ruder feels at the same moment the
proprietor's firm hand upon his shoulder. "What's eatin' you? Can't you
read, I say!" The owner of the big voice and bigger fist points a
warning finger to the sign on the wall--

NO STAG DANCING

The stag isn't slow in being on his way. He and his pals pile into their
car and head toward the next tavern.

The present generation of mountain youth may have lost their
superstition but they will take a long chance on beating the pinball
machine. They will play it for hours--until the last nickel is dropped
in the slot because, "Yes siree, just last night at the Blue Moon I saw
a fellow get the jackpot. Double handful of coin!"

A mountain girl once ashamed because her granny smoked her little clay
pipe puffs a cigarette nonchalantly held between highly manicured
fingertips. She will spend her last dollar for a permanent and lipstick.
She would not be interested in the simple fireside games, Clap In and
Clap Out, Post Office and Drop the Handkerchief. Such things are far too
slow for her highstrung nerves these days.

However, community centers are trying valiantly to bring back square
dancing and community singing. The effort is successful in some
localities, particularly through North and South Carolina. Old-time
singing school with the itinerant singing master has given place to
singing societies that meet sometimes in the summer months on the
courthouse square or indoors.

Religious customs, too, are becoming modernized. The foot-washing of the
Regular Primitive Baptists, while it is still carried on in some of the
mountain churches, lacks much of the solemnity and imposing dignity of
bygone days. The church house itself is changed, which may account for
much of the modification of customs. The log church is replaced with a
modern structure of native stone. The walls are painted. There is a gas
chandelier suspended from the ceiling. While there is still no
elaborate, elevated pulpit, the floor of the front portion of the church
where the faithful wash each other's feet is today covered with
linoleum. The long spotlessly white towel used for drying the feet of
the meek has given place to a brightly colored green and red striped
bath towel (basement special, or such as are found on the counters of
the five and ten). The singing, instead of being the solemn chant of the
sixth century to which mountain folk for generations adapted the words
of their tradi