DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH It’s a Dog’s Life

DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH
It’s a Dog’s Life
January 2024

Sheep shed with “Lady” headed for Big Log. Photo: Helen Wykle 2018. [
P1150808-e1555820379540.jpg]

IT’S A DOG’S LIFE

Over time many dogs have found a home at Pine Mountain Settlement School and many dogs have resided in the homes of community families. Whether an adopted dog, a gift dog, a pup from an older family dog, a stray, or “another”, these four-legged companions have mostly charmed the families, owners, visitors and head-scratchers — all … or, at least most. The occasional stray dog has even been known to charm themselves into the campus community and also into the homes of the surrounding Community. These four-legged friends sometimes belong to no one and everyone — even many visitors have claimed temporary ownership. This writer is one of those.

Dogs seem to know how to negotiate mutual relationships surrounded by their two-legged ear-scratchers and when to avoid those relationships. Instinctively, they seem to know when to stay and when times are tough they instinctively move on and find their way into the homes and hearts of another family or person, or place. People live and thrive — or not, in relationships and communities, Dogs do this, and often better.

There have been many dogs at Pine Mountain and the surrounding community and a myriad of stories to go along with these canine companions. Names such as Franklin, Jonah, Waggie, Pug, Flossie, No-No, Bothwell, Amos, Megan, Stefan, Russell, and more, have over the years melted into their forgotten times. Various Collie dogs, mongrels, Red-setters, and most recently the small Russell terrier and especially the larger herding greeter, “Lady”. As the current self-appointed chaperon of visitors to the campus, guardian of the playground, and night watchwoman, Lady is one of the most accomplished of Pine Mountain’s ambassadors

As the all-around Ambassador, Lady often can be found on the doorstep of the guest houses. At night she can be heard chasing coyote away from the sheep and goats, and when School groups arrive she can be found escorting hikers up the Summit Trail, and guarding the play-ground. Many full nights of guarding for bears and other night-explorers has also made her voice, well known.

Dogs at Pine Mountain often show up in family pictures. On campus and in the surrounding community dogs are of every sort. One of this author’s favorite canine portraits is that of the giant hound on the porch of the Shell family who lived near the School early in the twentieth -century. The stoic and solemn portrait of the hound’s owners matches the dignity of the solemn but guarded look of their dog that looks remarkably like “Lady”. This trio is difficult to forget, once seen as they sit on their hickory-cane chairs “guarded” by their companion. All three sit before a doorway that reminds those who were born in the area that their past is never far from their memories. The open doorway and front-porch sitting, reminiscent of Aunt Sal’s Cabin, used to be an open invitation of “Come sit a spell.” Their doorbell — their dog.

Woman, bearded man, and large dog, seated on porch, [misc_exhibit_021.jpg]

The Shell’s dog of a type, often called a “hound-dog” was a familiar and valued family addition in most of the homes surrounding the Pine Mountain Settlement. Also called “coon-hound” and “bear-runners” these canines often had short but were the source of many conversations when porch-sittin’. There are a myriad of tall tales that continue to live on in the surrounding community related to a family’s “coon-hounds”. The stories live on, as well, though some have grown beyond their first telling.

HOUNDS 418 Boy and young man seated with two hunting dogs. Ship-lap wall behind them.

TALL TAILS

Perhaps the most famous and fantastical “bear-runner” hunting-dog story, is the one that Ben Begley, a legendary Environmental Education teacher at Pine Mountain often shared with the school groups that came to Pine Mountain’s environmental education sessions. Ben captivated his audience with tall tales that at first seemed to be plausible but then became more folk-lore and finally fantasy. Ben’s story about a treasured hunting dog was certainly captivating and memorable. Perhaps more memorable than the story were the expressions of the visiting children as they listened to Ben’s tall tale.

The tale ran something like this –A man had a treasured hunting hound who was used as a bear-hunting companion. The man and the dog one day encountered a bear who fiercely went at the dog and the two had a violent and gory battle. Ben spared no detail of the bloody battle between the bear and the dog and that described how the dog’s body was ripped and sliced into two halves. The distraught hunter then gathered the two pieces of the dog and wrapped him tightly to keep the dog together. He then headed for home with the dog where he proceeded to sew the dog up, again wrapped the dog tightly and hoped he would live. After a while the man was happy to see that the dog lived. The dog was a fighter and after some time the stitches seemed to have saved the dog but as he unwrapped his dog who had been sliced in two pieces from head to tail, he made a startling discovery.

There was a problem — the hunter didn’t realize that he had sewed one-half of the dog’s body upside-down and the other right-side-up. One set of legs was up in the air and one set of legs firmly down on the ground. The owner had saved the life of the hound that had tangled with the bear but now he had a problem as two feet were in the air and two were on the ground and that looked like the end of the hunting days for the dog. One can imagine the unique mental picture of the dog with two legs up and two legs down. How could he possibly remain the hunter’s companion? But, the hunter soon found that he had a unique hunting companion. His dog could now run on two legs and when tired, flip and run on the other two!

[I only wish I could remember Ben’s story in greater detail … or not!]. I suspect that I have “sewn” it together badly! But, just imagine a room full of kids hanging on every part of the tale and then exploding when they realize they had been “snookered.”

Ben Begley, former Director of the Environmental Education Program at PMSS was one of the most magnificent of the storytellers at the School. He always had a room full of pre-teens trying to “piece together this gory tale and to imagine how the dog negotiated the world. Ben’s tall tales were often improbable tales but he had mastered the art of suspense. Ben’s command of tales is similar to the many such fantastic stories that get embellished by mountain tale tellers. These tall tales can bring laughter, or sadness to an audience — even audiences that are “snookered” find it hard to erase the picture of that unique hunting hound from their visual memory, or the fun of sharing such an improbable tale. To read more about Appalachian tall tales, visit the work of author Richard Chase, a sometime staff-member and story-teller who often visited Pine Mountain and entertained children and staff.

EARLY CANINES

Two of the earliest dogs on the Pine Mountain Settlement School campus included one owned by Ethel de Long who later married the stone-mason, Luigi Zande, and another dog owned by the early school staff member, Marguerite Butler. The de Long dog, a long-haired and pert-eared companion, shows up in several photographs taken during the founding years of the School. The name of Ethel Zande’s dog is sure to surface at some point, but it is not known by this author.

The second canine identified as an early campus dog, belonged to staff member Marguerite Butler. The dog, a Dalmatian hound, was named”Franklin”. He or she has been identified as a faithful companion of Butler and the name recorded.

Early photographs have captured Ethel and her dog companion and Marguerite Butler and her sleek companion, “Franklin” in the very early days of the School in 1914 or 1915.

Ethel de Long with her dog. X_099_workers_2527r_mod.jpg

Like a familiar face the little Zande dog can be easily identified (sort-of) and shows up in several early photographs. It is fun to encounter a photograph and to recognize “Ethel’s dog,” like a familiar friend’s face.

Woman [Ethel de Long ?] seated with dog at her feet. norton_048.jpg

Two young ladies wearing hats and with a shepherd dog, or the Zande dog between them. FN Vl_35_1142a FN Vl_35_1142a

025c. M.B. [Marguerite Butler] on Queen with Franklin, a Dalmatian hound at their side, . mccullough_I_025c

Why “Franklin” as a name choice for Marguerite Butler’s Dalmatian? There is usually a history of some kind attached to naming a pet. It seems there is a long history associating the name “Franklin” with Dalmatians … some of it credible and some of it not so much.

Several sources note the name “Franklin” given to Dalmatians has a high incidence. In fact it is quite common that Dalmatians find “Franklin” as their moniker, but, in fact, it is a favorite across breeds and also is found frequently in cat names. This all seems to be based on the “personality” associated with the name. For example, Franklin suggests strength, loyalty, trustworthiness, and a wise and gentle nature, so say many of the sources. “Franklin,” many say is derived from the Old French word “franc” which means sincere, genuine, and free, and in Old Eng. “frank”. One online source suggested it is a favorite name because “… In the US, Franklin is the 63rd most popular name for dogs, with over 4,000 r, —Benjamin Franklin. The dignified name suggests a “dignified dog” … certainly a pedigree? with which to identify. But let’s get the facts straight. The influence and personality of Benjamin Franklin rarely pan out. Just because we might admire Groucho Marx does not call for naming our dog “Groucho” — though I have known dogs that qualify. Well, so much for our National confusion/stupidity … it seems to be rampant today but I have never met a dog named “Dumbo”! Perhaps that is where AI [Artificial Intelligence] can come in handy. It is an interesting journey to ask for AI help in naming your pet. Give “Franklin” a try.

It is not known if Katherine Pettit had a dog. No reference to a Pettit dog has yet surfaced in the literature of the School or in the many letters of Pettit and her colleagues. Yet, in reading through the related material in the Pine Mountain Archive, it seems, to this writer, that Katherine, an agrarian at heart, loved farm life but kept any affection for animals partitioned or separated from any deep “petting” attention. Her concerns for children and their daily care and education were the center of most of her recorded reflections and animals were animals. Perhaps her possible disaffection for dogs was tied to her early life. As the oldest child, life on her father’s farm included many farm responsibilities, including caring for many animals. The farm responsibilities in addition to the demands of the farm’s animals gave her a wealth of knowledge and caring for children but probably not so much empathy with animals. Her younger siblings fell to her care following the death of her mother early in her life. She had little time for pets.

PETS & DOG SUBSTITUTES

While Katherine Pettit may not have been a pet lover, many in the Community had pets. It was and still is common to find pets that were as important to the family children and the pets were not necessarily dogs. Groundhogs seem to be the favorite dog substitutes. As seen below, a young girl shows off her two groundhog pets …. a common garden raider that burrows beneath the ground much like prairie dogs, but once tamed can be coaxed to be dependent on a human.

Young Girl Holding Two Groundhogs [?] Pets.[misc_exhibit_038.jpg]

The instinct to care for animals is with most of us but the level of care varies as do the animals we become attached to. Often the children in the community were successful in taming animals and birds that many city dwellers might not even recognize. Yet, if one has lived in a relatively rural area and raised a garden they may identify with the alternate dogs in the arms of the community children below…. and also identify with the Mother’s expression. Really!?

The two children seen below hold “pets” they have tamed. One pet, a groundhog, and the other a lamb, These were not uncommon pets of mountain children. When entering a home in the valley it was not uncommon to be introduced to other home-dwelling pets. Grey squirrels, rabbits, flying squirrels, toad frogs, snakes, crows, box turtles, lambs, goats, —- a regular zoo in some instances, could be found in the rural community homes.

Mellie Day family with pets.[nace_1_070a.jpg]

Mellie Day, looking just a bit dubious is seen above with two children who hold family pets. Their mother does not look too charmed by their offerings, but perhaps the mother and her children may hold expressions of suspicion of the photographer’s intentions in capturing the image of the unusual “family.” While girls favored the small pets and baby animals, the boys generally continued striking up relationships with their dogs — most often their hunting dogs.

Here a young boy holds his favorite pet dog and the two are center stage. He proudly shares his companion with siblings and friends for the photographer.

1254 “Browning? 1920″Young boy and a dog. [VI_39_1254_mod.jpg]

THE GLYN AND GLADYS MORRIS – The Cairns

A second era of dogs at Pine Mountain Settlement appeared with Glyn Morris, who became the Director of the School in 1935. Dogs began to play an important role in the Settlement School campus life when Glyn Morris and his wife Gladys came to the School with two Cairn terriers.

Glyn Morris, of Welch and Scots-ancestry was familiar with the Cairn terrier breed. There is no doubt that Morris loved dogs, but he favored not just any dog. His dogs were pedigreed — no mongrel breed dogs for this city man. Glyn and his wife Gladys’s two cairn terriers were an instant hit with the students and the workers, pedigree or not.

The Cairn breed, highly popular in Scotland, is known for its tenacious hunting instincts, The dog breed gets it’s name from the cairns (human stacks of rocks or rocky mounds of rocks on land formations) of Scotland and in the rugged and rocky farmlands of Wales. Morris was Welch and Wales was the ancestral home of the Morris family. Also, if one is privileged to hold a Cairn terrier, it is a bit like holding a stack of rocks with a warm heart and a wet tongue. Perhaps that is why this writer has such a preference for terriers, especially Cairns.

As favored additions to the farms of Great Britain, Cairn terriers are small and fiercely loyal working dogs. They were used for keeping the small vermin populations under control on small farms in Wales. As their reputations grew as defenders of small farm operations in the agricultural sections of not only Wales but also Scotland and England, they grew to become a favorite breed for small farms across Europe. The Cairns introduced by the Glyn and Gladys Morris showed the same spirited farmyard hunting ferocity at Pine Mountain. In the barnyard and on the hiking trails, the little dogs were ferocious and dogged hunters and protectors. The breed easily ferrets out small rodents, vols, snakes, and, at Pine Mountain, unfortunately, chipmunks and squirrels. In short, small critters don’t stand a chance against these fast and fierce little terriers. On a snake trail, they are, however, invaluable.

The two Morris Cairn terriers soon had pups and these were spread around to various staff at Pine Mountain. A May Day photograph shows off a new 1945 litter of Cairn puppies as they are held by staff children on the May Day Green. This author is second from the left, holding a new-born puppy. Stefan, was the name of our family cairn pet, but Stefan is not the puppy held below. “Uncle Stefan” was at home as he was a descendant of the Morris couple and was our family’s first “child” or first born. The Uncle Stefan” and our family pet, was already five years old .. essentially our family’s “firstborn.” The puppys hed by the children are Scotty pups recently delivered by a Scotty couple owned by the Dodd family on campus.

May Day on the Dancing Green, staff children, 1945. [dodd_A_049_mod]

Earlier, in 1941 the campus newspaper had noted the first litter of Cairn puppies — a trio of just born “show off pups”; — these, the earliest pups of Director Glyn Morris’ little Cairn terrier dog called “Flossie” were charmers. Flossie, was Stefan’s mother, who had won many hearts at the School and when her pups were born they were celebrated by the campus students in their newspaper, The Pine Cone. An account of a visit by the Seniors to Zande House, the residence of Glyn and Gladys Morris, is found recorded in the school newspaper, the Pinecone. Flossie’s pup, Stefan, was an adolescent when the May Day gathering of Scottie pups were on display.

An account of Stefan’s origins is found in the student newsletter:

PUPS “SHOW OFF” FOR SENIORS

Yelping sounds attracted the attention of the seniors at their Sunday night gathering at Zande House. Curiosity led to the showing off of the three puppies. No, no. Bothwell and Stefan.

Even Sears and Roebuck had had the privilege to become acquainted with the pups. For on February 3rd they were presented with a pen, a “baby crib”, in fact, Flossy is rather fond of her children, but is always willing to lend them to visitors.

The Pine Cone Feb. 1941 .

Stefan was quickly adopted by this writer’s parents and ten months later I arrived and grew up with Stefan by my side — always looking out for snakes and other un-pleasant critters in my constant woods-roaming. He trained me well. Stefan left me with a life-long affection for dog companions and deep forests.

IT’S A DOG’S LIFE

“It’s a Dog’s Life” is a phrase that is often used to describe a sub-standard course of life. But, at Pine Mountain, “it’s a dog’s life” is paradise regained for most canines. It has been rarely the case at Pine Mountain that dogs were subjected to the isolation of “It’s a dog’s life”. Further, the Settlement School must have looked like Paradise to many of the dogs who have been privileged to live there. Unless they were too temperamental, or chicken-stealers, most of the campus dogs were allowed to run free and to greet friends and visitors alike. Some however never warmed to the responsibility of being part of a community. Those dogs did not last long at the institution. Nor, did dogs last long if they could not share their space with other dogs.

There is ample evidence that dogs were required to share multiple spaces on the campus and that they generally understood this amicable shared space. Miss Wilbur (Barbara Wilbur Spelman) with her dog “Jonah” is shown below in a picnic scene at the “Lean-To”, a favorite place on campus for community cook-outs. Jonah was also shared with Barbara’s brother John A. Spelman III, the art teacher at the School. The leftovers must have been quite good for Jonah at this cook out.

Picnic at the Lean-To. [Late 1930’s] Miss Wallace; Miss Jones; Miss Ross; Miss Bartlett; Miss Wilbur (with her dog Jonah); Alice Cobb; Lexine Baird; Oradelle Malan; Marian Kingman; Oscar Kneller; Glyn Morris. [X_100_workers_2574_mod.jpg]

Another dog of memory was the beautiful Collie that belonged to the Charles Creech family when the two worked at Pine Mountain. Many children called the dog “Lassie” for the dog’s resemblance to the famous dog of filmdom. The dog’s real name is lost in the collective memory. “Lassie” was a beauty. … some of the time. However, Pine Mountain was not kind to long-haired dogs. The campus is rampant with sticky burrs, insects, tadpole pools, and mud-puddles, etc. and “Lassie” stayed “untouchable” much of the time and was also quickly banished to an “outside dog” life — much to her liking.

100 Arthur Dodd. Principal at PMSS with his dog,”Brennan”. [burk_people_100.jpg]

Contemporary canines, like ” Waggy” the Rogers dog, and “Amos” the Director, Paul Hayes’ dog, were ambassadors. They both roamed freely and greeted most visitors though some were warned not to linger long on the campus.

To the left is Arthur Dodd, a PMSS School Principal [early 1940s] and his companion, “Brennan” a later addition to the Dodd family after the Dodd children’s Scotty was gone.

Following the death of Stefan dog, at the age of 15, the Hayes family dog, a small stray dog entered the life of the Hayes family. “Rusty” belonged to the farm manager, William Hayes’ family. Rusty had a short life. Adopted at Pine Mountain “Rusty” had only a short time at the Settlement School. He joined the Hayes family when they re-located to the Forestry Station at Putney — across the mountain from PMSS. “Rusty” dog was a mut with Beagle origins whose joints were brown and who looked to be “rusting” even in his youth. Like Waggy, Amos, and other dogs on the campus, Rusty had campus routines. Like many Beagle derivatives, Rusty also ran — and ran. He was not a “please pet me character.” Rusty ran and my brother and I chased him. He was the exercise master for his owners, including this author.

The Hayes’ “Rusty” dog. [burkh_032.jpg]

When, as children, we swam and fished in the Cumberland River near the Forestry Station at Putney, across the mountain from Pine Mountain Settlement, Rusty was always in company. Unfortunately, his life was short after we left Pine Mountain. He did not understand that cars run faster on paved roads and that he could not outmaneuver them. He was struck on the highway, or, — as we sometimes wondered — had a neighbor shot him for stealing eggs from the chicken house? … But, that thief was, most certainly, our pet crow. That is another story. I still mourn “Rusty.”

The loss of a pet is like a death in the family. This is true of dogs that have grown up with a family with children.

Helen and Steven Hayes, with “Rusty” dog on the Isaac’s Creek bridge at PMSS. c. 1953 [burkh_033.jpg]

More recently, the small dog, below just showed up one day at Pine Mountain in 2021-22. He quickly became a close companion of the most favorite of recent dogs at the School — “Lady”. This little terrier’s life, like that of Rusty, was also a short one. In this case, he vanished into thin air, Perhaps his previous owners found him, or, perhaps, new owners saw a delightful companion. We can only hope his home is a good one. Lady misses him, as do those at the School.

“Russell” 2022 A short-term terrier visitor/boarder and friend of “Lady” Probably a “drop-off” and ultimately a disappeared dog. Information on his whereabouts is requested if known. [Photo: Eric Tomberlin, UNCA 2022]

Lady of the Meadow.

This beautiful, talented, and dignified dog now resides on the campus. She is certainly the next dog legend of the campus. She is a constant companion of children on the playground and a guard dog of residents when they visit. She has known three Directors. Lady “owns’ the campus, and often accompanies visitors on trails or as an escort from building to building. She is the School’s masterful ambassador. We hope you will visit and meet her.

While writing this essay, an article caught my eye and signaled the opening of a new world where future dogs may no longer be warm and fuzzy, but are robotic … No more dog food …no poop… no barking …. no whining, …. companionship? …..best friend? Come meet Lady … no contest.

LETTERS to a Sweetheart

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Letters to a Sweetheart
Between Dot (Olive Coolidge)
and Bob (Robert Butman)
March 1942

Valentine, c. 1920. Source: Chordboard [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

LETTERS to a Sweetheart

Excerpts from WWII-era letters between Robert Butman and Olive Coolidge (PMSS assistant nurse, 1941-1942)

Valentine’s Day — a time to express your affection for or admiration of that very special person. If you’re needing inspiration to convey your feelings, consider the following excerpts from letters written in March 1942, during World War II, when “Bob” (Robert Butman), stationed at a military base, exchanged letters with “Dot” (Olive Coolidge). Olive served as an assistant nurse at Pine Mountain Settlement School from 1941 until early 1942.

The letters were among a very large collection of correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia donated to the PMSS Collections in 2024 by Marcia Butman, the grandniece of Olive Coolidge. Work on organizing and archiving the Coolidge collection and adding much of it to the PMSS Collections website is on-going.

Always beginning his letters with “Darling,” Bob thanks Dot for the cookies, books, and clippings she has sent him. The two reminisce about past times together and look forward to marriage and a honeymoon. As evident in the excerpts below, the couple was not at a loss of sweet words for each other.

March 24, 1942 – From Dot to Bob

We had such a lot of fun in such a short time, darling — even though there weren’t any waves on the ocean — that I feel more lonesome than ever. Seems as though each time we see each other we understand each other a little better, and have just a little more fun. It doesn’t seem as though that could go on forever — but I believe in miracles.

…She also remarked that Coral Gables was a good place for a honeymoon! Just a little too far away though — for the amount of time we’ll probably have for a honeymoon. But then perhaps we can take a 2nd one sometime if the 1st isn’t long enough. Perhaps we will be on a perpetual honeymoon — hmmm?

March 29, 1942 – From Bob to Dot.

Shucks Dearie, I feel very much in a “how about a date tonight?” mood. Which Is nothing unusual because I feel that way most of the time. And even more so after getting a letter from you. Yes Darling, it must be love — says he — seeing a fireplace in front of him.

March 30, 1942 – From Bob to Dot.

How are you? That’s good–I’m fine too. Darling, you are wonderful, says he, plunging into his uppermost thoughts. Questions: How can I love you more and more every day? Answer: Perhaps I can’t –- but I do.

Right now you’re wonderful is about all I can think of to say (repetition at that) — beyond that, words fail me. Except perhaps — I love you — with all my heart — yes, you Dear. [P.S.] Does “yes, you dear” remind you of a valentines poem once written by none other than one O.D.C.?

March 31, 1942 – From Bob to Dot.

Sometimes, when I’m feeling very philosophical, I wonder what I ever did to deserve you. And no matter how much I flatter myself the answer always seems to come out the same. The answer being: “nothing, you’re just lucky Robert.”

…anyone that doesn’t melt when you smile at them is a block of granite.

Love is a wonderful thing, Dearie — though I don’t know much about it because you have all of mine.

See Also:
OLIVE COOLIDGE Staff – Biography

VALENTINES From the Past – Post

DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH The Power of Empathy

THE POWER OF EMPATHY

Pine Mountain Settlement School
DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH
The Power of Empathy
Series 08: ADMIN General Correspondence 1919
World War I

WORLD WAR I and Pine Mountain Settlement School — THE POWER OF EMPATHY

TAGS: Ethel de Long, correspondence with donors, World War I, WWI, student correspondence, King Albert I of Belgium, Leon Deschamps, Mrs. Cleveland Hoadley Dodge, Father Anton Docher, Native Americans, Pueblo Isleta, Willa Cather, Phelps Dodge Inc., philanthropy, Riverdale Neighborhood House, Agrarian Myth, Settlement Movement

The Letter, October 13, 1919

A copy of a small fund-raising letter from October 13, 1919, in the archive at Pine Mountain Settlement School captures the broad outreach of the School during its formative years. It is a startling letter in its brief but hidden details. The letter, one of many institutional solicitations and thank you’s that went out to various donors in the early years of the institution, has a deeper history than a first view may suggest.

The steady stream of brief letters in the early years were critical in building and sustaining the Settlement School. Letters were sent to donors by the School office, by the directors, and by staff. Today these letters inform us of the close attention the Administration, students, and workers at the School gave to the world outside the boundaries of the institution and the long-isolated valley of the Pine Mountain. In 1919 the world was at war. The War effort in the first decade of the nineteenth century was underway but, remarkably, not so far away as one might think.

Addressed to Mrs. C.H. Dodge (Grace Parish Dodge [1850-1949]) at Riverdale on the Hudson, New York, and dated October 13, 1919, the brief letter thanks Mrs. Dodge for her recent pledge to the School and tells her of the work underway on the new buildings for the Settlement School. The author of the brief acknowledgment letter is “EZ”, or Ethel de Long Zande, founder and co-director of the School during that time. In her brief letter, she tells Mrs. C.H. Dodge (Grace Parish Dodge) that the School is busy getting shoes and stockings together for all the sixty-five students in attendance. She says that they are very appreciative of the $20 dollar donation. Importantly, she comments on a letter written by one of the children at the School.

Mrs. C.H. Dodge is Grace Parish Dodge, the wife of Cleveland Hoadley Dodge , and part of the N.Y. Dodge family, one of the wealthiest families in the Riverdale, New York community and in the country at the time. Cleveland Hoadley Dodge had holdings in the Pacific Railroad, the early Citibank of N.Y and other major investments. He was a close friend of President Teddy Roosevelt family as well as President Woodrow Wilson and Dodge was among the ranks of the leading philanthropists in New York, as seen in this 1916 photograph.

Henry Morgenthau, Sr., Samuel Train Dutton, and Cleveland Hoadley Dodge

Cleveland Hoadley Dodge. (2023, June 25). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Hoadley_Dodge

Mrs. Zande in her brief acknowledgment letter to Mrs, C.H. Dodge describes a recent exciting event at Pine Mountain Settlement for Mrs. Dodge. The event involves a young student at the school who was inspired by recent world events. The student (a girl, not named) wrote to the King of Belgium, Albert I, about the war. Most likely the student was inspired by the anxiety and patriotism of Leon Deschamps, a Pine Mountain worker who had recently settled in the United States from Belgium and was working at Pine Mountain Settlement. The young girl was moved by her admiration of Mr. Deschamps and the desire to try to help with the war effort by writing a letter to the King of Belgium. We may never know what the letter said, but we do know the chain of events it set into motion.

The child’s letter remarkably found its way to King, Albert I, of Belgium. The King, or certainly his staff answered the young student. Whe she received an answer from King Albert I it created a sensation at Pine Mountain. When the answer from the King was received, it, in fact, animated the full Pine Mountain community and led Mrs. Zande to remark about the event to her New York friend Mrs. Cleveland Hoadley Dodge (Grace Parish Dodge),

“Can you imagine the stir it caused in our far-away valley?”

Unfortunately, the letter from the young girl and that of King Albert I cannot be found in the Archive. Nonetheless, the record of the correspondence alone is extraordinary and stirs the imagination. The story surrounding the letters of 1919 was not just a simple exchange of letters. It has additional and deeper history.

The Deeper Story: King Albert I and Father Anton Docher

1919 was the year that Belgian King Albert I visited the United States. From September 23 through November 13, the King, his Queen, Elisabeth of Bavaria, and their son Prince Leopold II made an official visit to the United States. Their American visit included a trip to a small Native American pueblo in New Mexico, the Pueblo Isleta. There, the King honored Father Anton Docher, a hero of early World War I. The homage centered, particularly, on Father Anton’s work in the Belgian Congo. The King was intent on bestowing on the Priest the insignia of Knight in the Order of Leopold II and the French Colonial Medal, for his war courage and service to Belgium.

Anton Docher, the focus of the award, left the War and the Congo a changed man. He soon studied for the priesthood. During the remainder of his life Father Anton asserted that colonialism was an international evil and he committed his life to serving and learning from various Native tribes in New Mexico about their oppression as Native Americans. By all accounts, the Belgian-New Mexico ceremony to honor Docher was no small event as some ten thousand people reportedly came to attend the ceremony in the small Pueblo Isleta.

Father Docher also did not escape the attention of the writers of his day including the noted author, Willa Cather . She used Father Docher as the model for her well-received novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop, (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1927.) Newspapers were full of the events of the visit. From New Mexico, Albert I and his entourage traveled to New York where the King was honored with membership in the New York Society of the Cincinnati and was given a ticker-tape parade and an introduction to the leading families of the city of New York. Hence the New York connection with the Dodge family and Ethel de Long Zande’s subtle nudge on October 13, 1919, to Mrs. Cleveland Hoadley Dodge in Riverdale, New York.

The Dodge Family

The Cleveland Hoadley Dodge family was a well-known and highly regarded family in New York where they moved among many of New York’s notable families of wealth. Cleveland Hoadley Dodge had built his fortune in copper mining and was a major player in financial and social support of WWI efforts.

Cleveland H. Dodge was an executive at Phelps Dodge, a leading copper mining corporation in the U.S. that had been co-founded by his grandfather in 1832. His family was known for its generous philanthropy and today continues to benefit from the foundation he established in 1917, the Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation. The Foundation continues its good work today with educational, community, and cultural institutions, mainly in New York. The father of Cleveland H. Dodge, William Hoadly Dodge and his mother, Sarah Dodge, were the inspiration for their son’s philanthropy. But it is Cleveland Hoadley Dodge’s wife Grace Wainright Parish Dodge (1856-1949) , who had a connection with Pine Mountain.

Grace was born in France but was known to be deeply connected to the Settlement Movement begun by Jane Addams and as the wife of Cleveland Hoadley Dodge, she was strongly sensitive to needy populations. Grace Parish Dodge was a pioneer in women’s rights and education and was the first woman to serve on the New York Board of Education, and generously funded the New York Public Library. Her connection to the Settlement Movement of Jane Addams and the Foundation, the Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation, and, the larger Phelps Dodge Foundation, helped to further the work of the Riverdale Neighborhood House. Grace began the Riverdale House as a neighborhood library at the early age of sixteen and it expanded its service from this early beginning. Even today, in an expanded form, the House and Library continues to provide services to Riverdale and the surrounding communities.

World War I and Pine Mountain Settlement School. The Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation established in 1917

Literacy and, remarkably, optimism, were ideas close to the heart of Ethel de Long Zande and Katherine Pettit. The early novels of Willa Cather — Oh, Pioneers! (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), and My Antonia (1918) — were all written during this period of Pine Mountain’s early development and well known to the two founders and the students. The ages of the women were similar. Like Katherine Pettit and Ethel de Long Zande, Willa Cather had a deep and close attachment to the land. Writing in 1918, she notes

In the course of twenty crowded years one parts with many illusions. I did not wish to lose the early ones. Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.

It is a strong optimism that shines through the lives that are connected by these letters. In many of the letters from Pine Mountain during this difficult war-time period, including that of the young student to the King of Belgium, and the brief exchange with Mrs. Grace Parish Dodge, this optimism is clearly evident.

TRANSFORMATION AND ELEMENTS OF THE AGRARIAN MYTH

Willa Sibert Cather, Wearing a necklace given her by author Sarah Orne Jewett, another Agrarian at heart. [Public Domain, wikisource.org]

Many of the workers who came to Pine Mountain, came with a romanticized vision of what has come to be called the “Agrarian Myth.” It carries many of the markers of the Settlement Movement ,, the Community Life Movement, and other cooperative organizations that challenged conflict, poverty, and human indifference to education and to the challenges that accompany immigration and migration. The myth, the movement, and the challenges blended into one as the nation went to war and then sought to heal the wounds of war. Many citizens carried their personal experiences of the challenges and horrors of WWI and life during wartime in countries “acrost the sea,” (as Uncle William would say). with them to the remote mountain School. The personal narratives of some of the workers set the imaginations of the students racing. Ultimately, what all the workers and the students held in common was a worldview — something outside their known experiences. Hope took its image from the land and its people. It was a starting place for all. The hope for a better future rests in that awareness of a shared place.

The integrated experiences, the personal relationships, the kindnesses, the honor, and social justice, and the hopes of all, bound many lives together during the formative years of Pine Mountain Settlement School. These shared experiences exploded narrow and protected mountain lives in a manner that is difficult to describe to today’s electronic youth separated as they often are from the tangible present and often isolated by their electronic world. The sensitive understanding and acceptance of larger social forces encountered by those “outsiders” who passed through the Kentucky settlement deep in the hills of Appalachia were a remarkable force in transforming the lives of many children. The stability and optimism of PMSS School during the two Great Wars are all the more remarkable when placed against the enormous disintegration of the world outside the Pine Mountain Valley during the two Wars,

Many of the staff had seen the rubble of Europe in the early wars; the broken soldiers, and a world recovering from vicious privation and violence. Those same individuals were living within a community that knew many of those social violations through a very intimate history of feudings and personal gun violence — an even more senseless and violent gun history.

Though isolated, the lessons and values learned in wartime and equally through the local “feudalists”, continue to remain a part of the Pine Mountain community’s history and psyche. The lessons that were learned from war and feuds are certainly embedded deeply in families who passed through the School in the Pine Mountain valley and they continue to have similar echoes in other valleys throughout the world.

War ignores borders, but compassion also does not have borders. Throughout today’s world, nation, person, and psyche there is hate, fear, terror, and cruelty of many types. But there is also love, compassion, joy, and friendship. In these overlapping emotions, what are the change agents that bring us to war? What brought a world leader to respond to a young girl in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky? How did that letter change the young girl? Why are similar echoes so seldom heard today? Why are they still no longer heard even with our rapid communication?

Today’s world cannot be easily explained away by our rapid communication and our crowded lifestyles. What are the lessons of institutions such as the Riverdale Neighborhood House, and in communities such as Puebla Isleta, in authors such as Willa Cather, and the kind letter from a Belgian King to a child deep in the Kentucky hills? Were they messages of a different sort, or are we now people of a different sort?

Dr. Edward H. Egbert

In the last years of WWI Dr. Edward H. Egbert (c. 1882-1939), was the chief surgeon at the American Hospital for the Red Cross effort in Kiev, Russia, and the Executive Secretary of the Catherine Breshkovsky Russian Relief Fund in New York. In 1919 he planned a visit to Pine Mountain. He was a close friend of Herbert Hoover. But, then, that’s another story of Kiev, war relief, mysticism, Bolsheviks, murder and healing. We are still writing that history.

See Also: DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH War and PMSS (Post)

DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH Olive Dame Campbell’s 1922 Letter on Danish Folk School Training

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series: DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Olive Dame Campbell
Marguerite Butler
Letter: Danish Folk School Training
1922

SETTLEMENT INSTITUTIONS OF APPALACHIA Inc. Brochure 1970 Serving in Appalachia

John C. Campbell Folk School. Early brochure for School [SIA_brochure_005] PMSS Collect.

TAGS: Olive Dame Campbell, Marguerite Butler, Georg Bidstrup, Denmark, Danish Folk Schools, folk schools, Progressive education, ASKOV School, Denmark, Daisy Gertrude Dame, agricultural schools,

OLIVE DAME CAMPBELL’S 1922 Letter on Danish Folk School Training (3 pages)

FOUNDATIONS

The early years of the twentieth -century were marked by a heightened interest in new educational models and particularly those that could remediate rural education in remote sections of the United States and also in other countries. The exploration of the Danish Folk School model was of particular interest to several of the earliest founders of rural residential schools in the Appalachians. The Danish Folk School model is one such program established in the 1830’s by its founder N.F.S Grundvig. Identified as a theologian, writer, philosopher, historian, educationist and politician, Grundvig had ample experience that was turned toward reform in educational practice. Danish Folk Schools still persist in some 70 schools throughout Denmark , testimony to their solid contribution to education for high school populations in Denmark and other countries.

OLIVE DAME CAMPBELL and the JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

John C. Campbell Folkhad School. SIA_brochure_005

The following letter and supplemental literature located within the archive of Pine Mountain Settlement School was sent by Olive Dame Campbell to friends and colleagues at Pine Mountain Settlement School, including Katherine Pettit, whose letters contain the recorded report. The letter concerns Mrs. Campbell’s exploratory time spent in Denmark with Marguerite Butler, learning about the Danish Folk School educational model. It exposes the foundational differences between the Settlement School and the Danish Folk School models and sheds light on Olive Dame Campbell’s earlier trip to Denmark with her husband, John C. Campbell. Both Campbells had a deep interest in the foundations of the Danish Folk School model. Their interest led to the Scandinavian folkehøjskole idea as a model for the John C. Campbell Folk School and influential in the foundation of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee begun by Myles Horton.

Folkehøjskole

Olive Dame Campbell and her husband were enchanted by what they learned of the Danish Folkehøjskole (Folk School) on their earlier trip to investigate the model schools. Following their return home they set their sights on a similar school that would model values they believed were compatible with educational needs in the Central and Southern Appalachians. Olive Dame’s husband. John C. Campbell unfortunately suffered a heart attack and died suddenly before the couple could bring their dream to fruition. Olive Dame vowed to continue the pursuit of their dream. The Brasstown, NC institution that grew out of the Campbell’s enchantment with the Danish educational model and the early work of N.F.S. Grundtvig, the philosopher, writer, and Lutheran Minister. The school that took shape following this second trip to Denmark was called the John C. Campbell Folk School in memory of Olive Dame Campbell’s husband.

N.F.S. Grundtvig
Danish Folk Schools
Lutheran Minister, Philosopher, Writer, Theologian, Historian, Politician

Christian Albrecht Jensen
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons” ”

When John C. Campbell died suddenly in 1919, the dream of a Folk School in rural Appalachia was put on hold for several years, but not forgotten. The Danish Folk School model never left Olive Dame’s thoughts and four years later she sought out her sister Daisy Dame and Pine Mountain Settlement School’s Marguerite Butler to travel with her back to Denmark to give a close second look at the details of the unique Danish educational plan. This time Olive Dame and her companions would fully engage the Folk-School program by actively participating in the programming and training. On this second trip, her sister Daisy Dame came along as an advisor and as a teacher with first-hand knowledge of rural schools in Eastern Kentucky where she had taught for a brief time and where her ideas and those of her sister led to an amalgam of educational philosophies regarding rural education in the Appalachian mountains.

MARGUERITE BUTLER

Marguerite Butler. [X_099_workers_2511_mod.jpg]

Marguerite Butler, a worker at Pine Mountain Settlement School, had caught the of attention Olive Dame Campbell, based, no doubt, on the recommendations of Katherine Pettit a founder of the Pine Mountain Settlement School and a friend of Olive Dame Campbell. The contacts made in the early years of the Pine Mountain Settlement School development were very formative including an early exploratory trip by Olive Dame and John C. Campbell made of Eastern Kentucky. The connections brought all parties close together in their efforts to remediate the educational future of both Eastern Kentucky and Western North Carolina.

Marguerite was invited to come along on the Danish exploratory adventure with Olive Dame, as she had proved herself in her early years at Pine Mountain helping the founder, Katherine Pettit establish a small satellite settlement at Line Fork, near the Pine Mountain School. Marguerite was an enthusiastic follower of the new educational and vocational models that were being tried following the success of the urban Settlement Movement and the educational enthusiasm surrounding Jane Addams and Settlement advocates. Further, Marguerite Butler’s interest and enthusiasm for the Settlement Movement seems foundational to her interest in the Danish Folk School model while a student at Vasser. Certainly, her imagination had been captured by the proposed trip and she left Pine Mountain Settlement to join Olive Dame and her sister in their Danish educational quest.

FOUNDATIONS

Olive Dame had met Katherine Pettit on a trip to Eastern Kentucky in 1908-1909 when she and her husband. John C. Campbell, were travelling throughout the Central Appalachia, Katherine Pettit had already demonstrated her success in establishing Hindman Settlement. Working with May Stone she established a rural settlement in Knott County, KY. First called the W.C.T.U [Women’s Christian Temperance Union] School, Hindman Settlement School became the first of a series of rural settlement schools throughout Eastern Kentucky. But by 1913 Katherine had put her sights on founding another rural settlement school in near-by Harlan County. Olive Dame Campbell kept up a correspondence with Pettit and later with Marguerite and their work at the new Pine Mountain Settlement School and Olive Dame found kindred spirits in both of the early Pine Mountain Settlement School visionaries.

Marguerite Butler, was a talented Vassar graduate recruited by Pettit and who had demonstrated hands-on skills aligned with both the Settlement models and those of the Danish Folk Schools. Further, Marguerite was a remarkably resourceful and industrious young girl. She had been charged by Pettit to help plan and establish a new satellite settlement at Line Fork and received praise from all observation points — administration, community, and regionally. She was a model of Olive Dame’s vision of activism and the Danish model’s very hands-on approach. Soon, Olive Dame charmed Marguerite away from the Kentucky school by the offer of the trip to study the Danish Folk School and later, kept her near as a co-founder at Brasstown.

HOME AND THE WORK BEGINS

On their return to the United Sates, Marguerite and Olive Dame were firm believers in the Folk School model — with touches of the earlier Settlement School ethos. Marguerite became Olive Dame Campbell’s primary assistant in creating the new Brasstown Folk School after convincing the local community of the value of a new high school at Brasstown that would serve a very dispersed population. John C, Campbell Folk School was born in the heart, mind, and hard work of Olive Dame and Marguerite. They both had skills at community building and these talents were well demonstrated when the community of Brasstown, some 200 strong, gathered and endorsed the idea of a Folk School for their small community — and the building began.

The Danish educational model at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina joined the best of Pine Mountain’s lessons to the lessons learned in Denmark, as described in the following letter. Marguerite and Olive Dame Campbell were to spend the remainder of their lives at the school named for Olive Dame’s husband, John C. Campbell and Marguerite soon planted roots even more deeply, when she married a Danish farmer recruited from Denmark, Bjorn Bidstrup, and she became Marguerite Butler Bidstrup.

The relationship between the two rural schools, one a Settlement School and one a Folk School, remained fixed by their shared objectives for better answers to the needs of rural education. Some Pine Mountain staff, such as Leon Deschamp, a former worker at Pine Mountain and his wife May Ritchie Deschamp [older sister of folk singer Jean Ritchie], are two notable transplants to the North Carolina Folk School. A transcription of an oral history by Marguerite Butler Bidstrup gives more depth to these interesting and important transitions and collaborations.

Today John C. Campbell continues its valuable work with the rural community in the surrounding Brasstown area but has broadened its scope to include a large Arts and Crafts influenced program that has gained National and International recognition and participation.

The other journey influenced by the Danish Folk School model, found in the person of Myles Horton, who also took the journey to Denmark to study the ways of the Danish Folk School model, is well documented. When he came back to found the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee , he led the institution toward grass-root social protest against bigotry and social ills … but that is another story that needs another telling and the story is a good one.

The success of the Danish Folk School model at the John C. Campbell Folk School at Brasstown, North Carolina. may be read in the basic tenets spelled out in the following letter by Olive Dame Campbell to Friends.

LETTER OF OLIVE DAME CAMPBELL FROM COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
October 1922

TRANSCRIPT [shared copy in PMSS collections — not yet scanned]

The following form letter has been received from Mrs. Campbell. She asked if I would have copies made and one sent to you. I do this with great pleasure. F. J. Clark

Copenhagen, October 6, 1922

My Dear Friends:

Having been here now for over six weeks I think it is perhaps time for me to register some impressions. I am new at the machine and shall doubtless turn out a bad sheet. Moreover my thoughts do not flow as rapidly or as logically this way as they would at the end of a pen. Such as they are, however, I can share them with more of you, and you will find them much easier to read.

You may know. that there are three of us here. Marguerite Butler of the Pine Mountain Settlement School. My sister Daisy Dame who has been a teacher. for many years (one of which she spent. getting a kindergarten started in a Kentucky Mountain County), and myself. I wish greatly that there were several more. We are already finding it valuable to check each other up. Moreover, there are so many things that can be arranged for a group as well as for one person, especially conferences with busy important people who do not speak English well enough to care a great deal about going over the same ground many times. Then. so much time is saved by passing along information to each other. We have been fortunate in finding two of last year’s American-Scandinavian students still here. Their help, particularly one who has been studying agricultural cooperation, has been invaluable.

Except for two weeks trip into Jutland to visit Askov, the most famous of the high schools, to talk over our course of action with several leading people and to get something of an idea of the country before winter closes in, we have been here in Copenhagen [Denmark]. We shall remain here until Askov [a Southern Jutland Danish High School] opens. early. In November. And then go back there for a month as pupils!

Of course, one cannot get a great deal of first hand information on the high schools here. In fact, It is quite amazing how little the average Copenhagener one meets. knows about these schools which. are bringing educators from all over Europe. There is a distinct line between. city and country. Or more exactly between Copenhagen and the rest of Denmark. Inquiries are often dismissed with the statement that these schools may be all well enough, but that they are of course, for peasants! On the other hand, we find that students, particularly women of the other groups, are beginning. to attend Askov, where some of the finest lecturers in the country are situated. Another factor is that the high schools are in no way connected with the state system. each being more or less a law unto itself, —– that is, depending upon the peculiar point of view and the personality of its “forstander” or principle. In spite of the fact that so many are subsidized by the state no special track of their activities seems to be kept at headquarters and one has to do his own hunting. and get what help he can

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through personal introduction. publications (practically all in Danish) and being passed along from one school to another. The University, which is a severely technical institution, is frankly indifferent, although of course there are interested individuals in the faculty, some of whom have actually taught in the high schools. Fortunately, the Minister of Education, Herr Appel, is himself a high school man — the former head of Askov, which his wife now runs. He is a fine big person, speaking broken English but most helpful and human. One can get to him and other people of importance quite easily, although my connection with the American Scandinavian Foundation has greatly facilitated matters.

There are also here in Copenhagen three high schools for trade-union and industrial groups. run somewhat on the lines of the country ones without the important residence feature. We have already established pleasant relations with the head of one a famous old man named Borup. [ later, literally Borup’s Folk High School]. His account of his work and his outline of his conception of what such education should mean has been one of my most stimulating experiences so far. His classes begin this week and we expect to attend some of them frequently. We shall, of course, visit the others too. It is. besides valuable to get the reactions of various kinds of people here not connected with educational and social work.

Our visit to Askov makes us a bit restless to be in the city fascinating as Copenhagen i— and more. keen than ever to get to the heart of our study. I wish you might have been with us at the big fall reunion which we attended two weeks ago. Every year the old students come back 1000 to 1500 strong and stay at the school visiting. and eating together and listening to lectures of all kinds. Old men and women were there who had attended the school over 30 years or more before. One old man of 70 odd [yrs] had been at the original school at Rodding. You can’t imagine how interested he was in us and how persistently he tried to talk to us in spite of our very evident, painful, Danish fragments of speech. It was a picture to see him drive away in a big farm wagon, heaped high with bedding, which each comer must himself supply. A number of the women spoke fairly good English so we had an opportunity to talk. which they were eager to do. There were, too, quantities of young men and women fresh. and intelligent looking. The Deans have a great sense of humor. And these young people get, I think, a great deal. of entertainment out of our conversational. difficulties, I don’t blame them and they were. very polite about it. All these people, old and young together, sat through four one-to-one-and-a- half hours lectures each and every day. [They] came again in the evening to music. stereopticon pictures, et cetera, Some of the subjects of the lectures were present day conditions in Belgium. Educational conditions, and Schleswig. (newly returned to Denmark), two educational addresses, one by. Minister Appel, two religious addresses (along what. line I could not determine), two on prayer and work, one on modern Danish art, one. on Abraham Lincoln by a. Dane who has taught in a People’s High School in Des Moines [IA] among the Danish. It was a curious feeling to hear him come out in English with. “… a government of the people, for the people, by the people”… Repeating this emphatically and slow a number of times, writing it on the blackboard and translating it into Danish. I could understand that he said this was the foundation of one of the American ideals. Of course. I could understand very little of

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the addresses. but it was evident that each speaker was using the full. force of his personality and the. audience responded with absolute silence or with ripples of laughter. Imagine what such lectures and such connecting links year after year must mean to the people scattered out in the little farms. The government meets the expenses. The people paying the nominal sum of five Cronin (about $1,10 a day at this exchange). By the way, there seemed to be no checking system. A man simply sat there in the open court, ready to take the money. Our coming to stay at Askov, where some of the leaders are situated. Is going to be a most valuable one and from there we will be. directed and introduced to the smaller schools. Askov itself. Is an extended high school — no student being allowed who has not had a session at one of the smaller schools. There are, of course, No examinations for admission.

I suppose you are wondering all this time about the language. It is difficult. We have an excellent teacher here and unusually good little grammar with the phonetic system. But while the. construction is like English and many of the words for that matter, the pronunciation. Is anything but English in sound. It is a guttural, breathless kind of language and I question if any one but a Dane will ever be able to pronounce its Gs and Rs and Es correctly. We are persisting valiantly with the reward that we can usually be understood when we ask simple questions. We can also understand simple answers and are beginning to get snatches of what we hear in lectures. We must get it. That is the first advice everyone gives us. It is evident to us that a statement of general methods and courses. Is not going to give us the secret of how the information is given, nor, as I said before, the various angles presented by the lecturers each. of whom is expected to use his personality to the utmost —- this. involving the frank expression of his own point of view, Each school will thus be individual and how Individual and how. the individuals average up, we must decide for ourselves.

Our time here in Copenhagen is therefore a necessary and valuable study.. It would be more valuable still, could we make use of the fine libraries here. There is much reading we shall have to do as soon as our Danish is more proficient. It does seem a pity when we are putting out so much time and energy on these details that we cannot share our experiences with others who might be able to come only for a few months. With what we could jointly translate and give through talks with people who speak English, (we will be ready to direct to those who have given us the most help). and through what one could see for himself, a shorter stay ought to be very profitable. It is not expensive living here. One can cover the essentials for about $60 a month. Passage on the one class steamer of the Scandinavian-American Line brings you straight to Copenhagen and $150 will give you a good birth, So I am continuing to hope that some of you will still come over — Perhaps make a sudden start and join us at Askov early in November. Think it over well. Do !! Fine clothes are neither needed nor desirable. Plenty of comfortable shoes. Warm things, and rain things. I can. always be reached sooner or later through the international Students Committee. Studiestrasede [?] 6 Copenhagen, and I would. of course come back again to Copenhagen to meet anyone if I knew in time. Later, I will try to write again as to what we find. I wish I had time to write of all the interesting incidentals. With regard to all.

Sincerely always.

(signed) Olive D. Campbell.

MARGUERITE BUTLER Staff

MARGUERITE BUTLER Letters 1922

MARGUERITE BUTLER BIDSTRUP Oral History

KATHERINE PETTIT Director

DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH Snow

Pine Mountain Settlement School
DANCING IN THE CABBAGE PATCH
SNOW

SNOW

In the early winter years of Pine Mountain Settlement School snow was a frequent and seasonal visitor. Snow still visits the School, though not so frequently and it rarely sticks around for long. The climate of the planet is shifting and it is getting warmer worldwide. Snow, if it falls, can now fall at alarming rates — as can rain. These unexpected, rapid and sometimes overwhelming amounts, are becoming more frequent. Sometimes snow fails to stay on the ground for a long stretch of time. Sometimes it is a soft and gentle visitor, and sometimes it is wind-driven and icy. Today, there seems to be little to no sensible planning for how snow will present itself. “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”

Sometimes snow falls as rain. It is difficult to imagine there could be a cloud burst such as the one that recently dumped record amounts of water on Eastern Kentucky. The rapid and deep torrents of Troublesome Creek that quickly rose to inundate Hindman Settlement School and the surrounding valleys, and the fierce and unprecedented rapid rise of the river that rushed through the town of Whitesburg, Kentucky, were unprecedented recent events. Christmas in Buffalo, New York this December 2022, has shown us what damage massive amounts of snow can do to a city. The climate is changing.

What would the raging water of July 2022 have looked like had it fallen as snow? Is it even possible? The recent December snow in Buffalo, NY suggests it is certainly possible — perhaps not in July, but possible, nonetheless. Snow and ice in the coldest regions of the globe, such as Antarctica, are rapidly melting away. Iceland’s glaciers are pouring into the sea. Kilimanjaro, K-2, and Everest, no longer have their deep winter snow caps. The world is warming and temperatures are going up.

The climate is changing and with the change comes a growing human uncertainty regarding our relationship with snow and water — and many believe — with each other. The United States Environmental Protection Agency reminds us

Climate change can dramatically alter the Earth’s snow- and ice-covered areas because snow and ice can easily change between solid and liquid states in response to relatively minor changes in temperature.

Further, the EPA tells us that

Between 1972 and 2020, the average portion of North America covered by snow decreased at a rate of about 1,870 square miles per year, based on weekly measurements taken throughout the year. Recently, there has been much year-to-year variability. For example the length of time when snow covers the ground has become shorter by nearly two weeks since 1972, on average.

The EPA describes a warming planet where

Across all sites, snowpack declined by an average of 23 percent during this [recent] time period. Peak snowpack is happening earlier in the season at the majority of sites, as higher temperatures cause snow to melt sooner. Snowpack season length decreased at about 86 percent of sites analyzed, decreasing by an average of more than 18 days.

The message in these indicators is that the climate is warming and there are environmental consequences and causes

As the Earth’s climate warms overall (see the U.S. and Global Temperature indicator), the number of frozen days has decreased in most parts of the United States. Continued reduction in frozen days could lead to a variety of effects on ecosystems, drought, wildfire risk, agriculture, natural resources, and the economy.

The progress of global warming is erratic but scientists are clear that the speed of global warming is accelerating. Snowfall is no longer a predictable winter visitor as it was 100 years ago.

100+ YEARS AGO AT PINE MOUNTAIN SETTLEMENT SCHOOL

We did not wait for a schoolhouse to begin teaching; the House in the Woods took care of the children till snowfall until 1918, when they were distributed in the living room of various cottages; or the first three years at the Masonic Lodge over Mr. Nolan’s store.

From the biography of Elhannon Murphy Nolan

The House in the Woods was an open-air classroom built of log posts with a roof cover and no walls — essentially a pavilion. It was located on the south slope above the valley, just up from where the School’s Barn is located today. The pavilion served as a community meeting place, as well as a classroom. Like snow, it slowly melted into the earth and by the late 1930s it was unusable and was fully taken down. It is hard to imagine such an open-air classroom in today’s world of air-conditioning, digital heating sensors, and comfort engineering that monitors our interior dwellings and their relationship to the environment.

1916 Winter

By 1916, enclosed classrooms were available and the attention of the Pine Mountain workers was focused outward on the community at large. In the winter of 1916, Evelyn Wells and another co-worker, Helen Strong, walked three miles in the snow down Greasy to Joanna Turner’s, “where we collected her horse.” Snow was a familiar part of the ecosystem of the region and the change in the seasons became for the workers a part of both the joy and challenge of living in Appalachia. (See EVELYN K. WELLS 1916 Excerpts from Letters Home

Evelyn K. Wells, a native of Montclair, NJ, and Co-director of Pine Mountain in its early years, was no stranger to snow. She often wrote in her letters home of the snow in the Pine Mountain valley. But, it was with new eyes that she begins to write home about the snow in the Pine Mountain valley. Clearly, she seems to have developed a new relationship with snow. She recaptures snow as an exotic visitor, and as a beautiful blanket covering a place of primitive conditions but of exquisite beauty. Her literary picture of her early years at the School, now in its third year of evolution, is of a Shangri-la “hidden” in a white snow-filled valley. where the visitors take a “lovely” trip in the snow and find the warmth of paradise. The enchantment of Wells is not quite James Hilton’s 1933 Lost Horizon, but it is an exotic projection on a region that yearned for discovery and re-invention.

Today, nature’s earlier gifts continue to be mythologized and pursued in the remote Pine Mountain valley. While we will never again see winter through the lens of the early twentieth century, we continue to push the “beautiful” rural scenes and wrap ourselves in nostalgia. We long for lost horizons, but we are slowly forgetting what those horizons might look like . We share our longings for a Shangrila, while forgetting that the snow of Hilton’s novel was not within Shangrila, but was a cold wasteland surrounding the paradise. We join millions searching for those quiet and deep snow-falls that wrap us in beauty, but fail to remember the treachery of cold snow. We sit within our warm buildings and look out at peaceful snow falling while watching events unfold in Ukraine and Buffalo, New York. Our horizons are no longer clear and our ability to negotiate them, less certain.

Evelyn Wells writes

Helen Strong [Teacher 1916-18] and I had a lovely trip recently. We started Saturday morning, in the snow, the weather having changed in the night, walking by turns the first three miles down Greasy to Joanna Turner’s, where we collected her horse. I rode Bobby, Miss [Ethel] de Long‘s horse, and I thoroughly enjoyed it all the way, for he paced and was full of spirits. Joanna told us not to let any horses get ahead of hers, as it made him mad, and Joanna’s maw told us not to let any horses get behind him, as that made him mad! However, he turned out to be a lovely horse, full of spirits and not “mean.”

Greasy grows wilder as you work down towards the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River, and the houses are miles apart. We had dinner by the side of the creek, building a fire to cook bacon and heat a can of soup. Such lovely hillsides, covered with beech forest on one side and laurel growth on the other. There are flat bottom-lands further down Greasy, which in a thickly settled country would not have escaped the inevitable corn crop, but here they were quite unspoiled. We got to Henry Chappell‘s, where we were to stay over night, about four, and the sun had been down for an hour and a half. Henry Chappell is an old man who is rather progressive, and he has a fine farm, and a nice house. His wife is a lovely gentle woman, full of humor, and so hospitable to us. Their children, except one son, are married and have moved away from the mountains, and one of them edits a paper in Middlesboro. We saw Mrs. Chappell‘s quilts and woven covers, and for the first time I acquired an interest in quilts. She had one which was beautiful – a design of red palm leaves on a white background which had a Scandinavian effect. The kitchen was a big room with a fireplace big enough for five-foot logs, and a very modern range beside it. At the other end was a well, with good water, served from a gourd dipper.

When we sat down to supper three men came in, cattle men from New Mexico. It is a stopping place for all kinds of people. we slept in rather a dressy room, with straw matting and wallpaper, but it was the only exception I have seen to the mountain rule that every room has a fireplace. It certainly was cold that night!

As we sat round the fire after supper, they were very anxious to know all about us. They told me all about the Wellses over on Cutshin — how I needn’t be ashamed of ‘ary one of them, and they found many points of resemblance in my folks to the general Wells cast of features.

Another beautiful ride, starting at 8:30 on Sunday, coming up the frost-bound river, where we had to break the ice several times. Such stunning gorges, and big rocks in the stream, and some snow on the holly and evergreen trees and Main [mountain] Laurel, is exceptionally beautiful. One little house, very small, was two stories high and painted white with green trimmings, and had an upstairs balcony fairly hanging over the creek. The little clearing was practically surrounded by a holly grove, such staunch, stylish little trees.

We stopped for a call on 109-year-old Uncle John Shell, whom we found splitting kindling. He was most entertaining, telling us all about the game one used to be able to catch, and conditions when the country was really wild. [See:Uncle John Shell to read the real story of this “oldest man in the world]

Also see: Evelyn K. Wells 1916 Excerpts from Letters Home

1917 – 1927

From the transcriptions of other early worker letters gathered by Evelyn K. Wells when she served as Secretary at Pine Mountain Settlement in the 1930s, comes a chilly account of how the mail traveled to the remote School. The letter describes how mail was delivered in the wintertime by rail to a station on the South side of the tall Pine Mountain and then packed by horse across a snowy mountain. The mail came daily from the rail line and up and over Pine Mountain in the beautiful but challenging wintertime. All visitors would have to make the journey by foot unless a horse or a mule could be sent to fetch them. Until the road, called Laden Trail, was completed in the mid-1930s, crossing Pine Mountain in winter was an adventure.

Twenty sacks of mail today. They took five horses to fetch it — what a picture, crossing the snowy mountain! EVELYN K. WELLS 1916 Excerpts from Letters Home 1917 Winter. [034-p.1]

Winter and snow also brought many children and staff under one roof for long periods of time. Colds and allergies ran rampant and so did the full cycle of childhood diseases. Secretary Wells records this outbreak of Chicken-pox at Far House, the girl’s dormitory, during one early snowy winter.

Chicken-pox. Six cases at Far House, including my little roommate, who broke out tonight.

Rail fence in the snow at Pine Mountain Settlement School.

1922 WEATHER AND WELL WATER

In January of 1922 Marguerite Butler a worker at Pine Mountain Settlement School experienced a particularly harsh winter in the shadow of Pine Mountain as she assisted in the establishment of a satellite settlement at Line Fork in nearby Letcher County. She wrote to her mother about her experiences coping with the weather and her responsibility for developing the new medical and educational satellite, approximately eight miles from the main Pine Mountain Settlement School. The following describes the preparation of a well for the new facility.

Dear Mother —

Yesterday it was 10 degrees above zero, today it must be up to 60 degrees above. Such a change overnight. I had sixteen at Sunday School. They were so excited over the [photographs] pictures of play. I let each family pick the one they would like a print of.

Yesterday I had to go to Line Fork and I tell you I wore all the clothes I had. It was bitter cold and a high wind but I didn’t get cold a bit. It was beautiful with everything white with snow. The sun made it so brilliant I could hardly see. I have to go over to Line Fork again to-morrow for several days to fix the well. When I was home it just stopped running. I am afraid a joint has cracked letting in air. It will be a job to fix.

Marguerite Butler

Line Fork Settlement, an 8-mile hike or an equally slow horseback ride up over a small mountain and into the adjoining Letcher County, was a challenge in any weather. Marguerite Butler, a graduate of Vassar and an eager young and talented woman, was assigned by Director Katherine Pettit to take charge of developing the new satellite settlement and she made the journey frequently in the snow.

One of her first tasks at Linefork was overseeing the construction of a well for the settlement and for preparing a small cabin for the staff at the new facility. A doctor and a nurse would soon join Butler at the facility where she was preparing to serve as the Industrial Training teacher. By offering community classes and medical support for the remote location, Pine Mountain hoped to duplicate its model services and create five more sites in the region. Marguerite had a daunting mandate, but one she engaged with enthusiasm.

Remarkably, the job of supervising the digging of the well at Line Fork was one of Marguerite’s first assigned duties in the development of the new settlement. It was a complicated task, but a critical one as the facility could not function without clean and nearby water. She was not charged with the actual digging of the well, but Marguerite’s letters indicate she gave that task a go in the company of ready workers from the community. It was a difficult task. It would have been daunting in any season, but in winter, it was unimaginable to many of Pine Mountain’s hardiest workers. Apparently, Katherine Pettit could imagine the young Marguerite suffering a bit as she nudged the hardy Marguerite onward.

Lutrella Baker Album. The Cabin at Line Fork, in snow, distant view. line_fork_003b.jpg

On January 23 Marguerite tells us about the broken well and the working conditions

Sunday, January 23, 1922

Dear Mother —

… Last Monday morning I started out early for Line Fork to fix the water. For two days we worked and at 4 Tuesday once more had running water. The settling of the ground at the well had bent the pipe so it broke right in half under the elbow. Henry Creech came Tuesday to help us cut and thread the pipes. When we found the trouble I had to send him back to the school for a new elbow (pipe). He left on Queen [the PMSS horse} at 10:30, getting back at 1:05 – said he never was on such a good horse before. He told me to tell Jeannette if she picked a husband with as much judgment as a [the ] horse she’d get a good one.

ALL THE COMFORTS OF HOME AND CROSSING THE PINE MOUNTAIN IN SNOW

When Harriet Crutchfield came to Pine Mountain as a worker in the early 1920s, she left her home where there was every advantage. Her father, James S. Crutchfield, a School Trustee, was President of the American Fruit Grower’s Association and she was used to the many comforts that financial security brings. She was not prepared for the rugged life at Pine Mountain, especially winter and she sent a steady stream of letters to her home asking for small comforts and for items of clothing that would get her through the “Grip of Winter“. She seems to try to accommodate the environment when she finally bravely says in one letter, “This can wait for a long time …” Her want list, in one memorable letter, however, starts with “alligator shoes & rubbers” …

4. Alligator shoes & rubbers to fit. All the shoes I have down here are the kind that you can’t get rubbers over and I understand that in December it gets pretty sloppy — more rain than snow in winter here. You will have to get my alligators sewed up in the places where they’ve broken apart and have taps put on the heels. I believe there are some rubbers in the house that would fit them, but I have no idea where. This can wait for a long time.

crutchfield_journal_032.jpg page 4 Harriet Crutchfield, Correspondence 1921 Undated – n.d.

Crossing the mountain at 5:30 a.m., joining Lucretia Garfield and K. [Kay] Wright on the early train from Lynch, where they had been Girl-Scouting all week. At Harlan took another train, rode six miles and connected with what had been described as a “motor car,” which turned out to be a little truck that ran by gasoline engine on the railroad tracks six miles further, to the Head of Lick Branch, a coal mining district, We rode lickety-split, hanging on to each other, to the end of the road, where we bumped into the mountain. We were met by two little boys who took us over the low ridges to the Smith valley, only three miles, and such lovely country, winding instead of straight like ours.

We were to visit the Community Life School, a Presbyterian center (in Harlan County). Palatial houses where the people have black walnut sets and pianos and the ladies come to Ladies’ Aid meetings in plumed hats. At the creeks and hollows nearby are full of cabin homes and their neighborhood problems are much like ours. The buildings of the school are very plain little cottages, neat and comfortable and perfectly unimaginative, but there are fine workers. At a funeralizing, we saw the neighborhood gathered. The Presbyterian minister from Harlan came to officiate, and we returned with him, starting out on foot, changing to the hand-car for six miles, walking another three because the train wasn’t due for a long time, and being picked up by a very luxurious automobile parishioner of Mr. Michel for the last few miles to town.

After a night in the only hotel in town we came across Pine Mountain in a light snow, joined by a lot of children returning from vacations. Also, two little boys who ran away a month ago whom Lucretia and Kay had found in the poorhouse on their travels and who were now being returned to us by the County Judge.

See: HARRIET CRUTCHFIELD Journal Transcribed Part 1

Pine Mountain Settlement School Series 09: Biography – Staff/Personnel Series 05: Administration – Board of Trustees HARRIET CRUTCHFIELD Journal Transcribed Part 1 TAGS: Harriet Crutchfield Journal I Transcribed; Harriet Crutchfield; Harriet Crutchfield Orndorff; education; Pine Mountain Settlement School; Pine Mountain, KY; Mrs. Lewis; Mr. Lewis; Marian Kingman; Marguerite Emerson; Practice House (Country Cottage); Infirmary; Laurel House; Katherine Pettit; Alice (Pilkington) … Continue reading HARRIET CRUTCHFIELD Journal Transcribed Part 1

See also: Evelyn K. Wells 1916 Excerpts from Letters Home and Evelyn K. Well Excerpts From Letters Home 1921 https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page_id=41423

THE DARKER SIDE OF SNOW

Medical Settlement – Big Laurel, late 1920s

During the 1920s snow showed a darker side. To some of those who supported the School and sought to alleviate the poverty they saw or perceived to be in the region, snow offered a means to reach into the conscience of the rich. To many wealthy supporters of the School, the pervasive and severe living conditions in the remote areas of the Central Appalachian mountains was made even grimmer by the imagining of cold snow. The exposure to snow and to the cold compounded by poverty was and is considered an inhumane event but a solid fund-raiser. The realities of the 1920s can uneasily be recalled when we read of winter miseries such as the current events of the 2022-23 winter in Ukraine.

Snow adds to the misery of poverty in the minds of many — an observation not without cause. At Pine Mountain Settlement in the 1920s the combination of snow and poverty was a means of reaching donors and friends of the School. Winter was also an opportunity to plead for programs and for workers to “uplift” the people of the Central and Southern Appalachians from their perceived treacherous environment. By providing money and educational resources the edge of Winter could be softened for mountain children. A school like Pine Mountain could shelter the mountain children from their harsh habitat and move the mountain dwellers out of the “misery of poverty” that was made so obvious while in the grip of winter snow. It was a cynical but effective means to capture the sympathy of donors.

Blanche Rannells, a visitor to Pine Mountain and a leader in the “uplift” movement, wrote a short article, “Our Mountain Neighbors,” that describes the austere environment of winter in Appalachia. From her brief first-hand encounter with winter and her efforts as a staff worker at the second satellite settlement, the Medical Settlement at Big Laurel, Blanche Rannells pulls on the heartstrings in one of her 1924 letters to prospective donors

Those of you who are interested in welfare work for children may be shocked by the statement that ” … last Sept. 30 children who entered this school together were nearly 450m pounds underweight. In two weeks regular rest and wholesome food had produced a gain for the group of 147 pounds!” If you could see the homes these children come from and know the character of their food, you would no longer wonder at the statistics reported by the school nurse.

Let me try to picture to you one of these homes. Imagine if you can the utter solitude and loneliness of a life spent in a windowless log cabin “at the head of a hollow” with none but the sounds of nature to break the sepulchral stillness. No traveler ever chances to pass the door for the winding footpath which leads to it does not extend beyond it.

Within it [the home] is even more cheerless, especially in winter, for sunlight cannot penetrate solid walls of logs. The fireplace must serve the double purpose of furnishing light and heat. A touch of color is lent to the interior of strings of “burney” red peppers and hanks of wool of various colors suspended from the rafters. Long ropes of “shuckey beans” decorate the walls waiting to be shelled when needed for food. [The writer was obviously not familiar with “shucky beans” or “leather britches” which did not require shelling to be eaten —as most times, the beans were cooked with shell and bean.]

Blanche Rannells, “Our Mountain Neighbors,” 1924

WINTER WITH THE STAPLETONS AT LINEFORK 1922-1942

Some of the most detailed early records of snow and cold came from the extension centers of Line Fork and the Medical Center at Big Laurel. The Stapletons who supervised the Line Fork facility in the late 1930’s and early 1940s, described many winters at the remote Line Fork Cabin. They also captured the lives of their neighbors around the clinic and the isolation of those families. But, they also capture the beauty of winter shared by many who lived in the Line Fork community.

Lutrella Baker Album. The Cabin at Line Fork, in snow, distant view. line_fork_003b.jpg

In 1927 Dr. Ida Stapleton and her husband the Rev. Stapelton arrived at Linefork. They describe the first four months and their first winter

Before night the rain began again and continued thru our own Christmas Day which we spent in the Cabin. It was the first one spent alone by the Stapletons for many years. The schools had but one day for vacation and so on Monday the lessons began again and singing was taken up with the idea for closing exercises in February. New Year’s Day was a winterly one and a regular blizzard was the weather program. Thru out the day only one caller came to the Cabin and he was our neighbor who brought us the milk.

Stapleton Correspondence 1925-1927

The Stapletons had many winters (1925-1944) at the Line Fork Cabin and their informative reports and letters detail the extremes in weather they experienced while living there. See Stapleton Correspondence Guide

1933 REPORT – December “Dear Friends: — At the peak of the Year — and we are having our first snow storm which did not last but half an hour. The Fall has been about as perfect as we could wish. Just cold enough so that a moderate fire is sufficient…” [6 pages]

At Christmas, we found all the country covered with a thick white blanket of snow. The evergreens were so lovely it seemed quite unnecessary to have any further decorations – but in the schoolrooms it was quite different and the trees were trimmed in the usual way with candles, tinsel, holly wreaths and bells….

It has been too cold and frozen to do any more digging [of coal] so Johnny is splitting palings to fence in some land of his own. He has about five acres and has recently sold a half acre to a younger brother for fifty dollars on which to build a house for his newly acquired wife and in order to pay for it he tried unsuccessfully to beg a load [of coal] from the Cabin.

The next day I went up Jake’s creek to see Orrie who had been to the Cabin a week before for medicine. Now I called to see how she was getting on. She had been much better for a few days. Then she had to go foraging for coal while her father-in-law stayed in the house and nussed the baby. Why hadn’t he gone? The neighbors laughing say “That Dick would sit and freeze to death before he would pack coal”. Not quite as bad as that I reckon but at this time he wouldn’t, so Orrie rode the mule a mile to the coal bank where a quantity of coal had been taken out and after filling two pokes with it she loaded them on to the mule and walked back. She had another heart spell and was in a faint for some hours. I had warned Dick that she must not get wood for a month or two but he wouldn’t [warn her], and her brother, a young man, wouldn’t, so she had made the effort to keep her babes from freezing. Some families are helpful to their relatives, then again they are quite heartless.

[STAPLETON REPORT 1930 – January.]

A DEMORALIZING SNOW?

Another ambiguous response to snow is found in the correspondence of Katherine Pettit writing to a former staff member, Lucretia Garfield in January of 1927. She speaks to the beauty of the snow and wishes that Lucretia could see the snow at the Pine Mountain School

I wish you could see Pine Mountain today, with a new, fresh fall of snow. It’s so beautiful it’s a demoralizing and makes everybody want to stay outdoors and not work at all. But this is the first day of the new term and so we all have to plunge in to it again after our good vacation.

ALICE COBB STORIES 1930s-40s

Alice Cobb, another worker at the School, gathered many stories of families in the community as they struggled with harsh winters and the cold and drafty cabins in which many of them lived. Cobb remembers with some poignancy, one conversation on her “Farewell Trip” to visit community friends as she prepared to leave Pine Mountain after many years of service

“I wish I could remember all the stories — perhaps I will from time to time and can jot them down. I tried so hard to memorize them as he [Abner] went along but you just can’t remember all Abner’s nice little sayings, and fancy words. One thing I remember, when he spoke about a cold winter, with the snow and tree branches a poppin’ and a crackin’. And then he asked me about you [Cobb’s Mother, her correspondent] and…
…how many children there were at home. I said you [her Mother] had to be there alone most of the year. He was quite severe — asked how often I went home. I said only once or twice a year. He shook his head and said “And you don’t stay home no more than that — and them without ary chick nor child?” You see his idea is that a family should stay together, and he doesn’t want his children to come even as far as Pine Mountain school. He feels that their family circle must be unbroken — it’s a beautiful affection they all have for each other, and while in any other family I wouldn’t like it, in his it is different.”
Alice Cobb’s Farewell to Line Fork,
June 14, 1937
(Via Little Laurel, Big Laurel and Turkey Fork)

[Pettit to Garfield, January 10, 1927]

1944

Lela Christian, Nan Milan, Stella Taylor, Nancy Jude. Student Community Service Workers, c. late 1930s – early 1940s. [duplicates_069.jpg]

The academic programs in the late 1930s and the 1940s pushed the older students out into the Community where they would experience the life of the people and provide much-needed social service supports as Community Service Workers. This program, designed by Director Glyn Morris was ground-breaking in the rural setting of Eastern Kentucky and led to expanded development in the later regional Rural Youth Guidance programs initiated by Morris. I t was also a model for the Frontier Nursing service that later was developed nearby. The students seen above were trained by Grace M. Rood, who at the end of her life wrote of her work training students in the nursing field.

‘BATTLE OF THE YEAR’ SNOWBALL FIGHT 1944

While the School program was rigorous, it also made room for students to revel in the joy of play, and snow afforded the perfect playground. In this article from the 1944 Pine Cone, some of this revelry is described. It is a description familiar to any child who has had the joy of pummeling their schoolmates, no matter their age, with snowballs.

Boys’ House in the distance and Girls’ Industrial in the foreground with deep snow. c. 1940s

The deep, wet, and heavy snows that were, and are, common at Pine Mountain, provide perfect playgrounds for students to engage in snow-ball fights like the one described below by student, John Deaton

BATTLE OF THE YEAR” by John Deaton – Snowball fights among students from the various dormitories.” 1944 Pine Cone

As snowball fights were to be the order of the day with Boys’ House challenging Far House and West Wind offering to battle Big Log, everyone went home and changed into warmer clothes.

The scene of the boys’ skirmish was Far House lawn, which Boys’ House captured at will. The luckiest break for Boys’ House was the charge that netted us a panful of snowballs manufactured by Far House. Neither side can be declared the victor but Far House firmly declined an invitation to continue the fight on the playground which is nearer to Boys’ House.

The girls did not turn out in large numbers, but they surely created more excitement. The bandannas which were worn to protect their hair slipped off. The result was a generous amount of mud and snow in the hair of the participants. The mud was thicker and more plentiful than the snow, and much mud was mixed with the snow balls. this fight should go to West Wind, which was greatly outnumbered but kept on the offensive almost all afternoon. We are all looking forward to another afternoon of slinging snow.

[John Deaton, January 1944, Pine Cone, pp.12-13]

1947 POST-WAR YEARS

“Daffodils and snow do not mix well. Still they are trying…”

Like the daffodils and snow, H.R.S. Benjamin, the new Director of Pine Mountain in the Post-War years was caught in an equally incongruous event. As the Pine Mountain boarding school teetered on the edge of collapse following the financial downturn following the war and the departure of former Director Glyn Morris, Benjamin faced overwhelming challenges. Buffeted by the shifting economy and by the consolidating educational framework in the early post-war years, Benjamin found himself in a blizzard of enormous challenges. But, with the promise of the beautiful and unique building West Wind nearly finished, he set about trying everything he knew to find the right mix of despair and enthusiasm.

The rapid shifts in climate only added to Benjamin’s anxiety about the many looming shifts in the educational and economic climate that would have to be addressed, and as the bills for West Wind crossed his desk, he stepped up. The sizable building project of West Wind initiated by Morris to fill the need for a girl’s dormitory, was now a huge financial burden for Benjamin. Further, as the boarding students dwindled and the post-war economy grew more fragile, the boarding school was deep in a snow drift. But, as Benjamin walked out of the Office he saw the beauty and potential of Pine Mountain ….”… the daffodils pushing their way up through the snow.”

One can perhaps imagine that he was also thinking of Mary Rockwell Hook, the School’s architect sitting in the sun of Sarasota, Florida, with her daffodils and palm trees as the snow filled his disintegrating horizon. We will never know if his remark was one of despair or hope, but it was certainly an apt description at the time. It is still a common sight at the School to see the early daffodils keep trying to bloom through late winter snow … joyful yellow in a sea of white.

In February Benjamin wrote another letter of seasonal change and longing to a former Pine Mountain worker

February 5, 1947 an

Dear Miss Sparrow,
I guess the near-zero temperatures this week are more in keeping with the season than the spring breezes which we enjoyed last week, and most of the winter, but they are scarcely as pleasant! We think often in this weather of our many Pine Mountain friends basking in Florida Sunshine.

H.R.S. Benjamin, Director

This signals that while despair was lurking, change held promise.

Pine Mountain in the grip of winter. [Arthur Dodd, Photographer ?] 1940s

1940 LADEN TRAIL AND THE JOE WILSON STORY

The migration of Joe Wilson and his family from Pine Mountain over Laden Trail to Harlan in the depths of winter is one of the most memorable snow stories of the School’s third decade. Alice Cobb, who accompanied the family describes the caravan that set out in the snow to cross the mountain in an overloaded truck and the adventure that ensued. Cobb captures both the social and the physical misery of the transport and of change, in this clip from her short story Migration from the Hinterland to the Industrial Area [Harlan]

When the morning came it followed a sleet storm, and we awakened to a new world, coated with ice, every little branchlet of every little tree glorified, shimmering. One was shocked by so much beauty, so lavishly displayed and I thought with embarrassment for mankind and the things he is proud of, — the glass flowers in the cases at Harvard University, tenderly buried underground in case of fire — when here was this inimitable glory, a thousand miles from anywhere at all, blooming for a day, and careless of existence.

I slipped and slid over the cinder path to the office, to see what was going to be done about the trip over the mountain. Brit [was …? …?] said certainly he would go and hadn’t he been up since four o’clock out to the Wilsons, loading their house plunder on the truck.

READ MORE …
Alice Cobb, Migration from Hinterlands to Industrial Area, c. 1940.