e girls that come under the influence of our Christian
Northern women who go there as teachers, and the graduates of these
various colleges and schools that we have planted, and are about to
plant in the South; once let common womanhood in the South that has been
so much under the heel of this oppression; once let girlhood feel the
power that has come go girlhood, that to them as young women in the
cradle of these hills, under this fair sky is given the power to turn
over in not less than thirty or forty years this whole country for God
and humanity, for enlightenment and for Christian peace;--once let that
idea get into the minds of these girls, and we have not the same problem
that we have to-day.

There is good blood there as well. There is a man in Congress to-day,
honoring himself and his district and his nation, who went to school
there, and I know not for how many years wore but one garment. I call
that pretty good blood when from such circumstances a man can come up to
such a large place.

There is a transition time with this whole section. New conditions are
being put upon them. They feel the outside movement of the world. A
friend of mine is now in the South who has brought up a large quantity
of lumber in a certain district, and when he finds the right man he will
plant a school there. Coal and iron are being extensively worked. My
brother here (the Rev. S.E. Lathrop) tells me that near Cumberland Gap
four hundred houses have gone up within a very brief time, and over two
thousand workmen are pushing into a section not before opened. It will
not come in an hour or in a day; but by and by, when these men face the
new life of our times, when they have once felt its pressure, and the
tremendous disparity between their manner of living and the high kind of
life of Northern homes and Northern hearthstones, they will move, and a
change will come over the spirit of their dreams. Even now, the native
preachers, who have been so hostile to our work, are coming to these,
our pastors, and asking for light on the Bible. Furthermore, our pupils
are going out and organizing county institutes, and the work is going on
everywhere.

There is a dark side to it, but I praise God there is a bright side. It
is like a dam. When the dam begins to go, it will go all at once. Youth
is on our side. In thirty years we shall not have the same problem we
have now--no, not in twenty years. Wealth is coming in. A large tract of
eleven t