Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-07

same air with which he might have men
tened Hawaii. He was bred-in-the-bone
| New England classical scholar.
| I'll do it," said 1deala suddenly, with the
| bourdlesS courage of youth.
| En- Route.
| Two weeks later, she reused from a short
nap to find the train sitting still in Egyp-
| tan darkness, so far the outer land
| scape was concerned. The car windows
| We're squares of ebony, and the swish of
| windy rain could be heard outside. A
| brakeman came through the car, swinging
| lantern and sat down on the arm Of
| sea- to answer some anxious question::
| "Oh. no. ma am, you're a right smart
| step from Sassafras yet. There's a rail
| broke, and one O the men had to walk
| back six miles and get somebody to fix it."
1deaia dropped asleep before the rafting.
| sWayinS motion was resumed, having
| reached firm conviction that in this land
| Il train that sat down to rest in the mid
| die of the night was protected by Provi-
| dence, and might wander joyously from
| Cincinnati to the gulf, sure that other
trains would respect its individuality and
| not insist too strongly on being on time.
| The gray dawn lifted the gray mist from
| the Cumberland river and the train, with a
| whoop that echoed from mountain wall
| on either side, stopped at q small station,
| grmy with the dust Of soft coal. Sassa-
| fras is one of the new towns, which have
| grown up with the new south-whether it
was in Kentucky or Tennessee, or Ala
! ago 1t was q cluster Of log cabins. Now it
has two stores, two blacksmith shops, one
tour-wheeled carriage, one sidewalk. four
churches, one academy, one seminary and
thirteen mission teachers.
The Native Moum.aineer.
Ideala found herself in the midst of the
sons of Anak she made her way to the
group of yellow academy buildings, set
like beacon on hilltop. The mountain
eer IS practically where he was seventy
five years ago. The mountain wall on the
east shut him off from Virginia emigra-
ton, and on the west the planters took no
interest in him. Cotton the main in
tereSt, and you cannot raise cotton on land
| that slopes at an angle of forty-fve de-
srees So he sat still his mountainside
and gathered about him a few stalks of
corn, one COW. two or three gaunt razor
backed hogs and little patcn of tobacco.
He sat in the sun and grew, and when he
wanted amusement he fought. The result
is a deep-chested, deep-eyed giant, slow
and gentle of speech. swift of temper, te-
naciouS of superstition and primitive in
strength. 1t was to this people that Ideala
had come to bring what she knew of civil
| iZation.
Architecture of the Country.
The principal Of the Sassafras Academy
was also pastor of one Of the churches,
superintendent of three Sunday schools
and building contractor for all the school
buildings, and he talked with the nervous
hurry of man who has the world on his
| shoulders. He had TO make up for the
calmness OF the natives.
''Eiach walnut? Oh, yes: that's the
cheapest Wood We could use,"- he said, as
he showed ldeala the newly finished class
room s. Drug i'll the market here Van
KEGS would have found some way getting
it TO the railroad, but these people-why,
did you ever hear how they harvest pump
kins on the mountain farms? They wait
till the freshet3 take the crop off the fields
and wash it into their door yards. You'll
see houses built without a nail, same
chiids cob house, of rough logs, with
stick chimney and hole for a door. When
the chimney catches fire and burns down,
as it does every now and then, they build
another just like it. The roof is made of
pianks laid side by side, with a sapling
along the edge to fasten them down. Then
q big stone is put on each corner to faSten
down the ends of the saplings. Yes, ma am;
when you see a cabin with stones on the
roof, it's house without nails!''
Labnr-Sa,ins Methods.
Ideala was further informed that the
wood burned in these cabins, to save I'M
necessary labor was laid in the original
log, on the floor with the ends in the fire
place, and showed in as fast it burned.
Hoe cake, bacon and coffee were the
staples OF diet, varied occasionally with
chicken, boiled in a great iron pot After
this Information it was cheering TO learn
that the cooking for the half dozen teach
ers and sixty or seventy boarding pupils
of the academy was done by the daughters
of these mountain homes as we'll as the
sweeping. washing, ironing, scTubbing and
general hOuseWork The laudable and beau
tful design of headquarters in establish
ing the system was that 1.-The young lady
pupils under the direction of a competent
and experienced matron, shall perform the
work Of the household, and thus at the end
of their course of study be fitted to estab-
fish homes of their own in neatness and
comfort"
Now. that reads beautifully in prospec-
tus, but the benevolent gentlemen who
drew up that plan never tried to teach
freshly caught mountain girl, who never
saw baking powder or yeast or heard Of
an oven, or how to make loaf of bread.
They never Wore clothes washed by this
same mountain nynph, in cistern water
poured off roof sooty with the smoke of
soft coal. They never ate a breakfast pre-
pared by those untried hands, under the
direction of a matron of three weeks eX-
perience. In short, however repiete with
neatness and comfort these young ladies'
homes may be when they complete their
discipline of themselves and all concerned,
the qualities of the academy home" were
such that Coelebs in search of wife would
Go well to keep away.
Difficulties IN Teacling.
The worried and nervous little mat-on
knew all about housekeeping, but preparing
family meals in a private kitchen and
preparing meals by contract in a hotel
two different matters. She had no stime
to cook any one thing herself, for mani
testify one cannot be in all the corners Of a
four-story house at once, so she gave d.
rections and the directions were followed
afar off. Every housekeeper knows that
a thing must be done wrong at least once
before it can be done right, and another
beautiful complicat ton Of the system as
devised by headquarters was that each
girl should take her turn at each part of
the work at some time during the year.
which effectually prevented any thorough
uneavened bread Of the Israelites when
they came out of Egypt, and the meat, to
il lltrl