Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-05-28
THE TOWER OF BABEL


Half mile from the little town of
Kelton, California, the steep hillside rose
with rugged abruptness from the valley
of the San Lorenzo into high ridge. 1t
was furrowed with deep gnllies, and
studded with the blackened stumps of
great trees.
Among these stumps the monarch OF
all the trees upon the hillside remained
untouched. On a bold point, twenty
rods up the steep slope, stood gigantic
redwood tree Twenty-fsur feet in diam
eter at the ground, and scored with deep
corrugations like inches, the enormous
truGk contracted until, at height of
twelve feet, its diameter was lessened to
eighteen feet. Thence it rose, like n
huge column, to an altitude of nearly
three hundred feet, and for two-thirds
of that distance it hardly seemed to de-
crease in bulk.
More than one hundred feet from the
ground the first gaunt limbs were ex-
tended. and above loomed the dropping
branches OF the vast top, not shapcly and
graceful, but irregular and contorted,
and clothed in scant, dark green foliage
The pinnacle was a gnarled spirc of
dead wood, bleached to a gray whiteness,
and punctured in thousand places by
the bills OF many generations of wood
peckers. A multitude of these birds
made their home in the lofty top, and
morning and evening filled the air with
querylous clamors as they fitted about,
or beat loud rolls on the resonant wood
Some imaginative person, listening to
this discordant chorus of the wood
peckers, had called the great tree the
"Tower of Babel" and by that name it
was known in the country round about.
The Tower of Babel had not been
spared from sentimental motives. The
ground was so rough aud broken that it
seemed impossible to fell it without
breaking it into fragments, so It was left
unmolested until a more favorable time.
Not far above the "Tower three other
large trees in group had been spared
for the same reason.
Edward North, who had come to Cal
ifornia TO engage in ranching and fruit
growing, had admired. the Tower of
Babel from afar when he first stepped
from the train at Kelton. After looking
about, he bought tract of land at the
foot of the mountain. almost in the
shadow of the great tree; and there he
built a pretty and picturesque cottage,
and surrounded it with lawns and flower
| gardens.
Ralph Kepler, poor boy who lived
with his mother in a shauty on the road
to Higgins & Folcy's mill, never forgot
North's arrival in Kelton. Ralph was
honest and faithful, but he was rude and
unmannerly.
A deformed man, employed at the
sawmill, occasionally passed his moth
er's house. He was a hunchback, with
long, powerful arms, and swarthy feat
ures deeply pitted with smallpox.
Ralph called after him one day, "How
are you, 'Humpty- Dumpty2'" The
dwarf suddenly turned and rushed upon
him.
The boy tried to escape, but the man
clutched his collar, and he was dragged
into the road and shaken violently.
This happened at the moment OF Mr..
Norths arrival in the place. He had
separated the two, and told Ralph To
apologize to the dwarf; but the boy had
taken to his heels.
The dwarf gazcd after Mr.. North as
he walked on with look of perplexity,
and at last shamblcd slowly away, NUT
tering to himself: ale seems to be @
gentleman. | know I've seen him
before somewhere, but l don't know
where"
Mr.. North was unmarried, and though
he employed man and his wife con.
stantly at Mount Hope, he had occasion
now and then for Mrs. Kepler's assist.
ance in keeping the house in order.
Ralph worked in the garden. Mr..
North gave him books to read, and,
seemingly without intention, gave him
many manly lessons.
Ralph tried one day to find the dwarf
in order to apologize to him for his
rudencss, but the sawmill had beer
moved twelve miles away, and the dwarf
could not be found
A few months after his house wa.
completed Mr.. North announced that h'
was going East and that he should b'
absent about six months. The two ser
wants were dismissed, and the charge o.
the place was given to Mrs. Kepler and
Ralph.
Three months after Mr.. Norths de
| purtule, MIS-. hcpicI WIS tuhch III "he
died. She charged Ralph to take care
Of the place faithfully, and gave him I
purse containing the money which Mr.
North had left with her. Thirty dollan
OF the amount, she said, belonged Il
Ralph, but the rest must be given back
to Mr.. North.
One day, rs the boy was working
quietly In the garden, an old man wht
gathered herbs on the mountains tolC
him that the Tower OF Babel was slowl,
but surely going down.
Its going down, sure, right dowi
onto this rimcrack OF a housed said thu
old man. ..It leans downhill, anyhow
and the tops gone over a foot since wecl
before last. Get some timber fallers 4
look at it; hut no mortal man can wedg
that tree uphill. And Higgins won
let II be cut, unless II can be kept from
breaking
The old man went away, leaving upoI
( Ralph's mind weight OF anxiety ant
terror. Three good timber-cutters whom
he brought from Kelton agreed That tn
Tower would certainly turn up by th