Letters, Feb. 11, 1935

Beautiful Carolina

Sirs:

"Not the most beautiful portions of the U. S. are the Carolinas"—TIME, Jan. 21, p. 24.

I take issue with your statement and remind you of the words of John Galsworthy in visiting Magnolia Gardens on the Ashley River above Charleston, S. C. when he said he had seen gardens in Italy and the beauties of the world, but nothing so lovely as the azaleas and japonicas of these gardens.

I grant that parts of my native South Carolina (Ridgeway) are "flat, sandy, scrubby, down-at-heel," but these parts are offset by the plantation river homes of the low-country, Charleston with the churches, homes and public buildings of unsurpassed architectural charm, gardens, gates, doorways and streets that equal any in the world. The beauties of Italy, Amain, Sorrento, Naples remind me only of Charleston and its surrounding "low-country."

But that is not all. The pines of Summerville, crape jasmine and myrtle, wisteria and roses, boxwood, live oaks and Spanish moss, palmetto, banana, poinsettias and oleander—only parts of Florida, not California, can compare. Even the low black swamps have a rare appeal. Cypress with spreading trunks and entangling roots.

Or the western part of the Carolinas, the Blue Ridges with their evergreens, myrtle and wild azalea, laurel and rhododendron.

The poverty of certain rural sections of the Carolinas stands in strange contrast to the un-surpassing beauty of certain of the well-kept plantations, gardens and homes.

CHARLES EDWARD THOMAS Indianapolis, Ind.

Sirs:

"Whutchamean" . . . "not the most beautiful portion of the United States are the Carolinas"? What portion of the U. S. is more beautiful than our Great Smoky Mountains—Banners Elk, Linville Falls, Chimney Rock, Tryon, Brevard, Hendersonville, Blowing Rock and other mountain retreats; or our famous winter resorts—Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Camden, Aiken, Summerville; or Myrtle Beach, Kitty Hawk; and the beautiful gardens of Charleston, Orangeburg and Wilmington, to which we might add our world-known hunting and fishing grounds—Ocracoke, Lake Matta-muskeet and Morehead City?

If we are down-at-the-heel, it is due to the speed we are making in recovery.

COLEMAN W. ROBERTS President

Carolina Motor Club Charlotte, N. C.

Sirs:

We resent your referring to our State as scrubby, down-at-heel.

A. R. COLEMAN

Spartanburg, S. C.

Sirs:

. . . Such unpardonable ignorance! . . .

ROY M. BROWN

Chapel Hill, N. C.

Sirs:

... I consider that an insult. . . .

CHARLES FARRELL

Age 12 Greensboro, N. C.

Bite of Pepper

Sirs:

... To err is human and to me a recent error is most embarrassing. On p. 24 in TIME, Jan. 21 I quote from the article captioned, "Beautiful Boxes"—"Before the contest Mr. Britt's mailbox was propped on a fence rail between tin signs advertising Coca-Cola and a tonic known as DR. PEPPER ('Good for Life')."