332 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
mountains owe their origin to the sudden demand 
on the part of the Government for short, distinctive 
titles for post-offices. It takes either a great deal of 
time or a very quick wit properly to name a place, 
and so we have Spruce Pine not because spruce 
pines abound, — there are only two there, — but 
because somebody happened to think of it. For the 
same reason, no doubt. Ledger got its name, the 
true significance of which dawns upon you when 
discovering a few miles away a place called "Day- 
book!" 
The pretty name of Lofus Lory, that so pleased 
and puzzled you until curiosity overcame discretion 
and led to inquiry, was not a sudden inspiration, 
though the reason for it is obscure, one being unable 
to discover that it in any way deserves its ortho- 
graphic title. For "Lofus Lory" when spelled out 
becomes "Loafer's Glory." As it has no post-office, 
and has not yet been printed on any map, there is 
hope that phonetic spelling may be adopted in time 
to save it. The principal and perhaps the only family 
at Lofus Lory is distinguished for nothing worse 
than its efforts to raise melons in a sandy bottom 
near the Toe ; but when you inquire about the melons, 
with interested motives, you learn that the river one 
day removed a part of the farm with the melons 
thereon, leaving the ambitious Lofus Lory like unto 
the rest of the world so far as melons are concerned. 
The temptation to linger about Ledger is difficult 
to overcome, but there is the great Roan waiting 
but a little way north from here, to reach which one 
