The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-07-20

many shouts Of welcome greeting
them. It fs almost midnight, but a
sort of supper Is scrappled together,
beds are found somewhere for their
tired bodies and they soon are dream
ing of tumbling over half-mile-high
precipices, clasping In their arms a
murderer who has jumped from his
coffin armed with knife and gun.
Daylight and Thursday morning
cenvinces them they are on the roof
the world. The hotel rests on the
summit of a mountain and while
there are others seen still higher
they are I'm the far distance. Below
them are the peaks OF scores Of lesser
mountain giants. There are Wild
gorges and an expanse Of wooded
country so vast the eye and brain
fails to comprehend the distances.
Almost at hand is Table Rock, Hawks
Bill and the old man of the noun
tains, Grandfather Mountains
startling likeness to an old man, old
man with sunken teeth and projecting
chin, with determined nose and broad
forehead. The association poet, stand
ing on the veranda, surrounded by an
~appreciatfve audience, reads effective
ly a fine little poem to the old man,
who almost seems to listen to the tri-
butte paid him. !.
An early start for Boone is the
program and by nine o'clock the car
riages and mountain wagons, the mo-
tor cars and the wagonette with the
three friends are streaming down the
beautifully shaded rhododendron road
leading to Boone. Blowing Rock it
self has three hotels, a long strag-
Cling street "a p~ostofice, and a prim-
itivecdrug store owned by a one-legged
druggist. And then it has, tooi one
of the most beautiful churches to be
found in a days Journey, very possi-
bly, the only one built entirely of fat
field rock in the country. 1t is a
sturdy, piece of Gothic architecture,
with tower and ~buttresses, set in an
inviting green expanse, and makes
a pretty picture.
The famous Cone estate is passed
what is seen of it from the road but
whets the appetite for a more famil-
lar acquaintance with it's charms, but
time passes and they drive on and on
along the winding road, past mon
strous piles Of lumber ready for the
marKet, past well dressed children
and grown folks ~trudging towards
Boone, past profitable looking farms
and substantialX4farm houses, past
fields of daises where fat cattle Craze
or rest on a cloth of silver under
meath gigantic trees shade.
The buildings of the Appalachian
Training School at Boone are seen
miles away before the winding road
leads leads them to the doors of this
excellent educational institution. The
editors find hundreds of farmers,
their wives and children, and how
many children they did find in Watau-
| ga! all waiting to welcome them. They
also find the venerable Captain, E.. F.
LoVi1l, chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the school, and it seems
an universal pleasure to grasp the
the hand of this kindly, capable gen
tleman, who is doing so fine and pos
sibly not fully appreciated work fol
the cause of education amongst the
people of the mountains. The sum-
mer term for school teachers is now
being held and when the two hundred
girls and young men file into the big
hall in n of the buildings on the
campus, there isn't a native or adopt
|! ed son of NorthECarolina among the
editors, but who feels proud and-and
-biggity! The girls, in their simple
white gowns, clear eyed and complex
ions unrivalleds are as sweet and
pretty a crowd of girls as may be
found anywhere. The young men are
manly, sturdy looking fellows who
appear capable of taking care of
themselves at all times. The audi
ence completely fills the large hall,
The girls make a charming picture to
the left, the boys on the right and the
editorial party in the centre. Car
DINA Hills"-an original song stir
ringly sung by a class of about TWEEN
ty, brings a bit of moisture to the
eyes of many a hardened newspaper
man present. There r short adj
dresses of welcome, and Solicitor
Linny, the only Republican solicitor.
by the way, makes n of the best
talks heard by the editors during
their gathering. He incidentally
mentions the little Known fact that
the people of Watauga were the very
first people among the thirteen colo
MES to have a written constitution
He tells something of the interesting
legend about a strange, dwarfish peo-
pie, a moon-eyed folk, who could see
only at night; who preceded the In
dams once roaming Over the sur
rounding mountains, and of a white
people antedating them.
DIR. Poteat, DR.. Few Mr.. w. G
Dowd, and Commissioner of Labor
Shipman make short and to the point
talks and the big audience files from
the hall to the table set underneath
the trees in the campus. The Editor
the Editorial Writer and the Public
Official are so enthusiastic ove the
effective work being done by the APP.
palichian Training School that there
is some danger of their enthusiasm
affecting their appetites. They are
agreed that the last General Assem-,
bly, of North Carolina spent money
wisely on this institution and that its
future growth and expansion should
not be hampered by any niggardly
policy on the part of future legisla-
lures.
Possibly some eight hundred peo.