From field notes, AFSC Coal Relief Section, 1931

I want to write about the sudden appearance of music as an important factor in the life of West Virginia. On all the porches are people with guitars and they sing and play all the time.

You can't think how lovely all those people were to each other. The little boys held the littler girls, and there was a deep sense of family responsibility and affection. That seems to be a mountain trait and it is mainly that which makes me feel that we have a great deal to learn from them.