Mary Baldwin College - Bluestocking Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

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26 The Augusta Seminary Annual. Betsy Bell. ETSY BELL is the loftiest and most beautiful of the mounts by which Staunton is surrounded. Southeast of the city she towers, piloting the people from every part of the country hither. What Stauntonian, returning home after years of absence, does not look out for her familiar form, and hail her from afar with feelings of rapture ? By what attractions does Betsy Bell tempt the young to climb her rocky sides ? What school-girl does not know where to find the largest and earliest violets ? And what school-l)oy does not know where chincapins are first ripe ? Now I hear you asking, How did she get her name ? And thereby hangs a tale. Lying to the southeast of Betsy Bell, and very much resembling her, is another hill called Mary Gra} ' . The story which most of the old inhabitants of Staunton will tell you is, that on the sides of the two hills stood two cottages, one owned by Mr. Bell, who had a daughter named Betsy, and the other by Mr. Gray, whose daughter ' s name was Mary. One day Betsy and Mary, who were close friends, were sent to find the cows which had strayed off. Night came, and as the girls did not return, the fathers made up searching parties and found the lost ones dead — tomahawked by the Indians who were, at that time, quite numerous in this part of the country. This story, however, is without foundation. The names of the hills are of Scottish origin. According to tradition, Mary Gray ' s father was laird of Lednoch, and Betsy Bell ' s of Kinvaid. An intimate friendship sprang up between the two girls. Once, when Betsy was visiting Mary, a plague broke out in the neighborhood, and to escape it the girls built a bower near Lednoch House and lived there for some time. A young man, in love with both of the girls, came often to see them and brought them food. They caught the plague from him, and both died in their bower, and were buried half a mile from Lednoch House, near Perth. Their sad fate became the subject of a ballad, the first verse of which ran thus :

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The Augusta Seminary Anmtal. 25 terest to those from tliat section. Altlioiii li a little band among so jnany, we were i:;la(] to find that we numbered one hiindrefl and two. With hearts eharij ed with lioly purposes, and with enthusi- asm for missions deepened, tlic intfuenee of the Detroit Con ' en- tion will doubtless be felt thr()Ui2;hout our Southland. Tn order to bring the students into ( ' (tntact with their various boards, a few hours of one morning were given to denominational conferences, it was a little company of Southern Presbyterians who gathered in the lecture-room of the Central Baptist Church, bnt the mem- ' orj ' of the cosy informality of that coming apart, the cheery words of Dr. Chester, the frank, helpful suggestions of Mr. Sampson, the tender, sympathetic prayer of Mr. Rankin will long linger with the members of our delegation. The report of the Convention, read by Mr. Mott, was a most complete presentation of the purpose, field, results, influence and ])olicy of the movement. It showed a remarkal)le growth — a Student Volunteer Missionary Union in the British universities, missionary fires kindled in the universities of Scandinavia, organi- zations in South Africa and India. Six hundred and eighty-six volunteers are already in fields scattered from Greenland ' s icy mountains to India ' s coral strand. To realize the influence in the home land one had only to look at the vast gathering of stu- dents who were present, representing two hundred and ninety- four higher educational institutions, including pi-eparatory, normal, training, literar}-, scientific, law, agricultural, medical and theo- logical schools. The farewell meeting of Sunday night was full of great power and great possibilities for the w ork. A number of short addresses, given by the representatives of the various young peoples ' societies, showed the quiet, earnest consecration which was the spirit of the Convention. One could not watch the eager faces of this great number of cultured young men and women and not feel that this Epiphany of youth meant the influence of a mighty power which will sweep around the earth. As the students from these two hundred and ninety-four colleges return to their institutions, quickened and strengthened in a life of larger faith and purpose and with but one desire — to know God ' s plan for their lives, we must feel that we are approaching the beginning of the end of evangelistic enterjn-ise. Laura Shortt.

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The Augusta Seminary Annual. 27 O Betsy Bell an ' Mary Gray ! They were twa l)oniiie lasses — They hitjgit a luiwor on yon burn brae, All ' thcekit it ower wi ' raslies. They theekit it ower wi ' rashes green, They happit it round wi ' heather : But the pest cam ' frae the burrows-town, An ' slew them baith thegither. When a new proprietor took possession of the manor about 1781, a lieap of stone ;, ahnost covered with thorns and briars, was pointed out to him as the burial place of Betsy Bell and Mary Gray. He removed the rubbish, made the grave double, planted flowers around it, and enclosed the spot with a wall, in which he fixed a stone bearing the names of Betsy Bell and Mary Gray. The names were carried to Ireland and were applied to two mountains in the county of Tyrone. From thence they were brought by our Scotch-Irish ancestors and given to these two hills in the Yalley of Virginia, thus showing how they cherished tlie associations of their former life in the old country. Although Betsy Bell is no Pisgah, still no one will say that the view is not a recompense for the toil of climbing up her rocky sides. Let us look at the view which presented itself to a group of boys and girls seated on a large rock near her summit one bright, warm day last spring. How beautiful were the green meadows, lying around Staunton, rolling up to the hazy Blue Ridge mountains in the distance ! One pointed to an ice-pond in a meadow, which lay glistening in the sunlight like a sheet of silver. At the eastern base nestled the Bodley Wagon Works, with its settlement of neat cottages. At the western base lay the beautiful buildings and well-kept grounds of the Western Lu- natic Asylum, while to the northeast was the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institution, almost hidden by the grand, old trees which surround it. Now we turned to the northwest, and before us lay Staunton, the Queen City of the Valley, Consj)icuous in the centre were the buildings and grounds of the A. F. S. Tower- ing here and there above the roofs of tlie neighboring houses were the church-steeples. From the centre of the circle of steeples rose the tower of the Y. M. C. A., in which is the time-honored face of the town clock, and so clear was the air that, looking through our fleld-glasses, we could see the exact