James Still (1906-2001) was born and raised in Alabama at the edges of the Appalachian foothills, but a high school teacher urged him to attend Lincoln Memorial University where he became part of the most distinguished literary class ever to emerge from these mountains in 1929. And he, as well as Jesse Stuart and Don West, all three went from LMU to Vanderbilt at that time when it was common for outstanding students at little regional colleges to go to more distinguished universities for a second undergraduate degree. He then received a masters in library science (which required proficiency in two foreign languages) at the University of Illinois. Don West, who had taught at Hindman Settlement School, informed him of a job at the library there literally carrying books to outlying communities. He remained in or near that isolated mountain community the rest of his life. This book is his first of three story collections, and many of these stories were reprinted in the subsequent collections. Nobody has mastered the mountain similes and metaphors and expressions of mountain speech as well as James Still. This is the only copy of this book I have ever seen for sale in my 30 years as a book dealer specializing in Appalachian books. There are only two copies on line at this time, and this is the least expensive.
New York: Viking Press, 1941.190 pages. Hardback in dust jacket.