The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-11-09

sponsibilities, starved, hungry life
of the affections whence even the sis
/ ter had withdrawn her love-all these
had worked unobstrusively towards the
formation of a single psychological
condition. Such a moment comes
to every man. Then is happiness and
misery beside which the mere
struggle to dominate men be-
comes trivial, the petty striving
with the forces of nature a little thing.
And the woman he at that time meets
| is more than a woman, she is the
best of that man made visible.
Thorpe found himself for the first
time filled with the spirit of restless
ness. His customary iron evenness of
temper was gone, so that he wandered
/ quickly from one detail of his work to
another, without seeming to penetrate
below the surface-need of any one task.
But a week before he had felt himself
absorbed in the component parts of his
! enterprise Now he was outside of it.
/ Thorpe took this state of mind much
to heart, and combated it, Invariably
| he held himself to his task. By an
effort tremendous effort, he succeed
ed in doing so. The effort left him
limp. He found himself often stand
ing, or moving gently, his eyes staring
sightless, his will chained so softly
and yet so firmly that he felt no
strength and hardly the desire to
/ break from the dream that lulled him.
Then he was conscious of the physical
warmth of the sun, the faint sweet
woods smells, the soothing caress of
the breeze, the sleepy cicada-like note
of the pine creeper. He wanted Moth
ing SO much as to sit on the pine
needles there in the golden flood of
| radiance, and dream-dream on
vaguely, comfortable, sweetly.
Lord, Lord!' he cried impatiently
what's coming to me? 1 must be a
| little off my feedl"
And he hurried rapidly to his duties
After an hour of the hardest concen-
tration he had ever been required to
bestow on trivial subject, he again
unconsciously sank by degrees into the
old apathy.
Glad it isn't the busy season." he
commented to himself. Here, l must
quit this! Guess it's the warm
weather. I'll get down to the mill for
a day or two"
There he found himself incapable of
even the most petty routine work. He
SAT- at his desk at eight O'Clock and
began the perusal of a sheaf of let
| tiers. The first three he read carefully;
the following two rather hurriedly;
of the next one he seized only the
salient and essential points; the sew
enth and eighth he skinned; the
remainder of the bundle he thrust
aside in uncomfortable Impotence.
Next day he returned to the woods
The incident of the letters had
aroused to the full his old fighting
spirit, before which no mere instincts
could stand
once more his mental process be-
came clear and incisive, his COM
mands direct and to the point, To
all outward appearance. Thorpe was
as before
He opened Camp One, and the Fight
ing Forty came back from distant
drinking joints. This was in early
September. That able-bodied and de-
voted band of men was on hand when
needed Shearer, in some subtle man.
ner of his own, had let them feel that
this year meant thirty million or
bust" They frightened their leather
belts and stood ready for commands.
After much discussion with Shearer
the young man decided to take out
the logs from eleven by driving them
down French Creek.
To this end a gang was put to clear
ing the creek bed. 1t was a tremen-
dous job Centuries of forest life had
checked the little stream nearly to the
level of its banks. Old snags and
stumps lay imbedded in the ooze. de-
cayed trunks, moss grown, blocked the
current; leaning tamaracks, fallen tim
Der, tangled vines, dense thickets gave
70 It's course more the appearance of a
| tropical jungle than of a north country,
brookbed. All these things had to be
removed, one by one, and either piled
TO one side or burnt. In the end how
ever, 1t would pay. French Creek was
not a large stream, but it could be
driven during the time of the spring
freshets.
Each night the men returned in the
beautiful dream-like twilight to the
camp. There they sat, after eating,
smoking their pipes in the open air.
Much of the time they sang, while
Phil, crouching wolf-like over bis vio-
lin, rasped out an accompaniment of
dlssonances. The mems voices lent
themselves well to the weird minor
strains of the chanteys. These times
| when the men sang, and the night
wind rose and died in the hemlock
tops-were Thorpe's worst moments.
His soul, tired with the days iron
struggle, fell to brooding. He wanted
something-he knew not what
The men were singing in a mighty
chorus, swaying their heads in uni
son, and bringing words out with a
roar the emphatic words of the crude
ditties written by some genius from
their own ranks.
Come all We sons of freedom through
out old Michigan,
| Come all We gallant lumbermen, list
to a shanty man.
On the banks of the Muskegon, where
the rapid waters flow,
OH!-well range the wild woods DER
while a-lumbering we co."
Here was the bold unabashed front
of the pioneer, here was absolute GER
taihty in the superiority of his calling
| absolute scorn of all others. Thorpe
passed his hand across his brow. The
same spirit was once fully and freely
! his.
THE music of our Furnished ak shall
make the woods resound,
| And many of lofty ancient pine will
tumble to the ground.
/ At night around our shanty fire wen
sing while rude winds blow,
! OH.-well range the wild woods Ger
while a-lumbering we gol"
That was what he was here for
! Things were going right. 1t would be
/ pitiful to fail merely on account of this
| idiotic lassitude. this unmanly weak
ness. this boyish impotence and desire
| for play. He a woodsmsnl He a fell