The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-08-22

Here Is living, breathing peh-plc-
tnre. taken from that unique and re-
markable story "The Heart Of the An
cient Wood which every one Of you
should read The whole book. ike
this extract. pulses with the very in
nermost life OF nature. Keen Of
vision, skilled in woodcraft though be
was, the grave-faoed old lumberman
saw nothing IA the tranquility about
him sa7e tree trunks, and fallen, rot
ting remnants. and mossea hillocks,
and thickets Of tangled shrub. He
noted the difference. not known to the
general eye, between white spruce,
black spruce, and ar, between gray
birch and yellow birch. between white
wood and riburnum: and he read in
stinctively, BY the lichen growth about
their edges, how many seasons had
laid their disfeaturing touch upon
those old scars OF the axe which
marked the trail But for all his craft
be thought himself alone. He guessed
not 0f the many eyes that watched
him. In truth. bis progress was the
focus Of an innumerable attention, The
furtiYe eyes that followed his move
ments were some OF them tlmorously
hostile, some impotently yindictlye
some Indifferent; but an alien. All
were at one Ia the will 10 remain un-
seen; so ali kept an unwinking i'm
mobility, and wers swallowed ~. as 1t
were, IN the universal stiffness The
eock-parlriege. a well-trayeled bird.
who knew the settlements and their
violent perils. watched the indignant
apprehension. Not without purpose
had he come whirring so tumultu-
ously up the trail. a warning TO the
ears OF all the wood-folk His fear
was lest the coming of this gray man
figure should mean an invasion Of
those long black sticks that went on
with smoky bang when they were
pointed He ehaced himself TN his
brown notified feathers we're fairly one
with the notified brownbark Of his
perch. but his liquid eye lost not a
least movement Of the stranger The
nuthatch. who had been walking
straight up the perpendicular trunk Of
a pine when the sound OF the alien
footsteps froze him. peered fxedly
around the tree. His eye. a black
point OF inquiry. had never before
seen anything like this clumsy and
siow-moving shape. but knew IL for
something dangerous. His little slaty
head. iuttlng at an acute angle from
the bark. looked like a mere caprice
Of knot or wood fungus; but Il had
the singular quality Of moving
smoothly around the trunk. as the
lumberman advanced. 80 as TO keep
him always in view. Equally curious.
but quivering with fear, two wood
mice watched him intently. sitting un-
der the broad leaf OF skunk-cabbage
not three feet from the trail. Their
whiskers touched each others noses.
conveying thrills and palpitations OF
terror as ne drew near, drew nearer,
came-and passed. But not unless
that blind. unheeding heel had been
on the very point OF crushing them,
would they have disobeyed the prime
law Of their tribe. which taught them
hat to sit still was to sit unseen A
little farther back from the trail. un-
der a spreading tangle OF ironwood. on
a bed Of tawny moss crouched a hare.
His ears lay quite fa. along the back
His eyes watched with aversion. not
unmixed with scorn. the heavy. tall
creature that moved with such effort
and such noise. Never" thought the
hare. disdainfully. would be be able
TO escape from his enemiesr As the
delicate current OF air that pulses inn
perceptbly through the forest bore
the scent Of the man 10 the hare's
hiding place. the hne nostrils OF the
latter worked rapidly with dislike