My dear Friends,

How I wish you might share with me the beauty of the Georgia Dogwood at this time! As you probably know, Atlanta and environs are noted for their dogwood. Regular bus tours called "Dogwood Tours," are made at this time. Last Sunday afternoon, my only free time, I seized the opportunity. That day was the beginning of the Dogwood Festival. The cold weather had retarded the opening of the blossoms, and relatively few - in sheltered, sunny spots, were out in all their white glory. But imagine streets lined with these lovely trees, that stand like debutantes in their white bouffant skirts. Twice the bus stopped, that we might get out and admire the formal gardens of very wealthy people. One such garden, a hundred feet below the winding drive, has a fountain and waterways, rustic bridges, white pillars, pergolas, bordered walks, and azaleas in gorgeous profusion. Many homes have the lovely wistaria vine, climbing to the top of a great, bare tree - looking almost like a tree-bearing hyacinth. These orchid flowers and the red bud, the red maple and the flowering peach give a rich contrast to the white dogwood.

I think Heaven must have smiled upon my endeavor here - to have placed me in the home of a wonderful woman, Mrs. Eugenia Barrett, who has been unceasingly kind to me. Being sort of an authority on diet, she makes me eat the right foods - and plenty of them; rounds up customers for me, and boosts my business to the limit. She is key woman from Druid Hills Baptist Church to the Atlanta Council of Church Women, is an inspiring and untiring leader in the annual Red Cross campaign, in the Community Chest drive, in hospital fund-raising, in every worthy cause. A widow for many years, she raised and educated three fine, handsome, brown-eyed boys, all married now. She rents out three rooms in her long, snow-white bungalow, does all her own work, visits the sick, houses relatives whose dear ones are hospitalized, adores her children and grandchildren, and nevah fo'gets that she's a real so'the'n lady. It's a privilege and an inspiration to know her...

After several interruptions, it's mail time once more. But I'll have a world of news for you next time.

Sincerely,
Florence B. Taylor

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