Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-05-13
CHAPTER IL

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loou' But the herald of change had
ioC yet blown his trumpet in Paradise
valley; and the world Of russell and
green and limestone white, sprea ding
'tseH before the eyes of the bow sit
ing With his hands locked over his
knees on the top step of the porch
ronting the Gordon homestead was
lie same world which, with due sea-
sonaI variations, had been his world
| from the beginning.
1t was a hot July afternoon full
month after the revival, and Thomas
emerson was at that perilous pass
~here Satan Is said to Turk for the
purpose OF providing employment for
ne Idle. He was wondering If the
silaoe OF the hill oaks would be worth
me trouble it would take to reach it,
'uen MS mother came to the open
WINDOW OF the living room: a small
'alr' Well-preserved woman, this moth
Or OF the boy Of IL, with light brown
na1r graying a little at the temples,
Ind eyes remindful of vigils, Of fervent
| oeseechlng, of mighty wrestlings
against municipalities and powers and
the rulers Of the darkness of this
world
You, Thomas Jefferson" she said
| gently, but speaking as one having au-
:hority, you'd better be studying your
Sunday lesson than sitting there doing
nothing"
'Yes'm," said the boy, but he made
40 move other than to hug his knees
little closer. He wished his mother
would stop calling his Thomas Jeffer-
son." To be sure, 1t was his name,
Or at least two thirds of it; but he
liked the Buddy" of his father or the
Tonic of other people a vast deal
better.
Further, the thought of studying
Sunday lessons begot rebellion. At
times, as during those soul-stirring re-
Vival weeks, now seemingly receding
INTO a far-away past he had moments
Of yearning to be wholly sanctified.
But the miracle of transformation
which he had confidently expected as
The result of his coming through" was
still unwrought. When John Bates or
Simon Cantrell undertook to bully him,
Is aforetime, there was the same in
:oxicating experience of all the visible
world going blood-red before his eyes
the same sinful desire to Stay them.
Dne or both.
He stole glance at the open window
Of the living-room His mother had
gone about her homework, and he
could hear her singing softly, as befit-
led the still, warm day. All hymns
we're beginning to have that effect and
this one in particular always renewed
he conflict between the yearning for
sanctity and a desire to do something
1 -, o1r Il. %hn 0o1Xy n1i6Hln
course lay in flight. Hence, the battle
being fairly on, he stole another glance
1T the window, sprang afoot, and ran
silently around the house and through
he peach orchard to Chamber over the
low stone wall which was the only
barrier on that side between the will
1erness and the sown.
Men spoke of Paradise as "the val
lew" though it was rather sheltered
cove with Mount Lebanon for it's back
ground and a semicircular range or
1ak-grown hills for its other rampant.
Splitting it endwise ran the white
streak of the pike, macadamized from
the hill quarry which, fuIl quarter
If p century before the Civil War, had
furnished the stone Tor the Dabn"y
manor-house; and parallellng the ROAD
nnevenly lay a ribbon of silver known
70 less poetic souls than Thomas JET
ferson's as Turkey Creek, but loved
best by him under its almost forgotten
indian name of Chiawassee.
Ravond the valley and it's inclosing
hills rose the other mountain, olue
In the sunlight and royal purple In the
shadows-the Cumberland: source ana
birthplace Of the cooling west Wllu
that was whispering softly to the ce-
IA RS on high Lebanon. THOMAS JefteI-
SON called the Hottest of the purple
distances Pisgah, picturing 1t as the
mountain from which Moses had LOOK
al over into the Promised Land. Some
time he would go and climb II ana
feast his eyes on the sight OF the Ca
naan beyond; yea, he might even go
1oyn and possess the good land II so
tba lord should not hold him back as
He had held Moses.
THAT was a high thought, quite IN
Laaning with the sense of overIordsh1p
hrad of the upper stillnesses. 10 COM
oonv with it, the home valley straight
,1 hogan to idealize itself from the
unified point Of view on the mount
af vision, The Paradise helds were
oo1ica+ely-outlined squares or VIVID
srean or golden yellow, or the warm
Pa brown of the upturned earth III
40 faIlow places. The old negro quar-
$50 on the Dabney grounds, many
',nars cone to the ruin of disuse, were
,.t,,a-qrown and invisible save as
no+ of summer verdure; and the man
,rNbouse itself, gray, grim ana FORBID
9irg TO a small boy scurrylng past II
- the deepening twilight, was now no
~ than a great square roof with the
.laarfnl sunlight playing on it.
Earther down the valley, near the
loo where the white pike twisted u
Pc he+ween two of the rampant hllls
ascane into the great valley OF ne
tennessee. the split-shfngled roof I'M
AZ. which Thomas Jefferson had eaten
I'D slept since the earliest oeglhnihs
a - memories became also part CT
10 bigh-mountain harmony; and the
aad red iron-ore beds on the slope
,hoIe the furnace were softeneo INTO
blur of joyous color.
The iron furnace with its alternat-
- ! - smoke puff and dull red flare
I+r,,ck the one Earring note In sym
eronv blown otherwise on great ma
a,s orean-pipes; but TO lhoiiiaS