The very men who are fiercest in carrying on feuds often become some of the strongest and most valuable members of the community when they come down to the lowlands and learn the ways of more advanced communities. Often indeed, they surpass those whose ancestors have had every advantage for generations. In Scotland in past centuries the Highlanders used to raid the Lowlands most unmercifully. To-day the descendants of the raiders are among the most useful and capable people in the British Empire.
How the Mountains Attract the People of the Plains.—Just as the wealth of the plains has long attracted the people of the moun tains, so the scenery and pure air of the mountains now attract the people of the plains. Only the most highly civilized people, however, have learned the value of the mountains as places for rest and enjoy ment during vacations. Not more than a century or two ago civilized people like those of the lowlands of England and Germany thought of the mountains as places to be shunned. In old books the mountains are often referred to as terrifying, gloomy, frightful. Even to-day when people first look at a steep mountainside they sometimes feel dizzy. The vast majority of civilized people, however, now regard
the mountains as a pleasure ground. Thousands of families escape from the city each summer in order to gain strength and happiness among the mountains. They want to enjoy the wildness, climb rugged peaks, and feel the exhilaration of the view from a mountain top.
In places like the Alps, the White Mountains, the Adirondacks, and certain parts of the Sierras the people of the mountains make a large part of their living by taking boarders, running hotels, supply ing milk and vegetables, selling small articles made during the winter, acting as guides, and in other ways caring for tourists. In such communities the disadvantages of mountain life are much diminished. Since people no longer depend wholly on their farms, their prosperity increases They can have better schools, better roads, more books, better professional men and artisans, and more advantages in many ways. Since they come in contact with people from many lowland regions they gain new ideas, and their life is broadened and deepened.