140 NOETH CABOLINA 



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 I), had asked me 



