290 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



The above reference to the mail recalls the fact that at 

 Cumberland Gap going to the post-office was looked upon some- 

 what in the light of a joke. On one occasion the postmaster 

 produced a letter from some obscure corner and before handing 

 it to the owner, scanning it closely, discovered the postmark to 

 be Cambridge Station; seized with a thirst for knowledge, he 

 said, "I say, stranger, isn't Boston somewhere near Cam- 

 bridge?" This happy conjecture was afterward used with 

 effect when Bostonians assumed, as they sometimes did, that 

 Cambridge in a social way was an unimportant suburb of the 

 larger city. 



Camp Harvard, July 7, '76. 



. . . The machinery of our life gives little pause for anything but utter 

 weariness at night-time. I am glad of it, for it helps along the days. Im- 

 agine all of our troubles of last year repeated with half the people and you 

 can see it all before you. We have a pretty good set of students, up to the 

 average of last year I believe, but our Harvard men are not here yet; they 

 will bring it down materially, for they can't compare in character or attain- 

 ments with the teachers we have. So far I have kept quite well owing to 

 care in eating and exercise. Several of the people have been upset just as 

 last year because of their excessive eating. Still unending rains, but a cool 

 air at night giving a chance for peaceful sleep. ... I have never welcomed 

 the going of the days as I do now ; they slip away slowly but surely and I 

 now count near one fourth of the time behind me. 



Camp Harvard, July 12, '76. 

 ... I came back last night, having been absent since last Monday. At 



midnight I was aroused by a messenger with direful news : a Mr. C from 



Minnesota, who had betaken himself to archaeology, he having been much 

 of a worker in that field, was killed by the caving-in of an excavation in a 

 mound about twenty miles from here. I have just finished preparations for 

 sending the body home ; at least we will try, though earth may claim its own 

 before we can get to the railway. Another man was damaged, but we hope 

 he will live. ... I should be more chagrined than I am, were it not that 



C 's work was no part of the school work and was the result of a sudden 



change of plan for which I am in no way responsible. Moreover, he was of 

 fifty years and had been digging in mounds for years; besides he was fore- 

 warned of the danger. ... I found four letters from you, which have 

 cheered me greatly, and I need such help now. . . . 



