Sight to the Blind | Page 9

so 's to have a-plenty of kivers and linsey for sale come cold weather;
and we all rejoiced amazing, knowing prosperity wa' n't no further from
us than yan side the mountain.
"And now, fellow-sisters, you see before you a ree-surrected woman. I
hain't only got the sight of my eyes; I got mind-sight, heart-sight,
soul-sight. I hain't only got these fine store-teeth and a tamed and

biddable stummick; but the innard power to chaw and digest speritual
truth. I hain't only wearing these gayly, boughten clothes, I 'm
a-fla'nting the robes of joy and the gyarments of praise. I know the
Lord don't hate me and never did; I know I am free, restored, and saved;
I know my Redeemer liveth, and has fotch me up out of the blackness
of darkness on to the top-most peaks of joy and peace and
thanksgiving.
"And don't think, women,--don't never, never think I hain't aiming to let
my light shine! I aim to use my faculty not for worldly betterment
alone, but to turn it loose likewise in the line of religion and
preachifying. Yes, every night this enduring winter will see me
a-s'arching the Scriptur'; and what I can't read I can ricollect; and come
August, when the craps is laid by and the funeral occasions sets in, I
will be ready for 'em. There won't be one in twenty mile' that won't see
me a-coming, and a-taking my stand by the grave-houses in these
reesurrection gyarments, for to norate the wonders of my experience,
and to shame and confound and drownd out Uncle Joshuay and t'other
blind leaders of the blind whatever they dare raise their gray heads and
hoary lies, and gin'rally to publish abroad, world-without-eend, the
ons'archable riches and glory and power of the love of God."

Afterword
In the heart of the Kentucky mountains, that romantic and little-known
region popularly regarded as the "home of feuds and moonshine," a
rural social settlement, the first in the world, was begun fifteen years
ago under the auspices of the State Federation of Women's Clubs of
Kentucky.
Half a dozen young women from the prosperous Blue-Grass section,
headed by Miss Katherine Pettit and Miss May Stone, went up into the
mountains, several days' journey from a railroad, and, pitching their
tents, spent three successive summers holding singing, sewing, cooking
and kindergarten classes, giving entertainments, visiting homes, and
generally establishing friendly relations with the men, women, and

children of three counties.
One of the many surprises was to find the mountains so thickly
populated,--the regulation family boasting a dozen children,--and the
most inadequate provision made by the State for the education of these
young sons and daughters of heroes. For it is well known that much of
this section was settled originally by men who received land-grants for
their services in the Revolution, and who, with their families,
disappeared into these fastnesses to emerge later only at their country's
call,--the War of 1812, the Mexican, the Civil, and the Spanish Wars
bringing them out in full force, to display astonishing valor always.
Aware of this ancestry, the visiting women were not surprised to find
much personal dignity, native intelligence, and gentleness of manner,
even among men who conceived it their duty to "kill off" family
enemies, and women who had never had the first chance at
"book-l'arning."
One of the three summers was spent on Troublesome Creek, at the
small village of Hindman, the seat of Knott County. Here the "citizens"
so appreciated the "quare, foreign women" as to be unwilling to let
them depart. "Stay with us and do something for our young ones, that
mostly run wild now, drinking and shooting," they said. "We will give
you the land to build a school on."
Touched to the heart, seeing the great need, and asking nothing better
than to spend their lives in such a service, Miss Stone and Miss Pettit
went "out into the world" that winter and gave talks in various cities, by
spring raising enough money to start the desired Settlement School at
Hindman.
During a dozen years this remarkable school has grown and prospered,
until more than a hundred children now live in it, and two hundred
more attend day-school.
While its academic work is excellent, special stress is laid upon the
industrial courses, the aim being to fit the children for successful lives
in their own beloved mountains. To this end the boys are taught

agriculture, carpentry, wood and metal work, and the rudiments of
mechanics; the girls cooking, home-nursing, sewing, laundry work, and
weaving, these subjects being learned not only in classes, but by doing
the actual labor of school and farm.
Aside from educational work proper, various forms of social service are
carried on,--district nursing, classes in sanitation and hygiene, social
clubs and entertainments