ht probably be demonstrated that in society man has no
such right), there was no way of agreement except by a compromise. It
was accordingly agreed that no mountain under six thousand feet is worth
ascending; that disposed of White-Top. It was further agreed that any
mountain that is over six thousand feet high is too high to ascend on
foot.

With this amicable adjustment we forded the Holston, crossing it twice
within a few miles. This upper branch of the Tennessee is a noble
stream, broad, with a rocky bed and a swift current. Fording it is
ticklish business except at comparatively low water, and as it
is subject to sudden rises, there must be times when it seriously
interrupts travel. This whole region, full of swift streams, is without
a bridge, and, as a consequence, getting over rivers and brooks and
the dangers of ferries occupy a prominent place in the thoughts of
the inhabitants. The life necessarily had the "frontier" quality all
through, for there can be little solid advance in civilization in the
uncertainties of a bridgeless condition. An open, pleasant valley, the
Holston, but cultivation is more and more negligent and houses are few
and poorer as we advance.

We had left behind the hotels of "perfect satisfaction," and expected
to live on the country, trusting to the infrequent but remunerated
hospitality of the widely scattered inhabitants. We were to dine at
Ramsey's. Ramsey's had been recommended to us as a royal place of
entertainment the best in all that region; and as the sun grew hot in
the sandy valley, and the weariness of noon fell upon us, we magnified
Ramsey's in our imagination,--the nobility of its situation, its
cuisine, its inviting restfulness,--and half decided to pass the night
there in the true abandon of plantation life. Long before we reached
it, the Holston River which we followed had become the Laurel, a most
lovely, rocky, winding stream, which we forded continually, for the
valley became too narrow much of the way to accommodate a road and
a river. Eagerly as we were looking out for it, we passed the great
Ramsey's without knowing it, for it was the first of a little settlement
of two houses and a saw-mill and barn. It was a neat log house of two
lower rooms and a summer kitchen, quite the best of the class that we
saw, and the pleasant mistress of it made us welcome. Across the road
and close, to the Laurel was the spring-house, the invariable adjunct
to every well-to-do house