Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Helen F. Little Reports
May – October 1925
Line Fork Settlement
Line Fork. “‘The Cabin’ – Gilley, Kentucky” with woman standing in front. [nace_II_album_029.jpg]
TAGS: Helen F. Little, Line Fork Settlement reports, statistics, finances, book of rules for Line Fork, Health House, plans and suggestions, gifts, religion, food, safety, staff and positions, sanitary precautions, selling old clothes, charts
HELEN F. LITTLE Reports – Line Fork: Transcriptions
May, August, September, October 1925
HELEN F. LITTLE Reports: MAY 1925
LINE FORK SETTLEMENT — PINE MOUNTAIN EXTENSION CENTER
HEAD WORKER’S REPORTS – MAY 8, 1925 TO MAY 31, 1925.
1. STATISTICAL
Calls made in community 31
Calls made at settlement
(a) Children 26
(b) Adults 26
1. From Community 13
2. From Outside 9
TOTAL 48
Sunday-school Attendance
Reopening May 24
Coil Branch 6
Bear Branch 2
May 31
Coil Branch 7
Bear Branch none
*Note on Sunday-schools
I feel from the very good reception given the new worker as a result of her being with Miss [Ruth] Dennis, and the interest shown by several children, that it will be possible to build up the Sunday-schools again, with a “singing-school” to follow. Some adults have talked about coming, and I intend to do some “follow-up” work along that line.
Coil [Branch]
Thru calling it was learned that the date of reopening Sunday-school had not been known. That, together with meetings at Stone Fork, and Sunday visiting, accounts for [?] attendance, altho’ the book kept by previous worker did not show more than ten for Coil Branch. The attendance is slowing increasing, and there were several more at Coil Branch last Sunday, which will come in next month’s report.
Bear [Branch]
The book shows and the Smith children say they were the only ones at this school which was also corroborated by calling. There have been heavy thunderstorms the last two Sunday evenings, which may have kept away some who had promised to come.
II. FINANCIAL
Nurses Dept.
Money taken in from sale of infants’ garments .25
Household Dept.
The back bills incurred by Mrs. Peabody and Miss Hynes at Harp Bros. have been received again from Harp Bros. Checked up by Miss Dennis as far as was possible in the absence of more exact data, and I have paid them, also one back bill for work done by Mrs. [?] Begley. Therefore, so far as I now know, the accounts are up to date. A new account for the Settlement has been opened at the Cumberland State Bank, Poor Fork.
After reading the discussion relative to the amount turned in by workers for living, as given by Miss [Anne Ruth] Medcalf, I was somewhat interested to see whether her statement, which was theoretically correct, still held good in the light of my previous experience with all sorts of budgets in various parts of the country, and especially in comparison with conditions in the Carolina mountains.
It is, of course, true, that up to a certain point, living expenses are as high for two people as for four or more, providing that there is no home garden. One never makes money in feeding people except in large numbers, and when there were four workers here, and $100 paid in, there was considerably more to cover the other expenses which do not always have to come under food.
After getting all the available data in regard to food, prices, coal, wood, work done about the place, etc., I think the small amount of money available when only two workers are here can be made to cover these expenses for garden, fuel, etc., but only by very careful planning and knowledge of balanced rations.
The greatest fault to be found with most limited dietaries is that the starch content is too large, but I have worked out a dietary based on both calorie, mineral and vitamin requirements, both for the growing girl’s requirements and those of adults leading an active life, and find that it is possible to have the proper proportion by using the whole wheat kernel, which is relatively more economical than the canned so-called wheat preparations, or the expensive package breakfast foods.
Brown rice, dried navy and lima beans, lentils, cheese and nut dishes, together with as large a proportion of greens, and fresh watery vegetables as possible will give both appetizing and wholesome foods. I am gradually getting away from the starch, and have been using the whole wheat, both for breakfast, with raisins, and in salads; have ordered brown rice, have been using the dried beans, lettuce from our own garden, onions, rhubarb, beet greens from our garden, radishes, etc. I brought back head lettuce cucumbers, tomatoes and cheese from Louisville.
As I very seldom eat meat, never when I can avoid it, this sort of food is what I have been accustomed to, but whether it is possible for all workers coming here to like it, is another question. I have specialized for years in teaching such combinations and have many recipes for nut, cheese, and other vegetarian dishes.
I have canned all the rhubarb which Mrs. Dick Smith kindly gave us, with the exception of a little which we used for sauce, so have several jars of the water-canned, and about a dozen little jars of rhubarb conserve.
This budget is necessarily one which overlaps, so it is a little hard to figure exactly the amount used for food, each month, but I am keeping very careful account of everything, and could give cost per capita any time if you desire, but see no particular advantage in running off such figures every month. Especially as I dislike statistics, but have had to keep such elaborate and detailed ones for so many years that I understand how to do it.
If you desire my book for inspection any time, shall be glad to bring it over, but understood from Miss [Bessie V.] Gaunt that it was not necessary to send in the expense account every month.
I also keep a diary of activities, dates, etc., which is just for my personal use, but to me is invaluable in settlement work.
III. BOOK OF RULES FOR LINE FORK
I expect to have the first draft of the rules, suggestions, etc., found in the file, left by Miss Medcalf, and embodying other suggestions by Miss Dennis and myself, ready for your criticism, additions or subtractions by the first of next week. The fact that my trunk, containing my Corona, did not get here for three weeks, and also that I should not use my eyes too much, have kept me from getting this material in shape before. I thought it most important to get a typed copy of Maude’s work posted up for her so did that first.
IV. GENERAL SURVEY OF SITUATION
It usually takes several months before anything can be accomplished of value in a new settlement location, as so much depends on personalities, both of workers and people to be served. At the settlement in Pennsylvania, which was primarily a recreation center for children and the eighteen to twenty-five “big boy” group, I found that it was from November until April before I felt that I was at all in touch with the situation. It had once been a well managed and efficient small settlement, under my cousin, Stella Monson, who is now head of the Lowell House, New Haven, and is recognized by those who know her work, as very fine personality. But it had run down under a poor head worker, until there were only about 800 persons a month coming to the house, and it the only center in a congested district of several miles area. When I left, the monthly attendance was 4000, due to the splendid workers who were with me as boys’ director, and assistant.
I only mention this to give you a little idea of my previous experience, as I sent in such a brief outline, and to emphasize the point that I have not yet been here long enough to get much in the way of tangible results.
However, I do feel that owing to Miss Dennis, the reading up on the whole local situation, and the history of the Kentucky mountains, and the understanding of the Pine Mountain School standards and aims, which I already appreciated, as they agreed with the results of what little I learned in two years in many different localities in N.C. and the reading of Dr. Campbell’s book, and conferences with persons who had been here — that I have somewhat of an intelligent sympathy with what could and should be done here.
Also, going about with Miss Dennis has been invaluable, as the folks have accepted me as her friend, especially as we are both from Chicago. I find that some of my friends there know her, etc.
Therefore I feel that in spite of surface difficulties, there is a very real need here for the right kind of recreational and emotional outlet for the older boys especially, and for the young married girls, and of course, always for children. If I can get in co-operation with these young men, who are going to teach the schools, and get basket-ball courts, which can be also used for volley-ball, both of which games I found most popular all over North Carolina, Georgia, and even in Texas, where in visiting my uncle, who has a ranch in the hills, I was called upon to go out all over the county, and address meetings of farmers in regard to consolidating their schools, as had been done in the district in Mitchell County, [N.C.] where I went to assist the very fine county superintendent raise the standards of his very poorly equipped teachers by teaching myself, giving teachers’ associations. I coached the big boys there in basket-ball, as drinking quite a bit as they had less time for it.
There are many things that can be done by a worker who will be permanent along the lines you have already suggested, as to changing methods of production, reviving weaving. I feel it can be done, in spite of the many apparent obstacles, but it will take time and much tact. That is where my Carolina experience will help me, for I find that my neighbors here are essentially the same as my dear friends in the Carolina mountains.
So, in spite of the fact that I was suffering most acutely, both from a cold, and overwork at Pocono College when I came down, and haven’t gotten around quite as much as I could have wished, I still feel encouraged about the work.
V. Suggestions as to Repairs and Permanent Improvements Needed in Near Future
CABIN
1. The cabin should be properly chinked before winter, as both the cement, which was evidently not mixed in the right proportion, and the boards under it are falling out. It has been stuffed with paper in many places, but there are many large spaces. In my room, so much has fallen out on the outside wall at the end that the first rain, after I came, flooded the floor there, and I had to fill up the cracks with paper, which Mr. [Luigi] Zande has exact information.
2. The roof of the back porch leaks badly.
3. There should be a new fireproof mat under the kitchen stove as the one now there is badly worn.
HEALTH HOUSE
A rat inconsiderately died of the rat poison Miss [Agnes] Hynes put out right in the middle of the second-hand baby-clothes, necessitating a thorough disinfecting and cleaning, which occupied Maude and myself for several days, and is not yet finished, owing to the fact that I want to catch as many mice as possible in traps before putting the things back into the cupboards, which have been scrubbed, etc.
All this led to a cleaning of the attic and as much of the house as we have time for, especially where the odor of decomposition was strongest.
1. Consequently, I discovered what you may already know that the woodwork, both the paneling on the walls, and the attic floor is badly worm-riddled. We use linseed oil at home to prevent that, but I presume you know what should be done. It seems a pity that such an attractive building should be so spoiled.
2. Where does the money come from for the rubber hose which is needed to carry water from the tap in the yard, if the bath-tub is to be used? Miss Dennis tells me that Mr. Zande said that the pipe should not be disturbed for another line, as there is too much labor involved if ever it didn’t work right, as the whole thing would have to be torn up.
3. Does the type of toilet in use here require lime or lye to be put in? Miss Dennis has hunted for a bulletin about it, as she says it is the South Carolina kind, but she hasn’t found it.
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LINE FORK SETTLEMENT — PLAN AND SUGGESTIONS.
FINANCIAL PLAN
Each worker paid by the Pine Mountain School receives in addition to her salary, $25 a month for maintenance, which is turned into the family budget for living expenses. Any school teacher at either Bear Branch or Coil Branch, who lives at the Settlement pays her board, at the rate of $25 per month.
The general office at the School pays an amount of $30,00 each month to the worker in charge at Line Fork. This is for payment of salary of maid, $20.00, and $10.00 for living expenses of maid.
The family budget is supposed to cover all living expenses, including fuel, coal oil, and work done by children on gardens, and grounds. It does not include substantial repairs or improvement of grounds or buildings.
Such bills must be presented to Miss [Katherine] Pettit for her approval and checks will be drawn by the School office for the same. All checks will be drawn in favor of the worker in charge at Line Fork. [In handwriting: “No permanent improvements [?] without approval of Miss Pettit.”
Bills for feed for the horse should be sent to the School office.
FINANCIAL POLICY
All visitors to Line Fork are expected to pay twenty-five (.25) per meal and ten cents (.10) a night. When visitors do not so pay, a bill for such indebtedness should be sent in to the School office, preferably before the end of the month.
The Settlement must run on a cash basis. Pay cash or by check for everything bought at the local stores, and for all work done. Grocery accounts with outside stores may be settled by check each month.
Sell only Bibles, and Baby-Clothes. The Nurse only is to sell medicines.
NURSES’ FEES
Charge for Nurse ——————————————————- .25 a mile
Big Laurel Doctor ——————————————————- .50 a mile
Charge full price for medicines, tonics and all supplies, including bottles.
The Nurse’s fees go toward the upkeep of the horse.
GIFTS
Keep a list of everything received as gifts to the Settlement. Write notes of thanks, and send the names in to Miss Pettit. All money received should be turned into the School office, and disbursed from there.
REPORTS
A monthly report in narrative form should be sent in to Miss Pettit. Every six months a detailed report, covering finances and work should be sent in to Miss Pettit.
Careful accounts should be kept of the household expenses. The checking account is kept at the Cumberland State Bank, Poor Fork, Ky. It is advisable to keep at least ten dollars ($10.00) on hand in this account.
SUGGESTIONS FOR ACTIVITIES – INDUSTRIAL
Get the men interested in better farming, fruit, and raising chickens.
Encourage the making of stools, brooms, tying lace, spinning, weaving.
SUGGESTIONS FOR ACTIVITIES – EDUCATIONAL
Co-operate with the teachers at the two schools in every possible way.
Help with playground, games, basket-ball, volley-ball, dramatics, sewing-cooking classes. Teach adults to read and write.
Continue work started by nurse along health lines in the schools, such as playing the health game, examinations, measurements, classes in care of babies. Try Parent-Teacher Associations. Encourage hot lunches.
Promote singing-schools and organ lessons.
RELIGIOUS
Carry on Sunday-schools at Coil Branch and Bear Branch school-houses.
Sell Bibles — .10, .15, .25 cents apiece.
Encourage attendance at preaching.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FOOD
Use healthful foods, such as the whole wheat grain, water-ground cornmeal, brown rice, dried fruits, dates, nuts, lentils, dried lima and navy beans, green vegetables from Settlement garden and from Pine Mountain.
Order milk powder (Klim), condensed milk, creamery butter, whole wheat and Graham flour from outside. Buy sugar, salt, cornmeal, white flour, and dried peaches, apricots, prunes, and some canned goods from local stores.
Use fruit for desserts instead of pies and cakes; dates and fresh honey instead of candy.
The whole wheat grain can be obtained from the Lexington Roller Mills. Soak in water from breakfast-time until next morning on warm stove, cook slowly until grain has opened. Serve in water in which it has cooled, which should be absorbed. Add raisins and cream. Can be used cold in salads. [hand-written note: “F.H. Bennet Biscuit Co. New York City. Finest “Wheatsworth” flour — express to Chad. $2.95 – 28 lbs.]
The Colter Grocery Co. Cincinnati, Ohio. Groceries.
Geo. F. Hogg Market, Poor Fork, for butter.
Order groceries in small amounts by parcel post, as they can be carried from the post office and save expense of hauling large amounts over the mountain. Large orders should be sent by freight or express, prepaid to Chad.
Local stores — Manon Cornett, Henry Lewis, Joe Creech.
Vegetables can be bought in the neighborhood. Do not buy lettuce.
Raise lettuce, carrots, radishes, beets, peas, potatoes, greens in garden.
SAFETY
It is not advisable to leave the Settlement alone for any length of time. Neither is it advisable to leave a young girl alone in the house.
When going over the mountain to the railroad, one should always have a guide. Bert Smith can be depended upon. Workers should not walk in to the Pine Mt. School alone.
It is advisable to wear a riding-skirt, or a shell skirt and knickers or bloomers underneath, rather than riding-trousers or knickers alone.
WORK
Children paid for jobs .05 or .10 an hour according to quality of work done when working on place.
Men for ordinary work get $2.50 a day.
Frank Hall for carpentry $3,50 a day.
For getting wood, Hiram Hall and Joe Smith are the best workers.
Coal — Dave Lewis’ mine, Henry Lewis will do the work.
Prices — .07 at bank, 15 or 18 c a bushel. [re: coal]
$6.00 a day — two loads. Get it in October.
Hauling — [?] Smith and Denver Cornett.
Washing — Bert Smith can and will do the weekly washing at .20 an hour.
Ironing — Nancy Sparkman Lewis is capable of doing good ironing — .20 an hour.
Weaving — Mrs. Dick Smith
Horses — when hired, $1.00 a day and feed has been standard price, unless horse was taken for a long journey.
CARE OF QUEEN [horse]
She should be shod regularly every five weeks by Henry Creech, Pine Mountain.
Feed — Two parts oats to one part corn.
Morning — Gallon of grain and water.
Noon — One-half gallon grain and water.
Evening — One gallon grain and water. About eight pounds of hay.
Give salt, handful or more on salt box, twice a week.
Give a handful of powdered [sulfur] when constipated. Give with feed.
Water well three times a day.
LOAD
12 bushel of oats About two months supply.
4 bushels of corn Manon Cornett or Henry Lewis
4 bales of hay will bring it from Poor Fork.
Send bill to Miss Pettit.
MANURE
Manure should be taken out of barn every day, and put in hole. Barn should be cleaned thoroughly every day. Manure used for garden in spring.
SANITARY PRECAUTIONS
The Little House should be scrubbed twice a week, and a bucket of dirt put into it every day.
No tin cans should be thrown over fence or upon the ground. They should be pounded flat, to prevent mosquito breeding, and put in hole dug for the purpose.
Garbage should be put into basket daily, emptied into hole, covered with leaves. This can be used for compost for garden. Bucket should be scalded with boiling water daily. [Hand-written note: “covered with leaves”.]
Creolin solution should be used around barn in spring to prevent flies. It can be ordered through the School office. [This sentence has been crossed out.] Spraying the barn and manure with Fly-o-San will also help keep down gnats. [Hand-written note: “Burn Pyrethrum powders for fleas, etc. Spray with carbolic.”]
Rubbing screens with coal-oil will help keep flies and gnats away, as well as prevent rust.
Use the water in well near the house for washing. [Hand-written note: “Fill [?] up yard top at night.”]
PRICES FOR ARTICLES MADE IN NEIGHBORHOOD
Frank Hall ————————–Stools ————————————-$2.50 up
Mrs. Hall —————————-Carved Brooms ————————$1.25
Plain ————————————–$ .75
Bennet Hall makes boxes.
Bert Smith makes candlesticks —————————————– $1.25 a piece
Bert Smith makes corn-husk mats ————————————-$2.50 up
Fat pine bundles —— twenty sticks for —————————– $ .10 Mrs. Finley Cornett
NOTES
Equipment in loft of Health House is for hot lunches in the schools.
Cot in loft of Health House belongs to Frank Hall.
Tools at cabin and in loft of Health House should be oiled to prevent rust.
Newspapers should be saved to be given out for papering houses.
Magazines should be given out to those who like to read.
Doll and toys in box in living-room kept for children to play with.
[Hand-written note: “Spinning-wheel to Miss Medcalf.”]
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[NOTES REGARDING THE SELLING OF OLD CLOTHES]
Some mountain people [Dr. Duke, for instance] deplore the selling of old clothes. They say mountain people have always managed to get their own clothing, why not let them continue. “Why cripple them?” says Dr. Duke.
It gives a false idea of values.
Dealers in old clothes undersell local store keepers which means antagonism instead of co-operation.
Brings out worse qualities in mountain people who naturally are traders.
Increases shiftliness, untidiness, greed. Study of group clothed out of “mission barrel” proof of this; ill fitting, inappropriate clothes.
Destroys their independence and self-respect.
Relieves an immediate lack which could be better supplied by people themselves.
Can there be anything constructive in custom which brings out the poorest qualities in people and undermines their independence.
If there are actually some who cannot clothe themselves, then it is the duty of the local community to function — get community co-operation.
From Southern Highlander, page 192. “The practice is commendable enough on the grounds of making use of remnants or misfits, but as a theory of rural reconstruction in any form it is fallacious and mischievous.”
HELEN F. LITTLE Reports: AUGUST 1925
LINE FORK MONTHLY REPORT
WORKERS: HELEN LITTLE, CATHERINE HOAGUE
[Handwritten]
August 1925
The following graphs will show the actual status of the work at the Settlement better than words.
Religious — Sunday Schools and Church Services.
[CHARTS]
The total number of neighbors, both adults and children coming to the Settlement during August, was five hundred and two, an increase over July of one hundred and forty-four.
The two outstanding features of this month’s work have been the opening of our “Folk School,” the second full term People’s School to be started in the United States, the first being the Pocono Peoples’ College, at Henryville, Pennsylvania**, with which we are affiliated. [Affiliation was possibly through the Russell Sage Foundation which was strong supporter of the short-lived college.]
There have been two experiments along this line in Kentucky, one consisting of a six weeks’ course at Berea last spring, with one of the instructors a student-teacher from the Pocono College. The second experiment was a series of night lectures given at the center at Wooton. Neither, however, so nearly approaches the typical Peoples’ College** as will the one at the Settlement.
In Denmark these schools have begun with a teacher who lived in a rural district taking sometimes one, sometimes two students, who came in the daytime, and paid for their tuition by farm work. Often it would be two or three years before as many as six or more had come.
For the fundamental principle underlying the folk school is not numbers, nor stereotyped education, but a small group in close contact with teachers studying the things they most want, and which are given in language that as Quintilian once said, “not only may be understood, but must be understood.” There was no attempt to advertise the school. Students came because they found out about it from others.
There is a great need for cultural and practical education along Line Fork, but the problem to be solved was to present the idea in such a way that those needing it would come of their own accord, not from being coaxed or persuaded to do something which they really had no craving for.
It seemed that it might be a year at least before actual classes could be in operation, but the thing hoped for has come about much sooner than anticipated. Two weeks ago our school began its first session. Two young men, one twenty-two, the other twenty-three, came to me with the plan they had worked out. That they ‘lowed they could give three full mornings the first of the week to schooling, as the end of the week was the busiest. I could not really believe they would come until the day came, and at eight o’clock, came the two, dinner-buckets packed, and pencils and tablets under their arms.
They have come ever since at seven o’clock, for we have a study hour, then, and begin classes at eight. After their noon lunch, they do, on one day of the week, some constructive piece of work about the place. It is hoped that these projects may also be of value.
They are thoroly [sic] in earnest, and altho’ I had taught twelve or more boys from sixteen to twenty-five in the Carolina mountains, I never have seen such attention to work and interest as these two show. After lunch, I often find them back at their books until the middle of the afternoon.
The course of study includes the grammar subjects, taken in regard to the need of the student, and with emphasis on the most practical topics: elementary science and agriculture, biographies of Great Men and Women, Physiology, Hygiene and Rural Sanitation, Civics, and Human Relations. The latter includes community organization, co-operatives, etc.
There are four other young men who are aiming to come as soon as they finish some work they are now doing. Also, a man of thirty-five wants to come every day of the week, and our carpenter is studying how he could get time to take just some more arithmetic, which he needs so badly in his work.
The second line of effort seeming to be successful is the establishing of several families in the business of making carved wooden articles, corn-husk mats, etc. There were three men who were doing this when I came. I have gotten more orders for them, and also have started one woman on some different articles along this line, and designed two chairs to be made by still another man, for whom I will find customers. A man and wife came up the other day to see if I would start them up in business also. They have not done this work heretofore, but heard of the others, and want to try it.
There have been shipped away to fill my orders this month, 34 pairs of candlesticks, one corn-husk rug, 5 walnut stools, 8 hearth brooms, 14 dozen laurel hooks, 22 bundles of fat pine.
Each order brings more. Every letter from my Mother encloses checks and orders, and I have not yet begun to write to all the places where I may get more orders. As the crops are about ruined by the worst dry spell In years, this business may help out many families.
Another cause for encouragement is the work with the young people. A singing-school, averaging eighteen members, meets at the Coil Branch School every Sunday after Sunday-school, assisted by the musical gifts of Miss Catherine Hoague, of Boston. Instruction In time, reading notes, breathing, etc., had been given so simply that it is being absorbed, and the singing is noticeably Improved,
This class has organised Itself, with a secretary and a librarian to take care of the music, and in addition to the period Sunday morning, many of Its members come up to the cabin on Sunday evenings for a whole afternoon of singing.
Also Saturday evening, from four to dark, is set aside for a picnic supper on the hill for the singing-school, followed by games. As they found that some boys who did not belong to the class were attending, it was decided that the attendance at this gathering was limited to the members alone, except when some special occasion arose for a party with guests. A small tax covers the cost of the cocoa, and marshmallows or other things cooked, and the group brings anything else desired, as roasting-ears [roasted corn].
The first Saturday evening after this rule had been passed, a boy from outside the group came. As boys often do, especially when there are girls in the group, he boasted that he could run the home boys off. The way this Incident ended is a good illustration of the change which has taken place in this country, due to the Influence of the Pine Mountain School, Berea, and also of the new generation of young people, who are not always following the ways of their fathers. The boy was told by the others of this rule and asked to leave, as we had decided we would do in case anyone came who did not belong. Without any violence, any loud talk, any fighting, and trouble whatever, he left and went home,
A visiting sociologist stated that twenty-five years ago there would have been a battle over such an incident, and further added that in his opinion there was unusual self-control exhibited, and it was an indication that the old days are passing. The thing happened so quietly that only one or two knew about it at the time.
On the same night the mothers of two of the girls came to enjoy the sight of the games, and they seemed to have as good a time as though they were playing them, too, as they had done in childhood.
On the whole, the behavior of the boys and girls at these gatherings is surprisingly good. In very many such parties elsewhere, it is difficult to get the whole group doing things together. There are always boys and girls wandering off to secluded nooks to be alone, and the task of a High School chaperone these days is a most strenuous one. And I regret to say that the majority of such parties which I have been chaperoning for the last fifteen years would not stand comparison with those of our boys and girls.
For two reasons, our groups are much better mannered and spontaneous. They all play and all want to play, and not yet have I seen one couple stray off, or act in an indecorous manner. I would be ashamed to have them see the average group of boys and girls of their age elsewhere. Our boys and girls know how to play all together, and have traditions of plays and songs which were always done in a group of the whole.
There has not one single thing happened which I have cause to regret, and our gatherings have been so spontaneous, so happy, and so free from trouble that we enjoy them almost as much as the children.
One, in particular, will long linger in the memory of those who were present. On account of the death of one of the neighbors, we did not play games, but after our picnic supper cooked over the outdoor fire, we sat about this fire built up bigger for a camp fire, and sang songs and told stories.
Miss White [Miss ?] from Pine Mountain School, was our guest that evening, and proved to be a wonderful story-teller, especially of ghost stories. There were about fifteen boys and young men, and no girls but the three at the Settlement, and I thought that they would not enjoy such a quiet time. But I have never seen keener appreciation of singing, and they listened with the closest attention to the stories. Then someone played the banjo, and as we watched the moon coming up over the Pine Mountain thru the trees, and the glow of the camp fire, and listened to the ballads accompanied by the banjo, and beheld this group of boys, quiet, happy, and taking part as well as listening, we felt that they were getting the beauty of the scene as well as we did, and perhaps a deepening interest in the joys of living outdoors.
Helen F. Little, Head Worker
**********
[** Pocono Peoples’ College, at Henryville, Pennsylvania, was a short-lived liberal arts college that was founded on the model of the International People’s College of Elsinore in Denmark. Dr. Sorn A. Mathiasen had taught at the Denmark school and brought “Folk School” ideas from Denmark to the school in Henryville. The college began classes in January of 1924, supported by funding from the Russell Sage Foundation. The promotional literature of the college declared it to be a “Folk School for Men and Women Seeking Knowledge and Spiritual Growth,” but the curriculum was essentially a liberal arts program with supplemental industrial education programs. It was the entrance requirement that was unique. Anyone qualifying for college through the “recommendations of responsible citizens,” could be admitted. There were no exams at the college and following the completion of a first course, the students were given a psychological examination. The demands on the faculty were substantial, requiring that they work tirelessly with each other and that they become familiar with all the enrolled students. The cost of attendance was $239 for a three-month session. Additional funding was sought and in 1925 the Carnegie Foundation was a supporter of the college. Growth continued and expansion was planned but failed, due to the uncertainty of the economic times in 1929. By the end of that year, 1929, the economic recession caught up with the school and just short of the Great Depression, the school closed its doors. The school, though short-lived was an influence on many people including Helen F. Little, who taught there in its formative years, but also on educators such as W.B DuBois who was interested in the college and wrote requesting additional information from the school just after its closure. See: http://www.monroehistorical.org/articles/files/2013_08-henryville-site-of-pocono-peoples-college.html, Monroe County Historical Association. ]
HELEN F. LITTLE Reports: SEPTEMBER 1925
REPORT OF LINE FORK SETTLEMENT
SEPTEMBER 1925
This month has been characterized by outdoor activities. Instead of parties, we have had picnics for the young people, starting about one-thirty and cooking an early supper upon some cliff near a spring, and returning before dark.
The community itself has had a number of “funeralizings,” which are both family reunions and community get-togethers. As these are held on Sundays, the attendance at our Sunday-schools has been very light.
The advent of the nurse [Miss Mary Skidmore ?] has been received with much interest as the community has greatly felt the absence of Miss [Anne Ruth] Medcalf .
There have been 145 callers at the Settlement, and 45 visits made to the homes by residents. Twenty children have come for games. Since the schools started, the girls usually have much work to do at home on Saturdays. The family washing is left for them to do, so it is hard for them to come out for games.
Sewing classes at the schools have been carried on with some difficulty, as the teachers dismiss school so late that the girls cannot stay for work after school. One of the teachers has consented to allow a little of the school time to be given to sewing, but the other refuses to do this.
Two walnut stools, four hearth brooms, ten bundles of fat pine, and a dozen laurel hooks have been sent away this month.
One of the chief activities has been long horseback trips into the adjoining country for the purpose of getting acquainted with our neighbors. Two such two and three day trips have been greatly enjoyed, and friendly relations established with the folks down the creek.
A canning demonstration was given on Stoney Fork. The husband of one of the women over there, on seeing some canned beans in our cellar, had asked me to come over and show his wife how. She had been the first one in their section to try canning beans, but they had all spoiled. I found that she had not sterilized the cans, or cold packed them, so we made an outdoor furnace, packed water from a spring and canned the beans in the more thorough method.
We took in twenty-five children, grown-ups to the Pine Mountain Fair.
HELEN F. LITTLE Reports: OCTOBER 1925
ACTIVITIES AT LINE FORK SETTLEMENT
October 4, 1925
The work at Line Fork is of so varied a nature as to defy classification. No one day is like unto another, and one can never tell beforehand just what the response will be to any effort.
There are, however, a few definite and regular activities. These include the Sunday-schools and singing-schools held every Sunday at the nearby rural schoolhouses; classes in sewing held also at the school houses; Saturday afternoon games for the children at the Settlement, and a small folks school for those young people over eighteen and preferably not over twenty-five who feel the need of more “larning.”
The Sunday-schools are really community gatherings. Sunday is the one day in the week when after the “Saturday night bath” ritual, the folks are free to go visiting or to rest at home. Formerly the great diversion for the boys and young men were shooting-matches, always accompanied by much drinking. Now most of the young men come to Sunday-school, join in the singing-school, and play games afterwards outdoors. Often they come again to the Settlement in the afternoon to sing. Several times some of the fathers and mothers have come.
Part of the summer we had a preacher every other Sunday, and the folks showed their genuine desire for such services by turning out in large numbers. One week-end two preachers were with us, and we had a good Saturday night meeting at the settlement, and a big preaching outdoors at one of the schools Sunday morning. Our neighbors greatly appreciate good preaching and will go long distances to hear it.
The Folkschool is an experiment. For some time it seemed as though there were no great desire for education along the creek, but after several of the young men had been told about the Folkschool in Denmark, they, without being asked, came to me and said that they figured that if I would teach them, they could give three mornings a week to such a school. I could hardly believe my ears, and waited, fully prepared for disappointment for the next Holiday morning. But two appeared, and no more earnest students have I ever had. The next morning they came at seven, instead of eight, the appointed time, and explained that they wanted to study. For five weeks they came regularly, often remaining after lunch to study some more. One afternoon of the week they did some work about the place to pay for their tuition, and also brought vegetables.
Just now they have to stay out to pull fodder, but are eager to come back as soon as the fall work is finished, and say that others are coming. One young married woman is planning to come, as soon as she has weaned her baby so that it can be left with its grandmother.
Canning demonstrations have been given in several homes. These have come about in a rather interesting way. Some men working about the place, noticed some jars of canned beans and were so taken with their appearance that they told me they would pay me to come over and show their wives how to do it. So later in the summer, I received word to come on a certain day, the wife had tried canning beans, but they had all spoiled and her neighbors had laughed at her for trying such new-fangled ways.
On investigation it developed that she had simply cooked the beans a few minutes and sealed them up in jars, which had just been washed out in hot water. So we built an outdoor furnace, packed water from some distance, put on a wash-boiler, sterilized our jars, boiled more water to put in the jars, and did as thorough, and incidentally as back-breaking, a job of canning as was ever done.
On another occasion when I got to the home where the beans were to be canned I found them all carefully cut in small pieces, and reposing on the floor on a paper, where they had been for two days, waiting my coming. By this time, they were, of course, about dried up.
We have many callers at the settlement, coming on all manner of errands. Yesterday, a typical day followed this pattern.
Six o’clock a.m. as we were eating breakfast, a neighbor came with a sick baby, who had the common complaint of diarrhea. She was shortly followed by two children on their way to school, who brought some apples for us to buy. Another woman came in to see if we had any quilt pieces, and still another came for magazines and newspapers with which to paper her old log house.
The woman who had promised to come to weave for us on our new loom, came with a badly burned arm, which had gotten infected. A man and wife came with split hickory brooms, which they wished me to sell for them, and another young man brought two walnut stools for the same purpose. The latter had never made any before and while they were as well made as possible, he was shown his mistakes and encouraged to try some more, for he had never before been known to work at anything but making liquor, and had recently been arrested. If he can make money some other way, maybe the temptation of stilling will not be so great.
After the noon meal, one worker rode off to pay a call on a new baby and mother, stopping several times on the way. When she returned, the other left for a sewing class at the school. After school, two children came to see if there was any work for them to do, and a neighbor called to have a dress cut out for her little girl.
So the days pass, filled with work. The new activities, of starting folks to making walnut articles, and the setting up of our loom, bring many neighbors to the house, and we hope that some of our women will bring out their old looms and spinning wheels and ply again the arts of their mothers.
Music plays a large part in our lives. Almost always the women who come to see us ask to have me play on our new organ, the generous gift of a friend, and I have found that “play” means sing as well, and I have often sung by the hour for our friends the old ballads they used to do, and which they delight to hear. They want their daughters to take organ lessons, and ask if I can teach “by notes or by chords.” The daughters, alas, have very little time for organ lessons when school is in session.
The schools let out so late that it is almost dark when they get home so they cannot come after school, nor would they have time for a lesson were I to go to their homes. On Saturday, they do the family washing, so the organ instruction is intermittent.
One of the things which our neighbors enjoy most is to come to “take a day” with us, and taste the strange things we have to eat. Not long ago when one of our friends was with us, we had cheese and omelet. “I never did taste cheese, and never did think I wanted to,” she said, “but this is the doggone tastiest eating I’ve et.” She had never “seed eggs cooked up thataway before,” but liked them very much, also the corn fritters, which appealed to her as a good way to use up leftover corn.
Likewise one of our great joys is going visiting. It is in the intimacy of hours spent at a home that revelations of life’s sorrows and joys are made, advice asked and given, and friendships formed. Such visits are treasured for years. Every little detail of visits made by other strange women, sometimes years before, are given, and especially high is the praise bestowed upon those who “come right in and set down and et with us just as common as you’re doing,” and who helped with the work afterwards.
On some of these trips glimpses are gained of lives of heroism, which make one marvel at the endurance, patience, and long-suffering courage of our mountain women. The amount of work accomplished by women who are often very sick in body, the ingenuity shown in overcoming obstacles and in devising efficient methods of working under great difficulties call for one’s greatest admiration, and make one feel that we decadent daughters of a city generation are indeed puny creatures.
Helen Little
HELEN F. LITTLE Reports – Line Fork: OCTOBER 1925
REPORT FOR LINE FORK SETTLEMENT
OCTOBER 1925
During the last month there have been a great number of our neighbors coming to the settlement for advice and help along various lines. Some have wanted dress patterns cut out, other advice about baby-clothes, other come to see the weaving. Altogether, the total number of visits we have received from our neighbors has been 242, and I have made 37 calls at homes.
Owing to bad weather there have only been a few children here for games, ten on one afternoon. There has been much rain, and a heavy snow, and “tide” in the creek, which has made traveling bad.
The sewing classes in the schools have finished their sewing bags, and are now making bloomers for their own wear.
Singing has been started in the Bear Branch School. I go up there two mornings a week and spend half an hour teaching singing. The teacher at the Coil Branch School does not believe in such new-fangled things as singing in the schools, so I have not been able to start it there.
The weaving has been the chief interest this month. We have completed five rag rugs, which all our neighbors admire very much. The men are especially interested in them, so much so that one man is “aiming” to make a loom for his wife, so she can “kiver the floor with carpet.” I have bought some wool, and a neighbor is now carding and spinning it. I hope then to set up a blue-pot, for which I have bought the ingredients, and we shall make our own dyes and start weaving blankets and cloth.
Three women accompanied me to a meeting of the Big Laurel W.C.T.U. at Pine Mountain, and they are hoping to form a union of their own before long. One of them, however, told me she doubted whether they would sign the pledge for she said there was not a woman along the creek who didn’t take liquor.
The families who make black walnut articles have been very busy this month, and one new man has been added to the list.
The orders sent off this month include six walnut chairs, twelve walnut hearth brooms, two split hickory brooms, five walnut stools.
The last activity of the month was a Halloween party for the children, held at the “Health House” on the afternoon of October 31st, which “several” attended in spite of the bad weather.
Helen F. Little
See Also:
HELEN F. LITTLE Staff Biography
HELEN F. LITTLE Correspondence I January 20 – June 9, 1925
HELEN F. LITTLE Correspondence II June 18, 2025 – January 2, 1926
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LINE FORK WORKERS Reports Publications Guide 1920-1941
