Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-04-12

it, but 1t was true. A solitary,
~ brooding life in the midst of
grand surroundings; an active, siren
uous life among great responsibilities;
a starved, hungry life of the affections
whence even the sister had withdrawn
her love-all these had worked I'M
obtrusively toward the formation of a
single psychological condition. Such q
moment comes to every man. Then are
happiness and misery beside which the
mere struggle to dominate men be-
comes trivial. the petty striving with
the forces Of nature little thing. and
the woman he at that time meets is
more than 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 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 comhated it. Invariably he
held himself to his task. BY an effort
a tremendous effort. he succeeded in
doing so. The effort left him limp. He
found himself often standing or NOV
ing 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 wood smells,
the soothing cares of the breeze. the
sleepy cicada-like note of the pine
creeper. He wanted nothing so much
as to sit on the pine needles there in
the golden flood Of radiance and dream
dream on vaguely, comfortably,
sweetly.
Lord, Lord"' he cried impatiently.
whats coming to me? l must be a lit
tie off my feed"
And he hurried rapidly to his duties.
After an hour of the hardest concentra-
ton he had ever been required to be-
stow on trivial subject he again I'M
consciously 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 day or
two"
There he found himself incapable of
even the most petty routine work. Hc
sat at his desk at o'clock and began
the perusal Of a sheaf of letters. The
first three he read carefully, the follow
ing two rather hurriedly, of the next
one he seized only the salient and es-
sential points, the seventh and eighth
he skinned, the remainder of the bun
die 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 spir.
it, before which no mere instincts
could stand
Once more his mental process became
clear and incisive, his commands direct
and to the point. To all outward ap.
pearance Thorpe was as before.
He opened Camp One. and the Fight.
ing Forty came back from distant
drinking joints. This was in early Sep
TENDER. That ablebodicd and devoted
band of men was on hand when need
ed. Shearer in some subtle manner OF
his own had let them feel that this year
meant 100000 or "bust." They
frightened their leather belts and stood
ready for command. After much dis
cussion with Shearer the young mai
decided to take out the logs from
eleven by driving them down French
creek.
To this end gang was put to clear
ing the creek bed. 1t was tremen
dous job. Centuries Of forest life hat
clicked the little stream nearly to tht
level Of its banks. Old snags ant
stumps lay inbedded in the ooze; de
cayed trunks. moss grown, blocked the
current; leaning tamaracks, fallen tim
be-, tangled vines. dense thickets, gave
TO It's course more the appearance Of ;
tropical jungle than Of north countr.
brook bed. All these things had to b'
removed one by one and either piled tt
one side or burned. In the end, how
ever, it would pay. French creek wa
hot large stream, but it could b,
driven during the time of the spring
freshets.
Each nigns the m,n returned in til,
beautiful dfeamlike twilight to til,
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 his violin
rasped out an accompaniment of disso
nances. The mems voices lent them
selves well to the weird minor strains
of the chanteys. These times. when tn
men sang and the night wind rose ant
died in the hemlock tops, were Thorpe
worst moments. His soul, tired will
the days iron struggle. fell to brooding
He wanted something, he knew no
what.
The men were singing in MIGHT,