The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-27
HERE AND THERE:
: By Mrs. Meta Folger Townsend. ::::::

Back in the early dawn of history,
before the red man had come into his
own and possessed the New World
forests, d fountain of pureSt water
burst from the bosom of an Appala-
chan mountain and found its way
downward, singing as it went.
Out of the stiffness of the sweet
summer time the music of birds was
born. Insect life stirred in the depths
of the fragrant woods. Anon the
tread of wild animals broke upon the
waiting air. Then man, untamed and
primitive, walked through the forest
hunting the wild creatures that build
ed their homes there.
The brook sang on and sent forth its
delicate, life-giving vapors, those
vapors which nourished the flowers.
the mighty trees, the sentient life
around the stream. And always the
cheerful song of the fountain was:
Take me, take me! Come, use me as
you will. Drink. drink
The red men on their hunting trips
or at war with each other would camp
beside the stream and Stake their
thirst or battle their sinewy bodies IN
the Iimpid waters. Timid deer came
to it's banks. wild beasts of prey
crouched in the dense wood awaiting
their chance at the portion which
yielded them new vigor as they drank.
These were times when the savage
red man, battling with his enemy,
would stain the pure waters with
human blood-a sacrifice to his hate.
And still the fountain sang on: use
me as you will. l am for your SER
vice," And ever it sent forth 4 fresh
stream. cleansing as it went. till
stains and all uncleanness had lost
themselves in the mighty rush of puri-
ty which gushed upward from the
very heart of Nature, a tribute to the
God of Love whose creatures could
find health and happiness through the
uses of the water.
Ages passed. Slowly the era of the
red man waned and the white race
began to make it's home in the valleys.
the caves and the mountain sides Of
the Appalachians.
Gradually, as the years came and
went, all the wild life of the forest
faded away. The deer no longer lifted
his antlered head at the streams mar
gin to listen to the sly tread of his
enemies. In his stead came the sheep
to browse on the hillsides. The cattle
for the white mans food drank from
the clear fountain. And still the song
of the stream was unchanged: Use
me. Use me! Drink, oh! drink! l
am for thy service
8 Where the Indians trail had been,
or the painless woods had lain UNI
broken, roads for the passing of the
white man and his burden now Glove
the heart of the forest.
Away up the mountains side, on
the bank of the stream, a huge poplar
threw out his mighty arms giving
shelter to the cattle who came to
drink from the water and were wont
20 rest themselves on the grass-covered
margin. Here men began to camp,
and, in wanton heartlessness. they
would build fires against the massive
trunk OF the poplar. Again and again
it was done. The fires eating into the
vitalS of the tree, threatened to take
it's very life but the vapors from the
stream nouriShed it back to a splendid
existence, and it's wide-reacrfng
breanchs still spread themselves as if
offering rest and soothing to the pass
er-by.
There came day when a traveller
passed that way alone. This man was
one on whom the sorrows of life had
fallen in all their crushing weight Of
sadness. Love had come into his life
to glorify it for a while, then pass out
as a star fades from sight Children
had been born to him to brighten his
days for a season, then slip from his
grasp and leave him cropping in thick
darkness, searching for his loved ones
and his God.
Just now he had left the world and
the business of it for a brief rest on
the bosom of Nature. Near to her
great heart would he be this once, and
forget all cares, if so God willed it.
AS he tramped the woods and lis
tened to the myriad forest sounds that