Edgar A. Long, excerpt from travel notebook, 11-13 August 1915.

Wednesday, August 11--

Left home 10 o'clock. Fooled around Christiansburg till one o'clock. Dinner at Bentley's. Arrived at Dave Reynolds, Pilot at 4:30. Rain--Bentley suggested sleeping in hay loft. I demurred. We stayed in the house. Bentley knew what he was talking about. Supper and Breakfast at Reynolds. Good meals.

Thursday, 12th--

Left at 9 o'clock for Floyd. Lunched en route. Difficult to get a place to stay. Put horses in stable. Man Bentley knew offered to find a place. He secured a place at his sisters. When asked about where he worked he told me he had just come off county road. I am not sure we had not better go and sleep in the stable. The woman where we stopped told us her son got shot and killed. "Some" bad people. Hope we get through alright.

Friday, August 13th--

Left Floyd for Martinsville. Crossed mountains highest ever drove up and down. Half way down buggy broke down. Set Bentley and me on the ground. Had to walk and almost carry the buggy 3 miles. Got it fixed at a place called Charity. Cooked dinner. Started at 5 p.m. 8 miles to next stop. Got off the road and got lost in the mountains. Came to a place called Elamsville about 8 o'clock. Dark and rainey. Bentley plays white and I play nigger. Bentley stayed in the home. I stayed in the shanty. Bentley ate in dinning room. I ate in the kitchen. We got by this way.

Source: Long Papers, as transcribed in Ann Swain, "Christiansburg Institute: From Freedmen's Bureau Enterprise to Public High School," M. A. thesis, Radford College, 1975, pp. 187-188. Note: Floyd is the county seat for Floyd County; Charity and Elamsville are just east over the Blue Ridge in Patrick county; all are within 35 miles of Christiansburg.

Return to Working under Adversity Exhibit