i8o Musings by Camp-Fire and Wayside 



do it, and it is their duty to do the best, by sending 

 those five boys over to Knoxville College and pro- 

 viding for them there or elsewhere. 



I called on the president. Dr. Boardman — a 

 delightful call. He resigns because of age and 

 health. A refined, scholarly, urbane personality 

 and character of the highest type — and Professor 

 Wilson. Here was a son of an old friend of my 

 boyhood. We took a stroll on the noble campus — 

 a forest of two hundred and fifty acres. In a little 

 clearing lay the ruins of an old cabin, and that 

 cabin has a history. It was full of a degraded, 

 marriageless family. The young men took hold of 

 them with Christian hands and helped them not 

 only to a higher life, but to high careers of honor 

 and of usefulness. That is a sample of what can 

 be done on an unlimited scale. 



I had heard of a narrow gauge railway which ran 

 out of Johnson City up the canon of Watauga, and 

 was soon in that "city." They say it had a 

 "boom," which left the people disconsolate. The 

 "hotels" had a horrible look, but a colored boy 

 took me to a private boarding-house, where I found 

 every appointment neat, though humble. Next 

 morning rose clear and cool. The conductor kindly 

 stopped his train at the most favorable point, and 

 advised me to signal him on his return in the even- 

 ing, from an up-grade or level, as he could not 

 stop at a steep descent. The tumbling river was 

 partly frozen. Ice cascades hung on the huge 



