Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-13
Copyright, 1907. BY Thomas H. Mckee.


ripple of green at the roots of the pershed trees,
which they will tell you is the fre-weed and bram-
BILE. and these prepare the way After them come
wild-cherry birch and at last slowly but surely the
evergreens bringing the mountain to its own again;
for Nature is very nsstent about the green of the
world and man must work hard and long to make a
true desert where she has decided upon forests
and rivers.
AS to Spruce mountain, they had done their most
against it before the fire came Its fanks bore the
yellow scars of wood roads, and the spruce had been
sheared like fleece. The shesring Of mountain is
not cleanly process for when log is cut. the green
top of ia good half of the lumber-is left to rot,
and only the fat body goes down to the pulp mill
Now as dead spruce or balsam twig will hash up
like tinder it was much as il the lumbermen for
every tree they took had left fire ready laid for
lighting OF this fire the Valley people will tell you;
ut come up like volcano and jumped over onto
the Reserve like panther. The cottsgers came out
hardly waiting to pack up They come out with the
deer and the toads. The Nimrod. that went, 1t
didn't wait neither. Nor it won't come back. Not
in our day. {. Sete No. The people here are
aor-abiding."
This was what heard one day, but on another DAY
our guide with only tumultuous miles of mountains
on every hand, dropped the discretion that the
VALLEY man uses toward the outsider.
"In this dry weather" he drawled. fires start easy
I shake out my pipe so. and beech leaf gets
smoke "Then twig of balsam gets the idee. And
then if you happen not to like the Reserve people,
there's nothing in particular to prevent your going
away and leaving it just like that He watched the
quiet gentle spread of the fire as though he imagined
1t to be far greater fre-as though the faring up
and dying of leaves and twgs were like the faring
end of trim cottages until as it was beginning to lick
ut the curling outer bark of white birch stump, he
put it out, but slowly. if he were of two minds.
II.
An easy road wound past the Hawley camp and the
foot of Spruce. again on the unlumbered side and
past the Nimrod to Pease Lake. Eventually, they
planned to include the bare side of Spruce in the
Reserve aso-to re-forest it, and make it lovely for
the Reserve people are good friends to trees and
game, and if the mountains ever do return to their
old glory, it will be partly due to the Reserve.
4 It was the thirtieth day of that memorable June
drought and even the Hawley camp not quite
jolly it should have been. There were some dozen
or so young people, and a weary chaperon. Among
these in particular carried heavy trouble in their
hearts, for she rich and beautiful, and he was
poor and they loved each other very much, which
was of no use at ALL account of the objections of
her people. They both quite believed that there
never had such dolorous situation before, and
were about as young and innocent the Prince and
Princess in the fairy story.
"It used to be possible" said the Prince, gloomly,
"for fellow to go off and do something spectacular
Then the king gave him title and let him marry
the girl right away, and they lived in castleLord,
Lord, to think of it, In a CASTLE just the fellow and
the girl, living happily ever after"
"But-you'll do something"
Eyes; but only by years of work. One can't do
things suddenly any more and the fellow gets bald
and the girl gets tired of waiting and marries title
or milionaire's grandson with chin"
'I shant get tired"
The moon was just toiling Spruce mountain,
and its pallor falling on the two young faces made
them of an eIfn beauty such ones imagination
grants the boys and girls of fairy-tales The camp
fire had been allowed to out account of the hot,
dry weather. and they sat beside its white ashes The
rest of the party the top of boulder which
was larger than their log house singing ''The Road
10 Mandalay." while they watched the moon rise.
"oh her pettcoat was yaller,
And her little cap green-'
'I could kill giants think" said the Prince, rising
to pace back and forth, cor ogres, anything in
reason, but to wait and wait, and make you wait"
He scowed at the moon, which shone now just clear
of the mountains edge, round and yellow and unat-
tainable-symbolic of the fortune he must win.
"on the road to Mandaay--"
The Princess rose up and stopped his uneasy pacing
by putting her two hands against his chest and look
ing up solemnly with wet black eyes,
'If you think it isn't harder than facing giants to
sit still as l mustI I'd rather be the man, and at
least able to try. l won't run off with you. That is
hope you won't ask me to. | might If you did, but
I'd rather you wouldn't Running off is cheap. I'm
not cheap And if you won't mind my being wrinkled
a bit. I'll try to stand your being bald"
She laughed uncertainty, then wept, begging him
to hurry and hurry and again to hurry, because life
was SO short and people grew old so fast
ION the road to Mandalay,
Where the flying fishes"
sI1oy Mosesi--"
big fellow rose up out of the chorus like ex-
clamation point against sky gone suddenly red.
The Prince with his about the Princess, looked