THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
We have looked at Appalachian Values as specified by Loyal Jones in his book, Appalachian Values (Jesse Stuart Foundation, 1994) and listed thus far religion, independence (that covers also self-reliance and pride), neighborliness, familism (love for family) and personalism (or relating well with others). Today we will complete his list with humility (modesty), love of place, patriotism, sense of beauty and sense of humor.
Mountain people
hold to humility and modesty. They do not
like to take credit for any
achievements they might have accomplished.
They had rather defer compliments to others, or at least defect
them
from themselves by saying such things as, “Well, this of which you
speak is
really not that good, not worthy of honor, anyway.”
Take for example a man from Union County, who
had to bear much of the responsibility of helping his mother rear his
siblings
after his father died. After a hard
youth and manhood, he went forth from the mountains and did quite well
as a
leader in the state of Georgia. His name
was Mauney Douglas Collins who for twenty-five years served as the
state school
superintendent. During his decade in the top school position in
Georgia, he led
in innumerableachievements in
educational advancement to his credit. Among
them were moving scattered one-teacher schools into consolidation,
getting the
“Minimum Program of Education” funded and a more stabletax base for
education
established, free textbooks, school and public libraries, nine months
of school
for all students, bus transportation. The list could go on of
accomplishments
under his administration. But when
commended for his work, as is so often the case with mountain-bred
persons, he
would reply with, “It was time for a change, the people were ready for
change,
the time was right.” He did not like for
credit to accrue to his own name. Yet
the record is there for all to examine and admire.
Loyal Jones describes this sense of modesty
and humility: “We believe that we should
not put on airs, not boast, nor try to get above our raising” (p. 90).
“What does a
land resemble, named for rabbits?...
There is peace
here, quiet and unhurried living,
Something to
wonder at in aged faces;
These are not
all I mean, but symbols for it,
A thing, if one
but has the spirit for it,
Better, I say,
than many rabbits dancing.”
Patriotism
seems almost to be a built-in
characteristic of Appalachian people.
Next to family, another beloved entity for which one will die is
country. So many people now dwelling in
the hills and hollows of Appalachia can trace their ancestry back to
someone
who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Likewise, when the rift came between the states in the 1860’s,
many
mountain people sided with the Union in that fray.
The county of Union, when founded in 1832,
was named Union because the representative,John Thomas, when asked what
to name
it, declared, “Union, for only Union-like people reside there!” From every war in which America has engaged
since the Declaration of Independence was declared in 1776, Appalachian
mountain military persons have fought with the bravest to win and
maintain
freedom.
A sense of
beauty permeates place with majestic
purple-clad mountains rising toward the sky and green valleys with
meandering
streams rushing through the rocks and rills of what is Appalachia. But as if nature is reflected in what hands
produce, beauty is seen in creative projects from looms, needles,
workshops,
blacksmith shops. Mountain music played
on banjo, dulcimer, and fiddle pays tribute to beauty of sound and
accompanies
voices that might have composed the songs telling about the land and
its
people. A concert of beauty rises in
place, project and pursuits as if in tumultuous offering of what the
people
enjoy in Appalachia in loveliness. Is
life not hard there? We wonder and yet
know
that it often is, but amidst the hard toil and sometimes deprivation,
the
imagination and industry of a people seek after and produce beauty.
And, finally,
all the characteristics of mountain
life are wrapped in a sense of humor.
Loyal Jones assizes the humor of the mountaineer by stating: “Humor is more than fun; it is a coping
mechanism
in sickness or hard times” (p. 123). We
often make ourselves the brunt of our own jokes. I
remember the Rev. Jesse Paul Culpepper who
was born and reared in Wetmore, Tennessee and who, for 26 and �
years of his
ministry was the director of missions among churches in rural Fannin
and Gilmer
Counties in Georgia. He was known far
and wide for his preaching, and the points he could easily make on a
difficult
passage. He had the ability to do that
oftentimes by telling one of his funny stories, with himself more
likely than
not the one who had put himself into a humorous position which would
help the
people to remember the point he was making.
For example, in teaching tithing as a biblical way of giving, he
would
sometimes tell: “Our churches need a
better way to raise money than to make punkin’ pies with foam on top
(his word
for merinque) and try to sell them to the highest bidder. I got one of
those
pies one time, and it was awful. We’re not winners when we get
something like
that. Why not give the money to the
Lord’s treasury to start with?”
In closing his
book on Appalachian Values, Loyal Jones appeals
to us all to help
correct the abuses to place and people that have occurred within our
environs. We can no longer put on
blinders and hope the problems of environment and social conditions
will go
away on their own. He implores: “The reasons for change (must be) sound and
desired by mountain people” (p. 138).
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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