The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 335

ETCETERA Edited by Nancy Roquemore Dog Story 1 Hound Piedmont Park officials aren't worrying about swimmers in Lake Clara Meer this summer it's been drained. Treed Dog The pulpwooders came out of Haralson County with a load of logs, which included one seven-foot hollow oak section that contained the ingredients of a hound dog story, good enough to be told around any campfire. Inside the log was a mummified dog standing on its rear legs, looking upward, apparently barking "treed" until its last breath. The log and dog became an exhibit at Southern Forest World in Waycross, an education exhibit center designed to tell of the development of forestry. Visitors to the center look at the dog and wonder at its apparent dedication to the hunt.

To have climbed at least 20 feet up the tree, fallen inside the hollow section and still continue its baying took some kind of hunting dog. And Mother Nature saw to the preservation. "A chimney effect occurred in the hollow tree, which resulted in an upward draft of air," says W. J. Martin, the center's executive director.

"This caused the scent of the dead animal to be carried away so that insects and other organisms were not attracted to it." Martin also says the relatively dry conditions and the tannic acid of the oak helped harden the dog's skin. Bob Harrell Lady of the Lake Will Clara Meer, real or imaginary, please reveal herself? She's the lady after whom the lake in Piedmont Park was named and she's in the news right now because Lake Clara Meer has been drained. But Clara is an SNAPSHOT: HAHIRA enigma. The lake and its name date to the Cotton States Exposition in 1895. No one in the city's parks department has any idea about who she was.

Even Franklin Garrett, whose knowledge of Atlanta is encyclopedic, is puzzled though he does recall an apartment house by the same name some 70 years ago when the neighborhood was swanky. The name may have been made up, some say. After all, meer in Dutch means lake. But a coined name, back in the flowery Victorian days of the late 19th century, would probably have been much more elaborate than Clara Clarissa, at least. If anyone can identify Clara, the parks department and the Atlanta Historical Society would be delighted.

At least it gives Piedmont Park a mystery in addition to its other attractions. Roel Wolf son Atlanta Weekly tnvttet amtrlbuttoru to Etcetera. Pay for Uem ranga from $10 to $50. Manutcrtpu cannot be relumed. Payment made on acceptance.

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