The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-10-06
Copyright, 1907, by Thomas Fl. Mckee.

Copyright, 1907. by Thomas H. Mckee.
-~xr HEN you the charred bulk of Spruce
AX/ mountain, its fringe of dead trees against
wv the sky its huge gray bones picked clean,
you think at first that the creature is
dead But if the day is clear, you catch
a ripple of at the roots OF the persisted trees
which, they will tell you, Is the freweed and BRAN
BILE and these prepare the way. After them come
wildcherry BIRCH and at last slowly but surely the
evergreens bringing the mountain to its own again.
for Nature is very insstent about the green of the
world and man must work hard and long to make
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 TANKS bore the
yellow scars wood roads and the spruce had been
sheared like fleece The shearing OF mountain is
not clearly process for when log is cut, the green
ton Of ita good half of the lunber-is left to rot,
and only the fat body goes down to the pulp mill
Now as a dead spruce or balsam twig Will hash up
like finder, 1t was much as If the lumbermen, Tor
every tree they took, had left fire ready laid for
lighting OF this the Valley people will tell you
at come up like volcano and jumped over onto
the Reserve like panther. The cottagers came out,
hardly waiting to pack up They come out with the
deer and the toads. The Nmrod that went 1t
didn't wait neither. Nor it won't come back. Not
in our day. -. Set? No. The people here are
lor-abidng."
This was what heard one day, but another day
our guide with only tumutuous miles Of mountains
on every hand dropped the discretion that the
Valley man toward the outsider
"In this dry weather. he drawled, fires start
1 shake out my pipe, so, and a beech leaf gets
adre" He illustrates and there is thin curl OF
smoke Then a twig Of basam 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 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 it was beginning to lick
at the curling outer bark of white birch stump. he
put it out but slowly. if he were of two minds.
An easy road wound past the Hawley camp and the
foot of Spruce, up again the unumbered side and
past the Nimrod to Pease Lake. Eventually, they
planned to include the bare side of Spruce in the
Reserve aso-to reforest it, and make it lovely for
The Reserve people good friends to trees and
game and if the mountains ever do return to their
Did glory, it will be partly due to the Reserve.
1t the thirtieth day of that memorable June
drought and even the Hawey camp not quite so
Jolly should have been. There were some dozen
young people, and weary chaperon. Among
these two in particular carried heavy trouble in their
hearts, for she was rich and beautiful and he was
or and they loved each other very much which
) OF at all, account OF the objections of
Lar people They both quite believed that there
had been such dolorous situation before, and
about young and innocent as the Prince and
Princess in the fairy story.
at used to be possible said the Prince gloomily,
for fellow to go off and do something spectacular.
Then the king gave him title and let him marry
girl right away and they lived in castle-Lord,
Lord to think of it! In castle, just the fellow and
the girl living happily after!''
"But-you'll do something
Yes; but only by years of work. One can't do
things suddenly any more, and the fellow gets bald
and the girl gets tired waiting and marries title
or a monare's grandson with no chin
II shant get tired
The moon was just toiling Spruce mountain,
and it's pallor falling the two young faces made
them of elfn beauty such as 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
to Mandalay." while they watched the moon rise.
ooh her petticoat yaller,
And her little cap green"
'I could kill giants think" said the Prince, rising
to pace back and forth, 'or ogres. or anything in
reason but to wait and wait, and make you watt
He scowled at the moon, which shone now just clear
OF the mountains edge round and yellow and unat-
tainable-symbolc of the fortune he must win
ION the road to Mandaay-'
The Princess and stopped his uneasy pacing
by putting her against his chest and look
ing up soemnly with wet black eyes.
IF you think it isn't harder than facing giants to
sit still as l must, I'd rather be the man, and at
least able to try l won't off with you. That is,
/ hope you won't ask to. l 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 wrinked
bit, I'll try to stand your being bald.
She laughed uncertainty, then wept, begging him
hurry and hurry and again to hurry because life
"On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flying fishes"
'1ioly Moses!-"
big fellow up out of the chorus like an ex-
camaton point against sky gone suddenly red
The Prince with his about the Princess looked
I'D anG saw it over her head. She was still weeping