PREFACE

A M E R I C A k nows least of what is m ost A merican. M elting-pot of the nations, with Europe's and Asia's dross t hrown i n along with their good m etal, she is likely t o forget, i n all this conglomerate, t he base of the alloy, w hich m ade t he nation and which must yet preserve it. I n t he providence of God there has been s aved to America a l ong wedge of that pure metal     a golden wedge of O phir. S tretching from N o r t h to South, scarce t wo h undred miles inland, are the mountains that formed t he frontier of English America when America became a n ation. T hese m ountains are filled with the s tock ? of the Revolution, a race w ith the primitive virtues t hat won our liberties, that extended our borders, that p reserved the ideal of freedom i n its great hour of t rial. A s mattering of knowledge   gained mostly from works of fiction     has the American public of this great mountaineer race, a smattering that begets more of idle wonder and vacant amusement than of honest a dmiration a nd symapthy. Yet the Southern mountaineer is, all Schooled i n a ll, the m ost a dmirable type of American.

t o simplicity, not lacking in vigor, he keeps i n great degree t he powers t hat preserve nations, powers t hat too m any of our people are losing in the nerve-racking s train of our unexampled age. V What of opportunity (3)