Miracle in the Hills

Being from the outside they were met with some suspicion
This couple from the city where they call themselves physicians
When mountainfolk got hurt or sick they mostly went untreated
They’d come to see the Doctor and his wife were sorely needed
Word came in on horseback that somebody was sick
«Doctor, get your saddle bags & come a' riding quick»
15 — 20 miles, he’d follow them back home
There was no electricity and no one had a phone
No bridges crossed the river except where they laid rails
There weren’t any roads back then & barely any trails
That didn’t stop the doctor from the little mountain town
In western North Carolina from going & making the rounds
Doctor went a' riding through the wind and through the rain
If someone out there needed him, if someone was in pain
He saved a few from dying but a few, they got away
He delivered lots of children & he loved to watch them play
Dr. bought an old junk dynamo that weighed more than a ton
They hauled it home by wagon & the doc got it to run
They moved it to the creek & from the house he ran a wire
Flipped a switch & there was light & all the folks came to admire
Now everybody was pestering the Doc to hook ‘em up
But that old dynamo of his couldn’t put out juice enough
He did some reading up on it while riding on his horse
He figured maybe he could make it work by rewinding the core
But they said you just can’t do it — GE told him so
They wouldn’t sell him parts to rebuild his dynamo
So he mail-ordered a forge and he made the parts himself
And the Doctor brought electricity to everybody else
Doctor’s wife assisted him — she was a doctor too
When he didn’t need her there was other work to do
She won people over — a little at a time
With the miracles that happened while the Doctor went a' riding
Dr. Mary Martin Sloop taught the mountain folk to read
Got folks to send their kids to school, which was no easy deed
They soon outgrew the building — the little one room shack
So it was added on to and soon they outgrew that
Dr. Mary Martin Sloop started lobbying the state
To build a brand new school where the kids could graduate
She wrote a bunch of letters and she made a real good case
She even went to Raleigh where she pleaded face to face
The roads down from the mountains to the cities were so rough
Farm wagons couldn’t make it to the markets with their stuff
No way to make a living, no good route in or out
On the east side of the Blue Ridge heading north or south
Dr. Mary Martin Sloop again went to the state
Got people writing letters & she met with the legislature
She got a bill pushed through for 50 million dollars
It wasn’t long ‘til they were trucking beans and taters from the hollers
The little town of Crossnore saw the road & school get built
The women learned to weave and make the most exquisite quilts
Dr. Mary Martin Sloop had another thing to tell ‘em
She found a shop in Raleigh that was sure that it could sell ‘em
They sold all the quilts and rugs that these women could produce
Money started coming in — they put it to good use
Places where the wind got in they could afford to seal
A little extra cornbread at the evening meal
And so while Doctor went a' riding — curing people’s ills
Doctor’s wife stayed busy performing other miracles
And to the town of Crossnore there came a better life
Love and admiration for the Doctor and his wife