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Show . . 4. PATRIOTISM IN THE MOUNTAINS By Frederic J. Haskin. ,..MCi9REFIELD. West Virginia, Aug. U. This town Is In the heart of the hsiue Rlago mountains, near the headwaters head-waters of tha Potomac river, surrounded by wooded ridges 2000 feet high, where he black bears are still a menace to the sheep farmers, and wild turkeys are still plentiful. Moorefield has a population popula-tion of 1000, and the nearest city of any Importance is Cumberland, Maryland, fifty-three miles away. This letter is written from Moorefield to record the fact that the people in this part of the country are earnestly attend- lng to the tremendous task of defeating Germany. In a fairly wide wandering since the war began, the writer has found no place in America where people take their patriotism more seriously, or more as a matter of course. There is not much bluster or boaBtlng about the attitude at-titude of the mountain people toward the war; no breath Is wasted cursing the kaiser; and what discussion takes place is quiet and confident in tone. But everyone is doing what he can to help win the war. The orders of the food administration, ihstead of being evaded as sometimes happens In cities, are obeyed as a matter of course and without with-out complaint. You cannot buy more than your righteous allotment of sugar for any amount of money. It is a common com-mon thing to hear a country storekeeper expounding the new gospel of food conservation con-servation to a customer, both of them very much in earnest. All of the women are knitting and canning. Nearly all of the young men from this particular neighborhood are already al-ready drafted. Every one of them carried with him a large shoe box full of the most delectable fried chicken and cake, a knitted sweater, a sewing kit, and various other small articles. A colored detachment was supplied with exactly the same things that the white bovs got. and the white women helped to supply them. There is an impression abroad in the land that the southern mountains are a place of abject poverty, where people live on grits and bacon, sleep In log cabins without windows, and shoot their relatives for sport. A long tour through the mountains of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia has failed tn flltmvo- tnoo "typical" conditions. This town, for example, ex-ample, Is located in a particularly ncn valley which is about half grassland and half corn. As soon as the timber is cut, Kentucky blue-grass carpets the ground, and affords the finest pasturage in the world. There are great herds of Hereford Here-ford cattle, and scarcely any small scrubby stock. Horses are also abundant, abun-dant, large and well fed, but they are used almost exclusively for farming. Three out of every four farmers in this region own automobiles, and they are not all flivvers either. Corn is the most important crop, but wheat is a close second. Moorefield has two flour mills. It has shipped several carloads, of wheat this year, and is holding hold-ing some more subject to government order. It has also sent out its share of first class beef animals, and also of sheep. The black walnut trees, for which the government Is scouring the country to make gunstocks out of, are still found in considerable groves up here. A stranger "who noted a grove of about fifty-nine trees in a farmer's back pasture, ventured ven-tured to inform the countryman of his government's need of them. He was not, however, in need of any posting. "We begin cuttln' 'em next week," he explained. A laborious foot journey to the top of the highest mountains in the vicinity also failed to reveal any of the characteristic primitive conaitions ot the southern mountain people. The way led through solid forest until the top was reached, but there, at an elevation of over 3000 feet, was a fine farm where beans and corn were flourishing In fields that appeared ap-peared to be made of nothing but broken rock. The owner of this substantial property, who looked like Uncle Sam in his working clothes, admitted that his farm was a hard one to plow, but added that beans were worth something this year. He had about sixty acres of them in prime condition. He also had a laree flock of sheep, but a bear had gotten Into them and killed seven the night before. be-fore. This man was a relatively recent settler, set-tler, having been on the mountain top only a matter of twenty years. Down in the valley, many of the residences were built long before the Civil war. Some of these are veritable mansions of twenty twen-ty to thirty rooms, situated on estates including 700 to 1000 acres of valley land which again are not the kind of mountain moun-tain homes you read about. Of course, the farmers are not losing any money by their patriotism. All of them are exceptionally prosperous, as evidenced by the large numbei of new automobiles which leap and swim along the clay roads. (Motoring in this country-Is country-Is a hazardous and exciting sport). The only thing the farmers are inclined in-clined to kick about is the drafting of their sons and hired men, which has left many of them "mighty short-handed." There is no violent denunciation of anyone any-one about this, however. One may say that It la a mistake, but to go farther is also a mistake. The mountain farmer realizes that he is an important man. upon whQin a great deal depends. As one of them put it. the farmer is not only expected to feed the world, but now he Is asked to go out and fight the world as well. Even so, he accepts his responsibilities with equanimity. ' Other signs of war In these parts are that the girls, even the prettiest ones, go to the movies alone, and there are no more dances given in the town hall. for lack of the uglier element. The chief social gatherings are flag raisings, which ! seem to occur at frequent Intervals and in all parts of the country. Last night a flag was raised over the court house at Eomney (another metropolis of a thousand, twenty-seven miles from I here), and the day before that the boy scouts raised a flag down by the river. In each case, a large chorus of the village vil-lage beauties sang the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Hail Columbia," and the nearest candidate for congress lambasted the kaiser, and placed the American farmer upon a high pedestal with a halo around his perspiring brow. Tn spite of the war food regulations, nnd the fact that they are strictly observed, ob-served, things to eat here are abundant and of a cheapness which makes the city dweller wish he wasn't one. Most excellent beard, with all the ereen corn and string heans and preserves that you can eat, may be had for six dollars a week: while to pay more than six bits for a large dinner, you have to travel over fifty miles. The only thing that is scarce is meat, for all of the best beef j animals go to the large markets. The I ubiquitous chicken, however, patriotically I steps into the breach, and the country ! ham also helps out, while black bass are j caught in the Potomac whenever the water is clear enough for them to see a j minnow. Almost everyone takes a day I off to fish now and then, despite the pressure of great events. t |