in Kentucky. But above all the things in which
the people of the Carolina mountains lead are their matchless
handicrafts, weaving, spinning, and their skill in play-making.

Who hasn't heard of "Prof." Koch, Director of the Carolina Playmakers
and of the group's plays? And the thing about the Playmakers which sets
them apart is that they are chiefly of the mountains. Their plays are
made out of the life of mountain folk. Archibald Henderson declares,
"Koch is the arch-foe of the cut-and-dried, the academic, the
specifically prescribed. All his life he has demanded room for the
random, outlet for the unexpressed, free play for the genius." Nowadays
he travels by caravan with his Carolina Playmakers from coast to coast
that the world may see for itself what genius unrestrained can turn out.
If one wishes to see them, in their own setting, which thousands of us
do every year, there is The Playmakers' Theatre at Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, the first theater building in America to be dedicated to the
making of its own native drama.

"This love of drama is in the blood of Carolinians," they themselves
will tell you. "Get three of them together and before you can say Jack
Robinson they're building a play. A folk play, each one with an idea, a
situation. Why, right over to Kernersville in North Carolina the first
little theater was born. And say, if you want to hear ballad singers,
stop wherever you're a-mind to in the Blue Ridge in the Carolinas and
keep your ears open. There's a fellow over on South Turkey Creek, little
more than a dozen miles as the crow flies from Asheville, and you'll
hear the finest singing of old-time ballads you ever listened to. Mostly
menfolks like best to sing. Womenfolks turn to the loom, particularly in
North Carolina."

A visit to the Weave Shop at Saluda convinces the visitor of the skill
of mountain women. Fabrics of unbelievable beauty are turned out at
handlooms and it is mountain women who lead in the work.

Much has been written on the subject of handicrafts but perhaps the most
comprehensive treatment of the diversified subject is Allen Eaton's
_Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands_.

Through Allen Eaton's knowledge of handicrafts and his untiring efforts
a great service has been rendered the mountain people of the Blue Ridge
in marketing their wares. For he has been instrumental in organizing a
handicraft guild which serves the entire southern mountain region. The
co-operating unit