"
"That's right enough," Hamilton agreed, "and, what's more, they were
gentlemen of good birth, most of them; there was not much of the peasant
in the early colonists."
"So this author chap said. But he explained that was the very reason
they got so wild."
"I don't see that," objected Hamilton, "and I certainly don't see where
the 'savage' idea comes in."
"Wa'al, he said that when you slid down from a high place it was harder
to climb back than if the fall had b'n small. An' that's why it's so
hard for those who have gone down,--they can see the depth o' the fall."
Hamilton, who was of an argumentative turn of mind, would have protested
at this, but the old mountaineer proceeded.
"When the pioneers settled in the mount'ns they kind o' stuck. Those
that went on, down into the Blue Grass region, went boomin' right ahead,
but those that stayed in the mount'ns had no chance."
"I don't see why not?" objected the boy.
"They were jes' cut off from everywhar. We are to-day, for that matter.
When a place gets settled, an' starts to try an' raise somethin' to
sell, the product has got to be taken to market. But thar was no
railroad up in the mount'ns.
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