372 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
Up among the balsam firs and about the rocks 
grow large sour gooseberries and enormous sweet 
huckleberries, and it was here we found a new and 
delicious fruit. The bushes crowding the woods in 
places were loaded with bright red globes the size of 
a small cherry, each dangling from a slender stem. 
These delightful berries were mere skins of juice, 
tiny wine-bottles full of refreshment for a summer 
day. The natives were afraid to eat them, but hav- 
ing decided that they were cousins to the huckle- 
berries, we ventured, and added these jocund fruits 
to the many attractions that called us again and 
again to the top of the Grandfather. One wishes it 
could truthfully be said that these berries grow only 
on the Grandfather Mountain, but the fact is we 
discovered them on other mountains, though never 
much below an altitude of six thousand feet. Finding 
them thus among the mossy rocks up in the sweet, 
keen air on the summit of our favorite mountain 
gave them a charm that was enhanced by the fact 
that they belonged to us and the birds. Now we 
shall have to share them with every passer-by, for 
when we ate and survived, our mountain friends 
ventured to partake, and doubtless they will spread 
the news that you can eat with impunity the juicy 
red berries on top of Grandfather Mountain. One 
woman even took home a pailful and made from 
them the most exquisite jelly imaginable, ruby-red, 
clear, sparkling, and with a delicate wild-flower 
flavor that made one think of the sweet things 
growing on the mountain-top. We named them 
