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Image provided by: New York State Military History Museum
8 GAS ATTACK “ASHEVILLE.” (Concluded from page 3) Asheville Appetites. Left and I will think about the breakfast we had th a t Sunday morning, when we are over in France, and the thought alone will nourish and sustain us. They brought us a m e n u like a mail order catalogue, and, like gallant soldiers, we didn’t duck a detail on the list from straw b e rries, through eggs, through steak, through w h eat cakes until we wound up with great tankards of steam ing coffee. It was the squarest meal we had ever directed an enveloping movem ent at. But th a t is the way A sheville air affects you. You can’t help eating—especially as the hotels are m o stly on the Am erican plan. E a ts with The Inn. A fter breakfast, Left and I floated up to ward Sunset M ountain, to w h ere the cele brated Grove P a rk Inn rises like some red- roofed m o n astery. The Inn is m o n astic only in its rough-hewn stone exterior and the sim p licity of its lines. It is made of great boulders, cobble-rocks, hunks of stone, throw n together by the gods of the Moun tains. Inside, there is nothing suggesting hair-cloth shirts of penance, black bread or anything monastic. All is luxury and gayety. The G reat Room, which seem s to cover acres, is supported by square pillars of rough stone. It is lighted w ith great bronzed dishes of light. To go up in the ele vator, you enter w h at appears to be a stone chimney. T h e re is a genuine moonshine still ©n exhibition in one nook. It was dor mant. W e saw some of the bed-rooms, which the m a n a g e r has m ercifully left unadorned by the usual hotel pictures. W e m issed the hotel a r t ; we m issed “M editation,” show ing a gawky fem ale in a M o ther H u bbard, sitting in a boat and staring at the w a ter; we m issed The H o rse F a ir; we m issed the picture of the St. B e rnard who has just saved the child, and who has “such an in telligent expression.” Asheville W ater. To walk about the Inn is a liberal educa tion in literature as well as in deep-breath ing. Some literary person has sprinkled the stones w ith aphorism s and epigrams, which peep out at one from unexpected places. Leff im m ediately w rote a little verse to go on a rock but the m a n a g e r wouldn’t prom ise to have it painted on. It went, “The rose is red, The violet’s blue, The air is pure, The w ater, too.” The w ater, by the way, is the dam pest, most delicious w a ter ever. Asheville, which is ordinarily not inclined to talk about itself, adm its th a t only one m icrobe has been found in the Asheville w a ter since 1896— and he was a good little microbe, who died of lonesom eness. The list of things th a t aren ’t in the w a ter but w h ich m ight be, reads like the pharm acopoeia. It is very consoling to know th a t the fluid with which you are liberally irrigating your system hasn’t a trace of nux vomica, exopthalm ia or ars poetica in it. A fine golf course stretches out in the front yard of the Inn. W e didn’t dare play for Leif felt so strong that he was afraid of beaning one of the boys in Spartanburg w ith a m assie shot. The Quaint Manor. W e strode back down the hill, passing the charm ing Manor, on the way. The M anor is an “English Inn in A m erica” and has a quaint atm o sphere about it. A com fortable place, the Manor. You stroll in and out as if you lived there. No Turk tries to pry you lose from your hat or your bag. No brazen lunged youngster bellows “Mr. Blevitch, Mr. Ummpph, Mr. Wafff, Mr. Blevitch, etc.” in your ear. Ju s t to go inside and sit near the open fire rests you. Leif and I w e n t back to the B a ttery P a rk Hotel, and plied a wicked knife and fork. W e left at half past three for Spartanburg on the train, and had a picturesque ride through the m o u n tains. Even a P rivate Can Do It. The trip doesn’t cost much. You can get a good room and three of the finest m eals you ever surrounded for five dollars a day. The railroad fare is a couple of dollars. The air is free. And it is the air th a t is w o rth coming miles to sniff. Once you get up to Asheville, which is a modern city of 30,01)0, there are m any ways to am u se yourself. You can get an auto for three dollars an hour and drive to Biltmore, or through the m o u n tains to Esm erelda, Hickory Nut Gap, Bat Cave, W a y n esville and the other delightful spots that dot that region. Or you can rent a horse and ride through the trails of pines. T h e re’s a dance on every night at one of the hotels, which 1 h ave big ball rooms, and good music—and—■ some girls. Asheville is a noted w inter- sum m er resort for N o rthern people, especi ally New Yorkers, and Leff and I saw some ladies down there th a t m ade us weep on each other’s shoulders out of pure hom e sickness. Asheville has an enterprising Board of Trade of which Mr. B u ckner is the dynamo. Mr. B u ckner is loath to talk about the charm s of Asheville. Oh, very loath. He started in by telling us the story of the Asheville mam who enlisted in the H eavenly arm y, and then asked to be transferred from H eaven to Asheville. The m a n ’s wish seem ed perfectly natural to Mr. Buckner. Mr. Buckner, Booster. I’ve seen a few boosters. I knew a Seat tle man who, back in 1912, used to take walks in the country around Boston and carve on every prom inent rock he came to, “Seattle—Bigger than New York in 1915” ; I have known Californians who believed that anyone who w a sn’t a native son was probably a moron. But they w ere knockers and calam ity howlers compared to N. Buck ner, Esq., of Asheville, N o rth Carolina. In cidentally, Asheville has a com m u nity ad vertising tax, so all the people help spread the good news about the w a ter and the air. The American Simla. You rem e m b e r Simla, in K ipling’s stories of English arm y life in India. Sim la is the city in the m o u n tains w h ere officers send their wives and fam ilies, while they are at their work in various Indian garrisons. It is a sort of carnival city—a place for rest and a good time. Leff and I decided th a t Asheville would m ake a good Sim la for Camp W adsw orth. Cottages m ay be had furnished or unfurnished and week-ending there is quite feasible. By m o tor or rail it is but three and a half hours up there. You can get a motor car to take a party up there for $35, which isn’t so much if you split it seven ways—and the ride is gorge ous. Asheville is a good place to know about- B e tter try an ozone jag up there in the Land of the Sky sometime.
