The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-07-10

youngsters speedily settle upon a collection
of old hacks and ricketty coaches. and are
being dragged over the rolling ridp.s and
uD the narrow valley of the far-famed
Juniata, to enter upon a new session at
Tuscarora Academy, q classical institute on
of extended repute.
'PENN'S WOODS
This Piedmont Region, of Penn's Sylcan.
or .'Wm PENIS Woods " is one of the
most picturesque and attractive in the
word in many respects resembling
though lacking the altitude, and wild
grandeur Of our own Carol,nian Highlands.
1t is in fact a section of the same Appala-
chan chain there is the same mighty net
work of ranges, peaks and spurs, trend
hither and thither, and intervalled by a be-
wildering labrynth of valleys, but with the
difference that in the older state, with its
denser population, the Businesses have been
invaded, the wilderness forced to give place
TO vistas Of culture and thrift, and ali ex-
cept the most rugged mountain activities
brought under subjugation to the plough
share. Numbers of handsome farm houses
may be en- perched upon little terraces
along the slope, or fairly upon the summit.
with orchards and melon patches that look
steep enough to send their treasures r ,lling
for miles while the entire eXpanse of the
Intervening valleys, fertile as the plains of
the Nile, are mapped out in small farms,
whose trim square fields, green with
grasses, or yellow with grain, readily sug-
costs the idea of an huge chess board a
conception that is heightened by the Curl
Gus taste Of many of the natives for painting
their houses and barns of a red. yellow.
blue, green, or other color.
THE JUNIATA.
Like our own Valleys, these usually bear
Aboriginal names, such as Kishaquoquillas.
TuscarOFa, and Juniata-the latter embra
cling the river of the same name.-and
having p~reeeminence over all the rest, be-
cause IFS beauties OF mountain, river. and
plain, are almost in miniature the width of
the valley being less than five miles, is
length not above ten. An old ballad, once
widely sung, told how
-e.Wild rov'd an Indian girl,
Bright Alfaratta,
the Blue Juniata"-
The dusky daughter Of the forest doubt
less skipped to the happy Hunting grounds
hen the white mans axe began to ring
around her bower, but the romantic lowell
ness of the vale remains unto this day, or
did IN the year Of our Lord, 1859, whereof
write. And the TUsCARoRA ACADEMY
dwelt in the midst of it.
The school-buildings stood IN a grove of
spreading shade trees near the foot of a
cone-shaped peak, or knob" as called
thereabout, which jutted out, like a big
bow window, from the middle Of the noun
tain composing the Southern wall of the
Valley. Hence the triple-tier Of students
rooms embraced a splendid view of the OPP
posite wall, or range, which arose as a dark
blue background to the rolling country be-
tween the entire scene changing daily
with panoramic vividness now, glorliied
by the golden sheen of sunset and again,
grandly ominous with the atmosphere OF
storms
Directly in rear Of the College, upon an
higher bench of the slope, was an hand
some Gothic Chapel, with a sonorOus organ,
and an 81, 800 preacher. who wore the title
of ID. D." so loosely he did not disda'n
To play marbles with the students almost
every day, and erplete rather mysteriously
when he made a mis- shot.
Still higher, nearly at the summit, stood
a long, two-story stone editice. formerly
Dr.. Agnew's Fem lle Seminary, but now
| rented for a residence by a d sbing indivld-
ual, siuce widely known, and strangely sur
nenei, "Honest JOhn'-because he stole
a railroad. "A Supreme Court, a Legislature.
and an U lited States Sanatorship. while
temporarily residing in South Carolin. VI
him, mOrs anon.
Among the youths disembarking at
Aca1e1nld, as a m .tter OF course, were q
number o. Southerners. 1t was the fashion
of the day for Southern parents TO send
their bog aid girls to som Northern In
stitute, or Seminary, chiefly because the
expense was a great deal heavier, and the
thing sounded better, IN talking t. your
~neighbOrs. Besides the imprint. SO 70
speak. Of the best Southern School, c1ntd
never C mDa e with even q {
Yankee In %titution. when the boy efuca-
ton was in the mark y. So 1t happened
In T~uscarora Academy numbered among
its pupils, half a dozen from Central Ala
bama, several from Georsis and fiorida,
and a number from Maryle nd and Virginia :;
including from the "a ter State my orother
Hamilton. and myself.
There could be no mistake in pointing out
these Sou hern youngsters. Tall, dark
lo~ng-haired, Byr ,nic-collared with !m>
mense trunks. (which they paid for having
carried to their rooms, instead of lugglnE
on their own shoulders, or begging thu aid