Sky-land

              Y = L A
STORIES OF PICTURESQUE NORTH CAROLINA
The People's Magazine
Vol. I JULY No. 8
Entejied as Second-Class Matter at the Postoffice at Charlotte, N. C, Under the Act
OF March 3, 1879
MAE LUCILE SMITH Editor and Owner
Published Every Month
Sent by Mail, One Year _ One Dollar
Single Copies Ten Cents
Editorial and Business Offices:
Rooms 7 and 8, Second Floor, Peoples National Bank Building, Hendersonville, N. C.
ADVISORY BOARD '
Locke Craig. Governor of North Carolina Raleigh, N, C.
JosEphus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy Raleigh, N. C.
Lee S. OvERMA.n, United States Senator Salisbury, N. C.
F, M. Simmons, United States Senator Newbern, N. C.
Joseph Hyde Pratt, State Geologist Chapel Hill, N. C.
J. C. Pritchard, Judge United States Circuit Court of Appeals Asheville, N. C.
W. A. Ervvin, President Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company Durham, N. C.
Julian S. Carr, Manufacturer and Banker Durham, N. C.
J. Harper Erwin, Secretary and Treasurer Pearl Cotton Mills Durham, N. C.
John E. Ennis, M.D St, Petersburg, Fla.
R, M. Wilcox, President Greater Hendersonville Club Hendersonville, N. C.
R. R. HaynEs, President the Cliftside Mills Cliffside, N, C.
W. A. Smith, President Laurel Park Electric Railway Hendersonville, N. C.
L. L. Jenkins, President American National Bank Asheville, N. C.
F. E. DuRFEE, President Citizens Bank Hendersonville, N. C.
S. B. Tanner, President and Treasurer Henrietta Mills Charlotte, N. C.
D. A. Tompkins, President High Shoals Company and Atherton Mills Charlotte, N. C.
B. Jackson, President the Peoples National Bank Hendersonville, N. C.
Tpbreword
TRUTH NEVER DIES
[SELECTED]
yT? UTH NE VER DIES. The ages come and go;
The mountains wear away; the seas retire;
Destruction lays earth's mighty cities low;
And empires, states, and dynasties expire—
But, caught and handed onward by the wise,
Truth never dies.
Though unreceived and scoffed at through the years;
Though made the butt of ridicule and jest;
Though held aloft for mockery and jeers;
Denied by those of transient power possessed.
Insulted by the insolence of lies—
Truth never dies.
Truth answers not; it does not take offense;
But with a mighty silence bides its time.
As some great cliff that braves the elements.
And lifts through all the storms its head sublime.
So truth, unmoved, its puny foes defies.
And never dies.
The lips of ridicule dissolve in dust
;
The sophist's arguments, the gibes, are still;
God, working through the all-compelling Must,
Has broken those who dare combat His will;
New systems, born in wild unrest, arise—
Truth never dies.
Y = L A
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR JULY, 1914
The cover page and entire contents of this Magazine are protected by copyright, and must not
be reprinted 'without the publishers' permission
Page
Foreword—Truth Never Dies 432
Frontispiece—Hon. Lee S. Overman 434
EDITORIAL COMMENT
J. Wiley Swift and His Economic Problem 435 The Confederate Dead
—
A Poem 449
Mexican Mediation 446 The Designer of the Stars and Bars 450
Waterfalls and Eggshells 446 The Birth of the Stars and Bars
—
A Poem 454
Shall It Not Be Governor Carr? 447 Pisgah Forest National Park 455
The Mountaineer 447 The Real Child Labor 457
Uncle Remus ^Memorial 448 "The L^plift" 457
SPECIAL ARTICLES
Game Fish In Western North Carolina John Kershaic, Jr. 459
Responsibility of the Author C. L. Hinton 463
The Motor In The Mountains N. Buckner 464
The Boy of Holiday's Hill, A Timely Paper on Mark Twain Ulla Pierce Dakin 469
An April Walk Lila Ripley Barnzcell 473
Impressions and Expressions Walter Hamilton Candler 478
A Bird Census of the LTnited States (Contributed) 4S2
FICTION
The Soul of Adam Hilliard Booth 484
The Brain is Mightier Than the Potato Bug Arthur Kellogg Akers 496
"A Story of Black Devotion" Mrs. L. E. Fisher 499
THE NORTH CAROLINA POET'S CORNER
Wanderlust Joy JCime Benton 502
The Tyrant Christine G. Eadic 502
When Love Is Gone William Eyre Bricrley 503
IN NORTH CAROLINA'S CALCIUM LIGHT
The Junior Senator of N'orth Carolina, A ]\Ian of ^Magnetism Marsh Singleton 504
INDUSTRIAL SECTION
The Indfstrial Workers' Own Postoffice S08
STORIES OF DEVELOPMENT
The Convalescence of Stanly County JVilliam D. Little 513
A Quarter Century of Progress Contributed 517
nV
/?^1^^,
LEE S, OVERMAN, UNITED STATES SENATOR
Y = L A
STORIES OF PICTURESQUE NORTH CAROLINA
The People's Magazine
Vol. I JULY No. 8
Entered AS Second-Class Mattejb AT THE PoSTomCE AT Charlotte N. c.
E d •
1 t o r i a 1 c o m m e n t
J. Wiley Swift and His Economic
Problem
HE claim is
made in cer- T
tain printed matter
gotten out by the
National Child
of which Mr. T-Economic
Necessity
Proved by Personal
Investigation and
Official Report
Labor Committee,
\\'iley Swift is the paid agent for North
Carolina, that there is no Economic
Necessity for children working in South-ern
mills, and yet a few paragraphs
further on, in the same pamphlet, the
strength of the statement is so greatly
impaired by the words hereinafter
quoted, that doubt immediately arises in
the minds of the reader as to its authen-ticity,
however honestly the statement
may have been made. The paragraph
reads as follows
:
"No study of economic need based
solely on family budgets has been at-tempted,
as the number of budgets thus
far collected is inadequate."
Now it appears strangely inconsistent
of the National Child Labor Committee
to make the claim that there is no
economic necessity for children work-ing,
without first instituting a most care-ful
investigation of economic conditions
prevailing in the homes of the opera-tives,
for undoubtedly no surer way of
getting at the truth could be arrived at
than from a compilation of facts and
figures from family budgets.
The writer contends that economic
necessity pure and simple has driven and
is driving thousands and thousands of
women and children to the mills and
factories as the only solution of their
economic troubles, for the reason that
the work demands little or no training or
education, and the pay is sure, and com-mensurate
with the services rendered.
Nor is this statement based on wild
speculation or hearsay, but upon a care-ful
investigation into conditions in the
homes of mill operatives ; furthermore,
upon a careful examination of the offi-cial
report of Hon. ]\L L. Shipman. Com-missioner
of Labor and Printing, under
date of December i, 1913. which dis-closed
the fact that in the State of North
Carolina 173.800 souls are reported "de-pendent
upon the mills and factories for
a livelihood." Of this number there
were "dependent" upon the cotton mills
alone, 150,993. Nor are these figures
full or complete, for the reason that of
the 36,654 employees reported on the
payrolls of 628 miscellaneous factories,
the number of "dependents" is not given.
It would therefore seem that two hun-dred
thousand would be a conservative
estimate of the souls "dependent" upon
the mills and factories for a livelihood in
436 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
North Carolina. Of the total number of
employees on the payrolls of the various
mills and factories reporting. 28.323 were
women, and 9,136 were children. And
again this must be regarded as only a
conservative estimate, from the fact that
a number of mills and factories did not
report. It must further be borne in mind
that these figures constitute the official
statement of the Commissioner, who is
neither employed by the National Child
Labor Committee nor yet by the in-dustrial
institutions, but is the paid agent
of the State: therefore, the report is
made without partiality to either faction,
is unbiased, and is as authentic as an
official report can well be made. Nor
must the fact be lost sight of that these
figures relate only to mills and factories
reporting, and do not include a vast
number of women and children bread-winners
and "dependents" who are en-gaged
in or must rely wholly upon the
efiforts of employees in other lines of
business.
Worked out upon the basis of a mathe-matical
problem, the size of these figures
indeed seems appalling, and gives imme-diate
rise to the question zvould this I'ast
arm\ of zvomen and children he tvorking
if there were no economic necessity?
The very fact that they do work is proof
positive that economic necessity does
exist and has driven them to it.
It is again reiterated that economic
necessity has forced the child of legal
age into our mills and factories, the fact
being ascertained through personal in-vestigation
by the writer, when it was
found that a very considerable percent-age
of the number of "dependents" re-ported
by the Commissioner rely wholly
or in part upon the children of legal age
for support. And it may not be amiss to
say in this connection that the term
"legal age" is used advisedly, for the
simple reason that the majority of manu-facturers
in North Carolina respect the
law, and meet its requirements in regard
to protection of the child. True, there
may be a small minority who willfully
violate the Child Labor Law, but the case
is the exception, not the rule. It is also
true that the management of the mills are
sometimes willfully misinformed of the
child's age by greed-loving parents who
wish to swell their earnings, or throw the
burden of support upon the child ; how-ever,
it would hardly seem fair in such
cases to shift the blame to the mill men,
or resort to merciless persecution or
legislation against them as is sometimes
done. Rather, if it is deemed expedient
and right that action be taken, it would
seem more in keeping with the demands
of justice that Section 3364, and Section
3740 of the Labor Laws of North Caro-lina
be enforced against the parents of
the child in question.
The writer has found as many as six
inmates of a household dependent upon
a girl of thirteen for support. Constitut-ing
the class of "dependents" found in
this investigation were invalid mothers,
helpless grandparents, younger children,
and afflicted sisters or brothers. In some
cases of large families of young children,
where the head of the house had de-serted,
the necessity for the mother and
older children working was imperative
in order to keep bread in the mouths of
the younger members of the household.
A Tremendous Having found, by
Economic compiling the labor sta-
Problem tistics of the Commis-sioner,
that there are re-ported
in North Carolina 173,800 per-sons
"dependent on mills and factor-ies
for a livelihood," supplemented by a
number that did not report, which it is
safe to say would bring the figures ap-proximately
to two hundred thousand
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 437
or more, and adding unto these thou-sands
and tens of thousands of "depend-ents"
and women and children who toil
for bread in other lines of work, it can
be readily seen that the question of
woman and child labor resolves itself
into a tremendous economic problem,
that is beyond us as individuals, and be-yond
the State even to control. Since
the divine Almoner of material bounty
has seen fit to withhold from these un-fortunates
the means with which to
supply their everyday needs ; since they
are the victims of poverty in its most
merciless form, even so it is necessary
that they toil for their daily bread, re-gardless
of age, sex, public sentiment,
or the State's inability to better their
condition, and not because the people of
North Carolina are "not just" and "have
known or thought little of absolute
human rights," as Mr. Swift averred in
his speech before the Tenth Annual
National Child Labor fleeting at New
Orleans—a reflection upon the noble
spirit of our people which was unwar-ranted,
uncalled for, and without found-ation.
Mr. Swift's 'Plan In :\Ir. Swift's pam-for
Agitating phlet, "The Campaign
Operatives in North Carolina," he
says, with reference to
his plan for depopulating the mills
of women and children by agi-tating
the operatives : "They cannot be
wisely consulted without going into a
full economic discussion. You must sit
down with pencil and paper and show
the absolute loss which comes from
working children. When this is done in
my State, a most terrible row will break
loose. It will be labor agitation. But
this question will not be solved in North
Carolina until it is done; and if I can do
it, I will do it."
"Many of us recognize that there has
to be some fighting done. Our men and
our women, many of them, are ready
for the fray. We are anxious to get
into it. And we are going to win. God
has given us everything that makes for
a good life. It is possible for us all to
live without making beasts of burden of
our women and children. One reason
why we do make these work is because
one part of our children are getting too
much, and others too little." {Which
sentence, k may he added in this con-nection,
has the true socialistic ring.)
"It is up to us to change this, and we
will change it. It may take years to
force the change, but the change will be
made."
A Pretty Theory Mr. Swift's theory of
Not Susceptible depriving women and
of Practical children of an honest
Application means of livelihood,
which keeps them from
the almshouse or something worse,
is a pretty theory, but a wild the-ory
withal—the theory of a dreamer,
and consequently not susceptible of prac-tical
application. Though strongly at
variance with his methods, the writer has
no desire to reflect upon the sincerity of
Mr. Swift's motives in endeavoring to
put the women and children out of the
mills. But, after compiling the statis-tics
of the Commissioner and family bud-gets,
the fact is perfectly apparent that
the economic problem that confronts us
is so tremendous that ^Ir. Swift's posi-tion
is wholly illogical and not for a
moment to be upheld. Now if Mr. Swift
would provide a fund for the main-tenance
of these "dependents," to cover
everyday expenses, including house-rent,
food, fuel, clothing, doctors' bills, school-ine,
etc. we would bid him godspeed, and
fall in step with the movement. But
since it is not in the ]30wer of Mr. Swift
438 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 439
to do this, reformer though he would be
;
since it is not in the power of our asso-ciated
charities, already taxed to their
utmost capacity, to create or provide
such a fund ; and since the State is not in
a position financially to assume the
tremendous responsibility of these "de-pendents"
as its ward, it is again _ re-iterated
that Mr. Swift's theory, which is
very pretty and looks sentimentally nice
in print, would not work out in actual
practice. Before it could become more
than a theory, before Mr. Swift could
bring about the reform he agitates, he
would have to strike deep at the roots of
poverty, and stamp it forever from the
catalog of human ills. To do this, Mr.
Swift would have to set himself in op-position
to the divine words of the great-test
prophet the world has ever known
:
"The poor ye have with yon ahvav. even
unto the end of the world." Not in Mr.
Swift's lifetime will he see the reform he
agitates brought to pass. Not until the
millennium comes will there be a change,
for as long as poverty exists women and
children must needs toil.
Moreover, in working out his theory,
Mr. Swift could not consistently confine
his efforts to the mills and factories, as
he appears to be doing. He would have
to attack such corporations as the West-ern
Union and the Postal, which employ
thousands of messenger boys. He would
have to attack department stores, grocery
stores, offices, and so on, ad infinitum,
which have in their service thousands of
boys under legal age. Nor would the
good work end here. In order to pre-vent
our women from becoming "beasts
of burden," as he calls them, he would
have to enter our kitchens and interfere
with our husbands' wives ; he would have
to go out upon farms and interfere with
our husbands' wives, and he would have
to go into our stores, dressmaking estab-lishments,
millinery shops, laundries, offi-ces,
and so forth, and interfere with our
husbands' wives and daughters; for the
women and children "beasts of burden"
are not found in our mills and factories
alone by a long shot. In reality, the
women and children "beasts of burden" in
our mills and factories score triumph-antly
over the majority of our women
and children "beasts of burden" in other
walks of life ; for their hours are regu-lated
; they are relieved of responsibility
and anxiety, for their pay is certain and
commensurate with their services ; more-over,
their homes and surroundings are
comfortable and sanitary in the majority
of cases.
It is the writer's honest conviction,
after careful study of the subject, that
no more lasting injury could be done
them and society at large than to turn
loose upon the State the vast army of wo-men
and children breadwinners without
the wherewithal to care for themselves.
The following paragraph, taken from
Mr. Stuart Cramer's admirable address
delivered at the Eighteenth Annual Con-vention
of the American Cotton Manu-facturers'
Association, and reproduced
in that excellent publication. The Textile
Manufacturer, is entirely apropos in this
connection.
"The duty of guarding the rights of
the people entails the far heavier respon-sibility
of conserving the welfare of the
people. For example, denying the right
of self-support to a dependent child
should entail some other provision for its
needs ; refusing work to able-bodied chil-dren
should carry with it compulsory edu-cation,
to prevent their idleness from
breeding degeneracy ; restricting women's
work should not be without other oppor-tunity
of a livelihood for themselves and
children dependent upon them."
It is a faithful saying that "an idle
brain is the devil's workshop." To appre-ciate
the truth of this homely old adage
440 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
is but to study the problem of the unem-ployed
at various stages of the history of
our government—marked ever by unrest,
discontent, bread-lines, rebellion, and
mob violence. Could any intelligent per-son
dare say that depriving women or
dependent children, or those upon whom
others are dependent, of honorable em-ployment,
without the means to provide
for their living, would be wise, just, or
kind? Nay, untold suffering would be
the result, and discontent, immorality,
and crime would surely follow.
Progression
and
Retrogression
At this juncture it is
deemed expedient t o
consider at some length
the primal cavr^c ci thr
economic necessity of that class which
turns to the mills in far greater numbers
than possibly any other for the solution
of their economic troubles.
In studying the evolution of the race,
we are constantly brought face to face
with two types of mankind—the type that
has progressed, and the type that has re-trogressed.
It may be that the two had
an equal chance in the beginning, and
boasted the same pure strain of Anglo-
Saxon blood, but while the one kept step
with the march of progress, the other fell
behind, and for some mysterious reason
never passed a certain fixed boundary.
Forsooth, the one became an empire-builder
while the other remained a cove-dweller.
The Cove-Dweller
and
Economic Necessity
And it is of the
cove - dweller,
whose antecedents
dwelt in the moun-tain
fastnesses of North Carolina
and Tennessee from the days of the Red-man
until the coming of the mill and
factory, that the subsequent paragraphs
treat.
\\'hile true that the mills and factories
draw upon various sections of the
country for help, and are represented by
various grades of society, from the
lowest to a high order of intelligence
and moral perception, probably no sec-tion
is more prodigally drawn upon than
the mountainous sections of Western
North Carolina and Tennessee. And
more potent than all other factors com-bined
is the economic necessity which
causes thousands of these cove-dwellers
to break away from the cliffs and bould-ers
which have shut them away from
the world as effectually as prison walls,
and migrate to the mills yearly, where
they find a new life, a civilization of
which thev had not even dreamed.
Study of the The geologicil scidy
Soil— of the soil, and t''e nniin-
Somersaults taineer's ignorance o f
its treatment, arc the
most ]ilausible explanation of the exodus
from mountain to mill.
For the information of those who may
not be familiar with the mountainous
section of \\'estern North Carolina, for
example, it may be said that the moun-tain
slopes, upon which the cove-dweller
lives and plants what he terms his
"patch," are usually precipitous, in
places almost perpendicular—so much so
that one is prone to wonder how man and
ox can refrain from turning somersaults
in plowing the downward furrows.
Nature has usually blessed the soil with
a rich top sediment, but unfortunately
the mountaineer has, since he first had
his habitat in this remote region, per-sisted
in yearly ''burning off" the leaves
and undergrowth which were wont to
protect the land from washing. Thus
robbed of Nature's protection, the rich
sediment is washed downward, enriching
and often rendering extremely fertile the
land in the vallevs below. In addition to
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 441
the damage done by the ravage of the
forest fires, which often start from the
"burning off," it has been argued by one
gentleman who owns a large tract of
mountain land, that the sun plays a tell-ing
part in impoverishing the soil, where
it is left thus shorn of protection by
leaves and undergrowth, by drawing
from it its vitality and the properties
which make for its richness. Barren, un-productive,
and littered with rocks, it is
well-nigh impossible to make a crop on
such other convenient devices are prac-tically
unknown to him.
The String of
Pumpkin and
the One - room
Hovel Cause
of Migration
A glance at the picture
of the mountain cabin
(one of the better class)
with patch of land sur-rounding,
will give one a
faint conception of what
the mountaineer and his ox have to con-tend
with. This rocky "patch" does not
afford a living. From its impoverished
COVE DWELLER AND PRIMITIVE HOME
BEFORE MIGRATING
such land that will stretch from one
season to another.
It must also be borne in mind that the
mountaineer has not yet broken away
from the shackles of tradition, and knows
naught of bringing the land up to its
highest state of productiveness through
scientific treatment. The county farm
demonstrator who is instructing his more
fortunate brother in the valley miles be-low
has not yet penetrated the mountain
fastnesses, and the mountaineer's imple-ments
for tilling the soil are the crudest.
The steam plow, the corn planter, and
soil the mountaineer is barely able to eke
out a mere existence. When the crop is
garnered in he has, as the result of his
hard labor, barely enough corn, economi-cally
used, to get him through the winter.
The cane patch has produced a few
gallons of molasses. There are a few
strings of dried pumpkins and beans.
But the strings of pumpkins and beans
give out ere the winter has half pro-gressed,
and the only articles of diet on
his menu card are cornbread and
molasses, and upon this monotonous diet
he must subsist the remainder of the
442 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
winter. Occasionally, very occasionally,
there is a cow, or a shoat or two, but the
majority of mountaineers drag out their
existence on the scant diet of molasses
and corn pone. If you had chanced
to pass that way during the sum-mer,
you would doubtless have noticed
a "patch" of tobacco near the cabin.
Its dried leaves now adorn the raft-ers,
and to this the hungry, under-nourished
husband, wife, and children
turn to still the craving for food.
Triplets Reared And it is this type
on Black Coffee of mountaineer, pois-oned
with nicotine
and under-nourished when he first enters
the mills, that the labor agitator pounces
upon with his kodak, and afterwards
displays in sensational pictures in pam-phlet,
book, and on canvas as "the vic-tim
of oppression in the mills," attribut-ing
his pitiful plight to "unhealthful
conditions in mill and mill-tenement."
Nor was any greater injustice -ever perpe-trated,
for these very labor agitators
know, if they have studied the question,
that the cause is directly attributable to
want of proper nourishment, and impure
air breathed in windowless one-room
cabins where from six to a dozen human
beings are born, cook, eat, sleep and d'e :
for the race is prolific. To verify
this statement, the writer would cite
a case which came under personal
observation. Triplets were born in
a cabin home, the progeny of moun-tain
parents of the lowest order
of intelligence, and so pitiably poor that
they could not afford milk for the babies.
Black cofi^ee was given in lieu, and re-markable
as it may seem the infants sub-sisted
on the beverage for several weeks
without apparent injury. \Mien the case
was made public, a cow and suitable lay-ette
were purchased and presented to the
much-abused offspring by sympathizers
who lived in a town ten miles distant.
Later the babies were put on exhibition,
and were the recipients of much small
coin. This is but one of many cases
showing the abject poverty and ignor-ance
of the mountaineer, the result of his
environment, and which proves the neces-sity
for his migrating to the mill village
if he would ameliorate his condition.
Mr. Dawley's Xo truer sketch of the
Book Assailed mountaineer was ever
written than came from
the versatile pen of Mr. Dawley in his
graphic story "The Child That Toileth
Not," based on personal investigation of
mountain and mill life. And yet the Na-tional
Child Labor Committee have this
to say in their reply (which, by the
way, is unsigned ) : "In fact. North
Carolinians know the book is not even
an attempt to state the case. They
know the author is either too ignorant
of the real facts of the matter to write
about them with intelligence, or else that
he is deliberately trying to divert the at-tention
of the people of the whole
country from what he knows to be a
festering sore."
Evidently this pamphlet was not in-tended
for distribution in North Caro-lina,
for North Carolinians who have
made a personal investigation, as did the
writer, can vouch for the truth of Mr.
Dazvlcx's utterances. Furthermore, the
pamphlet claims that the story is a com-parison
of "the worst of the mountain
regions with the best of the mills." True,
"the worst of the mountain regions" was
pictured in the story ; but it must be re-membered
that it is from these very
regions that the help migrate to the mills
in large numbers, on account of the
poverty and isolation of their lives. On
the other hand, regardless of what the
pamphlet has to say to the contrary, ^Nfr.
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 443
Dawley was very fair in his selection of
the mills cited. One or two that in years
past bore about the worst reputation in
the State, one or two "show" mills were
used, and the others were representative
of the average North Carolina mill. The
writer has visited some of these self-same
mills and mountain localities, and
found conditions exactly as portrayed in
the book. And it is just such conditions
as Mr. Dawley writes of that furnish the
tragedy in the life of the mountaineer,
and constitute the economic reason for
leaving the miserable hovel for the com-fortable
home at the mill.
That Mr. Dawley's book has caused
the National Child Labor Committee un-easiness
is again shown in a remark made
by Josephine J- Eschenbrenner, member-ship
secretary, which is as follows : "Mr.
Dawley's book is unfair, and absolutely
untrue. In the South, where conditions
are known, the book has little influence"
(which is most assuredly a big mistake ) ;
"but it made so much trouble in the
North that we took this way to state our
side of the case," referring to the
"Reply."
The writer would not discount the sin-cerity
of the motives of the National
Child Labor Committee in its warfare
against Southern mills, but does deplore
its ignorance of true conditions. It is
safe to assume that possibly not one of
fifty members of the National Child
Labor Committee ever made a per-sonal
investigation of conditions in
mountain section or mill district, but has
been misled through a gross exaggera-tion
or misstatement of facts until his
sympathies are wrought upon and rea-son
is dethroned by sheer sentimentality.
And it is this class that the writer would
gladly take on a tour of investigation
through mountain hut and mill home, in
order to disabuse their minds of erron-eous
ideas regarding the true facts as
they exist.
Evolution of Moun- It is refreshing
taineer from to note the swift
Windowless Cabin and certain evo-to
Frame Dwelling lution of the
with Glass Windows mountaineer, after
h e leaves the
mountain cove and finds his way to the
mill village. The windowless cabin, fit
breeding place for tubercular germs,
gives place to the substantial four- or
eight-room frame building, with glass
.windows, verandas and flower-beds in
front, such as may be seen in the accom-panying
picture of this pretty Clififside
cottage, not among the most pretentious
nor yet among the most modest of mill
tenoneiits, or more correctly speaking
mill homes.
Soon after his arrival at the nrll
the primitive son of the mountains
lea\-es ofif his crude garb, and dons
the neat clothing of the villagers. Ele
buys nourishing food in abundance
( though it may be frankly confessed, he
does not yet know how to properly pre-pare
it ) . He attends church and the
uplift societies. He is taught here that
the school is the salvation of his chil-dren,
and that he may send them to the
school without cost, where he is able to
support the family. He attends the self-culture
classes and night school. It is
all a wonderful revelation, a life he
never dreamed of back in the mountain
cove. He has come at last under the
refining influence of a new environment.
.\11 he had wanted in the past was just
a chance. Now that he has it, his habits
change, he reaches out, he aspires. The
pure blood of his ancestors tells, and
what was once but a misshapen
semblance, in time is molded back into
the ima^e of God's own man.
444 SKY-LAND MAGAZINH
His children learn at last how to play
—there are parks and baseball diamonds
and tennis-courts and other devices for
their amusement. If some must work
during the day, there is at least a chance
to go to school in the evenings, or pan
time, or they may attend the noon
classes. Others put their savings in
bank, and when they have accumulated
sufficient go away to colleges for still
more thorough courses. Had they re-mained
in the mountain fastness, would
the chance have been theirs?
taineer's misfortune has become the
manufacturer's opportunity, his oppor-tunity
to put in practice the principles ot
the Universal Brotherhood of ^lan. In
hundreds of cases he measures up to the
opportunity, and gives largely not only
of his means for the welfare of the peo-ple
on his payroll, but of his personal
service. In these cases the motive is
altruistic. In other cases it may be
frankly admitted that the motive is purely
economic, and is the same in theory that
a well-oiled piece of machinery gives
TYPICAL COTTAGE HOME OF COVE DWELLER .AFTER HE HAS MIGR.ATED TO TFE MILL
True, the above paragraph has to deal
with the more ambitious ty]3e that boasts
the strain of pure Anglo-Sa.xon blood.
It is this type that progresses with un-usual
rapid: ty when the chance is given.
Usually another type may be found
under the same mill roof. This type of
operative is without ambition, and his
progress is not so swift. However, his
living conditions are improved a hun-dred
per cent, since his transition,
and the opportunity to make good
is given him whether he avails
himself of it or not: for the moun-better
service. But so long as the in-dividual
is the beneficiary what matters
the motive ?
Back to the Farm In the wild dream
Movement of depopulating the
Impractical mills, and incidentally
breaking up one of
the most i)owerful factors in the de-velopment
of the State—its industrial
enterprises, Mr. Swift strongly advo-cates
the '"Back to the Farm iMovement"
as the most satisfactory disposition of
the operative. In his pamphlet, "The
SKY-LAND MAGAZINP: 445
Campaign in North Carolina," by way
of illustration, Mr. Swift uses himself
and family as products of a hundred-acre
farm, as he puts it "strong,"
"everyone of them with fair education."
Now, Mr. Swift very well knows that
he can in no wise be placed in a class
with the element that usually constitutes
the payroll of our mills and factories.
^Moreover, Mr. Swift knows that few
who turn to the mills to better their con-dition
own a hundred acres of produc-tive
land. If they did, common reason
dictates that they would not leave it un-less
it happened to be under mortgage,
or for some similar cause. Nor do the
majority of these peopk even own the
small "patches" they cultivate, and are
absolutely unskilled in scientific farm-ing.
In the course of his argument, ^^Ir.
Swift asks this question : "Which had
you rather be, a farmer living on fifty
acres of land, making an independent
living, or one of a family of operatives
in a mill?" The question of itself is
illogical, and again it is necessary to re-iterate
that few of the operatives own
fifty acres of land, and even in the
minority of cases where they do it is so
unproductive that they cannot make a
living upon it, and this is the very rea-son,
as previously set out in this article,
why they abandon it, and turn to morp
lucrative employment.
Should the operatives leave the mill
and go back to the farm, and only those
who are short-sighted and with little
sagacity would do so, they would have
to go there as tenants and not landlords
in the larger percentage of cases, unless
they have dwelt sufficiently long in the
mill, and have saved sufficient to pay for
the farm. In the first instance, they
might but it is doubtful if they would
receive as high a wage as they do at the
mill. Granted they did, it must be taken
into consideration that they would only
be employed on most farms not more
than six months in the year and would
be thrown out during the winter—the
hardest season of all. They would
either have to remain idle the rest of the
year or else turn to other lines of work,
and again it must be recalled that few
of the class constituting mill operatives
are fitted for work of a higher order
than that of the mill, and work is usually
more difficult to obtain in winter than in
any other season.
In the State of North Carolina,
according to the Commissioner's report,
$143,588,486. represents the capital
stock of miscellaneous factories, cotton,
cordage, woolen, silk, knitting mills, and
furniture factories reporting. If figures
were obtainable from the ones that
failed to report, the estimate would more
than likely reach the two-hundred-mil-lion-
dollar mark, possibly more. These
industrial institutions give employment to
considerably more than one hundred
thousand people, and furnish a liveli-hood
for several hundred thousand more
dependent upon them and these institu-tions.
Two hundred and sixty-five cot-ton
mills alone that reported showed an
authorized capital stock of $52,351,800,
56,332 employees, and 150,993 de-pendents.
Thus one may readily gain some con-ception
of the magnitude of these in-dustries
; the wonderful part they play
in the State's development ; the immense
amount of money they put in circulation
;
the immense amount of good that accrues
therefrom in providing employment and
alle\-iating the distresses of God's poor
and unfortunate, and last, but not least,
lending them a hand in the upward
struggle, through the various forms of
welfare work.
Should we then seek to interfere with
our captains of industry by meddlesome
446 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
agitation or undue legislation? If we
do, we may place ourselves in the unen-viable
position of the proverbial enemy
who is ever waging warfare on capital
and capitalist because he is not in that
class himself. Or else in that class with
the unthinking man who can only study
a subject from one viewpoint. The only
safe policy, the only right policy, would
seem to he to let the manufacturer and
operative work out their problems to-gether,
without interference or sugges-tions
from us.
Mexican Mediation
NEVER has the pacification of
Mexico without resource to arms
seemed more certain than at the time this
issue of Sky-Laxd goes to press. The
mediators at Niagara Falls, representa-ti\-
es of Argentine, Brazil, and Cliili, in
conference with representatives of this
country and of ]\Iexico, have decided the
major issues before them, the most im-portant
of which is the selection of offi-cers
for a provisional government in
Mexico. These plans the mediators have
submitted to President Wilson and to
General Huerta, and there is every rea-son
to believe that a plan acceptable to
both countries will soon be agreed upon.
The chief obstacle in the execution of
this plan has been the uncertain attitude
of General Carranza and his rebel forces,
an obstacle now removed through the
consent of General Carranza to send an
envoy to the conference at Niagara
Falls. Juan Uruquidi, the representa-tive
of General Carranza, has been re-ceived
by the mediators at Niagara Falls,
and while time will be required to work
out the details of peace-plans there is
every indication that peace will prevail,
and prevail as a splendid vindication of
President Wilson's policy of watchful
waiting.
Waterfalls and Eggshells
THE mountains of Western North
Carolina are rich in beautiful glens,
glades, streams, and waterfalls, the
beauties of which are enjoyed by many
tourists every year. But who of us, con-templating
the charms of a waterfall,
have not had the picture spoiled by a
foreground of bread-crusts and egg-shells?
How many of us, delighting in
a fern-carpeted glen, have not had our
pleasure lessened by the presence of two
sardine cans and an empty olive bottle ?
Have not we all, at one time or another,
scowled at the cracker-boxes scattered
on the shore of a rippling trout stream,
or turned from an entrancing view to
remove a little jelly mashed on the heel
of our left shoe? If not, we may con-sider
ourselves particularly fortunate.
It is only a small number of picnicers
who desecrate the beauty spots of nature
with such debris ; but let us do all in our
power to convince these people that
nature is not to be improved upon by
the litter of luncheons, however delect-able
those luncheons may be. Let us
seek to persuade them to leave the groves
and glens as clean as they find them, or
cleaner, as the case may be.
A box or receptable for wastepaper
and debris is placed in many of the more
public places of interest, and should be
put at all the points which invite the
tourist to rest and refresh himself.
Where such a box is not found, the re-mains
of a luncheon can be easily burned,
and, if the fire is carefully extinguished,
the result is well worth the slight labor
involved. If one does not wish to go to
the trouble of making a fire, let the
papers and crumbs be collected into one
package, and be left in as inconspicuous
a place as possible.
As we all love the beauties of nature,
let us strive to keep those beauties clean,
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 447
and to disassociate in our minds the all-too-
common combination of waterfalls
and eggshells.
Shall It Not Be Governor Carr?
SHALL not Julian S. Carr be a can-didate
for the next governor of
North Carolina ? As a fighting private in
the Third North Carolina Cavalry,
"Jule" Carr refused promotion, as he
preferred to remain where his sym-pathies
lay, with the rank and file of the
soldiers of the Confederacy. As a fight-ing
citizen of the State of North Caro-lina,
"Jule" Carr has chosen to fight not
only for the development of the State,
but for the advancement of the individ-ual.
Nor has any citizen put up a better
or more eiYective fight. "Jule" Carr can-not
refuse to heed the call of his ad-herents
by disregarding this opportunity
to serve the people in an official capacity.
Unlike the officer's commission which
was oft'ered him, this call which bids him
accept the candidacy as nominee for gov-ernor
conies from the rank and file of
the people themselves, and as "the friend
of the people" he cannot consistently
turn to it a deaf ear.
The enthusiastic and unanimous en-dorsement
of Julian S. Carr for governor
last month by the democracy of Durham
County is a true indication of the Carr-spirit
which is State-wide, and needs only
the announcement of his candicacy to
spring everywhere into practical demon-stration
and support.
In his fight for the upbuilding of
North Carolina, "Jule" Carr has shown
broad-minded generosity, sagacity, and a
keen and just insight into public affairs.
His experience has fitted him for the
severest of responsibilities, and his
eternal youth gives him the energy and
the vigor to put into effect the plans and
reforms which his wisdom tells him are
right. "Jule" Carr has given his sup-port,
morally and financially, to new in-dustries
and enterprises all over the
State, wherever those industries are
'vorthy of success; he has aided churches
and schools without regard to sects and
denominations, with the larger good his
only motive ; he saved Trinity College and
Greensboro Female College from going
to the wall ; his aid to the farmers of the
State has been practical, and appreciative
of the viewpoint of the tiller of the soil
;
and throughout all his activities he has
retained his simplicity of soul, and has
remained, first and foremost, one of the
old "A'ets.," in association with whom he
still takes his keenest delights.
Public-spirited, and with ever a watch-ful
eye on politics. "Jule" Carr has never
held political office, and is therefore
under no political obligations, and would
enter upon the duties of the office of Gov-ernor
with a free hand ; what he has
freely done for the people of North
Carolina as a citizen, he would in the
same measure be in a position to do for
them in an official capacity.
No other candidate possesses so many
qualifications for endorsement by the
people as does "Jule" Carr. In the in-terests
of the people, "Jule" Carr can-not
refuse the candidacy for Governor.
He is a strong candidate, in the fullest,
most vigorous, and finest meaning of the
word. No dignity of office will change
the simplicity of soul which is the truest
mark of his greatness.
For the next Governor of North Caro-lina,
shall it not be Julian S. Carr?
The Mountaineer
A RECENT ^•isitor to the mountain
section of ^^'estern North Carolina
expressed the hope that she might see a
mountaineer before returning to Chi-cago.
Her desire was akin to that of the
448 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
small boy who eagerly looked forward to
his first glimpse of a real lion or a live
leopard. Unlike the small boy, however,
the vistor from Chicago v^'as dis-appointed
in the realization of desire.
The mountaineer whom she had pointed
out to her as typical, carried neither fire-arms
nor flask of "moonshine" on hi.s
hip ; he did not dart defiant glances from
beneath beetling brows ; his shirt was not
half opened across his brawny breast:
and he did not carry a feud between his
teeth, so to speak. He was, in fact, a
quiet, strong-framed, neatly-dressed man,
thoughtfully considering the relative
merits of two corn-planters.
If, like the animals at the zoo. the
mountaineer were to be caged and classi-fied,
the legends beneath the various
cages would read "Bank President,"
"Mill Owner," "Educator," "Engineer,"
"Journalist." and so forth, ad lib.
The term "mountaineers," however, as
generally understood and used, applies
to the men who still have their homes
and make their livings in the mountains,
and these men, in some of whom is the
best blood of the old countries, fall read-ily
into two classes.
First there are the mountaineers who.
refusing to open their cabin doors to the
knock of civilization, remain in their
mountain fastness, densely ignorant and
strangely superstitious. Among this class
the making of "moonshine" or "block-ade"
liquor continues to be a source of
livelihood, and to this extent these men
are regardless of law, but they are in no
sense vicious. They are strongly re-ligious
by nature, which explains the
generally good moral tone prevailing
among them. The traveler who calls at
their mountain homes is always sure of
a hospitable welcome.
The second class of mountaineers, by
far the larger class, and one constantly
increasing in numliers, is composed of
educated and alert men, who make theii
living by farming, by poultry raising, by
taking boarders, and by seizing various
other opportunities for which their
talents fit them.
In justice to these men, upon whom
many cities and towns in Western North
Carolina are largely dependent for their
food supplies, and who have helped to
open up the mountain sections for the
benefit of visitors and tourists, the
obloquy which often attaches to the
name "mountameer" in the minds of the
uninformed should once and forever be
eradicated. \\'hen we speak of a moun-taineer,
let us give the man in the major-ity
the respect which he deserves, and
speak of a man who is clean, upright,
well-informed, hard-working, and an un-qualified
credit to the section which he
is helping to upbuild.
"Uncle Remus" Memorial
WHILE the memory of Joel Chandler
Harris will live longest and best
through the characters of his creation
—
L^ncle Remus. ]\Iis' Meaders, Bre'r Fox,
and the Tar Baby—it was inevitable that
a permanent memorial should be dedi-cated
to ]\Ir. Harris' genius. In the
search for a tribute to the well-beloved
writer, the members of the Uncle Remus
Memorial Association might easily have
chosen a more elaborate, a showier,
monument than that which they selected
;
but they could not have found a more
fitting one than the house which was
Mr. Harris' home, and which was dedi-cated
in Atlanta on May twenty-third of
this year as a lasting memorial to the
Southern folklore author.
Here the spirits of Uncle Remus and
his attendant animals were invoked
when, with appropriate ceremonies,
\\'ren's Nest and Snap Bean Farm, as
Mr. Harris' home is popularly called.
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 449
was turned into a shrine to which all
lovers of the Uncle Remus literature may
make pilgrimage.
A bronze medallion of Joel Chandler
Harris was unveiled, and one fancies,
could Mr. Harris have glanced in upon
this recognition of his genius, he would
have been better pleased by the bronze
tablet which was also presented, repre-senting
Bre'r Rabbit making a speech to
the animals. Both medallion and tablet
are the work of the Boston sculptor,
Roger Noble Burnham.
Hundreds of children participated in
the ceremonies of presentation, and the
dedicatory address was made by Gover-nor
Slaton, of Georgia. Addresses were
also made by Major James G. Wood-ward,
of Atlanta, by Mrs. A. McD.
\\'ilson. President of the Uncle Remus
Memorial Association, and by others.
A May dance and festival concluded
the exercises, and the happy and gay
movements of the children were an
appropriate echo of the light and
laughter which Joel Chandler Harris has
put into the hearts of children the world
over.
A welcome from the spirit of Uncle
Remus awaits all those who visit Wren's
Nest and Snap Bean Farm, now a perma-nent
memorial to the best-beloved of all
Southern writers.
c
To "Uncle Remus"
By J. C. McC.
HILD of Nature, yet believing
Man's immortal ego cast
In a mold so self-deceiving
He would hearken to the past.
To a world of primal being
For a source and springs of truth.
Vantage ground for better seeing,
Man and beast are k'n, forsooth.
But emerging like a ripple
On the surface of a stream,
Spreading laughter, liroad and simple
With an eerie, childish dream.
And a wisdom far more reaching
.\nd a heart more whole and true
Than all sage, pedantic teaching.
And great love for me and you.
Simple faith and childish fancy,
Love of life near Nature's sod
Was his creed, and none will gainsay
His to dwell in Nature's God.
The Confederate Dead
THEY sleep, the brave Confederate dead,
A calm, untroubled sleep
:
And in this hour our spirits would
With theirs a vigil keep;
Wliilc we with tender reverence come,
.\.nd lay these garlands here ;
Commemorating, through their dust.
The cause tliey held so dear.
Xo more war's clarions resound,
Nor heavy marshaled tread
Breaks on the air, nor rude disturbs
Tlie slumbers of the dead.
They sleep the same calm sleep as wlien
Repose their eyel:ds sealed.
And from war's stress the wings of night
Their tired spirits shield ;
While we would here these garlands lay
To honor this their hallowed clay.
Bni7'{'st of bra^c'i-—luc liniior them.
The Xatioii's vaunted pride:
We drop 110 tear as here zee stand:
ll'e glory that they died!
True to tlieir trust, tlieir ail they gave.
Though lost the eause tliey fain 'would save.
Swiftly we tread the silent aisles
Of memory's -sacred halls:
Once more we hear the cannon's boom.
The whizzing minnie balls.
We view Manassas' bloody soil.
And list the w,\r-god's cry.
Unsated in his lust for blood, he slays
—
Tlie bravest die
—
-And Seven Pines antl Riclmiond's fight,
.\nd Chancellorsville's red gore
'S'ield up the best : but, unappeased
The war-god cries for more.
And over Gettysburg's fair heiglits.
He pours the crimson tide,
Strikes at the Wilderness's ranks.
And Spottsylvania's pride
—
450 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
With dauntless mien and courage tliey
Fought valiantly to win the day.
The dying groan, tlic muffled drum,
The Nations bitter wail—
A lapse of years—this mound of dust
Tells silently the tale.
While -a'e their deeds heroie tell.
And on their niatehless proK'ess dzi'ell.
And comrades, you, who left behind
T-Iave borne the heat and strife.
And braved the turmoil and the cares
Of this vain, fitful life,
You will, ere long, the burden drop
And seek a place by these,
With folded hands and tranquil sleep,
Fulfilling God's decrees.
And when the Captain's reveille
Has called the last one o'er.
Then we will take the burden up
—
The cause you, living, swore
Though lost to honor unto death,
And with our woman's might.
We'll cherish it, our legacy.
And keep its honor bright
—
Thus we your Daughters true will keep,
A watchful vigil round your sleep.
And once eaeh year. Memorial Day,
In fond remembrance true.
Upon tliis monument, lue'll place
A floii'cr for each of you.
And plifjht our -l'Ozcs to ever keep.
A loving I'igil o'er your sleep.
The Designer of the Stars and Bars
THE in.signia of a new order, the
colors of a new fraternity, the flag
of a new nation, are vital and necessary,
as tangible evidence of the principles and
spirit of the cause for which they stand.
A flag is something more than a piece of
gayly-colored bunting; it is the standard
of a definite purpose and of definite
ideals ; and the significance of these
ideals should be apparent in its design.
Such significance the late Major Orren
Randolph Smith kept in mind when, in
February, 1861, he designed a flag, in
Louisburg, N. C, for the United States
of the Confederacy. He submitted this
design, in the form of a miniature flag
about a foot long, to the representatives
of the seven Confederate States then in
session at Montgomery, Ala., who had
sent out a call "Flag \\'anted."
The Committee in charge of the selec-tion
of a flag received designs from all
sections of the South, and on ]\Iarch 4,
1861, announced they had decided on a
design which should everywhere be
known as the emblem of the soldiers of
the South. The Committee described
this flag as "a red field, with a white
space extending horizontally through the
center, and equal in width to one-third
the width of the flag. The red spaces
above and below to be of the same width
as the white. The union, blue, extending
down through the white space, and stop-ping
at the lower red space. In the
center of the union, a circle of white
stars, corresponding in luimber with the
States of the Confederacy."
This describes the Stars and Bars as
they were bravely flown in camp and
battle, and is an exact description of the
miniature flag which was submitted to
Smith, as vouched for by the testiinony
of various witnesses and the affidavits of
Mrs. Catherine R. ^^'inborne, who sewed
the miniature flag at the request of its
designer; of Mrs. S. J. Sugg, who was
present at the time Orren Randolph
Smith requested Mrs. Winborne, then
^liss Rebecca Murphy, to make the
model ; and of Algernon T\. Strother, who
remembers the design of this flag.
Before the Committee announced its
selection, Orren Randolph Smith had a
large flag inade from the design of the
miniature one, and on March 18, 1861,
raised it on the courthouse square at
Louisburg, a fact remembered and re-ferred
to by many.
It is unfortunate that the Committee
did not name the designer of the model
which they accepted as the standard of
the Confederacv, and which thev christ-
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 45''
ened the Stars and Bars, and thus have
averted a controversy which is at last in
a way to be settled. The claim of the
late Major Orren Randolph Smith to the
distinction of having been the designer
of this flag was recognized and unques-tioned
until February. 1904, when Mr.
Nicola Marschall. of Louisville, Ky.,
claimed this honor for himself. ^Ir.
Marschall is an artist, who was born in
Prussia in 1829, and came to America
at the age of twenty, to settle in IMarion,
Ala. He was among those who an-swered
the call for a flag for the Con-federacy,
and submitted designs to the
Committee at Montgomery. In justice
to Mr. Marschall. and in appreciation of
the interest he displayed in his adopted
land, it must be said that his designs,
for he submitted more than one, are
similar to the design accepted ; but the
pictures of his designs which have been
published show that not one of his de-signs
is the same as the Stars and Bars,
which is, in every particular, the same
design as that of the late Major Orren
Randolph Smith.
Last year, the North Carolina Divi-sion
of the L'nited Daughters of the Con-federacy
recognized Alajor Orren Ran-dolph
Smith as the designer of the Stars
and Bars, and presented him with a gold
medal in token of the honor due him.
Three months later. Major Smith passed
away, at his home in Henderson, N. C,
and now his daughter, Jessica Randolph
Smith, affectionately known as "Dad's
Daughter" by the \-eterans of the Con-federacy,
has made it her duty to obtain
official recognition for her father as the
designer of the Stars and Bars.
Miss Jessica Randolph Smith laid the
claims of her father before the veterans
at their reunion this year at Jackson-ville,
for their confirmation. These
claims were so well substantiated that a
committee was appointed to pass on them,
and in order to settle the controversy
for all time decided to investigate Mr.
Marschall's claim at the same time, and
report its findings at Richmond. When
this report is delivered. Major Orren
Randolph Smith will unquestionably be
recognized as the designer of the Stars
and Bars.
Orren Randolph Smith was born in
Warren County, N. C, on December 18,
1827, a son of Samuel Smith, who was a
soldier of the Revolution. ]\Iajor Smith
was a veteran of three wars, and in his
own words can best be told how he was
inspired to design the Stars and Bars,
and best be related the full significance
of that dearly reverenced flag.
"Three times have I been a soldier at
my country's call—twice fighting under
the Stars and Stripes, and once under the
Stars and Bars. While with Taylor,
south of the Rio Grande, a unit in that
proud arm_v that never let an enemy
touch our flag ; in Utah, with Albert
Sidney Johnston, 1857-58, I learned
what the flag meant to the men who were
willing to give their lives for "Old Glory"
every day and every hour in the day. A
soldier's flag must be his inspiration. It
stands for home, kindred, and country ;
it must be something more than a piece
of bunting, or the blending of bright
colors.
"When at Sumter, that shot was fired
that was 'heard around the world,' I
realized that a new country had been
made, and that the new nation must have
a new flag, of the deepest, truest sig-nificance,
to lead the 'men in gray'
against the greatest odds and through
the greatest difficulties that any soldiers
have ever overcome since the world was
made.
"The idea of my flag I took from the
Trinity, 'Three in One.' The three bars
45^ SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
were for the State, church, and press.
Red represented State—legislative, judi-ciary,
and executive ; white for church
—
Father, Son, and Holv Ghost ; red for
size, were placed in a circle, show-ing
that each State had equal rights and
privileges, irrespective of size or popula-tion.
The circle, having neither head
"the stars and bars''
press—freedom of speech, freedom of
conscience, and liberty of press—all
bound together by a field of blue
(the heavens over all), bearing a star
for each State in the Confederation.
The seven white stars, all the same
nor foot, stood for eternity, and signified
'You defend me, and I'll protect you.'
"I had the flag all complete in my mind
before the Confederate congress adver-tised
for models, and when the advertise-ment
appeared I designed a flag, and
SKY-LAND .MAGAZINE 453
when it was finished I sent it to Mont-gomery,
with the suggestion that a star
be added for each State that joined the
Confederacy. The Q.ag committee, as
After the small flag was sent to Mont-gomery,
I had a larger one made, for I
had determined, whether the flag com-mittee
accepted my model or not, I was
MAJOR OREEN RANDOLPH SMITH
VETERAN OF THREE WARS
you know, accepted the flag, and named
it 'The Stars and Bars.' They also
adopted the suggestion, and it was not
long before the flag bore eleven stars for
the eleven Confederate States that voted
for Jefferson Davis to be president.
determined that one of my flags should be
floating in the breeze. Splicing two tall
saplings together, I made a pole one hun-dred
feet high, and planted it on the
courthouse square at Laurinburg, N. C.
(where I was then living), and the flag
454 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
was sent aloft Monday, March i8, i86r,
two months before North Carolina
seceded. Over the flag was floating a
long blue streamer, like an admiral has
on his ship when 'homeward bound,' and
on this pennant I had stars for each State
that had seceded, and one for North
Carolina, for, though my State was still
in the Union, I knew she was 'home-ward
bound'.
"This was the first Confederate flag
ever raised in the Old North State, and
this is how the Stars and Bars came into
existence—'Dixie's Flag' ; that floated
over the bravest and hardest-to-wear-out
soldiers ever encountered in any war."
miss jes:-"ica randolph smith
dad's daughter
acting adjutant por camp henderson
The Birth of the Stars and Stripes
By Lelita Lever Young
THE shadow of a storm brooded o'er all.
The hearts of men were thrilled with sounds afar,
"What is this gloom that blackens like a pall?
If war must be," one cried, "then give us war!
Yet I have loved my country ; I have cheered
The Stars and Stripes beneatli the Mexic skies
;
The bullet of the foe T have not feared
!
All men are brothers—must we break sucli ties?"
War was declared. Fate rang hope's funeral knell;
The storm-cloud broke, and the Red, White, and Blue-
Flag he had bled for—he must bid farewell
:
He ne'er had thought to recognize a new.
Inexorable decree ! Southland so fair.
From henceforth be was thine, and thine alone
;
Thine to the uttermost, to do and dare.
With soul determined, with the last doubt flown
!
I
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 45 =
Home of the free, beloved and peerless land,
Thou had'st no flag to raise above the fray
;
No emblem all thine own to lead thy band,
The brave, the true, the dauntless men in gray!
"A soldier's flag," he said, with kindling glance,
"Must be his inspiration—something more
Than bunting and gay colors to enhance
I'ts meaning and significance." He bore
No bitterness within his lofty soul.
His great heart had no room for petty hate.
Right was his slogan. Freedom was his goal,
This Orren Randolph Smith ! Whate'er the fate
Of the young Constitution, he would be
First to reveal its emblem to the world!
Thus musing, he selected symbols three
—
Church, State, and Press, on azure field unfurled.
Then seven stars he grouped in circle rour.-d
—
One white star for each State—"For I know," he said,
"The circle hath a meaning most profound.
Time and Eternity !" Blue, White, and Red,
He tore the bars, and set them in their place
;
And as, with bated breath and rapture pure.
The sire looks upon his first-born's face.
So he upon his Flag! What souls endure
In moments so supreme his soul endured!
Nor even when he saw it in the dust.
To strife and blood and sorrow long inured,
Did he forsake the dear and holy trust.
Smith gave the South her flag. The best in him
Was woven in its every sacred fold.
Though torn and tattered, faded, worn, and dim,
Our hearts enshrine it still in memorv's gold.
Pisgah Forest National Park Henderson, and Buncombe Counties, and
consists of eighty-seven thousand acres
of hardwood forest, which, owing; to the
THE South at last possesses a Na- . . . „ .,...,_ ._...
1 tional Park comparable in size and 1.^ ^x- ^t , , ^ <
^-
'^ r late George \\ . \ anderbilt s practice of
splendor with the Yosemite and Yellow- ^^- ^.-r (^ , ••^11^ ^ scientinc forestry, is m the best possi-bi l1e
stone National Parks of the West. Pis-
.-ondition. The Government. and
gah Forest, the Vanderbilt tract in West- through the Government the puljlic, will
ern North Carolina, has been purchased profit l)y the many improvements made
by the Government for the conservation on this property by the late Mr. \'ander-of
its natural resources, and as a Na- bilt, the many roads built, the buildings
tional playground, and will hereafter be erected, the trails blazed, and the game
known and conducted as the Pisgah and fish with which the forest and
Forest National Park. streams have been systematically stocked.
The land which comprises this pur- It is the intention of the Government
chase lies in Haywood. Transylvania, to make Pisgah Forest a game-preserve
4S6 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
as well as a National park, and, in addi-tion
to the deer, the wild turkey, and the
Australian pheasants which already
abound in the forest, to introduce into
the preserve all the fauna of the eastern
mountains.
The benefits which will accrue to the
South from the opening- of this National
Park will be many and enduring. Peo-ple
will visit this pleasure ground from
all sections of the country, and in ever-increasing
numbers as the scenic splend-ors
of Pisgah Forest become known and
appreciated. The Appalachian Club,
formed to stimulate interest in the open-ing
of Government preserves for the use
of the public, with Governor Locke Craig
as its president, and many prominent
men among its members, will no doubt
undertake to see that the park is put at
the most advantageous disposal of the
people, and that the people shall learn
of the privileges offered them. New
roads will make all parts of the region
accessible to the visitor, and with the
erection of inns, camps, and hotels, Pis-gah
Forest will take its place as a Na-tional
playground in fact as well as in
name. A splendid future for Western
North Carolina as a tourist resort and a
section for summer homes and estates
is assured by this preservation of forest
land by the Government.
In singing the praises of Pisgah Forest,
credit must be given to the late ]\Ir. G.
W. Vanderbilt for his care and manage-ment
of the forest which will now be
managed for the benefit of the people.
George \\'. Vanderbilt was born on
Staten Island, N. Y., on November
14, 1862, and in the year 1889 he be-came
actively interested in the mountain
region of \\'estern North Carolina, He
began at this time the purchase of various
mountain tracts, which spread over a
distance of thirty-seven miles, and
accumulated into his famous est:ile of
Biltmore and Pisgah Forest.
From the outset, ^Ir. Vanderbilt prac-ticed
scientific forestry in the manage-ment
of his forest tract, a fact for which
he deserves great credit, inasmuch as at
that time forestry was in the infancy of
its development in this country, and the
source of much ridicule and abuse. If
scientific forestry needs proof of its effi-ciency
at this enlightened day, its claims
have been fully substantiated by the Gov-ernment's
purchase of Pisgah Forest in
the face of the fact that nearly four-fifths
of the purchased area is under a timber
contract which provides for the removal
of the merchantable stand. This timber
contract, thanks to the late Mr. Vander-bilt's
belief in the use and preservation
of his forest, provides that only certain
sizable trees shall be felled, and that the
cutting shall be made according to the
best forest practices. Thus provision is
made for the re-stocking of the forest,
which will be kept in an improved and
healthy condition.
In offering Pisgah Forest to the Gov-ernment
at a nominal price, ]\Irs. \"an-derbilt
made clear her motives in a letter,
in which she wrote
:
"Mr. Vanderbilt was the first of the large
forest owners in America to adopt the practice
of forestry. He has conserved Pisgah Forest
from the time he bought it up to his death, a
oeriod of nearly twenty-five years, under the
firm conviction that every forest owner owes it
to those who follow him to hand down his
forest property to them unimpaired by waste-ful
use. I keenly sympathize with his belief
that the private ownership of forest land is a
public trust, and I probably realize more keenly
than anyone else can do how firm was his re-solve
never to permit injury to the permanent
value and usefulness of Pisgah Forest. I wish
earnestly to make such disposition of Pisgah
Forest as will maintain in the fullest and most
permanent way its wonderful beauty and
charm ; and I realize that its ownership by the
nation will alone make its preservation perma-nent
and certain. I hope that in this way I
i
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 457
may help to perpetuate my husband's pioneer
work in forest conservation, and to insure the
protection and the use and enjoyment of Pis-gah
Forest as a national forest, by the Ameri-can
people for all time."
The Real Child Labor
Truth About Conditions in North
C.vROLiNA Mills
fFrom The High Point Enterprise)
WE desire to take issue with many of
the writers on child labor. There
has grown up around our industrial sys-tem
in the South a sentiment wholly out
of the trend of all progress, and carries
with it a plea for the child that would
make you believe we are living in an era
and area of sweatshop problems, which
is diametrically opposite to the true child
labor conditions. If we localize the
factory conditions, we find here in High
Point, girls, and hundreds of them, who
have worked up to a point of financial in-dependence,
who live in clean homes,
which they own themselves. They draw
good salaries, are well fed, well clothed
and housed. Since the war, tlie ^outh-cern
white boy and girl has sought this
industrial emancipation, and the wonder-ful
prosperity of the South is answering
the call.
There may be isolated cases where a
child enters the factory too early, but it
is not the fault of the mill owner once in
one thousand.
Half of this sickly sentiment about
child labor is far fetched and without
any meritorious point of view. Let the
Southern white boy and girl learn to do
their work, and the problem of efficiency
on the one hand and poverty on the other
will have been solved. Today the con-dition
of the Southern boy and girl is
a thousand times better than it was fifty-five
years ago, when the negro did the
work in the South, and the white boy
and girl was educated for a life of
leisure. Today the reverse order of
things is true. The Southern boys and
girls are now producers.
"The Uplift"
THE UPLIFT," a monthly mag-azine
published at Concord, N. C,
by James P. Cook, merits the support of
every citizen who believes in the develop-ment
of character, and in the square deal.
The Jackson Training School, of which
"The Uplift" is the organ, stands for bet-ter
citizens, for equal opportunities, and
for the strengthening of the social body.
"The Upliift" is a magazine of optimism,
but its optimism is not-that of a theory:
its pages set forth the practical work that
has been done, and is now being accom-plished,
for the good of individuals, and
through the individual for the good of
the State. All uplift co'^-"? through
work, manual and mental, through en-thusiasm
in attaining the goal ; and
through the support of the public which
is indirectly benefited.
Skv-L.\nd not onlv regards it a duty
but a pleasure to advocate the support of
"The Uplift." The subscriber to "The
Uplift" will find his own reward in the
pages of the magazine.
•ise^e^e^e^ejlse^e^e!^£^e^e4F»e^e^e^34is2»e^«^
Howe'er it be, it seems to me
Unwise to fly into a rage
Merely because some blasted tree
Has got no blooining foliage.
-V. W. T.
Howe'er inconsistent, V. \V. T.,
I would propound this query
—
Why in the world does a U. S. tree
Grow a
—
China berry?
—M. L. S.
458 SKY-LAXD MAGAZlXli;
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 459
SPECIAL ARTICLES
MISCELLANEOUS
Game Fish in Western North Carolina
By John Kershaw, Jr.
WHEN speaking of fish and fishing,
a foremost authority recently said,
"In my opinion, there are no finer trout
streams in America than are to be found
right here in the mountains of North
Carolina." A broad statement. But
why should anyone doubt the truth of
it?
Little effort has been made to feature
this splendid asset. Its value to a sec-tion
should be incalculable, especially to
a tourist country. Thousands of sports-men
have their ears to the ground. They
are always on the lookout for something
new. Many of them have heard of the
piscatorial attractions of Western North
Carolina only vaguely. Some not at all.
Printers' ink continues to be the one best
way of advertising. A few hundred
dollars judiciously spent each year in
letting the country at large know of the
superior fishing conditions here will
bring ample returns. As a rule, the
sportsmen of America are both pleasant
people to meet, and are liberal spenders.
Always they are great boosters. \\^hen
they find a good thing they are neither
stingy with it nor secretive about it, but
pass it along. Many of this desirable
class could be induced to come here each
season if only they were gone after.
Nothing more is needed to make a
section prosperous and popular than to
become known as a good fishing or hunt-ing
ground. News of this sort spreads
like a plague among the sporting fra-ternity.
Great areas of Canada would
today be unknown and unprofitable but
for the fact that excellent sport is to be
had there at small expense. The same is
true of Maine. A conservative estimate
of what is spent in dollars and cents
annually by sportsmen in Canada and
IMaine would run into si.x; figures.
Florida is the gainer by many thousands
of dollars each year because she has fish
a-plenty, and let's the fishermen know
about it. During the late winter and
early spring, hundreds of Waltonites in-vade
her borders, from every section of
America, and many from abroad. They
are there not for climate, nor for rest,
but for fish. The successful ones—and
most are—become advertisers for
Florida ; and, incidentally, they leave be-hind
them considerable expense money.
Go to any news stand, and buy a mag-azine
devoted to outdoor life. You will
find that at this season it carries several
pages of attractive advertising matter, in-viting
the reader's attention to some fav-ored
section where fishing is good.
There is no valid reason why the West-ern
or mountainous section of North
Carolina should not rank prominently in
the fisherman's "Where to Go This
Season" book. What elements go to
make U]) a first-class sporting ground,
anyhow? Listen. The "goods"—be
they scales or feathers, hair or hide
—
climate, scenery, and location. That is
the essential Big Four. You must have
460 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
them. But then, they are of little value
unless the world knows about them.
North Carolina has the fish. She can
deliver the goods. She has an ideal
climate, neither as cold as Maine nor as
warm as Florida. Scenery which is un-rivaled
in the United States is to be
found here. No other section can show
title to more than fifty peaks over five
thousand feet high. There are no
forests more dense or picturesque. In
none is it easier to tuck one's self away.
You can go as far as you like from the
"madding crowd." The nature-lover's
friends, the birds, and shy, peeping creat-ures
whose homes are in the heart of the
woods, are here to welcome him. The
soft Southern winds whisper just as
soothingly among the pines here as else-where.
The streams are wide and clear
and pure. They laugh r,nd dash, sparkle
and pla}^, just as tunefully here as in
Maine or in the Land of Flowers.
Mother Nature, with her quiet healing
agencies, ofifers the tired-out worker her
remedies, free of cost. She holds out
no extremes in weather. Her days are
comfortably warm ; her nights cool
enough for invigorating sleep. Western
North Carolina is well located. She is at
neither extreme end of the States, but is
readily accessible to all sections east of
the Mississippi. The fisherman does not
have to ride for days or hours over
rough country after he has left his com-fortable
seat in the train. Scores of
well-stocked lakes and streams are with-in
easy reach of the hotels and boarding-houses
scattered throughout this entire
section.
There are no black gnats nor sting-ing
sand-flies nor mosquitoes to bite and
fret one all day and throughout the night.
There is no need to swathe one's head in
netting; one's hands in gloves; or for
anointing one's body with highly odorif-erous
lotions to keep away insect pests.
Not so in Maine or in Florida.
When to Fish
Spring is popularly supposed to belong
to poets and lovers ; but not all of it. At
such time the followers of the piscatorial
art turn their thoughts to tackle and the
like. He is a poor sportsman who has
not oiled up his tools long before he can
use them. No one may successfully fix
a date for the opening of th-e fishing
season. Some seasons are ahead of
others. Also, the date dififers in different
sections. The warmth of the water and
the presence of insect life are the chief
factors everywhere.
It may be said with some accuracy tha:
in Western North Carolina the game
fish season opens on March i, and closes
on October 15. Good catches have been
made by reliable men on those extreme
dates. But between April 15 and Sep-tember
15 the best catches of game fish
are made. Here, as elsewhere, the finest
trout fishing is had between May 15 and
June 15. The trout are more voracious
and game then than at any time during
the year. Before that, they are apt to
be thin ; after that, they feed chiefly at
night, rising poorly during the day.
For brook trout, the season extends
from March i to October 15.
For rainbow or California trout, the
same dates apply.
For both large mouth and small mouth
bass, from March 15 to October i.
For pike (local "jack"), from March
15 to October i.
For Warmouth perch and sun perch
and horny-heads, from March i to Oc-tober
I.
For carp, red horse, and suckers, from
March i to October i.
The best month for trout is from the
middle of May to the middle of June
;
for bass, the same ; March, April, and
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 461
i
May for carp ; but any of the above-named
fish may be taken during the
warm weather. Other fish to be found
plentifully in this section are catfish and
eels.
Uliere to Fish
In a favored locality, a fisherman does
not have to seriously consider where to
fish. ^^'estern North Carolina is a
favored locality, and almost any old
place will do—outside of a bathtub.
Game fish, both native and "planted,"
abound in the streams and lakes, and
grow to considerable size when the con-ditions
are good. The best place in the
State to fish is unquestionably in the sec-tion
about Grandfather ^fountain ('^^'a-tauga
County), with Linville as head-quarters.
No trout fishing grounds in
the South are as deservedly well known.
About Blowing Rock (Watauga County),
and around AVaynesville (Haywood
County), excellent sport is to be had. In
Swain, Cherokee, Burke, and Mitchell
Counties well-stocked streams are found,
but the going is rough.
East of the border counties, good fish-ing
is found in Henderson, Transyl-vania,
Buncombe, and Jackson Counties,
and in parts of Macon County, about
Highlands. The average altitude of the
streams in these counties is about two
thousand feet above sea level, afi^ording
good water for game fish. The likely
streams near Hendersonville are the
French Broad, with its many tributaries.
Fish are plentiful in Green River, David-son
River, Little River, Mills River, east
fork of the French Broad, and in the
north fork of the French Broad.
Not far from Hendersonville is the
famous Sapphire country, with its numer-ous
large cold-water lakes. Toxaway,
Fairfield, and Sapphire Lakes are unsur-passed
fishing waters, and big catches are
made from each of them annually. The
guests of the To.xaway Company's hotels
are given fishing privileges in all these
lakes. Others may secure them reason-ably.
A\'ithin a radius of ten miles of
Sa]3phire there are more than fifty water-falls
of considerable power and size, in-cluding
the famous AMnite \\'ater Falls.
In these waters will be found in abund-ance
both kinds of trout and bass.
AVherever taken, the game fish will prove
good fighters, as the water is always cold
enough to put lots of ginger into them.
Bag limits are enforced in certain sec-tions,
but are reasonable.
H01V to Pish
Every sportsman knows the decided
\agaries of game fish. "Sometimes they
will, and again they won't." The best
one can do when fishing in mountain
streams is to use good tackle and some
common sense. Maybe one will catch a
fish if one does. The average visitor is
used to fishing with a long, cane pole,
baited with worms. Some few have pro-gressed
at home to the point of using a
"spoon" on trout and jacks. But not
more than two out of ten know anything
about the use of regulation trout fishing
tackle. These are the jointed rod. light
and supple ; the dark, tapered line ; and a
simplex reel. But of more importance
than these is the bait one uses. Trout are
dainty. The lure must be attractive, or
nothing doing. Years of experience
points to the artificial fly as the most suc-cessful
bait for trout. They have been
in use for many years in parts of ,\merica
and in England, and are employed by all
the "AA'ho's AMio" of the fishing fra-ternity.
It seems strange that less than
ten years have passed since the first artifi-cial
flv was used in the mountain waters
around Hendersonville. The credit for
introducing it is given to Mr. E. W.
Durant. of Charleston, S. C. He used
it in Green River with great success.
462 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
This bait is becoming increasingly
popular. For bass, light tackle is best.
Artificial lures, live minnows, and grass-hoppers
are excellent bait. Pike are
taken with live bait, lures, frogs, and
white meat.
Fish I Haz'e Met
To test a man's veracity, get him to
tell a fish story. Just why the other
fejlow always gets the smallest fish, and
why the largest one ever heard of in-variably
gets away, remain mysteries.
No one knows the reasons ; but they do.
Even so, some attention must be paid in
this article to the size of fish.
The native brook trout, rated by many
the finest game fish in our waters, runs
in size from eight to ten inches, average.
Not uncommonly one will catch a half-dozen
from tweh'e to fourteen inches in
length during the day, and weighing
from a pound to eighteen ounces.
The rainbow trout is taken in larger
sizes. The axerage will be between
twelve and sixteen inches. The record
fish of this sort was taken at Sapphire
Lake, at a considerable depth. It was
twenty-seven inches in length, A Cireen
Ri\er beauty weighed nearly four
pounds, and measured twenty-three
inches. It was taken in July with a
spoon lure, baited with white pork.
The record bass reliably reported
weighed more than six pounds. The
French Broad and its tr?'outaries are well
stocked with these fine fish. From two
to four pounds is the average weight.
They take a live minnow best, with an
artificial lure a close second.
The largest pike fmuscallonge ) taken
in \\'estern North Carolina came out of
I\Iud Creek, Henderson County. It
weighed twenty-seven pounds. They
grow to a large size in the mountain
streams, and no gamer fish is to be met
with anywhere. The average is about
five to eight pounds.
A Hatchery Needed
No section need hope to keep up its
supply of game fish unaided by artificial
propagation, if the streams are much
fished in. Nature has been left to her
own devices elsewhere, and has been
found wanting. If this section is to be-come
a sportsman's resort, in the class
with Elaine, Florida, and Canada, she
must have a game fish hatchery.
More than any other man in Western
North Carolina has i\Ir. Ernest L.
Ewbank, of Hendersonville, pressed the
matter of a fish hatchery upon the Gov-ernment.
For ten years or more he has
worked, in season and out, trying to get
an appropriation from Congress for this
purpose. Only within the past few
months have his efforts been crowned
with anything like success, ^^"ord has
come from Congressman Gudger that the I
matter has been referred to the proper
committee who have it under favorable
consideration. The site of the plant
must be on a railroad and near a full,
cold stream. There should be no diffi-culty
in finding a score of such places.
Stocking the streams in the mountains
of this State is not new. ^Millions of
small trout and bass have been planted
in the waters of several counties. The
first rainbow trout were put into Green
River more than thirty years ago,
through the efl:"orts of Capt. I\I. C. Toms,
of Hendersonville. ^lore than a half-million
have been planted since that time.
r>ut if the supply is to equal the demand,
when this section becomes headquarters
for the fishermen of America, artificial
breeding must be resorted to. ^^'ith a
hatchery of its own, there is no reason
why the mountains of North Carolina
should not become the l)est known fisher-man's
paradise on the map.
i
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 463
Responsibility of the Author
By C. L. Hinton
WHAT must be said of the author
who possesses talent, but instead
of using it for the uplift of the race
prostitutes it in order to make money?
The insidious poison he instills into his
works is sown broadcast over the land,
lowering ideals, stirring up the baser
passions, and workiifg incalculable
harm, especially in the minds of the
young and those easily impressed.
Is there any condemnation too great
for such a man ? There is one fortunate
thine about the bad book, it will not live.
It may gain a little notoriety, but time
will sift and winnow out the bad, and
only the best products survive. Emer-son
said it was not easy to distinguish
between notoriety and fame, and be sure
to read no mean books. Shun the
spawn of the press or the gossip of the
hour.
Although the bad book will not live,
and will be swallowed up in the wreck
of time, yet for a while it is calculated
to work untold harm. Faith can be un-settled,
vice of all kinds can be made to
stalk hydra-headed through the land,
corrupting individuals and nations. A
great book often accomplishes more
than a great battle. Even works of fic-tion
often e.xercise an immense in-fluence
on society.
Rabelais in France, and Cervantes in
Spain, overthrew the dominion of
monkery and chivalry, employing that
strongest of weapons, ridicule. Dickens
brought about many reforms in England
by his works ; and we all know what a
part Mrs. Stowe's book "Uncle Tom's
Cabin" had in bringing on the late war
between the States.
Temples and palaces crumble into
dust under the disintegrating touch of
time and the desolation of the changing
years ; statues and pictures moulder and
fade away ; but good books survive, be-cause
they have the essence of immor-tality.
^^'hat was said and thought
thousands of years ago still lives on the
printed page. The great and good do
not die, and we can hold communion
with them through the books they wrote,
imbibing the lofty spirit they breathed,
and stri\'ing after the high ideals they
created. Shakespeare, Scott, Dickens,
Goldsmith, and Burns, although dead
and buried long ago, still live, and in-fluence
the thought and action of men as
in the past.
No amount of money could influence
them to write anything of an impure
nature, and their works will live as long
as the English tongue is spoken. Thou-sands
in their day and since have writ-ten
countless books, but by the side of
this galaxy of stars in the literary firma-ment
they have gone out in darkness
and their names are not known. See-ing
what a powerful influence books
have, how thev can change the destiny
of individuals and nations, we can have
some idea of what a terrible responsib-ilitv
is that of the author.
Many of the stories and books that
flood the market today are not of the
highest standard, and furnish a sad
commentarv on tlie literary taste of the
age. Stories are being published in some
of our magazines that should not be re-cei\
ed in cultured homes, and parents
should look carefully through all pub-lications
before the children are allowed
to read them.
I have just read, in "The JVriter's
Bullctiii." published in New "S'ork, that
at a recent meeting of editors of leading
404 SKY-LAND MAGAZINH
magazines the question was pro-pounded,
''What's the matter with the
magazines?" It seems that no answer
was forthcoming that sufficiently cov-ered
the ground, and the question is still
open for others to express their opinion.
The writer of the article says that the
question of "What's the matter with the
magazines" may be covered in one reply,
and that is their desire to get rich at all
odds. Money, commercialism, seems to
be dragging its slimy trail all over this
fair land of ours, and if it lasts much
longer there is no telling what will be
the end. But it will not last, and purity
in literature will triumph just as in the
lives of nations, for the two are indis-solubly
linked. The literature of the
future will be clean and wholesome, or
the race will retrograde, and vice and
immorality will usurp the qualities that
tend to uplift the human race.
VIE.W OF PISGAH LODGE
The Motor in the Mountains
By X. Buckner
T\\
O years ago, Asheville, in the Blue
Ridge Mountains of \\'estern North
Carolina, jumped into the eye of the
motor world with its iirst exclusive auto-mobile
road in the country, which ex-tends
from the city limits to the summit
of Sunset ^fountain, three thousand, one
hundred and seventeen feet above sea
level, and nearly a thousand feet above
and overlooking the city and lovely val-leys
of the French Broad and Swan-nanoa
Rivers. This exclusive motor
road, three and a half miles in length,
was built and dedicated to the automobile
public, by Mr. E. W. Grove, the St.
Louis millionaire. Now Asheville jumps
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 4 5
again into the notice of the motor world
with an exclusive mountain motor road,
seventeen miles in length, to ]\Iount
Pisgah, whose summit is five thousand,
seven hundred and forty-nine feet above
sea level. This wonderful road was
built by the late ^Ir. George W. Vander-bilt,
with a force of oije hundred men,
working eight months each of two years,
using upward of five hundred tons of
car swings sharply around the end of a
great mountain spur, the bold heads of
"Pisgah and the Rat" burst into view
like great sentinels guarding the quiet
valley below. For four miles through
the South Hominy A^alley the road is of
fine grade and excellent surface, though
the valley itself is narrower than the
valley just left, the mountains rising
more abruptly on either side. Neat
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NEAR TOP OF PISGAH, ON WEST SIDE
dynamite, at a total cost of fifty-one thou-sand
dollars. From Asheville to the
entrance of this Pisgah Motor Road, one
travels sixteen miles over the Haywood
Road, eleven miles of which is macadam,
and five miles of sand clay, built by the
authorities of Buncombe County. This
Haywood Road passes through the
Hominy A'allej', a rich and prosperous
agricultural district, dotted with hand-some
country homes and farms, to
Candler. Here the motor leaves the
Haywood Road to the South, and as the
mountain homes greet the eye here and
there on the sides of the mountains, and
small patches of bottom lands lie along
the creek. At numerous turns of the
road are presented wonderfully beautiful
views of "Pisgah and The Rat" tower-ing,
apparently impenetrable walls to fur-ther
progress, far into the sunny blue
sky.
The Pisgah Motor Road leaves the
South Hominy Road eastward at right
angles across a level stretch of mountain
creek bottoms, passes through a mile of
466 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
virgin forest, crossing and recrossing
many times the small mountain stream of
crystal clearness, and emerges from this
forest of great oaks at a place where a
neat cabin home stands on a little farm.
Here the progress of the throbbing motor
to the top of Pisgah, for, while the road
is free to all who wish to go over it, and
drink deeply of the virgin atmosphere
that comes like a benediction from these
great forest-covered mountains, those
who do so must first secure passes from
J
;, SI.nUiM, KdAll CUT THROUGH SOLID ROCK
is stopped by a gate across the road, hung
with the old-fashioned sweep in use a
half-century ago. The honk honk of the
horn soon brings the trim little woman of
the home to the gate, to take up the
passes, which she carefully scrutinizes to
ascertain the number of cars that ha\e
been given the coveted privilege of going
the office of the great estate at Biltmore,
before they are permitted this pleasure.
Where more than one car is given a per-mit
to go on any one day, all the cars
must go and return together, the cars
ahead not being permitted to return until
all the cars shown on the permit have
reached the top, a measure adopted to
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 467
prevent the possibility of accident by rea-son
of the many sharp curves made in
reaching the summit.
Passing through the gate, one begins
the ascent of the mountain, along a road
as smooth as city pavements, which winds
direct perpendicular ascent of two thou-sand,
nine hundred feet, considerably
more than a half-mile, within a traveled
distance of less than eight miles. At one
point where it seemed impossible to find
space to make one of the curves, by rea-
'^L«sr:'' I"^^^-'
VIEW ox EA T SIDE
about the face of the mountains, passing
through deep shady glens, skirting pre-cipitous
gorges, crossing the jjoints of
the ridges along the mountain sic'es,
doubling back and forth in serpentine
windings, until one rises from two thou-sand,
three hundred feet above sea le\el
to five thousand, two hundred feet, a
son of the narrow ndge and precipitous
bluff, a cut was made through the ridge,
the road jjassing through and along the
opposite side a short distance, and then
back again through another cut, scaling
the side of the mountain, from which the
tra\'eler looks far down into the South
Hominy \'alley, across the table-lands to
468 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
the great rim of mountains forming a
serried skyline to the east and north.
The road at the summit is five thou-sand,
two hundred feet above sea level,
and the approach to it for several hun-dred
yards is cut bodily from the almost
perpendicular side of the mountain,
which at this point is solid granite. A
huge stone balustrade, nearly four feet
high, is built along the side of the road
ridges between Pisgah and the Big Bald,
and looks a thousand feet down on vast
acres of virgin forest below. Here one
stands entranced at the great picture
spread out before him, and beholds the
great expanse of mountain ranges and
towering peaks, with their wonderful
valleys that stretch away to the south anfj
east, to the north and west, mute bu!
glorious eloquence of the hand of Diviiv
CLOSE VIEW OF PISGAH AND THE KAT ON EAST SIDE
here, across which one has a view across
the valley far below to the broad acres
of the estate about the Biltmore mansion,
which appears like a bright gray spot on
the landscape of forest and field. On the
saddle of the ridge, formed by intersec-tion
of the ridges which flow away from
Pisgah on the north and Big Bald on
the south, is located Pisgah Lodge, the
summer home of the late Mr. Vanderbilt,
whose front porch stands on the very rim
of the mountains v^diich form the western
side of the basin made bv the connecting
ity and His prodigal generosity to the
children of men. Here, too, in the golden
autumn, the annual miracle takes place,
when the wooded mountains turn to tap-estries
of the most gorgeous hue, and the
air clears and softens, which makes pos-sible
those superb blues of the distance.
Turning away from the sublime views
\vhich confront one in every direction,
the Lodge itself proves an object of in-terest.
It is built of rough hewn logs,
the entire exterior possessing all the
outer earmarks of the rugged but well-
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE ¥9
to-do mountain home. The kitchen is
set back some little distance from the
''Big House," and connected thereto
with a covered walkway of the Colonial
period. The interior, however, has every
modern convenience of the city home.
Here the Vanderbilt family spent eight
to ten weeks each summer, close to the
very heart of nature.
Leaving the Lodge, the motor road
follows the backbone of the mountain for
a couple of miles, and then runs along
the side of the mountain, gradually drop-ping
down into the '"Pink Beds" valley,
a total distance of nine miles, there
to connect with the Mills River road
leading to Hendersonville. From the
top of the mountains, the road skirts
the i)rec;pitous sides, where vast pano-ramic
views of valleys and mountains
greet the eye. ever changing, each change
increasingly beautiful and sublime, until
at the point where the last far away look
may be had, various ranges pile up into
the skv, until seven distinct ranges are
cou-^ted. Then into the deeper forest
towards the lower valley the car speeds,
with now and then glimpsing views of
the towering mountains above, and the
tumbling waters in the stream below,
which seem to banter the car in the race
to the river far down in the valley.
Home of Mucklebcrry Finn, Hannibal. Mo.
.^-^ *iLi^^
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HOMIC ul- IIUCKI.MEREV FIXN
The Boy of Holiday's Hill
A TIMELY PAPER ON MARK TW^AIN
By Ella Pierce Dakin
THE life of Mark Twain—Samuel L. shows that great fame does not always
Clemens—proves that poverty is no bring happiness, nor does wealth bring
hindrance to a boy's success in life, and commensurate ease.
47° SKY-LAND MAGAZI.VE
John Clemens, the father of .Mark
Twain, was editor of a newspaper pub-lished
in Hannibal, Mo., which was a
small town during Mark Twain's youth.
In his father's office Mark first learned
the art of printing, and acquired the first
taste for a literary life.
Mark Twain was "raised" in the
simple manner of other village boys, and
Twain is best known and most loved
the world over by "Tom Sawyer,"
"Huckleberry Finn." and "Life on the
Mississippi," the stories of a boy living
in the dull, provincial town of that
period ; a boy with all of a boy's desire
for amusement, adventure, with an im-agination
to plan, and a reckless daring
to execute hair-raising plots.
i
.ME.\io;iAi. st.JlTuE of mark twain
possessed a sweet simplicity to the end
of his life. In his later years he became
ambitious to enter the higher realms of
literature ; how well he succeeded we
know, when he ga\'e to the world "A
Yankee at the Court of King Arthur,"
and "Joan of Arc." An eminent English
critic said, "These works not only take
instant rank of the highest order, but
will be enrolled among the highest
classics of the future." But Mark
These stories are so vividly told, so
true to the boy-spirit, that boys from dif-ferent
parts of the world have pro-nounced
a like ultimatum : "He under-stands
a boy's honest, inconsistent, reck-less,
innocent make-up." No wonder
boys feel he is their own ! To the Han-nibal
boy, just after reading "Tom Saw-yer"
and "Huck Finn" for the first time,
it is a great pleasure to start out to locate
the scenes of blood-curdling adventure.
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 471
and he will find them, though somewhat lowered, the grade made easier, while the
changed from what they were in "Tom's" surrounding grounds are plotted in grass
boyhood. and made attractive with flowers. The
I'jniioon HOME or mark twain
(Copyright by .Ai n.'i M .Schnislein. H.innibal, Mo., .ard il-^ed with ! er perTiiission.)
The old cave, for instance, which ran cave entrance is enclosed with a wooden
for miles underground, was a place of door, but nothing inside the cave is
refuge and a scene of many exploits. In changed. There is "Bat Hall." "Devil's
reaching the mouth of the cave, it is not Hole," "Penalty Chamber," "Crystal
Ji^ > 1 '^^^HH 1H^^HH^' Mark
t,,
Twain
^- Cave.
Hannibal.
Mo.
Jb V' tB
1
f^
Kn j/
'
n MARK TWAIN CAVE
now such a steep climb as it was when Hall." "Spring Avenue," and Parlor;
Mark Twain burrowed through a dense while over and above all is the indescrib-hazel-
nut tangle to reach it. It has been able air that is as distinct as it is solitary.
472 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
"Pete's Island," near by, is in the ]Mis-sissippi
River that flows past the town,
and is the setting of one of the thrilling
incidents of Mark Twain's stories.
Holiday's Hill, now J\Iain Street Heights,
was the "Lincoln Green" of Mark
Twain's time, where he and his clan
swarmed like Robin Hood and his men
of old.
The State of Missouri made an appro-priation
of ten thousand dollars to erect
a bronze statue of her gifted son, ]\Iark
Twain, which is to be unveiled this month
yet his pleasure in receiving it from the
University of his own State was, as he
afterwards related it, a quaint mixture of
his emotion and his irrepressible humor.
He shrank from the publicity and adula-tion
incident to his greatness, and when
in his "old home town," he sought to
lay aside the world's applause, and
mingle with his old comrades who were
left, as one of them.
On one of J\Iark Twain's visits to
Hannibal, the writer of this article heard
TWAIN S\VIM:\nXG PO"L
and which will attract wide attention. It
is to be placed on the top of Holiday's
Hill, in Hannibal, his boyhood home.
Standing on this spot, on his last visit
there, and looking upon the sweeping
view of the majestic Mississippi, Mark
Twain said : "I have traveled the world
around, and never saw a fairer sight."
So, 'twas thought the best place for the
statue.
On his last visit to Missouri, the State
University was the IMecca of his pilgrim-age,
he being summoned thither to receive
the honorary title of LL.D. This title
had been bestowed upon him by many of
the great Universities in foreign lands,
going with "Huck Finn" in his youth,
for "Huckleberry Finn" was the son of
the town drunkard, Tom Blankem.
"Finn" made his living by selling fish
and running errands, but he was inter-esting,
which made Alark Twain choose
him as a chum in spite of his mother's
commands.
him say that his mother forbade him
Mark Twain's boyhood home, an un-pretentious
house, has been bought and
presented to the city by the Honorable
and Mrs. George A. Manhan, loyal
citizens, and is converted into a small
museum, where relics of the family are
being collected.
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 473
It is a matter of public knowledge that
the last months of the great author's life
were, for the most part, filled with griev-ing
for his loved and lost ones, with
tragedy, and with the realization of the
futility of "setting the heart upon the
things of this life." The end of the
earth-life came to him on a beautiful
spring morning, and he lies at rest be-side
his dearly loved ones in the
cemetery in Elmira, N. Y.
Mark Twain's legacy to posterity is
one of sunshine and laughter, and en-livens
life for countless numbers, and
will continue to do so for generations
to come. The happy spirit of Mark
Twain will live forever.
An April Walk
By Lila Ripley Barnwell
"Heiglio ! Hurrah ! for an April day
Its cloud, its sparkle, its skip and stay
!
I mean to be happy whenever I may.
And cry when I must, for that's my way.
Wouldn't you do it, too.
If you had been born on an April day.
If you had been born on an April day?"
THAT rhyme may partly explain my
ungovernable longing for things
outside four walls, and even the turning
of my back upon the duties of a home
to answer the call of the woods.
Undoubtedly I have eaten \\'ood-
Magic, and this was done unconsciously.
No one knows where it grows, or how it
looks, and yet the single taste of a tiny
leaf, and you will be compelled to ever-more
respond to the call of the out-of-doors
; you will be the friend and com-panion
of trees, flowers, birds, and
animals.
The call was most insistent to-day,
and so, ignoring the disagreeable
but necessary task of house-cleaning, my
faithful dog. Somebody, and I ran away
to fully enjoy a stolen pleasure. Leav-ing
the streets as soon as possible, we
came to a few acres o? woodland that
have up to this time escaped the "]\Tarch
of Progress." I hate progress, when it
means the cutting down of superb trees,
destroying beds of fern, clearing the
twisted thickets of hidden wonders
found in their cool depths. If improve-ment
and progress were but synonymous,
but alas ! I think progress and destruc-tion
are more nearly allied. My heart
sank when I came to this wood, which
has held such a warm place in my affec-tions.
Splendid oaks lay prostrate on
the ground ; a grand old maple and
sturdy pine had fallen by the axman's
blows. Men were busily engaged in
clearing the tangled luxuriance of
spreading bramble from the alders,
smilax and grape vines had been ruth-lessly
torn from the supporting branches
of the trees, and a mass of exquisite
hemlock had been dug up, and replaced
by a hideous ditch. My first thought
was, What will become of the birds?
Almost in answer to my unspoken query,
a pair of yellow-hammers began an ex-cited
conversation over my head. I am
sure they were discussing the situation,
for yellow-hammers have kept house in
the oaks on the hillside ever since my
childhood. Now they have been sud-denly
evicted. In me they found a
ready sympathizer, and my distress was
very genuine when they told me that
they would have to move to the real
country.
474 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
Yellow-hammers belong to the woo.*l-pecker
family. They are ardent and
ridiculous lovers. Mr. Yellow-hammer
spreads his tail stiffly, and sidles up to
his desired mate, then he bows and bobs
before her, retreats, advances, bowing
and bobbing again, often with a rival
lover beside him trying to outdo him in
grace and attractiveness. One quality
must surely recommend him to the pros-pective
bride, his unfailing good nature,
his geniality at home and abroad.
On Somebody and I tramped, pausing
for a moment to watch some minnows
playing in a small pool under the bridge.
Somebody dashed into the water, and
broke up the game. I wonder what they
thought of the big, woolly creature who
almost filled the pool. A pair of song
sparrows were flitting in and out of the
low growth that bordered the stream.
Do song sparrows ever fly higher than
ten feet? I never saw one a greater dis-tance
than that from the ground. A
half-mile beyond we came to a field of
pale, tan sedge. I love the sedge, from
its green and garnet beauty of summer
to the feathery tan softness of autumn
and winter. A bright October day, a
sedge-covered hillside, and then just to
lie there gazing into the limitless blue
—
did you ever do that? If not, take my
word for it, and try the experience on
your first opportunity. As I lay revell-ing
in the sunshine, and the springiness
of the turf beneath me, a buzzard sailed
majestically over my head, and I
watched his steady flight until he be-came
a mere speck in the blueness. One
may not like the buzzard's business, but
he is a useful public servant, and his
frequent abolutions keep him from be-coming
malodorous. I love to watch
him glide through the atmosphere—no
haste, no fluttering of the wings, only
an occasional graceful curve or undula-tion.
I think the grace of his flight is
only equaled by that of the eagle.
Somebody startled a rabbit from his
siesta under a heavy tuft of sedge.
Bunny bounded away for a short dis-tance,
then turned and looked at me with
an air of sleepy injury.
^^'hen we reached the lake, the alders
were scattering the yellow pollen with
every breeze that rippled the waves. A
big bullfrog jumped into the water with
a cher-chunck, and two smaller frogs
frantically endeavored to follow him.
A red-winged blackbird was rejoicing
in the perfect day, as his eyes wandered
here and there seeking companionship.
I like a blackbird—such a jolly, good
fellow ; of course, preferring his own
folks, but willing to hobnob with any
bird that comes along ; an aristocrat, but
very democratic. \\"hat charming nests
these blackbirds build, usually swinging
over some stream, and containing three
or four pale blue eggs, splotched with
black or purple.
^^'e left the tender, green border of
the lake, and began wending our way
through the tall, dark pines to the
orchard beyond. My spirits always
come to a restful calm in the shadow of
these dignified trees, and their "dim re-ligious
atmosphere" is like the sanctity
of a cathedral.
Oh—O—h, I said as the pink and
white loveliness of the aoole blossoms
burst upon mv vision. Not only their
beautv, each like an enormous shower
bouquet but the dainty, warm, sweet
perfume made me close my eyes in lan-gourous
indolence. To lie on the rich
grass beneath, and watch the sunshine
glinting through this fragrant bower of
delight, to have the soft petals fall
caressingly upon your face, surely that
was iov enough for one day. I looked
for my friend, the oriole, but not a
glimpse of h's striking orange and black
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 475
did I see. Perhaps he is a little late this
season. The oriole is a bird of fiery
temper, but with all that he is such a
gentleman, especially to his wife; and
does not that fact prove him a gentleman
indeed?
;\Ir. and Airs. Catbird are preparing
their summer home in the orchard, a
delightful resort, not overcrowded, but
just birds enough about to be neighborly.
I call catbirds tailor made; their hand-some
gray suits are the perfection of
good taste, style, and fit. These birds
belong to the upper class, and yet some-times
play the rowdy. I have seen a
catbird ruffle up his neat feathers, put his
head on one side with a blase air, and
shuffle along a limb, looking as though
he had a night out with the boys. I love
his song, its variety, its clearness ; and
then he is such a merry jester, and a
cle\'er caricaturist. The catbird's nest
is a veritable scrap-basket, containing
bits of everything, but soft and smooth
inside, for the safety of the dark, green-ish-
blue eggs it is to hold.
Last summer the big apple tree in our
garden held the nests of three catbird
and two robin families : in the next tree,
a pair of busy nuthatches had a home
;
the rose underneath contained the resi-dence
of two song sparrows ; the excit-able
wrens had a nest in the arbor ; the
jaybirds occupied the locust; and a pair
of bluebirds had a lease on a hollow in a
telephone pole near my window. I felt
as though I owned an aviary. \Miat
a dignified, well-behaved bird the robin
is—somewhat conventional, but always
upholding the traditions of his family.
The male bird has quite a military bear-ing,
and his strong personality positively
dominates birddom. I would not like
him to hear me, but I do think young
robins are the quintescence of ugliness.
Their wide, gaping mouths seem to reach
to the very back of their necks, and their
heads are too big for their bodies.
The wrens are nervous creatures, talk-ative
and irritable. How they do gestic-ulate
with their expressive tails. One
can almost understand what they say.
When I hear their exquisite melody I
often leave my seat to watch the happy
songster. It scarcely seems possible
that such a volume of music could come
from those tiny throats. Mrs. Wren is
something of a shrew, but a splendid
housekeeper. The nest is kept scrupu-lously
clean, and the work is accompanied
by the cheeriest of songs, interrupted by
an occasional burst of temper.
The buebirds are again considering the
telephone pole. I hope they will take it.
Their domestic alifairs interested me
much last season. Air. Bluebird assists in
preparing the home but after that is fin-ished
family cares rest very lightly upon
him. Mrs. Bluebird has the entire charge
of rearing the family, and while Mr.
Bluebird admires her untiring industry
and loving devotion it never occurs to
him to share the work.
Not so with our gorgeous, fearless,
cardinal grosbeaks. They are models of
domestic felicity, sharing equally and
aft'ectionately the duties of the home.
We place them amongst the F. F. V. of
bird folks ; and haughty aristocrats they
are. So many of them have been in our
garden this spring. I frequently pause
to watch their brilliant costume, and to
hear their clear, beautiful notes.
As for the jaybirds, well, I like jays.
They are good-looking, daring people,
but in spite of their smart appearance
they are really very plebeian. Mr. and
Mrs. Jay quarrel disgracefully, their
language is sometimes shocking, they
even stoop to pulling feathers. They
disturb the neighborhood, and the better
class of birds refuse to notice them.
Leaving the fascinations of the orchard,
476 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
W€ follow a winding path through a
blackberry thicket, across a fern-decked
dell, under a wire fence, over a merr)^,
little stream fringed with lovely blue
innocence and moss, past the big poplar
by the spring, and then up to the hill
beyond, luxuriant with arbutus and fresh
galax leaves. The busy tap of a wood-pecker
arrested my attention, and I
looked around to find his place of work.
Soon I saw his crimson head and his
glossy black and white body flattened
against the loose bark of an oak. The
woodpeckers are examples of happy
married life. Faithfully they work to-gether,
both helping to hollow out the
hole that is to contain the four or six
white eggs. They even take turns at
work, and after "twenty minutes for
refreshments" the one off duty returns
to labor, having been summoned by a lov-ing
call.
Over the hill and down to the road,
winding like a red and white ribbon
between the tender green trees on either
side, ^^'e followed this for awhile, leav-ing
it for the quiet beauty of Osceola
Lake. Somebody plunged into the cool-ness
of the water, inviting me to follow.
I envied him. Human beings have
many restrictions. I quarrel against
them, but have to respect them. The
placid surface of the lake was scarcely
disturbed bv a ripple. Dozens of swal-lows
were holding some sort of a con-test.
I was not asked to be umpire, but
I watched them for a long time. X^p
thev would fly, then straight down with
such marvelous swiftness that I thought
thev would certainly strike the water
but barelv skimming the surface .they
would dart across, then up down to the
water asrain, and so on and on. Swal-lows
in a tree on the shore applauded
and encouraged the contestants enthusi-astically.
A solitary duck swam slowlv
and contentedly through the center of
the lake, not aware that a huge hawk
was watching him from a dead chest-nut.
My, what talons those hsv/ks
have—strong, fierce, cruel, but suited to
their manner of getting a living. Owls
also have great strength in their .^laws.
I used to watch a pair of funny, solemn,
little owls who nested in our ivy. They
would sit side bv side on a small branch,
looking as though nothing on earth would
disturb their serenity and content. Sud-denly
one or other would fly with noise-less
rapidity to the roosting place oi the
sparrows. Then such a commotion —
terror, rage, cries, shrieks from th; spar-rows,
but the owl always returned with
his prey. I am sorry for the Eng'ish
sparrows, but willing to spare a few of
them. They kept our garden walk? con-stantly
littered with trash, and once vvhen
we had to take down some nests almost
against the windows, one might have
thought that we had emptied a feather
bed at the front door.
Somebody and I left the lake, clamber-ing
down by the spillway, stopping t
)
watch the madly-racing water lash itsc'f
into foaming billows as it dashed and
leaped to the pool below. In the mid'-:t
of the whiteness. I saw something like
a black leather strap, but as I looked
into the pool I saw my strap wiggle into
about four feet of black snake, and swim
to the opposite bank, where he eyed me
with his vicious, wicked eyes. I do not
like snakes, but have no fear of them.
I will parley with the creatures, and being
a woman, and a true daughter of Eve,
what could you expect?
We came around the north side of
the big hill, and by the enormous, lichen-covered
boulders, lying where they had
been hurled ages ago by the Cyclops
—
maybe. Mountain geranium and hardy
ferns were springing from the cool,
damo earth below and the broad, light
ereen Icves of the mallow covered a
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 477
cluster of viokts. A placid Jersey cow
was greedily cropping the fresh, young
grass near the road. Somebody nipped
her shins, and she promptly returned
him a kick in the ribs. With an ag-gieved,
humilated air he ran to me for
sympathy. The lecture I gave him on
minding your own business fell, I fear,
on heedless ears.
A loud caw, caw revealed the presence
of crows in the neighborhood, and I saw
their shining black feathers glistening in
a maple tree. They were holding a caw-cuss
(Oh, execrable pun!); anyway
their discussion was very animated. The
crow is a clever, bold, inquisitive, thiev-ish
rascal, but so droll and amusing that
we readily forgive him his shortcomings.
Crows are closely related to the jay
family, but are quite indifferent to their
more pretentious relatives.
On a bank at the bend of the road,
honeysuckle was sprawling in riotous
profusion. What a find for the humming
birds a little later. How they revel in its
sweetness, searching each bloom with
their long bills. That dagger-like bill
makes the humming bird a keen duelist,
and thus armed he does not hesitate to
attack a bird three times his size. I
have never found a humming-bird's nest,
though I have seen them. They are so
small, and so artfully constructed to
match the wood on which thev rest, that
one might easily overlook them. The
pretty white eggs are about the size of a
pea. The young birds are sometimes
ready to leave the nest a week after
hatching.
In an old cornfield, I saw the promise
of an abundant crop of thistles. This
reminds me of finches, those happy-hearted,
yellow birds that look like
canaries, and rival them in song. Their
notes just bubble out. Blanchen savs,
"His sweet, incoherent melody might be
the outpouring from two or three throats
at once instead of one."
The road failing in interest, we again
"took to the woods," the smell of the
moist earth and disintegrating leaves
rising like incense in my nostrils. In an
alder thicket, I saw a pair of thrushes
preparing to make a home. What glor-ious
voices they have ! They make me
think of angels, and I strongly suspect
them of having escaped from the
heavenly choir. The thrush is a creature
of refined elegance. He can devour a
wriggling worm as daintily as caviare at
a royal table. Then their coloring of
bright cinnamon brown, fading to a
softer shade on the back, the white
throat and breast with dark markings,
the perfect fit, and their unmistakable
good-breeding, proclaim them of gentle
blood. In all nesting birds, one notices
the look of brooding maternity, but it
seems especially developed in the thrush,
like to that of a human mother. The
attitude expresses hope, trust, confidence,
prayer.
The phoebe birds have come. I saw
ever so many today. Scientists tell us
that these birds are mated for life, and
no separation, legal or otherwise, except
death is ever known. Yet strange to say
the mates never travel together. The
males arrive ten days or more in advance
of the females. Their unmistakable joy
in being reunited is pathetic and comical.
As we climbed the stile at the meadow, a
pair of larks arose with a whirr from
the grass. Blanchen says they are not
larks at all, but belong to the blackbird
family. I love to hear them whistle
"Spring o' the y-e-a-r, spring o' the
y-e-a-r."
I have not seen or heard a whippoor-will
this season ; too early, no doubt. I
rarely e\'er see one, for they are
nocturnal in their habits, and sleep all
day, usually stretched lengthwise on a
478 SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
limb. If by chance I have disturbed one
of them they fly noiselessly away like
some uncanny creature. It is said that we
never have frost after the whippoorwills
arrive. They seem to put their eggs just
anywhere, on the ground, in the leaves,
in a stump or the hollow of a rock, never
a builded nest. Yet the mother bird is
so devoted to her progeny that she will
even carry them in her beak if danger
threatens.
Must I stop talking of our beautiful
out-of-doors, and our feathered friends?
Try an April walk. It is warranted to
cure any mental disorder. Burroughs
says: 'Tt is not the walking merely, it is
keeping yourself in tune for a walk, in
the spiritual and bodily condition in
which you can find entertainment and
exhilaration in so simple and natural a
pastime. You are eligible to any good
fortune when you are in a condition to
enjoy a walk, ^^'h.en the air and water
taste sweet to you, how much else will
taste sweet. When the exercise of your
limbs affords you pleasure, and the play
of your senses upon the various objects
and shows of Nature quickens and stim-ulates
your spirits, and your relation to
the world and yourself is what it should
be—simple, and direct, and wholesome."
Impressions and Expressions
Bv Walter Hamilton Candler
ANY process, no matter what it is,
which renders a man useful to his
fellow man, is education. Some impor-tant
discoveries are now being made in
the educational world, one of which is
that similar processes do not always pro-duce
like results. In other words, a
process that is successful in some in-stances
is not applicable in others.
All mind is the same. This, to some,
will appear as a broad assertion ; but it is
true. The mind of an imbecile and that
of a learned philosopher are alike. There
is positively no difference in mind. But,
no two brains are alike. Therefore, the
same method of training will not apply to
every individual.
Recently we have read and heard much
about our old methods of training and
educating the child being erroneous, and
the much vaunted theme of vocational
education has gone the rounds of the
educational world, and some valuable
theories have been advanced, and day by
day the question draws nearer to the
hearts of the thinking men and women
of the world, who are becoming more
profoundly impressed by its magnitude.
The old "Blueback" Speller still holds
its place back there in the heroic past
where history lingers, and we of the
twentieth century instinctively revere it.
But the day of the "Blueback" Speller
has passed, as other things pass with the
ceaseless onward flow of time. This is
an age of progress in which we live ; an
age of action instead of dreams, and how-ever
sweet the memory of the hallowed
past, sweeter still are the anticipations of
the golden future that spread out allur-ingly
before us. Yet, the boy or girl who
through a lack of training is unprepared
to cope with conditions, to meet intel-ligently
the adversities, the disappoint-ments,
the vicissitudes and temptations
incidental to life, will find the future cold,
uninviting, and repellant.
A knowledge of Latin, Greek, the
classics, and higher branches of educa-tion,
is considered necessary to higher in-
SKY-LAND MAGAZINE 479
tellectual attainments and ideals, but the
one vital and all-important question asked
by the world today when the young man
or woman offers their services, is : "What
can you do?"
What can the average High School or
University graduate of today do to de-mand
a salary sufficiently large to meet
all the necessities and a few of the
luxuries of life?
At this very moment there are thou-sands
and thousands of young men
and women in this country who
are dreaming the golden-tinted dreams
of a great and glorious future, and
are planning to start on a voyage
out into the cold, unresponsive world,
seeking riches, glory, and happiness.
They will leave the loved ones
—
father, mother, brothers and sisters be-hind,
and following the alluring mirage
better known as the wild dream of youth
—go forth to fight the battles of life—to
fight alone, without the thoughtful guid-ance
of the kind father and the tearful
admonitions of a loving mother.
The world cares nothing about good
looks, how the hair is parted, the style of
the clothes, a reputation as an enter-tainer,
or whether the father of the young
man or woman was a lawyer, physician,
preacher, or governor, or whether he is a
rich or poor man. But there is some-thing
the world at large is interested in,
and if the young man or woman is
equipped with that their success is already
established before they leave home—and
that is knowledge, practical knowledge,
that can be applied in the every-day life.
If a man or woman is not sufficiently
equipped to render useful service to their
fellow man—no matter what universities
or colleges they may have graduated
from, they are not educated. I have seen
highly cultured people who were not edu-cated
; and to my mind there is a vast
difference between education and culture.
However the two may be made to con-verge,
yet there is a difference that is dis-tinct
and striking. I have seen uncultured
men and women who were educated
—
they were prepared to render useful
service.
In this age, one's time is reckoned by
its intrinsic value, and unless a man can
calculate his hours, days, weeks, months,
and years in dollars and cents, the
chances are that man, in competition
with trained men in the rush, push, and
turmoil in the field of commerce, will be
a failure.
It would be absurd for me to say, or
even insinuate, that our present system
of education is erroneous, while the
present-day system, as compared with
the system in vogue fifty vears ago, is
not, after all, so greatly different. The
immense value of the improvements that
have been made in the systems of edu-cation
in the past is incalculable, and I
belie\e that the changes which will be
made in the educational world within the
next ten years will be fruitful of most
gratifying results.
Today, there is no particular incentive
to the young man or woman who con-templates
teaching as a means of liveli-hood—
not even as much today as in the
past. The school teacher ot thirty years
ago, drawing twenty-five dollars per
month, was considered the best paid in-dividual
in the community. Things have
changed since then—that is, everything
but the school teacher's salary, which
remains about the same. There is abso-lutely
no encouragement offered to one
as a school teacher, compared to that
offered in different lines of endeavor
which do not require near so much prep-aration.
It requires more time, patience, and
hard study to prepare one for teaching
than for any other profession. But most
any of the other professions pay more,
48o SKY-LAND MAGAZINE
and they do not require the close appli-cation
that teaching does. Four or five
years' study will fully equip a lawyer.
physician, or minister. But. at the end
of four or five years, a school teacher
has just commenced.
Of all professions, school teachers
should be specialists. "\\'e need in our
school-rooms today men and women who
have specialized on some one thing, and
who can teach that one thing better than
anyone else. To be a successful school
teacher it is necessary, first, to have a
good college education. A trip abroad
every year or two may not be absolutely
necessary, but is greatly beneficial. Post-graduate
courses are essential ; study,
planning, scheming, and thinking are also
important and necessary to the success
of the teacher, as much if not more so
than any other profession. Yet, I re-peat,
what incentive is there to the young
man or woman to give their entire lives,
time, energy, and capital in the learning
of a vocation as poorly remunerative as
that of teaching school ? There are, of
course, a few who can and do undertake
this profession, and there is a surpris-ingly
large number of successful school
teachers. But who can truthfully say
they are not handicapped? How differ-ent
would it