Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/645

 SOUTHERN COTTON-MILL COMMUNITIES 625

country is a rapidly vanishing evil. From such a conclusion it is not unnatural to desire to pass on to a study of the homes and the family life of the mill operatives throughout the new manu- facturing South ; and to the student of sociological problems a few weeks or months spent in the factory towns will prove rich in results.

Having visited a score or these interesting communities in different cotton states, I find myself still drawn back to them by haunting suggestions of unexplored phases in the social lite, domestic order, industry, education, or moral codes of their peo- ple. It is a many-sided matter that we touch when we discuss the homes and the home-living of the world's toilers. Nor will conscience be slow to protest against any hasty judgments con- cerning a life into which we come only as an exotic element.

I find points of distinct difference between the factory opera- tives of the South and those of any other section of our own country, or even Europe.

In the first place, there are no urban instincts in these south- ern mill communities. Whatever virtues they lack, at least they have not the vices of cities. The good and the evil in them are still such as belong to a strictly rural people. But no one must expect after another decade and a half to find the same thing true ; for with the passing of the present generation this unique characteristic must of necessity be largely lost. Gregariousness of living is potent to efface such a mark even when deeply stamped.

It may be asked : What are the indications of this quality which, for lack of a better word, is named "rusticity"? The signs are many and easy to read. No observant person can miss the plain evidence even in his first day with the mill people. He walks past the cottages row on row, and sees prince's feather and bachelor's button growing in the tiny yards, patchwork quilts sunning from the windows, and strings of red pepper festooned on the back porch. The boys are quite often chewing tobacco, but they are not smoking cigarettes. Often, alas! the girls dip snuff, but they do not lace in their waists nor attempt handkerchief flirtations. The women are given to quiet, and a