140 NORTH CAROLINA 



tion; and then, a little higher, a plentiful 

 display of the white viscosa, more familiar 

 and less showy, but hardly less attractive. 



Better even than this wild Satulah garden 

 was a smaller one nearer home : a triangular 

 hillside, broad at the base and pointed at the 

 top, as if it were one face of a pyramid ; 

 covered loosely with grand old trees, oaks, 

 chestnuts, and maples; the ground densely 

 matted with freshly grown ferns, largely the 

 cinnamon osmunda, clusters of lively green 

 and warm brown intermixed ; and every- 

 where, under the trees and above the ferns, 

 mountain laurel and flame-colored azalea, 

 the laurel blooms pale pink, almost white, 

 and the azalea clusters yellow of every con- 

 ceivable degree of depth and brightness. A 

 zigzag fence bounded the wood below, and 

 the land rose at a steep angle, so that the 

 whole was held aloft, as it were, for the be- 

 holder's convenience. It was a wonder of 

 beauty, with nothing in the least to mar its 

 perfection, the fairest piece of earth my 

 eye ever rested upon. The human owner of 

 it, Mr. Selleck (why should I not please my- 

 self by naming him, a land-owner who knew 

 the worth of his possession !), had asked me 



