BLOWING ROCK 359 
United States, and that Daniel Boone once stayed 
in a cabin near here, whence its name. However all 
that may be, the lower slopes of Howard Knob are 
pleasantly cultivated and valleys run up into the 
mountains in all directions, as though on purpose 
to make a charming setting for Boone the county 
seat. 
That first visit to Boone ! — what a sense of peace 
one had in remembering that the nearest railroad 
was thirty miles away; and then, — what is that? — 
a telephone bell rings its insistent call and Boone is 
talking with Blowing Rock, or Lenoir, or New York 
City, or Heaven knows where! For though this 
part of the country was the last to get into railroad 
communication with the outer world, it was by no 
means the last to grasp the opportunities within 
reach. 
With what delicious weariness one sinks to sleep 
after the day's walk over the hills! Your eyes seem 
scarcely to have closed when a loud noise wakens 
you with a start — what is it? Nothing excepting 
that the day's work has begun, broad daylight flood- 
ing in at the window. Breakfast is ready, cofifee, 
cornbread, fish from some near sparkling stream, 
rice, hot biscuit, eggs, wild-plum sauce, honey and 
wild strawberries — you can take your choice or 
eat them all. And what a pleasant surprise to find 
every thing seasoned with the wonderful appetite of 
childhood, that reappears on such occasions as this! 
Your body seems borne on wings, so light it feels 
as you leave the inn and again take to the road. 
