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 A RETARDED FRONTIER

15

tobacco, and other odd-looking articles. The general effect of the room was a little that of a pawnshop in Petticoat Lane.

The conversation turned, for the most part, upon personal topics, and we felt it necessary to give a fairly detailed account

A SCHOOLHOUSE

of ourselves. No one ever seemed surprised at our desire to see the mountains, and we tried not to betray any consciousness of the unusual conditions in which we were placed. VVj;ienever the talk turned from personal matters, it easily worked around to theological discussions, in which most of our entertainers seemed to take keen pleasure. One man said that he was regarded as a dangerous character in his valley, a sort of freethinker, a mountain Ingersoll perhaps, because he had avowed his doubts about predestination. Another was an orthodox member of the Baptist church, and took strong ground against "fiddling" and " frolics."

We had heard so many stories of the ignorance of the mountaineers that we were somewhat disappointed by their familiarity with a good many things we had expected them not