The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-26
IN THE HONEST WOODS-By Holman F. Dav

him, he realized the futility of his self l deception.
 | A loon on some far mountain-lock l pond halleloo-ed it's almost human crS l like a wall of regret And nearer still l black bear parked in threatening staccato l The trees voiced melancholy rebuke thai 1 his soul in it's new sensitiveness trans | lated for him. Natures loneliness in the
 sunshine had always been a welcome re
 lease from the life in which he moved i with almost the artificiality of an actor
 Not that the Rev. Dr. Ransom Wallace 1 was a corrupt man. His daily life-since 1 had been clean. But he himself knew that his manners, his comings and goings at home, with the gaze of the world on him, even the bland and unctuous intona-
 tions of his voice, were part of the as- | sumption that city pastor must carry to
 his role.
 In his canvas coat, bob tailed to a lux
 urous degree; in his knkl1erbockers with his rifle slung into the hollow of his arm and the glory of sunlit outdoors about him, he was again himself, the actor be- hind the scenes, relaxing the spiritual and physical muscles that ached-allow-
 ing himself the rare delight of hating the
 squirming mob of city schemers for a day-unpastoral indulgence, but none the less comforting. But now, with the sun gone, the night breeding, the cold numb ing his body and fear chilling his soul he met himself-and hated himself. And he put aside all spacious excuses, and knew why!
 When at last the dawn came-he watch
 g toward what his somewhat obstinate judgment declared to be east-the sun as though in malicious jest rose through watery clouds in the southwest
 For half an hour Dr. Wallace sat there on his hillock and with mental fractiousnes tried to browbeat the sun into egregious error. When the doctor had reluctantly admitted to himself that the luminary probably knew its business, he found that under h new conditions east or west or south mt ut nothing help ful for him. Points of ci npass suggested nothing. All the world seemed ske-wowed. He got up and staggered away into the woods. impellcd to keep on his wander lngs, firing his rifle occasionally harken- ing breathe ;sly for a reply, sustained only by the dim hope that somewhere in those vast tracts were other human beings to whom chance might lead him.
 Late that afternoon, spent and tortured by hunger, he came across small stream roaring in zigzag course through a deep gully. He numbly realized that the brook might lead to lake, and there might be a camp on the lake
 Just as the dusk deepened he dragged his feet out, upon the moist and messy level of ponds shore. a prayer of thanksgiving-the most honest prayer that ever burst from the lips of the Rev Doctor Wallace-greeted. the sight of a small log cabin across the cove
 trail of smoke from the funnel tossed across the little clearing on the breeze and the glimmer of an outdoors cook fire Winked cheerily through the trees When voice answered his shout and canoe came bobhing across the cove, the clergy man sat down on a convenient tussock and wept weakly, the tears trailing through the soot on his face. The man in the canoe was roughly garbed and unshaven. and the man on the shore was