News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1901-07-31
CHAPTER VI.
81 AN NOT LIKE OTHER MEN. WHY AN
NoT?"

he turned his horses head homeward,
and after that he spent much of his
time while in the house perusing his
new treasures. They were simply good,
wholesome stories and biographies
which dealt with the noblest types of
women, and to the youth they opened
up a new and uneXplored field which
possessed a strange and unaccountable
fascination for him. Craig Thompson
had selected them with great care, and
had he known the character of the mis-
sion work they were to perform he
could not have exercised better judg-
ment They contained nothing that
was calculated to shock the awakening
faculties of Lisle MaXwelPs emotional
nature, but to his immature percep-
Jions they were filed with unthinkable
revelations as beautiful and profound
as they were mysterious. They did
what nothing else had ever done-they
set him thinking - and be began to
dream and wonder and surmise upon
subjects and theories which never be-
fore had been permitted access to his
mind. Richard Maxwell could guard
against outward and visible assaults
upon the fortress that he had built up
around his son, but he could not con-
tend with this subtle foe to his theories,
and the battle went on uLler his eyes
without once revealing its existence.
There was one conversation between
them which rather startled the father,
and possibly it had something to 90
with serious incident which immedi-
ately followed it. 1t is true, however,
that he believed that the invisible for
tress that he had erected about his son
was too nearly impregnable for sue
scessful assault.
Father" said Isle on that occa-
sion, 81 will be 10 in June"
eyes, Lisle," was the reply. "You
are almost a man grown-and still a
child" Richard Maxwell sighed deep
ly, and his mind leaped backward over
the flight of years.
"And still a child" echoed Isle.
Twill you tell me why am still a
ochild|
II mean, my son, that you are still
a child to your father. You will al
ways be that. Sons who are loved for
ever remain as children to their par
ents. 1t is one of the elements in the
economy of creation"
Isle was silent for several moments;
then, raising his head, he said slowly:
81 have in mind several things that
are pulling me. | wish that you
would discuss them with me now"
''Tell me what they are. You know
that l am always anxious to reason
upon perplexities with you"
81 think of three, sir, each one sug-
gested by the replies that you have al
ready made. will approach them one
by one"
every well. The first, them"
81 am still a child; not in the sense
to which you refer-that is. not solely
in that respect-but in every way.
Why have I not matured more nearly
10 manhood? While | was with yoU
in the Smoky valley l saw several
young men who were younger than
that is different from anything l have
ever known or experienced. 1t was in
tangible, if you please, but it was new
,ertheless real, because | could not dis
cover that it existed between then
individually, only between them oil
any one of them, and me. They were
rOugher brawnier, heavier in voice, il
manner, in figure, than l am. Theil
features were COarser - everything
about them was different. Hair grows
upon their faces, as it does on yours
Will you explain this difference tC
mep
Your training has been different
from theirs, Lisle."
Pardon me, sir but l cannot under
stand why that should make all the
difference. There were subtle differ
ences which l have not words to ex
plain because / do not know how t.
define them, but l could feel them
One day, while we were sorting oul
cattle, two of them sat upon theil
horses close beside you. studied
them, and | studied you. Afterwart
1 rode up and took a place besid,
you myself, and then l studied owe
them again. The same difference die
not manifest itself between them anC
you as it did between them and m,
or between you and me. DO ! maxi
myself understood? / mean that ii
some ways those strangers were NOR
like you than |, who am your son, an
like you. The same subtle something
which distinguishes those young me-
from me does not separate them fror
you, and the same inexplicable differ
eence that exists between them and m
Il could discover also between you an
me. ] am not like other men. VIII
am not"
Am / like other men whom 20
know, Lisle? Am like Craig ThomI
sonp asked Richard Maxwell
eyes, you are in the sense to whic
/ refer-in that subtle sense which
cannot define. 1t is in the air yo
breathe, in the way you breathe it,
the unspoken understanding betwee
you and other men. or since you hay