ge or barn door reading, "Painting
and Paper Hanging," "Decorating." There are thrifty vegetable gardens,
and miners' wives vie with each other in the product of their flower
gardens. Holden is sometimes called the Model Mining Town of America. It
has welcomed visitors from all over the land.

In Harlan, Kentucky, once the center of many stormy battles between
miners and operators, the county crowned a Coal Queen on August 23,
1941, commemorating the first shipment of coal thirty years previously.
The queen, a pretty eighteen-year-old high school girl, won the title
from six other contestants, enthroned on a replica of the railroad car
which hauled out the county's first coal. As part of the celebration a
$1500 public drinking fountain was dedicated and speakers hailed the
economic progress of Harlan County since 1911. Each day 1200 railroad
cars loaded with coal leave the county.

It was an all-day program being sponsored by the Harlan Mining Institute
safety organization in co-operation with the County Coal Operators
Association.

Not only were mining officials present from many points but politicians
as well were present, including Mrs. Herbert C. Cawood, Republican
nominee for sheriff, a sister of the crowned coal queen.

BACK TO THE FARM

For those who do not have a hankering for work in the foothills and
industrial centers there is today a greater incentive to go back to the
farm or to stay there than ever before in the history of our country.
For the young mountaineer there is the Future Farmer Association which
not only trains him in soil conservation, guides him in what is best for
his type of farm, or what stock he can best produce, but also holds out
the spur of reward. It is a fine plan for promoting friendly rivalry and
spurs the future farmer to excel his young neighbor. Each fall there is
a great state fair in a leading city of each of the Blue Ridge states,
where the young future farmers of America gather with their exhibits in
livestock, poultry, exhibits of their own crops. There is even a revival
of the prettiest baby contest so familiar to the old county fair of the
long ago. However today the contest has expanded beyond mere beauty;
there is a health baby contest. The grand champion rural child is given
an award with much pomp, and to complete the spirit of friendly rivalry
and to bring about better understanding and fellowship between country
and town there is also