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T H E KENTUCKY HIGHLANDERS

W h a t a p i t y M . Prosper Merimee never v isited t he K e n tucky h ighlands for the setting of " C o l o m b a ! " L et us account for some of the lawlessness and b loodthirstiness among the K e n t u c k y Mountaineers. In the p ioneer days these p eople were compelled to bear the b runt of fighting the Cherokee and other Indian tribes, w hile t he people of the plains were molested w ith c omparative rarity. A mere handful of red men c ould g uard a m ountain pass a gainst a large body of whites, and it was the strategic importance of the highlands t hat m ade t hem a favorite fighting ground between the pioneers and t he tribesmen. W o e to the pale face t hat h ad not learned to use the r ifle! A n d this s tate o f affairs reaches back n ot t hree g enerations in K e n t u c k y history. It was the p ioneers who settled in the h ills, t hat s aved K e n t u c k y for t he whites; but this does not prove t hat t he people were S cotch H ighlanders. Bravery and patriotism are c ommon e nough among all sections of the English-speaking w orld. I f the K e n t u c k y Mountaineers are of Scotch P lighlander o rigin, t hey have been infamous enough to , d iscard the surnames of their forefathers.
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O L D E N G L I S H AS A T H E O R Y .

3. O l d E n g l i s h o r A n g l o - S a x o n . A s was said above, t his is the theory of E l l e n C hurchill S emple. It is also c hampioned b y President T h i r k i e l d , o f H o w a r d U niversity, w ho has given a quarter of a century to mission and e ducational w ork among the Southern A lleghanies. J ames I L a n e A l l e n is not the o nly g ifted writer who is positive t hat E n g l i s h is the ancestry of the majority of K e n t u c k ians in every s ection of the s tate. A l ong c hain of c old