Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/21

 A RETARDED FRONTIER

5

" wars " that have played so striking a part in mountain life dur- ing the last thirty years.

The typical mountain family very considerably must exceed the numerical average for the country as a whole. It is by no

A TYPICAL CABIN

means an unusual thing to find a family in which ten children have been born, while the number rarely falls below five or six. The general health, so far as one gets impressions from casual inquiry, seems to be exceptionally good. One mother asserted with pride that she had raised twelve children without losing one, and without so much as having a doctor in the house. She spoke learnedly of certain potent herbs, but she summed up her medi- cal theory and practice by saying that when the children were sick she kept them in bed until they got well.

The houses of the mountains, outside of the county towns, are almost without exception built of hewn oak logs, dovetailed securely at the corners. The crevices are filled with mud, and generally a split oak strip is spiked between the logs. The pitched roofs are covered with long, hand-made shingles, irregular and curled. The chimney, except in the case of the poorer cabins, is made of stone, frequently carefully cut and