113 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
his broad-brimmed hat pushed back from his red, perspiring, 
smooth-shaven face, working the treadles as energetically as a 
"scorcher" in a contest. My friend said the contrast between 
the evident enjoyment of the musician, his face showing ex- 
treme bliss as the ear-splitting notes of ''Hold the Fort" and 
"The Sweet Bye and Bye" rent the air, and my expression of 
exquisite torture as I looked longingly at the hills and green 
things growing opposite the windows, was worth to her all 
the fatigue of the journey. 
We travelled through a country so novel, and so varied 
that the incidents here given are only a few of many; for 
each mile, and every house we entered had its own experience 
and history. After many weeks spent in this wild, charming 
country, that in many places seemed so different from the 
outer world, I could not but think of what changes would 
come if the projected railroad was built. A railroad will be a 
great educator, but by its coming, the country will lose much 
of its picturesqueness. The earth is rich in minerals, iron ore 
in every cliff, and coal, marl and asphalt in abundance. Hence 
only a railroad is needed to make some of these people rich. 
It is too late to take the listless, indolent air from many of 
them, whose lives have been so barren of interest and motive, 
but the younger generation would awaken to new energy. 
We made the return home by various ways of locomotion, 
farm-wagon, stage and railroad, with a well-filled botanical 
case, and with a kindly feeling and often sympathy for these 
persons so far from the bustle of active life, these dwellers 
in the wild parts of the "penny-rile country" and on the "yan 
side o' Nolin." 
A SETTING of beautiful scenery always lends an added 
charm to a botanical excursion. Mountain, forest, 
lake, stream — what pictures the words conjure up when one 
AN AUGUST OUTING. 
BY FRANK DOBBIN. 
