This is a story about hard working families who settled the area around the lower valleys of Bear Town Mountain. The terrain was very rough with large rock, and dense forestry. The clearing away had to be done by brutish labor working with crude equipment. Dense forest had to be cleared away, and large rock removed in order to build homes, and prepare the land for planting crops for food. These people had to make their living from mother earth, but knew they had to work hard for it.

I’ve been told stories about how hard times were for those who paved the roads for others to follow after them. I will focus my story on those who helped to settle the area in, and around the Bear town mountain area, some who were my ancestries, and their forefathers. There were those of whom I have only been told about who passed before I was born. Henry sword, his wife Pinkie King, Sword, and their eight children played a large part in helping to clear the lands around the foothills of Bear Town mountain area.

Henry, the father died at a very young age, leaving Pinkie with seven children, and pregnant with her eighth child, Clara Ada. This was a great tragedy for the family. This left a mother with eight children to rear on a farm as tenant farmers.

Johnnie, at the age of sixteen, and Fate who was fourteen, felt a great responsibility to help their mother make a way on the farm. Working horses to plow the fields, and plant the grains would be a task for these young men. There were many chores done by these young boys that were normally done by adults. The labor was demanding, but with hard work, and each member of the family working together, they made away.

Timber was cleared, and cut away for new crops. The brush was piled, and burned, rocks were picked up by hand, and stacked into rock brakes preparing new grounds. The rock brakes still stand in these mountains today. Some of the rocks were so large that chains had to be hooked around them, and pulled into place by horses. A lot of strength had to be displayed by boys so young.

You have to picture young children in the fields doing the work of adult men. Their clothes were tattered, and worn. They sometimes worked bare foot because they could not afford to have shoes to wear. Together they worked hard, and with a lot of love for each other. Their mother guided them, and did what she could to keep a home for the family.

In spite of the hardships that Pinkie Sword endured, she managed to see that each child that had not attended school before the death of their father was given the opportunity to do so. A one- room school was located in the Loop community. One teacher taught grades one through four. The teacher took a lot of pride in teaching each child the importance of learning.

The school was known as Rich Mountain School. It was a white wooden building having three windows spaced on either side, a long black board crossed the back wall. There was a bookcase on the left near the black board that contained the little library used to help the children in their learning. There were several desk located in an orderly way throughout the school building. A potbelly stove sat in the center of the room for warmth in the wintertime. It was fired by wood or coal for heat. There was one door in the front of the school as the only entrance.

The school had no running water so the water had to be carried from a spring a distance away. The children took turns in carrying the water in a bucket for drinking. There was a dipper in the bucket that was used by each student when he or she needed to get a drink of water. A building was located in front of the school building that housed the coal used by the school. Two of the strongest boys were chosen by the teacher to carry coal from the building into school for the stove.

A large bell was on top of the school building that was enclosed by a structure called a bell house. At recess, students were allowed to take turns ringing the bell when recess time ended. This was a treat; they love to ring the bell that was pulled by a heavy rope just inside the entrance. The bell was loud, and on a clear day could be heard into the mountain where some of them lived. This was a distance of approximately two miles.

There were two outside toilets for the use of the school. The one located in the back of the school building was for the boys. The one for the girls was located to the left of the building. During school hours, a number of hands were raised asking to be excused to go to the toilet. This was usually an excuse, but the teacher would never take a chance on not allowing them to go so they were always allowed to do so.

Life was hard in those days, but families always found time to socialize with each other. The children were very close, and loved, and took care of each other; the older children cared for the younger ones. It was a struggle for life in the mountain, but the bond of love between mountain people afforded very much joy, and happiness for them. The contents in the story of A Struggle for Life in the Mountain are based on truth.