When first going among these people, the ludicrous or comical keeps
presenting itself, but as you stay year by year the terrible _reality_ of
their lives presses sore upon you. You are cramped by their narrowness;
you are depressed by their lack of buoyancy; you grow distrustful because
of their perfidy; you become sharer of their woes, but they have no joys
to share.

Our work among them was begun none too soon. The eye of the speculator is
being turned to our mineral and timber resources, and with unscrupulous
money-makers for a centre and a demoralized people to gather round them,
and no Christ in their midst, what strongholds of Satan would be formed.
When we commenced our work seven years ago the field was open to the
Congregationalists. If we could have had means to have secured helpers we
could have planted ourselves largely, for we had continuous calls to come
and organize churches. The people of better minds are sick and tired of
the church life around them; they cannot indorse it and so are called
infidels. But we have found no infidels there; still it takes no prophet
to see that the reaction from this demoralized church life all through
the mountains is going to create a great wave of infidelity unless real
Christians come to the rescue very soon.

How these things nerve us to increased efforts to save the children and
youth from these ways of death. Our hope for the land is in saving them,
and our work is largely for them. We have many Sunday-schools connected
with our churches and many others where we furnish some helps and where
our students teach. Our Bands of Hope are encouraging. Our Christian
Endeavor Society has a large membership, and is a power for good. But
while we rejoice over these places that have these helps we think of the
hundreds of counties along this mountain range that have no such helps.