BILTMORE AND THE NEW ERA 157 
mountains offer, so varied is the contour of this large 
pleasure-ground. 
Biltmore house stands three miles from the 
entrance gate, on one of those high open places from 
which one gets that sense of space and sky that has 
fastened the name, "Land of the Sky," so firmly 
on this region. It is a large and stately mansion, sug- 
gesting a French chateau, and the terrace upon which 
it stands is supported by a noble stone wall that re- 
minds one of the impressive rampart at Windsor 
Castle, or of those great walls that guard the medi- 
aeval castles on the hills of Italy; though this is no 
rampart for defense, and the world about it is 
neither English nor Italian, the exquisite mountains 
that stretch away, range above range, belonging 
distinctively to the New World. And the house, too, 
has played its part in the development of the people. 
While the men and boys were learning important 
lessons out of doors, the young girls were being 
trained in the same manner indoors. And here, too, 
the scale upon which the training was given has con- 
stituted its far-reaching influence, which is its chief 
value, hundreds of young girls owing to Biltmore 
their first preparation for the new life which is so 
fast coming to the mountains. 
Besides, there is the "Biltmore Industries," a 
school for girls and women as well as for boys, which 
has also opened the doors of the new era to many a 
waiting heart, but a consideration of which belongs 
to another place. In short, Biltmore, appearing 
upon the scene when the industrial development of 
