112 NORTH CAROLINA 



after they had gone, I stopped to speak with 

 a small boy who was climbing the hill, with 

 a mewing kitten hugged tightly to his breast. 

 He was taking it home to his cat, he said. 

 She brought in mice and things, and wanted 

 something to give them to. The little fel- 

 low was still young enough to understand 

 the mother instinct. 



That was a truly social walk. I had 

 never before found one of the mountain 

 roads half so populous. Once, indeed, I 

 drove all day without seeing a passenger of 

 any sort, until, near the end of the after- 

 noon and within a mile or two of the town, 

 I met a solitary horseman. 



The new road, of which I have spoken, 

 and concerning which I heard so much said 

 on all hands, was really not quite that, but 

 rather a new laying out with loops here 

 and there to avoid the steeper pitches of 

 the road from Walhalla, over which I had 

 driven on my entrance into the mountains. 



My friend Mr. S had made the surveys 



for the work, and the whole town was look- 

 ing forward eagerly to its completion. To- 



a blue gown, I think, with a handsome light-colored 

 silk parasol in one hand, and a tin pail in the other. 



