Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1903-01-15

last nall mile OF rOau IL sOIutIuiuS w
be remembered. No, we want to for
get it.
The Chenille school is getting
along very well, and Principal Shaw
and his corps of excellent teachers are
doing good work. Miss Hosie, for
merly a teacher in Shepherd College,
is member of the faculty, and is as
much loved and respected there as
she was here. There have recently
been some very desirable improve
ments made to the school buildings,
which are now nicely equipped.
By 5 o'clock in the afternoon we
had finished our business and started
on the return journey. We reached
our stopping point, Sand Fork, in a
couple of hours, again taking advan-
tage OF Stump's good hotel. Saturday
morning we were up before daylight
to get another early start. 1t was
clear weather now, but it was keen
The thermometer was below zero, the
trees were covered with frost, and the
still, cold air was like ice. 1t had moi
seemed possible that the road could
be worse than it had been, yet it was
The mud of the previous two days
had now fl oxen stiff, and it was like
riding over cast-iron moulded into a
million rough and shapeless designs
The horses simply could not travel in
the road, and perforce took to a side
path that was at times perilously neal
the edge of the river bank and again
close enough to the side OF a precl'
pice to increase the shivers. We
again took the mountain road. Our
friendly stream had become covered
with ice, not quite thick enough tc
bear the weight Of the horses, and
here and there snowdrifts obstructed
the way. But anything was better
than the main road, and with no snow
to beat in our faces we made good
time. We actually trotted OCCASION
ally, and once the horses galloped fol
as much as hundred yards.
When we got on the last hilltop we
stopped to note the outlook. 1t is a
striking scene. Prodigious hills are
piled one on top of another, with vast
hollows between, and here and there
are enormous depressions that seem to
have been scooped out by an almighty
force. 1t is a wild and desolate land
scape, and yet houses are perched on
the sides of these hills and people live
in the titanic depressions. The last
stage of the journey was the worst,
for it was like riding down the ROOT
of house-only lougher-and when
the dangerous descent was finally end
ed and a sheer drop in the road &C.
complished in safety, it was a thank
full party that picked its careful way
over the iron and ice of the road lead
ing into huntsville. The sight of a
railroad once more was an inspiration,
and the Indifferent cars that we final
ly boarded, after comfortable dinner
at Gillespie's hotel, seemed like palaces
when compared with our previous
travelling.
The above description will give
some idea of travelling in winter over
the roads of Braxton and Gilmer coun'
ties. The discomforts are so great
that it is a mystery how people endure
them, yet somehow or other goods are
freighted from one town to another
and folks manage to get from place to
place. Just now they are rejoicing
in the hope of getting out Of the woods,
for the Wabash has a railroad line
under contract, and in year the
lonely hills will echo the blasts of the
locomotive whistle and the iron horse
will quickly draw passengers and
freights over the steel rails. The
country is underlaid with coal, there
is oil and natural gas, and much tim
Der is yet to be cut. Speed the day
when the railroad comes.
As for US, we expect never to grum-
bic any more about Jefferson county g
roads, and we are persuaded that the
Shenandoah Valley is the best place
in the world in which to live.
A Movable Fort.
fr-