A Thousand-Mile Walk 
slope of several hundred yards. It seems like 
a noble gateway to the birthplace of springs 
and fountains and the dark treasuries of the 
mineral kingdom. This cave is in a village 
[of the same name] which it supplies with an 
abundance of cold water, and cold air that 
issues from its fern-clad lips. In hot weather 
crowds of, people sit about it in the shade of 
the trees that guard it. This magnificent fan 
is capable of cooling everybody in the town at 
once. 
Those who live near lofty mountains may 
climb to cool weather in a day or two, but the 
overheated Kentuckians can find a patch of cool 
climate in almost every glen in the State. The 
villager who accompanied me said that Horse 
Cave had never been fully explored, but that it 
was several miles in length at least. He told me 
that he had never been at Mammoth Cave — 
that it was not worth going ten miles to see, as 
it was nothing but a hole in the ground, and I 
found that his was no rare case. He was one 
of the useful, practical men — too wise to waste 
[ 10 ] 
