BIRDS, FLOWERS, AND PEOPLE 



" I 'd rather do anything than to pack," 

 said a North Carolina mountain man. His 

 tone bespoke a fullness of experience ; as if 

 a farm-bred Yankee were to say, " I 'd rather 

 do anything than to pick stones in cold 

 weather." He had found me talking with a 

 third man by the wayside on a sultry fore- 

 noon. The third man carried a bag of corn 

 on his back, and was on his way from Horse 

 Cove to Highlands (valleys are coves in that 

 part of the South), up the long steep moun- 

 tain side down which, with frequent stops 

 for admiration of the world below, I had 

 been lazily traveling. He was sick, he told 

 me ; and as his appearance corroborated his 

 words, I had been trying to persuade him to 

 leave his load where it was, trust its safety 

 to Providence, and go home. Just then it 

 happened that mountaineer number two 

 came along and delivered himself as above 

 quoted. 



