90 NORTH CAROLINA 



from feeling lonesome, and yet not so numer- 

 ous as to disturb the quiet of the place or 

 interfere unduly with my natural historical 

 researches. The human interview to which 

 I look back with most pleasure was with a 

 pair of elderly people who appeared one 

 morning in an open buggy. They were 

 driving from the town, seated side by side 

 in the shadow of a big umbrella, and as they 

 overtook me, on the bridge, the man said 

 " Good-morning," of course, and then, to my 

 surprise, pulled up his horse and inquired 

 particularly after my health. He hoped I 

 was recovering from my indisposition, though 

 I am not sure that he used that rather super- 

 fine word. I gave him a favorable account 

 of myself, wondering all the while how 

 he knew I had been ill, whereupon he 

 expressed the greatest satisfaction, and his 

 good wife smiled in sympathy. Then, after 

 a word or two about the beauty of the morn- 

 ing, and while I was still trying to guess 

 who the couple could be, the man gathered 

 up the reins with the remark, " I 'm going 

 after some Ilex monticola for Charley." 

 " Yes, I know where it is," he added, in 

 response to a question. Then I knew him. 



