A SUMMER SCHOOL 



273 



Soon after his return to America he took up the survey work 

 with great zest and carried it on successfully at two different 

 periods. He enlisted the ablest men he could get as assistants, 

 and trained a body of aids to the point where they became 

 successful workers in that and other fields. 



In the summer-time he carried on a Summer School for 

 Harvard men, camping in such localities as seemed fittest for 

 the advancement of the survey as well as for the training of the 

 students. He invited some of the foremost scientific men of the 

 day to visit the camp and give inspiration by their presence to 

 the undertaking. A number of teachers from other colleges 

 attended the school, which for two seasons was held at Cumber- 

 land Gap. Among the guests were a few dilettantes, a sprink- 

 ling of politicians, and some women; these elements made 

 something of the nature of a lark of the occasion. But while 

 there was a share of festivity, the camp was by no means a 

 Castle of Indolence. There were the early departure and the late 

 return with the different states of mind shown in the accom- 

 panying illustration. Furthermore, there was no exemption 

 from the various vicissitudes of camp life, the long spell of 

 rainy weather, the occasional short rations, the missing cook. 

 The last was a good-natured, much-liked " native," whose labors 

 were interrupted by being called to court to give a reckoning 

 for his third murder. The excuse offered, however, was deemed 

 sufficient to ensure his liberty. According to Jim's account, his 

 victim (his father-in-law) was "a mighty pesterin' ole man." 

 Among the lighter incidents was the rattlesnake episode. 

 The students having advertised their desire to purchase rattle- 

 snakes to be "pickled," in other words to be preserved in alco- 

 hol, forthwith the hills and valleys were ransacked by the 

 "natives" for the largest and most vicious of their kind. The 

 best brought at first as much as five dollars apiece; but after a 

 while the supply increased beyond the demand, there was a 

 glut, and the price fell as low as twenty-five cents. At this un- 

 favorable stage of the market a belated merchant of reptiles 



