Daily Republican., 1882-08-28
NO ,TH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS
How six Unprotected Girls spent
| Their summer Vacation.

Their summer VGcA'1On.
MONROE, N. G., Aug. 26-To-day the
party of six girls who started about
Aug. to walk all over North Carolina
arrived at Laurenburg, where their
tramp ends. They are all well and in
good spirits. They started in the neigh
borhood of Hendersonville nearly q
month ago upon what was regarded BY
their friends as q very wild scheme, to
walk over North Carolina and see all
the principal points Of interesJ in the
State, and to pay especial attention to
the mountain sections. Three of the
girls were at school when the prof ect
was first agreed upon, and the other
three who agreed Gto join them were
friends.
They made all arrangements for the
proposed journey as quietly as possible,
for they knew attempts would be made
to dissuade them from the undertaking.
Their friends were taken completely in
surprise when they were told, day or
two before the commencement of thu
walk, of the intention to tramp over
the STATE without any escort. To the
suggestions that, going alone and with
no one to protect them, they would
subject themselves to insult shey re-
piled that they were willing to make
the attempt, and they declared to-day
| that from first to last they had never
received one rude word or rough jest
from any one, their only grievance be-
ing that once or twice some persons of
their own sex attempted to prevent
them from continuing their walk char
acterizing such an undertaking as i'm.
modest and unlady like. One old lady
offered to be their chaperone If they
persisted in their purpose, but the
would'be Chaperone wanted to go in a
buggy, and when she learned that they
expected to tramp over mountains
where there was no road she backed
ont, although they mischievously
gave her an invitation to join them.
On the first week Of their trip the
girls suffered much from exhaustion,
and the youngest and weakest of the
party, Miss Murdoch, had to stop and
rest because of severely blistered feet.
1t was feared that she would have to
abandon the trip, but she kept up nobly
and after the eighth day began to gain
strength, and is now one of the health
lest of the travellers. Her weight when
she started was only 90 pounds, and
she turned the scale to-day az 103
pounds. Their record shows that the
young women walked 400 miles. They
started out with the expectation of
making between 800 and 600 miles.
Each walker wore pair of stout red
leather shoes and short walking cos
tunes. They carried strong stats in
their hands and knapsacks upon their
shoulders in which were packed their
hammocks and other necessary articles.
They also wore very broad brimmed
hats, which, however, do not seem 70
have protected their complexions, for
they are all burned brown. Two of the
girls carried pistols to protect them
from wild cats and bears.
Much Of the time they slept in the
open air in their hammocks, under
canvas coverlets, which were used to
shield them from heavy dews aud rains.
One night, ten days ago, HpprehendingI
a severe storm, they camped in grave
yard and slept between graves. Another
night, in the mountains, they were
thrown into CONSERVATION by the ap
pearance of a bear, but the beast, being
as frightened as they were, fled without
offering tn molest them. In the moun.
tains they were in great terror Of rattle.
snakes, but did not encounter any of
the reptiles. Along their route they
were treated kindly, many Of the hos
pitable farmers entertaining them, but
they Stunned notoriety and avoided all
the towns and villages, frequently
going some distance out of their way
rather than meet crowds. A novel
feature of their undertaking was the
keeping of what they called their log
book. In this record Of their impress
siOns and adventures was kept, each
taking her turn in excepting the log"
The book contains 1915 closely written
pages. Although frequently offered
vehicles, the girls always declined,
saying that they started out with the
determination of walking. They spent
three days in exploring the celebrated
Bald Mountain whose mysterious
rumblings some years ago created 80
much excitement. They not only made
the difficult ascent to the top, but went
into one of the crevices, which they ex-
Smined minutely with the aim of dis.
cussing what caused the strange sounds
in the interior.
The novel trip of the six young la
dies has been much talked about, but
as they avoided the crowded thorough |
fares they were ignorant of the interest
taken in them, and were much aston
Ished and slightly irritated when they
learned that bets had been made by
certain men that they would not make
LOO miles in the month. The girls end
,he trip now because three of their
number will begin their school days
,arly in September. They assert their
to walk over the unex-
,lored portion of the State next sum.
ner. They leave tomorrow by rail for
heir homes near Hendersonville.