigan. In 1950 these four midwestern states had 707, 000 resi dents born in Kentucky, 312, 000 born in Tennessee, and 244, 000 •igh- from West Virginia. In the decade of 1940-1950 the population ex .en pansion of these three southern states was less than the national MY average of 14. 5 percent: Kentucky, 3. 5; West Virginia, 5.4; Tenn ff, essee, 12.9. To bring a portion of this record up to date it is worth noting that in the period 1950-1955 over 210,000 persons left Ken ays, tucky. Ninety-four percent of these migrants were from the Appala chian mountain counties in the eastern section of the state. lpa." This migration, both recently and in the past, is primarily a 70 response to the combined influence of a high rate of new job forma to tion in the other states plus the high rate of population growth with d in the Appalachian South. In the southern mountains the rate of new iob formation is low but the birth rate is high. In the midwestern ~,~/ ~. urban centers the rate of new job formation is high but the birth i rate is low. The migration of people serves to bring these forces of supply and demand together in the same labor market. t T r e c I L Y t L 13 To document these conclusions statistically I call your atten tion to the following data. For the state of Kentucky the 1950 net reproduction rate was 671. For the 43 counties in the eastern mountain area this rate was about 850; and in seven counties it exceeded 1000. The net reproduction rate is based on the ratio of children under five years of age per 1000 females of age 20-44. Demographers regard a rate of 500 as sufficient to maintain a pop ulation at a constant level. As of 1950 midwestern urban areas E had rates of about 400, insufficient to maintain their own population to say nothing of expanding in response to growing employment op portunities. Thus the Kentucky mountain counties have a rate 70 percent in excess of that needed for replacement whereas in the urban areas of the midwest there was about a 20 percent deficit. New job formation in the Kentucky mountains has been gener ally in reverse gear since somewhat before 1950. Since about 1920 the development of the eastern Kentucky coal fields has absorbed a large proportion of the natural population increase of the region. However since about 1948 the demand for coal from these fields has declined sharply and with it employment. Between 1950 and 1955 employment in the coal xaines of the eastern section of the state dropped from over 47 , 000 to just over 25, 000, a decline of 47 percent. It is no surprise that of the 272,000 people who left the state in the first half of this decade, 50 percent of them came from the coal counties in the mountain region. The other mountain counties are characterized by the depletion of forest resources, the lack of new industries, and already over populated agricultural lands. Though less rapid than that from the coal counties the exodus has been substantial. The growth of new employment opportunities in the non-mountain counties of the state has been far less than enough to absorb the labor supply available in the mountains. Thus attracted by the growing pace of industrial development in the midwest and propelled by the e~°,onomic disorgan ization of their home counties, mountaineers have migrated to the north of the Ohio River in great numbers. Although the data and interpretation have been restricted to developments in Kentucky, much the same pattern has occurred in West Virginia as well as in sections of Tennessee. However it must be emphasized that the Kentucky exodus is by all odds the largest. People who migrate from the Appalachian South to the urban centers of the midwest bring with them already established patterns of culture and behavior. These patterns are basically rural but modified by the influence of the culture of the southeastern United States. I I 14 The social organization system familiar to these people is pro ' bably dominated by family-kinship relations. Formal organizations are limited largely to labor unions and churches. However, the churches of this area are marked by an extreme degree of informality compared to those of our contemporary cities. Paid ministers, printed programs, precisely scheduled services, and elaborate physical plants are certainly less than common in the region except in its few urban centers. The county is the dominant political organization. The one-room school is yet a common sight in rural areas although rapid development of consolidated rural schools is evident. People who derive much of their social experience from their kinship system are obviously going to attempt to continue such practices when they move to the city. Thus the evidence of voluntary segregation in places of residence, the frequent presence of relatives in households, and the apparent though undocumented tendency ', of people from a given region to migrate to particular urban centers is understandable. Personnel people have on numerous occasions pointed out to the writer their practice of hiring new employees by i asking workers from the mountains to bring in some of their rel atives. The lack of much experience in formal organizations means that most of these migrants will be lacking in the skills either of leadership or membership for organized group processes. Much educating and orienting will be required if their adjustmentto this new form of social participation is not to be extremely slow. Efforts of these migrants to establish their own churches in the city and to be unattracted to the standard urban variety are quite normal, then, viewed in the light of their own experience worlds. Perhaps this is a field for a special kind of urban ministry. Children from the mountains who have had some school experience may find assimilation into the large schools of the cities very disturbing. The very physical size, the multitudes of other children, the impersonality will all play havoc with what little emotional security they may have left after entering the strange world of of the city. The effect of such influences will likely accentuate the already rather pronounced tendencies of shyness and reticence so apparent among rural mountain children. Among the prominent cultural traditions of the Appalachian ~~ South of importance for urban adjustment are those relating to formal education, religious beliefs, bodily health, individualism, success criteria and standards of housing. Each of these will be commented upon briefly in terms of their urban significance. 15 °o- Historically the environment of the mountains has not required )ns emphasis upon formal education. Consequently both the adults and their children will-by urban standards-be considerably retarded. Scores on I. Q. tests can be expected to be surprisingly low. A readiness to drop out of school as soon as possible is to be expected r- for perhaps a majority. On the average at present only about 15 percent of the children of eastern Kentucky who enter the first grade graduate from high school. Back of these patterns are, of i i course, generations of parents, other relatives, and neighbors to Dols 1 whom formal education is not important. Consequently, city teachers can hardly expect to have these same persons exert much pressure r on the children to continue in school and to endeavor to succeed. ac- Religious beliefs of a fundamentalist variety are generally com mon. Literal interpretation of the Bible is accepted. Salvation is - generally thought of strictly in "other-worldly" terms. Thus the .cy social gospel versions of the scriptures, common to so many urban ors churches, will hardly appeal to mountain people nor will it moti vate their present conduct. y To this observer the high incidence of tuberculosis, mal nutrition and poor teeth reflects more than the absence of physicians, dentists, hospitals and lack of income. It may also testify to a general tendency to disregard health factors, to ac cept illness as unavoidable. It may thus take some time for public health workers, school nurses and doctors to accustom adults and children to reliance upon the abundant facilities for the treatment of disease in urban areas. The novels and stories about mountain people which have flowed in such abundance from the pens of numerous writers generally em ry. phasize individualism as characteristic of Appalachian people. Un fortunately, I am not acquainted with any studies which give us both y careful definition of the concept of individualism as well as factual documentation in terms of behavior patterns. I think that the be a- havioral symptoms which the novelists identify as "individualistic" are those which indicate sensitivity and resistance to the criticism e of others, independence of belief and action and a strong tendency to settle interpersonal conflicts without recourse to legal or other authorities. But one should not infer from such behavior that these people - are for reasons of culture and temperament averse to well-disci plined group action. The history of mountain feuding, the record - of the United Mine Workers and other unions of the coal fields, and the frequently cited readiness of mountain men to volunteer promptly for military service rather than to be drafted seems adequate evidence of their willingness in certain circumstances to accept group discipline and to give authority to some central office which prescribes behavior. It is evident that these are situations strongly charged with conflict and offering opportunity for the creation and release of hostility. Add to the foregoing review of interrelated factors the abundant evidence that cooperative action directed towards various goals of community improvement are rather infrequent in the mountains and you have an interesting problem for a culturally oriented psychiatrist. What is there in this regional scheme of cultural values, in its common practices of socialization of the child, and in its system of interpersonal relations which explains the foregoing observations: individualism but a strong willingness to function in conflict-oriented group activities, and-conversely-the infrequency of formal organizations aimed at the amelioration of social economic conditions. The urban expression of these cultural patterns relating to the individual and the group will probably be similar to what we observe in the rural habitat of these people. That is to say, infrequent participation in formal organization, a willingness to join labor unions. to participate in conflict situations, yet striving to maintain as inviolate and "my own business" areas of conduct subject in the city to the judgment and control of other persons are characteristic. As evidence of the latter, urban police officials have spoken to me of their concern with the prevalence among mountain people of the pattern of settling conflicts by fighting and their strong feelings against any intervention by police officers. I have also encountered the pattern in my conversations with Kentuckians in Cincinnati. Another cultural tradition which may be of marked importance in the city relates to criteria of success. There is reason to believe that the "way of life" of southern mountain people is marked by a strong tendency simply to accept one's environment as it is rather than to strive for mastery over it. This would probably be reflected in the city as a lack of strong identification with urban goals and standards of achievement, and a rather quickly achieved level of consumption and employment. If such a basic cultural orientation is present it would obtain further reinforcement from the lack of knowledge which such rural people would have of the opportunities and possibilities of the urban environment. I would suspect that most of the children from the mountains would give much simpler and unspecific answers than would most urban children to such a question as "What are you going to be when you grow up?" Answers '777~ We 18 such as "a farmer," "a housewife," or "jus' most anything" I would expect to occur frequently. Adults and children who leave the mountains for northern cities have in all probability been living in houses which by contemporary standards are simple and inexpensive if not inadequate. Thus on moving to the city they may accept without much concern the crowd' ed quarters in which so many of them are found by reason of the size of the family and limited income. Underlying the factors of experience and economics is also probably a basic cultural view in which elegance in housing is not regarded as a major goal of activity. From reported examination of the various statements made about southern mountaineers by numerous professional people and the reading of Harriette Arnow's very moving novel of the ex periences of a Kentucky family in war-time Detroit, Z 1 have formed a series of hypotheses about the urban adjustment of families from the mountains. The basic theme of these hypotheses is that measured in terms of their satisfaction with urban living fathers rank highest, mothers next, and children lowest. Hypotheses of explanation of this pattern of differential adjust ment are based primarily on changes in the roles of each family member which urban living either makes possible or requires and 4~ r,r the comparison of these new roles with those of their life in the mountains. There is neither time nor space to enter into a detailed development of these hypotheses. Fathers are apt to be the most satisfied with the move to the city because they are able to fulfill more adequately their role as "breadwinner" than they were able to do in the mountains. This is, of course, a consequence of the greater employment opportunities available in urban areas. Satisfaction with the move to the city will be directly related probably to the type of work and level of pay they are able to obtain. Since agriculture is not as important a source of livelihood in Appalachia as the lack of cities and the great rural ex panses might lead one to believe, most of the men will have had ex perience in various wage jobs, particularly those in mining and lum bering. Thus moving to the city is not basically a change in roles but rather a more successful experience in wage jobs with which fathers already have had some experience. 1. The Southern Mountaineer in Cincinnati, Report of a Workshop..~~ April 29, 1954, Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee, 105 City Hall, Cincinnati. (Prepared by the MFRC staff and this writer.) 2. THE DQLLMAKER. MacMillan Company, 1954 19 Mothers of migrant families, however, are required to make more radical changes in their patterns of daily existence than are ties their husbands and therefore will probably find less satisfaction pry personally in the city. Among rural non-farm as well as rural farm families of the mountains, wives generally are responsible for care of the garden, a flock of chickens, and milking the cow. The processing of food from these sources is also a major respon f sibility for her. Moving to the city will deprive her of all of these in functions. What can replace or substitute for these traditional func tions of the wife and mother role when one must live in a few small rooms in a crowded apartment building or rooming house in a sec tion of a city where grass and trees are nearly as rare as paved sidewalks in the country? Perhaps mothers will devote more time K- to the care of their children in the pre-school years since most of ned them will not be able to let them out of their sight with the same Dm feeling of security as when living in the country or a small town. Certainly the attention they will give to the care of a few rooms will ms not demand anything like the time and skill required of them in their iers former homes. On the whole, their functions in the urban setting will hardly yield them the sense of importance and resulting satis st- factions they obtained formerly. Children who accompany parents to the city find themselves in id ~' a world which denies them many, if not most, of the sources of satisfaction which they knew in thp hills. In place of woods, hills, iled streams and dirt roads for space for play and adventure they are given the sidewalk, a small unkempt courtyard, a noisy, dangerous street and an occasional city recreation center with a wading pool s and cemented playground. This is not to deny the presence of splen; is, did parks and recreation facilities in our cities, but these are often 's beyond ready access of children of migrant families. In the schools will they will confront a sea of strange faces. They are now part of an they educational system that is at the same time more complex and richer !e of in opportunity yet more demanding of achievement and continued re ex- gular attendance than was their lot either in a small one-room school ex- or in one of the newer consolidated schools. To complicate matters lum- further they are the pupils of teachers who are likely to be products s of urban, middle-class society. It is thus hardly a cause for sur prise to find many of the teachers of these children in urban schools speaking of them as "problems" and indicating they do not understand s: them. We should also not be surprised if the children generally prefer to live in Kentucky and wish their parents would return there to live. Satisfaction with urban living is higher the younger a child is at the time of the move from the hills and the longer the stay in the c ity. 20 Exploratory interviewing among a relatively small sample of Kentuckians now living in Cincinnati was done by the writer for several weeks during August of the past summer. This was aimed at a test interview schedule designed to provide the data by which the foregoing hypotheses and others could be verified. Though the saw ple is far too small and of uncertain representativeness, the evidence so far seems to be substantially in support of the hypotheses and the explanatory factors. ##### ABOUT THE PICTURES: The pictures with this article are NOT intended to convey the idea that all migrants from other regions live in slum areas, although some of them do. Many migrants from the South, because of superior ability and thrift, live in other sections of the city where there are yards and the houses are adequate and well-kept. The pictures are a graphic illustration of what may face the newcomer until he has his financial feet firmly planted in northern soil. ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER.: All photographs except that of the school are the work of Daniel J. Rcmsohoff, Community Services Director, Family Service of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio. It is not surprising that Mr. Ransohoff has produced some of the finest pictures we have ever printed, for he is an artist with a growing national reputation having shown in many national exhibitions. He is able to achieve in his photographs a blending of the social worker's concern for people with the artist's feeling for line and form. \\ BELOW: It's a long step between these two schools. 21 HEALTH w How many doctors are there in the Appalachian South? Dentists? Nurses? What is the infant mortality rate? Armed Forces rejection rate? What is the population per doctor? Per dentist? Per nurse? These are but a few of the questions asked by people interested in s ~I health conditipns in the Southern Appalachians. At last these and many s other questions have been answered in a report just issued. It is called: r HEALTH CARE SERVICES AND FACILITIES IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE study of health conditions and resources in the 257 counties of the Appalachian South has just been published by the Council of the Southern Mountains. Funds for the study were made available to the Council by the Sigma Phi Gamma International Sorority as part of its work of helping in the development of health facilities in the mountain area. Prepared under the direction of the Health Committee of the Council, the actual accumulation of data and the basic analyses for HEALTH CARE SERVICES AND FACILITIES IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS was done by the Rural Life Council of Tuskegee Institute, with Lewis W. Jones, Director of Research, and Adella R. Shields, Research Assistant, heading up the work. The survey confirms many generally held conclusions about health conditions in the region, but it also provides many facts that show a different picture from what might be expected even by a trained observer in the region. Dr. Robert M. Metcalfe says in the introduction: " In some aspects this report unexpectedly provides cause for ironic rejoicing; in a few ways at least we are no worse off the some of our brethren in other parts of the nation." Since parts of nine different states are involved, compilation of the statistics was a tedious job as it was necessary to break state reports down into county units before working with them on a mountain-wide basis. The opening chapter of the report deals with the Southern Appalachian region as a whole giving many background facts, especially in the realm of economics and standard of living indices, for understanding health conditions that are listed later in the study. This first chapter graphically demonstrates just how rural the area still is. Only five counties in the entire region are counted as 22 being two-thirds urban. Fifty percent of the counties are totally c rural without any urban centers whatever. There are only 22 urban places with populations of 25,000 or more. 1 The range of density of population per square mile is signifi cant. Georgia has the lowest density with 59 persons per square mile, while West Virginia has 83. Eighty-six percent of all the counties in the Appalachian South have less than 100 persons per square mile. This relatively thin scattering of people makes it difficult to establish medical centers within easy reach of any large numbers of patients. ' The study also reveals the relationship between geographic isolation, farm income and medical care available. It is common ' knowledge among those who work in the mountain region that the more rural areas are generally the poorer areas. However, the figures, as published in the health study, reveal a situation more desperate than might be expected incomewise. Using the "Farm Family Level-of-Living Index" as provided by the Bureau of Agri cultural Economics for 1950 as a basis, the study shows that an index of 122 was the average for farm families in the United States. Using this Index number of 122 for comparison the study shows that in the Southern Appalachians eighty-four percent of the coun ties have an Index number of less than 100. In other words, five- \\ sixths of our farm families fail to receive anything like as much „,Gj ~a,/ as the average for the nation. Four out of 10 mountain farmers receive less than half as much as the national average . Turning to a broad survey of health conditions in the region, the study explains how the principal crop in the Southern Highlands is human beings. In this "human seedbed," however, the child under one year of age is at a disadvantage. The death rate of infants per 1,000 live births in the mountains is 37.7, while it averages 31.3 for the entire country. It should be noted that the higher death rate does not apply just to the mountains for the average for the entire nine southern states is exactly the same as for their mountainous areas. Perhaps the greatest surprise that shows up in the study is the fact that Selective Service records during World War II indicate that the rejection rate of white youth for health reasons in mountain counties was lower than for those outside the area. While the average rejection rate for the nine southeastern states was 33 per 100 registrants examined, the Appalachian counties showed a rate ~)e, of only 28 rejects, although within the region the poorer counties had a higher rejection rate than the richer ones. Explanation as to why boys from regions where there are the fewest doctors prove to be healthier than those from more medi non rtes, .lows in.e ;h the the er Lte s 23 cally favored areas would make an interesting study in itself. Equally intriguing are figures showing the relation of the level-of-living of farm people to the infant death rate. In those counties where the Farm Family Level-of-Living Index was below 61 (less than half the national average) there was a tragic rate of 67 infant mortalities per 1, 000 births. Then as the farm income Index goes up, the death rate goes down, so that in those counties where the Index is between 91 and 100, the rate is 24 infant deaths per thousand, only about one-half of what it is in the counties with an. Index range of 61-70 The authors of the study are aware that there are factors beside low income affecting the infant death rate, and they have made a special study of those 29 counties having an unusually low rate of 25 deaths or less per thousand. Fortyfive percent of these lowdeath-rate counties also had a low Level-of-Living Index of under 70. On the other hand only 17 percent of the low -death-rate counties have an Index of over 100. In general, however, there is a positive correlation between farm income and the health of the people. One way to even up the supply of medical workers between urban and rural areas is the establishment of one-day-aweek clinics in the country. Such a clinic is staffed by Dr. John E. Sullivan, Knoxville, Tennessee dentist in Hancock County. Statistics on the number of physicians, dentists and nurses given in the report indicate the need for more medical personnel throughout the area. Medical service is generally considered adequate when the ratio of population to doctors is 1, 000 to 1. Only eight percent of the counties in the area actually approach this ratio, for the great majority of the people live where there are from 2,000 to 5, 000 people per doctor. 24 Yet a curious situation appears when we examine Selective Service rejection rates. Twenty-one percent of those counties where there were less than 2, 000 people per doctor had a rate of 30 percent or more during World War II, whereas but 5 percent of ~the counties having 5, 000 or more people per doctor had a rate this high. Over half of the counties having less people per doctor had high rejection rates, while only 30 percent of the counties which had five times as many people per doctor as is considered standard had as high a rejection rate as this. The same pattern of shortage of personnel appears among ~ T dentists as with doctors, except that it is worse. While no county was totally without a doctor, one county in eight was without a den tist, and in almost none was there a proper patient-dentist ratio. The picture is also bleak in regard to hospitals. Of the hos pitals in operation in the Appalachian South 82 per cent are not publicly supported. Less than one-half of the counties have hos pitals that are accredited by the Joint Committee of the American Hospital Association. For the United States there were in 1953 ap proximately 10 hospital beds per 1, 000 population, while in the Southern Appalachians there were only six. The report raises a significant question at its conclusion: " Shall hospitals, like public schools, be regarded 40 as a public service and their provision and maintenance be supported by social action in the interest of the common good. Or shall they instead exist subject to the vicissitudes of the market place, dependent for establishment and efficient operation upon the ability of consumers to pay for the advantages of hospital services? " This article can touch only a few of the many areas covered in the full report. There are five full-page maps of the entire Appala chian South, each one of which deals with specific health needs. The study is primarily concerned with presenting pertinent in formation on which professional workers in the region may base future programs of development. As Dr. Metcalfe remarks in his introduction, "We should not regard this study as an end in itself. " y It is simply a tool by which there can be better future planning. Copies of the study are available to all those who have a pro fessional interest and need for this type of material. ~) „„, This is the first of what is hoped will be a valuable series of studies about every phase of life in the Appalachian South, for the region should be the object of the most penetrating social research. FOLKLORE.. 25 Mary Rogers pays tribute to a friend of the Appalachian South who has helped all the children of America as writer, editor, librarian, teacher and folk-tale teller: of r hich and Mary Gould Davis The author, Mary Rogers, is wife of the Director of Pine Mountain School, and serves as volunteer librarian at the School. Her drawings have illustrated several books dealing with the folk arts. She is Staff Artist of this magazine. I DID NOT GO to the Gatlinburg Conference that year, but I remember the Pine Mountain group's coming back. To all of them the highlight of the conference had been "that storyteller. " At the time I could not imagine a story-teller who could make one of our efficient, but by no means imaginative, delegates shake his head and say apologetically, "They were just kids' stories but they were wonderful. " He was baffled and, I think, slightly chagrined that he had allowed himself to be carried away by their magic. When I finally met Mary Gould Davis however I understood perfectly how she had been able to make such a remarkable impression. When she was to give a program of story telling at Berea in some of the faculty shook their heads. The students would never ila- take a program of fairy tales. The students went ready to be bored but by the end were sitting on the edge of their seats completely enin thralled by the tales. Her courses in story telling also stand out in the minds of is those who attended Berea recreation workshops. For them she f, changed these stories from being something with which you kept ° children quiet at the end of the day into something they mist have, _ a part of their heritage of wonder and laughter, of understanding ``' and perception. The telling of a tale deserved the creative effort and discipline which a work of art demands. .e I have often wished I could draw adequately the faces of one of -h. her audiences. Over all of them, young and old, passed each emo tion evoked by the tale-awe, solemnity, suspense, and the quick 26 flicker of humor. Her voice was a gift, her timing perfect, her gestures controlled. There was never anything histrionic, for a story was never a medium for her own virtuosity, but her consummate skill was the medium for the story. "That Foolish Mr. Bun," "The Timid Little Hare" and "Molly Whuppie" have been passed on with as vivid and distinct personalities as those of people we know well. Last spring Mary Gould Davis died. This magazine is not the place to commemorate all she did for children's literature by her own books, her reviews, her encouragement to librarians and authors, her work with New York public libraries and students at Columbia, and by her sending books to children overseas. But certainly we must remember with gratitude that she shared her generous interest with this area too. Her interest in the Appalachian South was not that of an outsider. As a child she came to live at the new city of Middlesboro Kentucky. She was one of those children to whom environment is not just "things around you," but something which becomes a part of you. The vivid experiences of her childhood were undulled by the years, and she was determined that children of the mountains should have books and story tellers and willingly gave time and effort to imple- Mary Rogers entertains a group of students ment her determination. in the Pine Mountain Library, which was Our children's library at aided so much by Mary Gould Davis. Pine Mountain is one result of this. It was to be a place where children found books worthy of them. She was a ruthless discarder of books which I thought might be better than none, but she replaced these marginal books with new hand-picked volumes from her review copies and did everything she could to help us put the library on its feet. Mary Gould Davis would be pleased, I think, to see our folk tale section, books sewn and resewn, rebacked, recovered read and reread-books we dare not be without. Their continued use by future generations of Pine Mountain youngsters will constitute a living memorial to her genius. ##### ca j kin se sti a 27 SHORT STORY... c Occasionally a story shows up on our desk that just MUST be - published. 'T Aint Never Been So Scairt" is such a one. The author's ability to recreate the world of mountain boys is perhaps aided by the fact that she is the mother of two such youngsters herself. If you have ever heard a "punter holler" then you can well understand how the boys can say... "I AINT NEVER BEEN SO SCAIRT" MARY T. BREWER WE LIVE below the Wooton, Kentucky, Post Office on Cutshin Creek. You go down the road about a mile and see a little green boat that ye can pull acrost the creek by a rope fastened to pulleys. You git in the boat and go over to our house. Hit's a puny place, opens up in a wide bottom land that reaches to the mouth o' Oat Stack Holler where our house is. Ma says hit's the lonesomest place ever, ye don't hear nothin' but hoot owls a hollerin' and chickens a-crowin', but fer me and my kid brother Bill hit aint never lonesome. We got us a grapevine swing down by the creek bank where ye can swing way out over the water and if ye don't know jist when to turn loose and let fall, ye git busted on a tree. Me and Bill aint never got busted but some of our neighbor boys has. If we aint down thar a-swingin' we're in the water swimmin' or a-ridin' in the boat lookin' fer mus'rat holes and a-watchin' them little rock-totin' fishes build ther nestes. We got us abide -out too back o' the house -S under a ole sweet apple tree, but we don't play thar much eny more cause we saw a big black snake in it t'other day. Las' summer some goverment men come to our place and Pa ;hil- signed a piece o' paper so they could put signs up on our land sayin' of no huntin' or dogs allowed, though I reckon the dogs don't know about d it fer we see 'em around oncet in a while and hear 'em barkin' up the holler. Since they aint no huntin' allowed they's some strange wild rY animals come here to live. Of a nighttime after we go to bed, me e and Bill can hear 'em a-hollerin' up on the hill above our house. gyred This summer we took off three days and went to visit sum of our kinfolks. When we come back we 'uz a-comin' up the lane when Ma ti- sez, "Everything shore is quiet around here. " We all stopped dead still. There'd ought to 'a' been chickens a-cacklin' and turkeys a-gobblin' but miry a sound did we hear. Me and Bill took off fer I 28 the chicken lot a-flyin'. The corn we'd put out was still a-layin' on the ground and nairy a sign of a chicken was around. Ma and Pa come up then and Ma 'lows as how somebody has stole 'em. Me and Pa saunters off up toward the barn, and all at oncet Pa sez, "Look a-than" I look and thar lays my ole pet rooster Ben j all sprawled out and dead as a door nail. Hit hurt me awful bad to ~see pore ole Ben dead. He was a powerful fine rooster. I remem ber Grandpa liked to a-laughed his self to death at him last summer when he come over from Virginia to visit us. I got Ben and brought him around to the front porch. I took a grain o' corn from my pocket and held it up so B,_;-,_ .:~.ould see it. "Now crow, Ben," I sez "and I'll give ye the corn." Ben rares back and crows big as everything. After he crows a few times I pat him on the back and sez, "Now dance, Ben." And he flaps his feet up and down on the floor fit to kill. I aint never seed sick a rooster. And now thar he was all stiff and cold in death. Pa sez to me, "Well, don't jist stand thar. Git the post hole diggers and go bury him. " Me and Bill git Ben all wrapped up in a sugar sack and start down to the Buryin' Ground-that's what we call the field below the garden cause we bury dead rats, chickens,. dogs and even ole Maude, the horse that died las' summer, is hurried down thar. We aint gone very fur when Bill lets out a yell fer Pa to come quick. Thar laid a dozen more chickens all piled out ~Uand dead. Pa turns 'em over with his foot. "Look at them big tooth prints on ther backs," he sez. "Hit must a been a dog." We found chickens and turkeys dead all over the place and hit kep' us all acnin' a-gittin' 'em burried. That put me to thinkin'. If it wuz a dog that killed them chickens and turkeys hit would come back. Well, we watched and watched and shore enough the nex' day right nex' to supper time we heered some dogs a-comin' round the hill right towards our house, but they wuz a-runnin' something and hit turned up the pint yan side o' the holler and took off to the top o' the mountain. "Long jist fore bedtime Pa come in and sez, "Them dogs shore has got something treed tonight. " Well, sir, them dogs stayed up thar all night and kep' a-barkin' up into the nex' day. 'Long about ten o'clock that day some boys come along and one of them, Newt, who lives up at Wooton, had his .22 rifle along. "Boys, let's go up on the mountain and see what them dogs has ,~ got treed," I sez. They're all fer it. We start up the hill. There't Bill, Newt, and me, and Newt's kid brother, and two more boys. 01 We're goin' along slippin' and slidin' in the leaves when one o' the boys sez, "Listen, they's something a-follerin' us." We can all 29 hear it but Newt sez, "Hit's a dog," and we all go on. We come out into a open place and all at oncet Newt sez, "Gosh, what a tracks" We all fall around to git a closter look. "Hit's a bear track," Bill sez, but we all laugh cause hit looks more like a big cat track. All at oncet we hear a growl and a big swishin' sound in the trees above us and one o' the dogs lets out a yell and comes a-tearin' down the mountain past us like his tail was afire. Newt raises his gun like he's goin' to shoot. "Let's git out of here, boys," somebody yells and all the boys 'cept Newt and me take off down the mountain. Suddenly thar's a screamin' yell that comes out o' the woods above us and Newt and me jump three feet in the air and land about ten feet down the mountain. Boy, I aint never been so scairtl We took off down the mountainside and we 'uz goin' so fast we knocked the hinges off the gate in the chicken lot as we come through. "They's a gang of panters and wildcats up thar on the mountain,' Bill sez all out o' breath and we all yell out as we come through the gate. Ma is a-standin' out in the yard a-grinnin' and a-tryin' to cam Bill down. We all see by the looks on her face that she don't believe nairy a word we're sayin'. Pa don't believe it neither, but honest now they's wildcats and panters up thar on the mountain. Why is it ole folks is so hard to see into things anyway? ##### r-"R CHURCH FURNITURE By buying from Clear Creek Furniture Factory, you will be saving . . . and serving a worthy cause. J $49.75 fob Only the finest and clearest red oak is used throughout. Pieces are carefully matched as to grain and coloring of wood. Owned and Operated by the Clear Creek Mountain Preachers Bible School Pineville, Kentucky BOOKS FOLK DANCE OF TENNESSEE. Flora L. McDowell, Cooperative Recreation Service, Delaware, Ohio, 64 pp., $1.00 When anyone speaks or writes of folk dances or folk tales or folk songs of a particular place or a particular region, there is no intention of implying an exclusive proprietorship or of pinpoint-&) ing the exact place of origin or of establishing an evaluation of superiority of this over that. What really is meant is that these dances, these songs, these tales sustained and inspired these peo ple. They have stood the tests of time in their essence, but they have also brought to us an interpretation of the life of the particu lar locality through the variations in words, in action, in overtones of meaning. Less-than-perfect memories bolstered by keen imaginations have made them the folk matter of one place after an other. Thus FOLK DANCES OF TENNESSEE edited by Flora L. McDowell presents the folklore of the Coney Fork valley in middle ` Tennessee just west of the Cumberland Plateau. ". . . there is not a word or a note that has been copied t from any book or paper. No source has been used except the mem ory of the authors and their friends," says Mrs. McDowell in her introduction to this collection which she and her husband have con- a tributed to the store of folk material. The following is a play-party game with instructions for playing it taken from this book. m POOR OLD CHIMNEY SWEEPER if a1 at of Here comes a poor old chim-ney sweep - er; Now here is one of your own chaos - ing; m kn ucru ~~ ~~ to Has but one dough - ter and can - not keep her; You have no time for-_ to be los - ing; She says she has re - solved to mar - ry; Join your right hands, this broom step o - ver; 4 r r -_ $o choose you one and do not tar - ry. And kiss the lips of your true lov - er. Poor Old Chimney Sweeper This game was supplied by Mr. and Mrs. Billy V'atson, of Varren County, Tennessee. They say it was played in this section when they were young. It was evidently another 'Singing-in Game.' It was started by a boy who carried a broom in his right hand. From'the whole group of young people standing around the sides of the room, this leader selected a girl. Taking with her the arm-in-arm position, (his left and her right arms joined, or holding her by the right arm with his left hand), he stepped with her in a circle around the room, while all the group sang the first verse of the song. 1_ At the end of the first verse there was a short pause in the singing, during which the girl selected a partner from the boys in the group. The boy thus chosen came forward during the singing of the first two lines of the second verse, and faced the girl and the "Chimney Sweeper". The 'Chimney Sweeper" then laid the broom on the floor between the girl and her chosen partner, and the couple followed closely the directions given by the song. As the group ,m_ sang the corresponding words, this couple joined right hands, stepped one foot across the broomstick, and kissed; though the kissing might suffer some abridgement, or even be left completely out. ~n ,rty The boy who had been thus chosen by the girl usually selected another girl to be the next for whom the "Chimney Sweeper' should perform the cere mony of the broomstick. The couple already paired then fell in behind the leader and followed marching around the room. The song was repeated until all the young people had been paired and were marching in double column, arm-in-arm, around the room, the last girl automatically becoming the partner of the 'Poor Old Chimney Sweeper.' There are old people in middle Tennessee who can yet remember hearing marriage referred to as 'jumping over the broomstick", though they do not know the origin of the expression. This game is evidently of ancient origin - to judge by its wording, its music, its form, and its rarity in modern times. RECREAT10N Ruthie Carroll Heads New Department at UT MISS RUTHIE CARROLL, former Itinerant Recreator for the Council of the Southern Mountains, has become head of a new department at the University of Tennessee, introducing a curricu lum for recreation majors under the Departments of Sociology and Physical Education. Miss Carroll left the Council last year to study for her masters , degree which she received this summer from the University of Tennessee. Previous to her work for the Council she spent a summer as a member of the Quaker International Volunteer Service. In a news t letter to friends she says of this experience: 1 " . I was sent to an island in the Zeeland region of South Holland to the area so badly damaged by the severe storms which I I broke the dykes. Our work was helping the people reclaim their c homes, churches, schools and businesses by scrubbing, cleaning ~ t and disinfecting. It was a satisfying and rewarding work. I made s some real friendships. "From there I went to Norway. Here our work was reforest 0 ation. We planted both spruce and balsam, about 200 seedlings a day. We worked for a private lumber company and the money we tl made went to the Norwegian "Aid-to-India" program. fc "Then another American girl and I spent three weeks traveling, . a~ mainly in Scandinavia. We went via train, boat, bus and thumb and had a most adventurous time. We visited workcamp friends along g c the way and they really opened their hearts and homes to us. "This was one of the richest and most meaningful experiences e~ I have ever had. Those people laugh and cry and play and work b just as we do. " ##### t CORRECTION: Mountain Life & Work No. 3/56 was Volume XXXII. c A regrettable omission of not in line 6, paragraph 2, 4 g page 38 of Dr. Giffin's review. It should read: / police force and militia " was NOT marked by g Jim Crowism Also in the same article: The Compromise of 1877 n I h 33 RECREATION a a RECREATION ~r CAN BE FUN Even trudging up a dusty road = on a lonesome creek can be real fun if you are a recreation leader and you know that a group of eager ' ///// youngsters is awaiting your arrival JIM WOLF at the end of it. Read this report ///// of the Council's Itinerant Recreator to see how much fun it can 6e. DURING THE SUMMER of 1953 while visiting Berea College I wrote home to a friend in New York that some day I would s work "in these mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee." Although I was sincere in my thoughts I hardly realized how true my dream was and how completely it would be fulfilled. Now three years later, I am writing home that I am working in these mountains and working in more than just the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee. I am an itinerant; my circuit is the Ap palachian South. My work is recreation. Serving as Itinerant Recreator for the Council of the Southern Mountains I visit many. communities throughout the mountains leading recreational activi ties, organizing recreation programs and training leaders in the skills and techniques of recreation. On assignment to rural communities through the sponsorship of various institutions and agencies, I have had the satisfaction of working with and serving people who are interested in better living through recreation, people who realize that whatever the discom forts and hardships they may endure in their daily living, they can 1g' also laugh, sing and gray together with a sense of joy and well-being. nd Recreation is truly the means of uniting people in fellowship and goodwill. It would be impossible to describe all the places, tell of all the a experiences and mention all the wonderful people with whom I have been associated, but I would like to tell something of what I have at tempted to do and some of the places in which I have worked. My itinerary has included working with summer Bible schools, colleges, church camps, festivals and fairs, church fellowship groups, rural schools and mission centers. Programs have included games, story-telling, puppets, handicrafts, singing and folk games and other types of creative recreation as they have been needed. In many instances these activities were already present and I helped to encourage their continuation. In other instances folks had never created a puppet, carved in soap or realized the fun of 34 singing games, and it was my job to teach them. Both opportunities have been rewarding. In the first instance I had opportunity to contribute new material and ideas and in the other to encourage and develop the indigenous interests. Underlying all these assignments has been the hope that inter est and activity will remain in an area, and that people will assume leadership responsibility themselves. On many occasions I have had this hope realized, although it may be months later that I become aware of it. I had such an experience this summer while serving as recreation director for the Congregational Christian Church Camp of Kentucky and Tennessee. The camp group had gone to Cumberland State Park near Crossville, Tennessee, for an afternoon swim. I noticed a couple of youngsters at the pavillion who I thought were with the camp, so 1 asked if they weren't going in for a swim with the rest of the group. They quickly explained that they were not with the camp. How then the look of recognition on their faces ? "You taught us folk games in January," the little girl explained. "Remember the one where you go under the arches and steal part ners, ?" she continues. "We play it all the time, and we won first prize at the 4-H rally, and we're going to the regional meeting next. And we play many of the singing games too. " 1 thought that it was good to win the first prize, but much more significant was the fact that the young people continued to play together, sharing the material they had learned. t Author Wolf (center background) leads youth delegates on a " lion huntd~ / while they wait for lunch during recent meeting at Red Bird. See p. 43 e I had a similar experience in July as I visited a rural church t in Ows-Lee Larger Parish near Booneville, Kentucky. While at the Shiloh church, I met a group of youngsters who attended Shiloh School, one of the many one-room schools in the area which a ned. Lore 35 I had visited during the winter. Several of the children recognized me as the "fellow who taught us games. " They mentioned some of the games they were still playing and asked to learn some more. It had been a fine experience sharing games with these children on a cold morning in November but it was finer to hear of their continuing these activities and their desire to learn new games. The desire of children to learn new games and activities is always strong, but it seems to be especially so with the children of the mountains. Certainly their enthusiasm and appreciation are unmatched. The immediate satisfactions of service in the mountains have been many. It was during the winter months in Booneville that I had thought of returning to serve in the same area during the summer Bible school programs. And so I had a real coming-home feeling as I traveled along the winding gravel road to Cow Creek and Morris Fork this past June and July-recognizing many homes and families I had visited. My assignment was to work with the summer service workers and the ministers in the Bible schools leading recreation. Mornings of the first week I visited Travelers ~/ Rest, a pleasant little community near Booneville where many a weary traveler had paused to rest himself and his mule. After a united worship service the young people would have their respective Bible classes and then come together on the lawn where we played many singing games. Evenings I met with the young people of the Booneville Church and we shared in fun and fellowship the folk games that they were anxious to learn. The following week I attended the Bible school at Forest Hills Community Center at Morris Fork in the morning and Cow Creek Bible School in the afternoon. At each of the schools I met with two groups each day for singing and folk games and then met with almost all of the young people in each school to make puppets. Each child brought can lids and pieces of cloth-scraps of dresses and shirts, pretty feed sacks-and made his own puppet. It is always an exciting experience to see the expressions on the children's faces as you explain that here in the plain old piece of newspaper is whatever puppet they would like. It was our plan to have each puppet represent a person mentioned in the Bible so that everyone would have a chance to participate in the puppet show at the end of the week, dramatizing a story from the Holy Book or quoting the Scriptures. From behind a bridge table propped up on a larger one, curtained with a sheet titled Cow Creek Bible School, d which 36 and above a similar setup at Morris Fork, came the words of the Good Samaritan, the story of the blind man, the words of Isaiah and the Blessings of Jesus. Robes and tunics, beards and long locks of hair were all there on the miniature characters as they spoke eternal messages. And the voices that spoke these words were tl voices of children who had created, formed, sewed and painted, who created their own religious companions, with whom they shall share many intimate feelings and thoughts, with whom they find a means of expression previously unknown to them. Singing games or playparty games have been an integral part of the folk heritage of the Appalachian Mountains. They are a defi nite living heritage at Forest Hills Community Center. The last evening I spent with the young people there we played singing games for two hours without repeating one. Many of the games were new to me and I was very much pleased with the patience of the young folks in teaching them to me. There were singing games to be shared and these youngsters are about the happiest sharing folks I have ever met. I learned variants of "She'll be Coming 'round the Mountain" and "Bingo," learned for the first time "Joltin Up and Down in the Old Brass Wagon," "There is Somebody Waiting," "Skip with e,'_~ , -Never have I seen a group so enthusiastic over games, and do they love to skip l-and taught "Jump Josie," "Yankee Doodle," "Turn the Glasses Over," and"Pick a Bale of Cotton" -and did they love to pickl These are folk games for all ages. They are not "children's games" although they may be played and enjoyed by them. They are truly folk games, made and played, loved and sung by the folks themselves. Along with such wonderful opportunities to work with young people of these various communities I have also held community rec reation workshops and taught college credit courses at Southern , Union College in Wadley, Alabama, and through the University of Virginia Extension program at Abingdon, Virginia. , During the last three nights of February I led a workshop at Cherokee, North Carolina. Representatives from home demonstra tion clubs, several church denominations, scout groups, community t recreation groups as well as county agents attended. Each evening we discussed and played, sang and danced, and shared a great deal of material covering various phases of recreation. In addition, Id4.) felt there was great community and spiritual value in this meeting. I Many folks played together who had not had an opportunity really to share an evening of fellowship for a long time. Everyone felt as though much had been done to contribute toward a greater sense of community living. 37 e Teaching recreation at the college level has been a tremen dously stimulating experience. At Southern Union College I taught locks three classes in recreation during the spring quarter to recent high school graduates, ministers, group workers and veterans. tl1ki One class of 13 veterans scared me to death the first day as I be who gan to wonder how I would get this group to play games, read and hare tell stories, and make puppets. It turned out that we had as'much ns fun in this class as the others combined. At the end of the three-month semester the students from all rt three classes put together a recreation leadership manual covering ~efi- the many activities that we entered into. The manual has been dis ~t tributed widely and I am sure is being put to good use by many Mmes present students of recreation as well as experienced leaders. It iew would take pages to tell of all the fine evenings and afternoons spent ig at Southern Union College. . . the Saturday night square dance shared . parties, the May Day folk dance demonstration as well as exten sion work teaching puppets and games at the nearby Negro school and leading evening recreation programs at local high schools. n" During the month of August I attended the Virginia Highlands the Festival in Abingdon, Virginia. Working cooperatively with the le,'N Festival and the University of Virginia I taught a three-weeks course o in recreation to elementary and high school teachers. Here was an opportunity to develop leadership, to share materials and experience 3 and to develop a philosophy of recreation for the individual and the not group, the school and the community. r them. During the first hour of each class I taught various games suit y the able for the classroom, playground and gymnasium. Part of the time I led the group while at other times individuals within the group g took over leadership. In this way they were able to learn the mate .ty rec- rial by teaching it as well as experience some of the problems in n volved in group leadership. i of The second hour was quite an active one for the youngsters of Abingdon. Approximately fifty children came each morning to our at "gym-classroom" to play and sing. The first few days I led the nstra- group in an observation-demonstration period, and the second week munity the various teachers led. ening As a part of the recreational program of the Festival I led vari t deal ous groups in folk games in the afternoons and evenings at the Martha n, 10 )~W Washington Inn and at Kings Mountain School. The response to these Aing.11 programs was excellent on all age levels, and many folks expressed ally to an interest in developing similar folk games in their own communities. as The emphasis at the Festival was on the relationship of the arts .se of and recreation to the community and school. Exhibits of art work 38 from public schools and colleges, panel discussions on recreation, drama, dance and art have all been aimed toward community participation and development. The Virginia Highlands Festival is contributing much toward the development of healthy , active and creative community living. As I finished my work at the Abingdon festival I also finished my first year as Itinerant Recreator. Although the festival was my first assignment and also my final one of the year-long period, it is by no means my last. I look forward to another year of service in the Appalachian South with future assignments through mission programs, schools and college groups, community workshops, Christmas Country Dance School at Berea College, rural youth conferences, a reform school in Tennessee and the many other rewarding opportunities that lie ahead. I am thankful for these opportunities to the many institutions and agencies. But I am most thankful to the many wonderful people I have met. . . teachers , community workers, ministers, the farmers and the housewives, and the children who have taught me so much. What I treasure most, however, is the feeling within me, developed through my relationships with people, that life is a happy experience which finds expression-emotional and spiritualthrough human relationships. ##### TENNESSEE CMKMM Att: Ronald Slayton 2006 Sutherland Ave. Knoxville. Tennessee CRAFT SUPPLIES Free Price List Sent on Request •••• Prompt Mail Service uwljm ANNOVNCIN6 Revised Edition of WHERE TO GET WHAT The National Directory of Sources of Supply for all craftsinvaluable to crafts workers, teachers, occupational therapists, vocational directors, recreation leaders, Boy and Girl Scout leaders, churches, schools, institutions, and hospitals. 35c per copy-in coin or stamps. PENLAND SCHOOL OF HANDICRAFTS Penland, North Carolina 39 BOOKS . . AMERICAN FOLK TALES AND SONGS, compiled by Richard Chase. A Signet Key book, The New American Library, New York City. 240 pp. 50d Those who use and love Richard Chase's earlier books will greet with enthusiasm his first publication in a paper-back edition. It is something unique. I do not know of another book which has y attempted what is done so successfully in AMERICAN FOLK TALES w is AND SONGS. It is not a compendium of the many national traditions in this country but deals with the English-American stream which has been so richly preserved in the Appalachian South. t- This volume gives a wide sampling of tales, songs, play party ces, games, fiddle tunes and riddles, and because it comes as the choicest from a life-long accumulation of material, is never dull, e never thin. But it is not the material alone which makes the book ny eventful. It is constructed with an excellent introduction and notes, accompanying each section, which point up the vitality of this tradi tion in the minds and hearts of the people who shared these songs with Mr. Chase. Scattered through the book are excellent quotations from Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Evelyn Wells and others on the im portance to us of preserving our own heritage. If you have heard Mr. Chase talk, you have heard him quote many of them, for it is these he lives by. Whatever the level of your interest, whether you take these things "for fun" or as a student, there is much for you here. If you are a tale-teller and have worn yourself out telling the Jack Tales and Grandfather Tales, you will welcome some fresh, new ones. Although the book is aimed at the adult reader, many tales and songs will delight the children too. . . tall tales like "The Snakebit Hoe Handle" and "The Roguish Cow". . . a wonderful new Robin Hood tale, "The King and Robert Hood's Horny Beast-es". . . a poignant story, "Rush Cape," combining the Cinderella and King Lear themes, and five different Jack Tales. The short, touchingly simple "Jesus to Supper" is a mountain version of an old theme, that of entertain ing the Christ unawares. Most of us know it in Tolstoy's "Where Love Is." The songs and ballads are a choice cross-section of what is to be found in the mountain tradition. Editing them raises many prob lems. How much may they be changed to make them "right," re -' storing them to 'the original artistic intention of their long-ago, anonymous authors, and where does tampering begin? It is a question not to be settled by one person to the satisfaction of everyone, and such editing should not be attempted by anyone not I 40 thoroughly steeped in the tradition in which he works. I feel the handling of the songs a very satisfactory one, partly, at least, be cause sources and changes are so frankly accounted for. Help with the music was given by three people, not only outstanding for their musicianship, but for a long and intimate knowledge of English American folk music. Although the material itself is enough to make the book worthy of a place in every library, the personal quality of the notes with each item and the picture of the remote places and fine old country people in "A Field Trip" and "Granny London Tells About Old Times" make the book truly unusual. A man who has spent a life time in pursuit of mountain lore gives us a real and lively setting for his material. And if you are stimulated to want to search out for yourself the treasures which are yet to be unearthed, the book ends with "The Amateur Collector's Guide." Or perhaps we should say it never really ends at all, but with its assertion that the last tale has not been found, nor the last song sung, it leaves you with a feeling of continuation and the possibility of participating yourself. The Guide provides wise advice on how and how not to approach possible informants and a list of useful "key lines" from old songs which might strike a spark and start the remembering process. Tr~ final section underscores the thesis of the whole book, that thes ~G/e songs and tales are of permanent vitality and should be used, loved and shared. . . in sharp contrast to the all-too-common scholarly attitude that they are of the past, very dead, and need only to be de- S° Gently "laid out" in books and buried in libraries. Joshua Tolford's illustrations are in his usual lively manner and help to sustain the moods of the tales and songs. (I leave you to ov find for yourself his private whimsy, the "monogramed" whiskey bo bottles. ) The cover, too, is full of energy and should attract atten tion on the bookstands. coy It is a joy to have such a book available at all, but a real oppor tunity when one can pick up half a dozen copies for the price of an cla ordinary book. Here is a chance for the enthusiast to scatter these pu' books liberally among his friends, tuck them in Christmas boxes soy and point out to everyone the large pleasure that a small investment will bring. And since to love these things is to want to share them, wol ask your druggist to order some copies for you and suggest that he.1 J try some on his book rack. For, to use one of Richard Chase's V ° favorite quotations from Cecil Sharp, "It is a small demand that these things make: that of being known to be loved." --Dorothy Nace Tharpe bot Students at the Pine Mountain School entertain with a puppet show as part of the ceremony. gs ; Ceremony of Appreciation "OUR SORORITY has flourished because we saw a wider jd vision of service than just serving ourselves," said Mrs. Violet Tindall, Life Founder of the Sigma Phi Gamma International Sorority at Pine Mountain School, Pine Mountain, Kentucky, on de- October 19. The occasion of Mrs. Tindall's speech was the gathering of to over 300 students, teachers, ministers, health workers and neigh bors to take part in a Ceremony of Appreciation for the help already given to the Appalachian South by Sigma Phi Gamma and for the n continuing devotion of this sorority to the people of this region. To commemorate the day, a plaque was unveiled naming a ?or- classroom building at the center of the Pine Mountain School cam e pus as the Sigma Phi Gamma Building. Fifteen members of the ese sorority were present to share in the ceremony. Expressing the thanks of the entire region for the more than lent $75, 000 given to mountain institutions for health and recreational em, work with children during the past two decades, the Rev. A. Rufus he .\ ~ Morgan, President of the Council of the Southern Mountains, said: "To give wisely is a difficult task. A gift that does not help both the giver and the receiver is given in vain. Sigma Phi Gamma 42 has found the secret of wise giving through the years, for its gifts have stimulated the receivers to strive harder to help themselves. This is the true measure of a righteous gift. " Mrs. Gladys Hargrave, International Vice-President of the Sorority, expressed the appreciation of her organization for the J dedication of the building and told of the work of the sorority in raising funds and supplies for health work in needy areas of the Appalachian South and of their hope for future work in the same area. School children from the Pine Mountain School entertained the group with singing, responsive readings and a puppet show. Others taking part in the service included Mr. P. F. Ayer, Executive Secretary of the Council; Mr. Gerna Campbell, Principal of Pine Mountain School; the Rev. D. M. Aldridge, Chairman of the Spiritual Life Committee of the Council; and the Rev. Charles Drake, Editor of MOUNTAIN LIFE and WORK. ##### Above: Some of the Pine Mountain youngsters who took part in the program. Fifteen members pose around the plaque honoring their Sorority. O d ~f V h c n h 60 (60 ;s ipal Record Group Attends Regional Meeting THE LARGEST GROUP ever to assemble for the Southeast Kentucky Regional Meeting of the Council gathered at Red BirdMission, Beverly, Kentucky, on October 20. Registration totals reached 193, teachers, students, ministers, health workers and friends, who came for the one-day event. The meeting is held twice yearly , and a different school in the Kentucky mountain area plays host each time. There was a special youth section at Red Bird with 83 students from many dif ~`'" ferent schools taking part. The conference theme was "Improving Rural Kentucky. " All of the delegates live and work in rural areas. In addition to the working interest groups that met during the ' '` day, the group heard Dr. H. Y. Livesay, Dean, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee, speak about the problems facing our smaller rural communities today. "As an educator I can perhaps approve school consolidation," he said, "but as a sociologist, I deplore it, for it takes one more center of group action out of the small local community. I have noticed that where the school house is boarded up, and the church house is locked up, the rest of the community has given up. 44 We must discover new ways to revitalize these seedbeds of rural culture, or our entire society will undergo a change that will startle us all. And I don't mean that the surprise will be a happy one. " The youth delegates divided into interest groups dealing wit specific problems in their own school communities. They Studie problems of choosing an occupation wisely, problems arising from the relationships between dormitory and town students, and ways of securing better recreational programs in rural schools and communities. Youth delegates elected Loretta Estridge, Red Bird Settlement School, Beverly, Kentucky, as president and John Payne, Hazel Green Academy, Hazel Green, Kentucky, as vicepresident. Officers for the regional group, elected at the business session are: president, the Rev. D. M. Aldridge, president of the Clear Creek Baptist School, Pineville, and Chairman of the Spiritual Life Committee of the Council; vice-president, the Rev. Eugene Meyers, pastor of the Methodist Church, Whitesburg, Kentucky. ##### New youth officers map plans for spring meeting at Hazel Green New president of the Kentucky group is the Rev D. M. Aldridge, shown on the right in the picture. Beside him, to the left, stands the Rev. A. Rufus Morgan, Franklin, North Carolina, President of the Council of the Southern Mountains. The Rev. Mr. Aldridge heads the Clear Creek Baptist School, and is Chairman of the Spiritual Life Committee of the Council. 'Gat YOUR CONFERENCE HOME IN THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN Mountain View Rotel e' GATLINBLIRG. TENN. in, is. \ ~Gatlinburg's FIRST and STILL Favorite MODERN RESORT HOTEL, OPEN ALL THE YEAR I COMMUNITY ACTION... They Wanted A Better Road %hen the woman in a small community in the Kentucky mountains set their minds--cmd muscles--to work on get ting a better road, they got it. Read below how they did it. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE the power of women-especially if they happen to live in Coeburn Hollow, Pike County, Kentucky. The women of Coeburn Hollow, deep in the heart of the Kentucky mountains, waited all last winter for improvements to be made on the winding road that runs up the narrow valley twenty miles north of Pikeville. All that happened was that the ruts got deeper. They waited through the summer, but their only reward was that the dust got thicker. By September the women of Coeburn had simmered long enough. Breaking into open revolt, they attacked the road with their bare hands. Wielding picks, shovels, and hoes, thirty of the aroused housewives started filling holes, leveling bumps and cutting ditches in -~ attempt to "shake" the county officials. The Pike Fiscal Court, charged with keeping up county roads, reacted by commending the women for doing "a pretty good job" of filling holes and ruts and promising to do all it could to repair the road in the future. More immediate help arrived, however, in the person of Rural Highway Commissioner J. B. Wells, Jr. , who directed that the road be made one of the test strips that are now being laid in nine different rural Kentucky counties. These test roads are receiving a revolutionary treatment which involves laying down a six-inch base of completely pulverized dirt mixed with very small quantities of some binder such as cement. With recently developed machines, a mile or more of allweather road can be built in a single day by this new method. These roads aren't super-highways, but they do get rural people out of the mud and make it possible for them to travel the year around. If the experiment is successful, and every indication is that it will be, the women of Coeburn Hollow can hang up their shovels ~,~' the knowledge that when people get interested enough in their community to work towards improving it, they discover many others who are just as ready to assist them. ##### 47 4 COMING EVENTS Y. THE NINETEENTH CHRISTMAS COUNTRY DANCE SCHOOL, sponsored by Berea College, the Council of the Southern Mountains and the Country Dance Society of America, will be held at Berea December 26, 1956 to January 1, 1957. THE FORTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE of the Council of the Southern Mountains will be held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, again. The dates are February 29-23,1957. The program is being developed by the Program tse- Committee which is made up of the chairmen of all the standing com iittees. Dr. Robert Metcalfe of Cumberland Clinic, Crossville, Tennessee, is chairman. The conference iss_open_to_all who are in s, terested in life in the Appalachian South. Adult and youth represen of tation of organizations and institutions and individual participation le are invited. Council membership is not a requirement for attendance. iral ii ie .ng THE TWENTY-SECDND MOUNTAIN FOLK FESTI ties April 4-7, 1957. The Festival is affi Society of America and is held to enc of folk materials: dances, songs, tai individuals and groups in non-competi hese Leaders with groups, as well as in f the invited to register and take part. Fu obtained from MOUNTAIN FOLK FESTIVAL, t it Berea College, Berea, Kentucky )m.s If you would like to subscribe to this magazine, fill in your name and address on the form below and send with $1.00 to the Council of the Southern Mountains, Inc. Box 2000, College Station, Berea, Kentucky. THE COUNCIL OF THE SOUTHERN MC)UNTAINS,INC.,works to share the best traditions and human resources of the Appalachian South with the rest of the nation. It also seeks to help meet some of the social, educational, spiritual and cultural needs peculiar to this mountain territory. It works through and with schools, churches, medical centers and other institutions, and by means of sincere and able individuals both within and 'outside the area. --Participation is invited on these bases Active individual membership Supporting membership Sustaining membership Institutional membership $ 3.00 to 4.00 5.00 to 24.00 25.00 or more 5.00 or more --Subscriptions to Mountain Life & Work included in all memberships NAME. ADDRESS (Please detach and mail to Box 2000, College Station, Berea, Ky.) *OV~b Prsh lp 1St Issue 1956 ~'°' . (!4 + l9`SGssGP •oY Po, S~6 sar 1 pfl oll 1st issue corm c"6, i',nG 1956 .tss d '° co ~9S( If this ` `i,9YV'p °- s o corner is 6' ~ p CD cn NOT turned up r. R m ~~ c you are up N ,p, R to date. For Members: According to our records, your membership and/or subscription appears to have expired as indicated. We are continuing to send you current issues in the belief that you do not wish us to drop you from our membership. May we hear from you?

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