e women, to lend a hand, straighten
out the twisted little bodies of many a crippled child. They do say it
is a sight to the world how them little crippled fellers can cavort
around in the salty waters in no time, playful as minner fish in a sunny
mountain brook. And they never shed a drop of their life's blood. So you
see there's always a way around a mountain if you can't climb over it.
And by these new ways of learning the doctors and the nurse women are
not breaking faith with the belief of mountain people. It's a great and
a glorious gospel, I tell you!"

* * * * *

If you climb to the top of a peak in Dug Down Mountains, a spur of the
Blue Ridge that dwindles to a height of 1000 feet in southeastern
Alabama, and take a look at the state--provided the binoculars are
strong enough-you'll see why there's a saying down in that country to
the effect that "Alabama could sleep with her head resting upon the
iron-studded hills of her mineral district, her arms stretched across
fields of food and raiment, and her feet bathing in the placid waters of
Mobile Bay."

This Cornucopia of the South is not sleeping, however; she is on her
feet and bestirring herself and aware of her almost limitless resources.

"She could dig beneath her surface and find practically every chemical
element required in the prosecution of modern war.... She could fire her
guns with 7,529,090 pounds of explosives produced annually in her
mineral mines.... In her hour of victory, she could declare herself the
Queen of the Commonwealth, mold her diadem with gold from Talladega, and
embellish it with rubies from the bed of the Coosa that drains the Dug
Down foothills of the Blue Ridge."

In short, her native sons like to boast, "Alabama could isolate herself
from all the world and live happily forever after."

And lest they forget the past, the first White House of the Confederacy,
where Jefferson Davis lived and ruled, still stands, a grim reminder of
the old South.

* * * * *

How amazed the pioneer dwellers of the Blue Ridge would be if they could
stalk down the mountain side and take a look at what Uncle Sam has been
doing the past eight years! Strange words too would fall upon their
ears, modern-made to suit modern things. What with good roads and autos,
hotels have sprung up thick as mushrooms; so have motels. There's the
Zooseum, combining living curiosi