The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1892-11-18
SIMPLICITY.

Once upon time on an island, which
the sea has long since engulfed, there
lived a king and a queen who had ore
eon. The king was a great king; his
drinking cup was the very largest in all
the realm; his sword the heaviest; he
fought and he drank royalty.
The queen was beautiful queen;
she had SO many wonderful cosmetics,
and they wrought so mysterious and
wonderful charm that she looked not
a day older than forty.
The son was fool. "a fool of the
most pronounced type" said the bril-
liant lights of the kingdom. When he
had reached the age of sixteen the king,
his father, took him to the wars. These
wars were carried on in order to exter-
inmate certain neighboring nation
that dared to possess too much territory.
Here it was that Simplicity showed
himself Ounce. He saved twenty-four
women and thirty-sfx children from
slaughter, and every stroke of the sword
which he was himself forced to give
caused him to weep bitterly, while the
battlefield itself, running over with
blood and .encu1nbered with the dead,
filled his heart with such deep pity that
for three days he could not eat.
So you must see that he was Ounce.
my dear.
When he was seventeen he was obliged
TO assist at great festival given by the
king to all the lnagnates of his kingdom.
Here again he committed many blum
Slers. He contented himself easily; he
ate sparsely Of the great banquet spread
before him. and he swere--not at all!
His glass would have remained always
full before him had not the king him
self, to save the dignity of the family,
emptied it slyly from time to time.
At eighteen, as he began to grow a
heard, he was noticed by one of the
queens court ladies.
Court ladies are dreadful creatures,
my dear.
This particular court lady wished for
nothing less than to be kissed by the
princei The poor boy did not dream of
such thing; he trembled when she
spoke to him, and hid himself the mo-
ment he saw the edge of her skirts in the
gardens. The king. who was good
father. saw what was passing and
laughed in his sleeve. But as the lady
still pursued the prince, and the kiss was
still withheld, he blushed for such a son
and himself gave the kiss asked for, al
ways, to be sure, for the dignity and
honor of his family and his race. 'sOh
the little foolI' said the king, who was
a rnan of spiritl
1t was at the age of twenty that Sim
plicity became completely idiotic. HI
met q forest and fell in lovet In thos1
uIden times people did not try to beauti
fly the trees by pruning and cruel Incl
sions. The branches grew as they listed
God alone had them in charge, an(
moderated the roots and managed th'
saplings. Simplicity's forest was an i'm
nense nest of verdure, interspersed herr
and there by majestic avenues. Th'
lnoss, drunk with the dew, fourishet
wantonly; the eglantines spread thef
plant arms, sought each other ant
played mad pranks around the might.
trunks of the trees. The great tree
themselves, standing calm and serene
twisted their roots in the shade ant
mounted tumnltuously upward to kis
the rays of summer. The green gras
fourished, while in their hurry to bios
som the daisy and the scorpion grass
growing confused at times, chung to
gether on the broken trunks of fallel
trees. And all these branches, all thes
grasses, all these flowers, sang; all mir
gled and pressed closely together
gossip more at ease, to whisper low tx
gether of the loves of the corolla. .
breath Of life foated low down in tn
shadowed coppice, giving voice to eac
sprig of moss.
The forest held high carnival. I'll
1adybirds. the beetles, the dragonfie
the butterfiies-au the beautiful love-
of the towering hedges-had gathere
at the four quarters of the forest.
There they established their little r
public; the footpaths were their guard
the streams, their streams; the feres
their forest. They lived luxuriantly {
the foot Of the trees, on low branches,
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