any of its forms, whether it be petty thieving or legalized
graft. For this trait alone, his development would mean
much to a world which so much needs men, honest men.
        "'IMen who., the lust of office does not kill;
        Men whom the greed of office cannot buy:

        Men who possess opinions and a will;
          Men who can stand before a demagogue
          And scorn his flatteries, without winking;
          Tall men, sun crowned, who live among the fog
          In public duty and in private thinking

    The pride of the mountain child has militated somewhat
against his higher development, as well as against his pres-
ent welfare and comfort. Alms he will not accept, even
when confronted with dire straits of poverty and suffering.
Well did the author of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine"
conceive this trait in the character of little June Tolliver,
and well did he conceal John Hale's charity to her under
the guise of a payment of a debt for her father's coal lands;
for had he presented her as accepting charity knowingly
and willingly, his characterization would have been both
unjust and untrue. An example of this pride was wit-
nessed recently by a teacher in a mountain district school
in one of the poorer sections. The teacher, wishing to in-
culcate a lesson in charity, and to instill into her pupils the
true Christmas spirit, announced that the school would close
with a Christmas tree, from which gifts would be dis-
tributed to the poor children, and to the poor alone. The
announcement was received without comment or demon-
stration, but when the hour arrived for a distribution of
the gifts, all little hands were folded and every child sat
with eyes blazing with indignation, and lips set with deter-
mination; and sweets and fruits and glittering toys, so
tempting an appeal to childish hearts the world over, were
promptly and positively refused, for not one would confess
himself in a class more dependent than his neighbor. The
mendicants of the nation, if mendicants it must have, will
have to come from the low lands; the pride of the mountain
child will save him forever from that class.
    The originality of the mountain child has provided more
than one author with a cherished theme, and has led a read-
ing public into a new and delightful field of literature; and
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