Introduction 
but there’s an end to mortals’ strength of body 
and mind, to all that mortals can accomplish. 
You are sure to go on and on, but I want you 
to remember the fate of Hugh Miller.’ She was 
one of the finest examples I ever knew of a kind, 
generous, great-hearted Scotchwoman.” 
The formal leave-taking from family and 
neighbors indicates his belief that he was part- 
ing from home and friends for a long time. On 
Sunday, the 1st of September, 1867, Mr. Muir 
said good-bye also to his Indianapolis friends, 
and went by rail to Jeffersonville, where he 
spent the night. The next morning he crossed 
the river, walked through Louisville, and 
struck southward through the State of Ken- 
tucky. A letter written a week later “among 
the hills of Bear Creek, seven miles southeast 
of Burkesville, Kentucky,” shows that he had 
covered about twenty-five miles a day. “I 
walked from Louisville,” he says, “‘a distance 
of one hundred and seventy miles, and my feet 
are sore. But, oh! I am paid for all my toil a 
thousand times over. I am in the woods on a 
Jf 
[ xviii ] 
