156 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
often are, yet lack the perfection of this apparently 
wild glen. 
At Biltmore one gets ideas of what to do with one's 
own glorified acre of wild land, to make it yield the 
highest return in pleasure. With how little labor and 
how many compensations in happiness might not a 
thousand small places be converted into dreams 
of beauty! Nature here is so enchanting when left 
alone, or even when abused, what might happen if 
her efforts were helped by loving hands ! 
With the passing of years, the untiring industry 
and devotion lavished on Biltmore have produced 
the result seen here to-day, a result that money 
alone could not have produced. And with the pass- 
ing of time the mountain people have changed, too. 
They speak with a new note of appreciation of the 
estate from which so many of them have drawn or 
still draw sustenance, and from which they have 
received so abundantly that which is worth infinitely 
more to them than the week's wages. They are also 
beginning to understand the new business methods 
that are now manifesting themselves in so many 
ways in different parts of the mountains, and for 
the coming of which Biltmore, in a sense, paved 
the way. 
The grounds and roads of Biltmore are an object 
lesson, not only to the natives, but to every stranger 
who comes to these mountains to make himself a 
home, an object lesson that serves to show what 
could be done with a small holding as well as with a 
large one, and with almost any kind of problem the 
