That portion of the estate
which Elijah inherited passed into good hands. He conserved his part,
handled well the talents left with him; but the second division by
eleven, together with the ravages of the Civil War and the years that
followed, left only seventy-five acres, and far from the best of it, to
Mary York, the truly wonderful little mountain mother who gave to Alvin
York those qualities of mind and heart which stood him in good stead in
the Forest of Argonne, who taught him to so live that he feared no man,
and to do thoroughly and always in the right way that which he had to
do. "Else," as she so frequently said to him, "you'll have to 'do hit
over, or hit'll cause you trouble."
III
The People of the Mountains
The log cabin of the pioneer influenced architecture and gave to us the
house of Colonial design, the first distinctively American type, for the
Colonial home grew around the pioneer's two rooms of logs separated by
an open passageway.
The muzzle-loading rifle--and it was the pioneer's gun--with its long
barrel and its fine sights, gave confidence to the American soldier who
carried it, for he trusted the weapon in his hands.
Progressive inventions finally displaced this rifle in military use, but
for the accuracy of the shot it has never been surpassed, and it is
to-day a loved relic and a valued hunting-piece.
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