begun fifteen years ago under the auspices of the State Federation
of Women's Clubs of Kentucky.

Half a dozen young women from the prosperous Blue-Grass section,
headed by Miss Katherine Pettit and Miss May Stone, went up into the
mountains, several days' journey from a railroad, and, pitching
their tents, spent three successive summers holding singing, sewing,
cooking and kindergarten classes, giving entertainments, visiting
homes, and generally establishing friendly relations with the men,
women, and children of three counties.

One of the many surprises was to find the mountains so thickly
populated,--the regulation family boasting a dozen children,--and
the most inadequate provision made by the State for the education of
these young sons and daughters of heroes. For it is well known that
much of this section was settled originally by men who received
land-grants for their services in the Revolution, and who, with
their families, disappeared into these fastnesses to emerge later
only at their country's call,--the War of 1812, the Mexican, the
Civil, and the Spanish Wars bringing them out in full force, to
display astonishing valor always.

Aware of this ancestry, the visiting women were not surprised to
find much personal dignity, native intelligence, and gentleness of
manner, even among men who conceived it their duty to "kill off"
family enemies, and women who had never had the first chance at
"book-l'arning."

One of the three summers was spent on Troublesome Creek, at the
small village of Hindman, the seat of Knott County. Here the