ach more by example than by
precept. Bishop Wilson has given them some advice that cannot be
bettered: "It must be said with emphasis that our problem is an
exceedingly delicate one. The Highlanders are Scotch-Irish in their
high-spiritedness and proud independence. Those who would help them must
do so in a perfectly frank and kindly way, showing always genuine
interest in them but never a trace of patronizing condescension. As
quick as a flash the mountaineer will recognize and resent the intrusion
of any such spirit, and will refuse even what he sorely needs if he
detects in the accents or the demeanor of the giver any indication of an
air of superiority."

"The worker among the mountaineers," he continues, "must 'meet with them
on the level and part on the square' and conquer their oftentimes
unreasonable suspicion by genuine brotherly friendship. The less he has
to say about the superiority of other sections or of the deficiencies of
the mountains, the better for his cause. The fact is that comparatively
few workers are at first able to pass muster in this regard under the
searching and silent scrutiny of the mountain people."

Allow me to add that this is no place for the "unco gude" to exercise
their talents, but rather for those whose studies and travels have
taught them both tolerance and hopefulness. Some well-meaning
missionaries are shocked and scandalized at what seems to them incurable
perversity and race degeneration. It is nothing of the sort. There are
reasons, good reasons, for the worst that we find in any Hell-fer-Sartin
or Loafer's Glory. All that is the inevitable result of isolation and
lack of opportunity. It is no more hopeless than the same features of
life were in the Scotch highlands two centuries ago.

But it must be known that the future of this really fine race is, at
bottom, an economic problem, which must be studied hand-in-hand with the
educational one. Civilization only repels the mountaineer until you show
him something to gain by it--he knows by instinct what he is bound to
lose. There is no use in teaching cleanliness and thrift to serfs or
outcasts. The _independence_ of the mountain farm must be preserved, or
the fine spirit of the race will vanish and all that is manly in the
Highlander will wither to the core.

It is far from my own purpose to preach or advise. "Portray the
struggle, and you need write no tract." Still farther is it from my
thought to let characterization deg