orest of the
"poor whites." His cabin consisted of one room, about fourteen feet
square, with one door and no windows. It was made of unhewn logs
plastered with clay. The only daylight which entered the cabin came
through the door when open and down the chimney. On the inside stood a
bedstead made of poles stuck between the logs of the angle, the outside
corner supported by a crotched stick. The table was a huge hewn log,
standing on four pegs. A log bench or two took the place of chairs. The
cooking utensils consisted of an iron pot, which hung in the big
chimney, a kettle and skillet and a few pewter and tin dishes. The loft
was the sleeping place of most of the children. It was reached by a
ladder of wooden pins driven into the logs.

Harrop Sneath was too lazy and shiftless to work much. He cultivated in
a careless way a small piece of cleared ground around his cabin on
which he raised a little Indian corn. The meat for his family was
provided by his rifle, for the woods abounded in game--deer, wild
turkeys, etc.

It was in such a cabin that Abraham Lincoln was born in another part of
Kentucky about this time.

When Viola and Henrietta entered the clearing Sneath was sitting in the
sun on a log bench in front of his cabin. He was a man in middle life
and like most of the hillside settlers was the father of several
children.

The young ladies addressed him pleasantly, and asked after his family
and his crops.

He replied, that "de old woman and de kids war right peart; that de
crops were most a dead failure because of de dry spell." He "'lowed a
dry spell war mighty bad for crops on hillside farms." In this he was
quite right.

By this time the "old woman" and some of the kids had come into the
yard. Among them was Jemima Sneath, the oldest daughter. She was
apparently about twenty years of age, and was a large, healthy young
woman.

Henrietta Harvey was the speaker this time, and in a clear and emphatic
manner made their mission known. She told them about the school, what a
blessing it would be to the community, the families and each one. It
would improve their minds, help to remove the evils which all knew
existed in the hills, help to put the farmers on their feet by showing
them how to raise better crops.

Trying to awaken a greater interest in the father she said: "Mr.
Sneath, when you are not working on your place or hunting, how do you
pass the time?"

He answered with a slow drawl: "Well, most g