Evening star., 1945-08-05
By JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

The millions OF dollars North
Carolina has so wisely invested in
her remarkably good highways and
bus system, connecting practically
all of the county seats and many
of the towns, make 1t easy to take
short or long trips at moderate
cost.
Last week I visited Gen. and
Mrs. Richard Dear at their sum-
mer home, Yonway, near Highlands.
N. c. Both the general and his
wife, the former Greeta Tibbits,
spent their high school days in
Washington, when Dick Dear made
Central High School and himself
famous by breaking track records.
Today, he is the commanding officer
in charge of the Northington Army
Hospital at Tuscaloosa, Ala, where
1000 wounded, convalescent soldiers
of this war are being brought back
to such health and strength as
is possible for them.
My route followed the Yonahlos-
see Trail by Linville, through the
Blue Ridge parkway region. During
the early part of the journey
ancient Grandfather Mountain
loomed ahead of us, his great pro-
file nearly always wreathed in
misty clouds. The steep road banks
Just now are so vivid with wild
flowers and ferns that their COM
posite pattern is like that of gay
print. Red elder bushes, Indian
pipe, phlox and the Turks cap
lily, interspersed with the more
familiar Queen Anne's lace, brown
eyed Susans, and both pink and
white yarrow, provided reverend
ing kaleidoscope of floral color.
Every now and then giant mono
18th juts startlingly out into space
over the highway. Strikingly inter-
spersed with the thick growth OF
pine, hemlock, oak and tulip trees
which cover the mountainsides like
marching soldiers, is the Towering
bloom of the sourwood tree. Its
fragrant, cream -colored, fingerllke
blossoms are the source of a par
LlCuldTly IlIe money.
Impressed by Mountaineers.
Increasingly I am impressed with
the mountain men, women, and chill
dren. There is something magnifi-
cent about the older mountain
women. Patience is indicated in
their chinS and set mouths.
Often we passed trucks laden with
burl roots going to nearby factories
to be made into beautifully polished
pipe bowls for the pipe smokers of
our Nation.
All along our way good, reasonably
priced food seems to be abundant,
except for the shortages in eggs.
black pepper, sugar, laundry soap
and soap flakes at the country
stores.
Near Asheville is the Veterans
Facility Sanatorium for tuberculosis
patients, and nearby are the acres
and acres of the United States mill
tary reservation of which the Moore
General Hospital is a part.
Here and throughout this noun
IcAll IOQIllIg, Ud1I VI COu1lCl OdllCcS
are being held. Participants in
many of them will later swing their
partners during the August country
dance festival held in Asheville,
which is always a gala summer fea-
ture, attracting many visitors.
Cottons Lure Shoppers.
The seconds in tea towels, cotton
table napkins. and lengths of cot
ton cloth in the mill-end shops in
Hendersonville lure feminine shop
pers in increasing numbers.
The crepe myrtle and mimosa
trees in full bloom which line the
roadSides approaching Tryon are
exquisite in their summer Towering
Mountain children shyly offering for
sale the famous Tryon grapes of this
section add to the picturesqueness
of the scene. Sidney Lanier spent
the last months of his life near
Tryon, vainly seking the health
which was denied him.
Highlands, N. c., is so miles from
railroad, but has excellent con-
Meeting bus service to central points.
1t claims to top" all the cities in
Western North Carolina in its
equable climate. One claim for fame
is the fact that in 1540 De Soto and