In general the religion of the mountaineers has little influence on every-day behavior, little to do with the moral law. Salvation is by faith alone, and not by works. Sometimes a man is “churched” for breaking the Sabbath, “cussin’,” “tale-bearin’”; but sins of the flesh are rarely punished, being regarded as amiable frailties of mankind. It should be understood that the mountaineer’s morals are “all tail-first,” like those of Alan Breck in Stevenson’s Kidnapped.
One of our old-timers nonchalantly admitted in court that he and a preacher had marked a false corner-tree which figured in an important land suit. On cross-examination he was asked:
“You admit that you and Preacher X—— forged that corner-tree? Didn’t you give Preacher X—— a good character, in your testimony? Do you consider it consistent with his profession as a minister of the Gospel to forge corner-trees?”
“Aw,” replied the witness, “religion ain’t got nothin’ to do with corner-trees!”
John Fox relates that, “A feud leader who had about exterminated the opposing faction, and had made a good fortune for a mountaineer while doing it, for he kept his men busy getting out timber when they weren’t fighting, said to me in all seriousness:
“‘I have triumphed agin my enemies time and time agin. The Lord’s on my side, and I gits a better and better Christian ever’ year.’
“A preacher, riding down a ravine, came upon an old mountaineer hiding in the bushes with his rifle.
“‘What are you doing there, my friend?’
“‘Ride on, stranger,’ was the easy answer. ‘I’m a-waitin’ fer Jim Johnson, and with the help of the Lawd I’m goin’ to blow his damn head off.’”
But let us never lose sight of the fact that these people, intellectually, are not living in our age. To judge them fairly we must go back and get a medieval point of view, which, by the way, persisted in Europe and America until well into the Georgian period. If history be too dry, read Stevenson’s Kidnapped, and especially its sequel David Balfour, to learn what that viewpoint was. The parallel is so close—eighteenth century Britain and twentieth century Appalachia—that here we walk the same paths with Alan and David, the Edinboro’ law-sharks, Katriona and Lady Allardyce. The only difference of moment is that we have no aristocracy.