Autobiography 1882 Leaves from My Journal
On the , Brother A. O. Smoot and I arrived at
a ferry on the Tennessee river, and, as the ferryman was not
at home, the woman kindly gave us permission to use the
ferryboat. We led our horses on board, and took the oars to
cross the river. Brother Smoot had never used an oar, and I
had not for some years, so we made awkward work of it.
Soon he broke one oar, and I let another fall overboard, which
left us only one broken oar to get to shore with. We narrowly
escaped running into a steamboat. We struck shore half a
mile below the landing place, tied up the boat, jumped on
the bank with our horses, and went on our way with blistered
hands, thankful to get off so well.
