Over near suppcriime ihc stranger
had quite an audience. Men. women,
children — nearly everyone of the com¬
munity. Addic, the "parson’s" oldest
daughter, was present, standing close
up. She was old enough she had al¬
ready begun courting. She saw what
happened but was never able to explain
how the miracle was performed.
Of a sudden, a pain hit Carrie. She
slapped a hand to her side, started
screaming as if a hornet had stung her.
The stranger looked toward Carrie,
said, "What's the matter with that
child? Bring her to me.”
Addic took her sister Carrie’s arm.
led her up to face the stranger. He
smiled at Carrie and almost instantly
her countenance lighted up in a won¬
derful way. He took one of her arms,
placed a finger of his right hand up
against her neck, pressed downward
between her neck and collarbone, but
not hard.
Still looking her straight in the eyes,
still smiling, he told her in substance:
"You’ll never have another attack of
that, honey; run on and play."
Among others intrigued by the
stranger was the preacher's wife. She'd
stood by watching, listening. Now that
it was almost sundown, she said. "I
must get into the house and cook sup¬
per."
Others began leaving, returning to
their homes. Presently all were out of
the yard except the preacher and the
stranger. The preacher said. "I must
go to the lot and feed my stock."
The stranger got up, said. "I’ll get
a drink of water.”
The preacher’s wife came to the
door, saw the stranger drawing a
bucket of water from the well. She
stepped back to get a glass to offer him
to drink from. Quickly she returned to
the door, but the man was gone.
Stepping into the yard, she looked
toward the lot to sec if the stranger had
gone to join her husband. He hadn't.
All the villagers were contacted, but
nobody admitted seeing him depart.
Nobody had gotten his name, nor
where he was from.
When nobody else could come up
with a plausible suggestion as to who
the stranger was, the parson said,
“Maybe the Lord sent an angel to heal
Carrie," and to support his belief he
referred the neighbourhood folk to
where the Bible says, “Forget not to
entertain strangers, for some have al¬
ready entertained angels unawares."
THE STATE. July 1974
Hunting
Flowers
With a
Camera
Jake Beattie ranges
from the mountains to
the sea.
By D. STEPHENS
More than 450 wild flowers of North
Carolina bloom the year round at the
home of Walter W. "Jake" Beattie on
Park Road in Charlotte; bloom, that
is. on film. During the past 12 years
Beattie has made nearly 2.000 colored
slides of between 400 and 500 species
of native flowers from the Atlantic
Ocean to the mountains.
Most of the slides were made along
the Blue Ridge Parkway, and in the
areas around Boone, Linvillc, and bil-
lion-ycar-old Grandfather Mountain.
More than 75 varieties of flowers were
photographed in and around Beaufort,
Wilmington, and the Fort Fisher areas.
In addition. Beattie has perhaps a thou¬
sand scenic slides made during his pho¬
tographic jaunts.
Joke Beattie oil let to go on one of bit wild
•lower hunting eipeditionf.
Joke Bcotlic picks slides from his collection of
over 2,000 wild flower photos for one of the
programs he gives ot gorden club meetings.
Starting his hobby by photographing
the flowering weeds near his home,
Beattie became more interested, and in
the intervening years has spent many
weekends and vacations pursuing his
hobby. He retired as assistant postmas¬
ter in the Charlotte Post Office six
years ago, and since then he has given
20 to 30 programs a year at meetings
of organizations, mostly garden clubs.
He talks about conservation, while
showing some 120 slides of flowers in
their natural environment, and he urges
his audiences to help preserve our heri¬
tage in nature.
Beattie’s favorite slides arc of the
purple fringe orchids he found on Mt.
Mitchell, and the pink shell azaleas he
photographed at Watcrrock Knob be¬
tween Soco Gap and the Plott Balsams.
Clyde Osborne, garden editor of The
Charlotte Observer, frequently accom¬
panies Beattie on his expeditions, and
collects his own slides of the mountain
flora. Osborne, who was at the Beattie
home during this interview, just prior
to their departure to photograph some
Mecklenburg trailing arbutus, said the
state officially has 2.945 species of wild
flowers but that he feels certain there
must be at least 3,200 species.
Beattie said his most interesting ex¬
perience was with Osborne when they
visited and photographed the wild
flowers grow n by Ray and Rosie Hicks
on the slopes of Rocky Knob near Ban¬
ner Elk. These flowers, including sev¬
eral kinds of lady slipper, are grown in
their natural habitat, the rich, humus¬
laden soil of the woods.
Beattie said he had never found the
( Continued on page J2 >
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