The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-07
HOW THE BEAUTIFUL
 POINSETTIA WAS NAMED
By MRS. P. A. HoLLEY

Between Greenville, S.. C., and Ashe7 villa N C.. a distance of 60 miles up the mountains are two of the most won derful automobile drives in the country built on opposite sides of the mountain
 The one called the Spartanburg road being by far the most picturesque ana dangerous
 After leaving Greenville for some miles, one comes upon glorious, open reaches of tall grass, literally dense with myr- iads of flowers; then miles or roiihs grassy slopes till they break like green sea against the blue-purple mountains
 which are inexpressibly beautiful with their cloud shadows athwart their sides, and the lingering sunlight upon their beiphts Then begins the climb of the mo,,ntainsdes of the wonderful Blue
 Ridge. and one forgets everything, save to wonder at mans daring ana sKnl Ill accomplishing this wonderful 1eat oi en-
 gineering-of building driveway on the mountainsides, in some places scarceiy
 wide enough for two automobiles to pass and with great mountain peaks towering
 above and ravines 300 or 400 feet Tn depth
 beneath, often containing bold mountain
 streams dashing over immense pouioers
 of rock. It is truly too awe Inspiring TOT
 one unaccustomed to the danger to en-
 iov the grandeur and majesty of the
 scenery., which beggars description But
 after going some distance up the noun
 tains before reaching the most danger
 ous places one comes suddenly upon
 house, in a depression, perhaps oo rect
 below the roadside, apparently tenant less and deserted, for there IS not souno
 to be heard save those dear sounds or
 solitary places-the endless hum or lh-
 sects, the cries of birds, the songs or
 many larks, the scream of an occasiohai
 hawk. the splash of stream soon 'o
 be dried up. and the exquisite oehcious'
 heavenly music of the' wind upon tne
 grass and in the trees-the sweet, iresh
 breath of the mountains
 The place, apparently has no visible in-
 let or outlet, just houses in shallow ra-
 vine. and this is the Poinsette place, the former home of the man. now dead, who
 while on \. trip abroad, found the beauti-
 fuI flower (afterward known as the pom
 settia). brought it to this country. propa-
 gated it and called 1t the polnsettia, thereby immortalizing his own name. IL
 hlooms at the Christmas tide ana IS HOW known the world over as the Chrlstmas
 flower When told of this. one feit an almost Irresistible desire to sllde or roll down the embankment Gas there seemed no other way of getting there) to quencn one's thirst at the Poinsette spring. ana to look around in the old deserted house for some trace token of this man un- nsral and interesting personality, for while choosing to live in this wilderness far from the madding crowds ignoble strife" he must have had the love of the beautiful in his soul, and it found ex- pression in a strikingly original way But think of contenting himself in this noun tain wilderness. In imagination, one makes him poet and dreamer With vivid sense of companonship With na- ture, and with visions that must have kept his mind busy. While contemplating this deserted place, and what must nave been this mans lonely life, one felt the mysticism, the breeding consciousness of fate. and the subtle sympathy of nature with human destiny. And so we owe q debt. of gratitude to this dweller in the mountain fastness. for there is nothing that comes to us at the yuletide that seems more symbolical of it's beauty, brightness and cheer than does the beau tful poinsettia. with it's exquisitely pat termed leaves and gorgeous. brilliant col bring.
 Some writer said, See Naples and die," but first see sunset in the heart Of the Blue Ridge mountainsl At sunset on the mountain heights the world seems very still. as if waiting for something beauti- ful to happen Of sudden the skies turn from lapis lazuli to living sapphire;