Lexington weekly intelligencer., 1882-09-23
IN NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS.

MONROE. N. c., Aug. 26.-To day the
party vi eix girls who started about
Aug. to walk all over North Carolina
arrived at Laurensburg, where their
tramp ends. They are all well and in
good spirits. They started in the
nelghborhood OF Hendersonville nearly
a month ago upon what was regarded
by their friends as a very wild scheme,
TO walk over North Carolina aud See all
the principal points vi interest in the
state, and 10, pay especial attention to
The mountain sections. Three vi the
girls were 1T scho il when the PROJECT
WAS first agreed upon, and the other
thre. " HI agreed to join, them were
friends. They made ali their arrange.
ments for the proposed Journey rs qui-
city MS possible. Tor they khew Attsn pts
would be made to dissuade ithenl from
the undertaking. Their friends were
taken completely by surprise when they
were told, u day or two be!0, . the COM
meucelnenl Of the walk, OF ;he inten-
ton to tramp over tire state without any
escort To the suggestions that. going
alone and with no one g. protect them,
they would subject themseIv es ~ insul.
they repAed that ;ts.sY wsre willlny,t9
i eLlscs.,en.iS iSSs nj thes aeclared to5e
da shat from first 10 last tAey had never
received one luds, wUrd;Or rough Jest
from any one, their only grievance
being that once or twice some PERSONS
of their own sex attempted to prevent
! them from cuntinu ny their walk by
charncterizing such au Undertaking as
| immodest aud umladJ like. One old
! iady offered to be their chaperone II
they persisted In their purpose. but
the would be. chaper0ne wanted to go
In q buggy, ami when she learned that
they expscted to tramp over mountains
where there were no roadside backed
out, although they Misch,evous.y Savs
her an invitation to join them. .f i-,s
a. On tue. first week ui their trip the Rtrls
suffered much from exhaustion, aud tne
youngest and weakest OF tho party, Miss
Murdoch, had to stop aud rest because
OF severely blistsred ieel. 1t was fear.
| ed that she .wou.d have TO abandon the
| trip, but shs kept up ,nobly. and after
the eighth day began TO gain strength.
and is now Ous OF the texthisst Vi the
travellers Her weight whom she
started was only 90 pounds. and she
turned the scales to-day at 1875 pounds.
Their record shsws that the ysuny
women walked 42O miles. They started
| out with the expectation of making be.
tween 600 and 600 miles. Each
walker were pair Of stout red leather
shoes and short walking costumes.
They carried strong stafis IN hsir hands
and knapsacks upon their shoulders, III
which wore packed their hammocks aud
other nscsssary articles. TAey also
wore very broad brinmed hats, which, /,
however. io not seem to have protect
ed their eomplexrons, tor they are all
Il burned brown. Two oi the girls car
rIed pistols to pro. ect thsm from wild
cats and bears. Much ei the time they
slept IN the open air in their hammocks,
under canvass coverlets. which were
used TO shield them iron, b. savy dews
and rains. One night, ten days ago,
apprehending severe storm, they Cam
ped in a grHvey ard and slept bet~een
the graves. Another night. In the
mountains. they were thrown INTO con-
sternation by. the appearances OF 6ear'
but the beast. being as irightened as
they were, fled without Offering to mo.
lest them. In the mountains they were
in great terror of ratt.esnakes, but die
not encouater. any Of the reptiles. Along
> their route they were treated kindly
macy of the 'hospitabie farmers enter
tanning them. but they shunned notorie
: tty and aNolded all the towns and villa
, !, g-s, frequently going some distance ou
OF their way rather than meet crowds
). A aovel feature of their undertaking
!, was the keeping OF what they calle'
: thsir log book. In this q record o
= : their Impressions and adventures wa
:, , kept, each taking her turn in ''keepln:
i the log" The book contains ,24'
. closely written pages. Alt thou&h fro
, quently offered vehicles. the glrls al
ways declined, saying that ti.ey started
out with the Getermin .tion .! walking
u They spent three days in exploring III
i celebrated Bald Mountain " hose mystc
: rious rumblings.sonlsy cara ago crsase'
= SO much excitement. They not onl
J, made the difficult ascent TO the top. bu
= went into one OF the crevicns. whic
. they examined infinitely with the all
= OF discovering what caused the strang
3 sounds in the inferior. T, faced,
The novel trip et the six young iadie
= has been much talked about, but Q
> they avoided the crowded thorough
. iarss they were ignorant OF The interes
taken in them, and we're much astonist
, fed and slightly irritatsd when the
!. learned that bets had bee p made b
= certain men THAI they would not max
!. 400 miles in the month. The girls On
,9 e The trip now because tbree'dt their nun
u Der viii begia their school days earl
. In September. They assert their deter
mination to walk over, the unsxplore
portion If the stats next sumaie
y they will leave to morrow by rail Il
y their hemes near l.endsl sonvilIe.