Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-01-24

over the spur of the range, she fol
lowed the familiar trail and after she
had passed westward far beyond the
limits OF the camp to the turning, she
decided, in accordance with that ut
terly irresponsible thing, a woman's
will, that she would not go down the
canon that day after all, but that she
would cross back over the range and
strike the river few miles above the
camp and go up the canon.
She had been up in that direction a
few times, but only for a short dis
lance, as the ascent above the camp
was very sharp, in fact for a little
more than a mile the brook was only
a succession of water fall; the best
fishing was below the camp and the
finest woods were deeper in the canon.
She suddenly concluded that she
would like to see what was up in that
uneXplored section of the country and
so, with scarcely momentary hest
tation. she abandoned her former plan
and began the ascent of the range.
Upon decisions so lightly taken
what momentOus consequences de-
pend? Whether she should go up the
stream or down the stream, whether
she should follow the rivulet to it's
source or descend it to its mouth,
was apparently a matter of little mo-
ment, yet her whole life turned abso-
lutely upon that decision. The idle
and unconsidered choice of the hour
was frought with gravest possibilities.
Had that election been made with any
suspicion, with any foreknowledge, had
it come as the result of careful rea-
| soning or far-seeing of probabilities,
it might have been understandable,
but an impulse, a whim, the vagrant
idea of an idle hour, the careless
| chance of a moment, and behold! a
life is changed. On one side were
youth and innocence, freedom and
happiness, a happy day, good rest
by the cheerful fire at night; on the
other, peril of life, struggle, love,
jealousy, self sacrifice, devotion, suffer
ing, knowledge-scarcely Eve herself
when she stood apple in hand with
ignorance and pleasure around her
and enlightenment and sorrow before
How fortunate we are that the fu-
ture is yelled, that the psalmist's
prayer that he might know his end
Ind be certified how long he had to
live is one that will not and cannot
be granted; that it has been given to
but One to foresee his own future,
for no power apparently could enable
us to stand up against what might be,
because we are only human beings
not sufficiently alight with the spark
divine. We wait for the end because
we must, but thank God we know it
not until it comes.
Nothing of this appeared to the girl
that bright sunny morning. Fate hid
in those mountains under the guise OF
fancy Lighthearted, carefree, fitted
with buoyant joy over every fact Of
life, she left the flowing water and
scaled the cliff beyond which in the
wilderness she was to find after all,
the world.
| The ascent was longer and more
difficult and dangerous than she had
imagined when she first confronted it,
perhaps it was typical and fOretold her
progress. More than once she had
to stop and carefully examine the face
Of the canon wall for a practicable
trail; more than once she had to ex-
ercise EXTREMIST care in her climb,
but she was bold and fearless noun
taineer by this time and at last sur
mounting every difficulty she stood
painting slightly, little tired, but
triumphant upon the summit.
The ground was rocky and broken,
the timber line was close above her
and she judged that she must be sew
eral miles from the camp. The canon
was very crooked, she could see only
a few hundred yards of it in any di-
rection. She scanned her circum-
scribed limited horizon eagerly for the
smoke from the great fire that they
always kept burning in the camp, but
not sign of it was visible. She was
evidently a thousand feet above the
river whence she had come. Her
standing ground was a rocky ridge
which fell away more gently on the
other side for perhaps two hundred
feet toward the same brook. She
could see through yistas in the trees
the uptossed peaks of the main range,
bare, chaotic, snow crowned, lonely,
majestic, terrible.
The awe Of the everlasting hills is
greater than that of heaving seas.
Save in the infrequent periods Of calm,
the latter always moves; the noun
tains are the same for all time. The
ocean is quick, noisy, living; the
mountains are calm, still-dead!
The girl stood as it were on the
roof of the world, solitary human
being. so far as she knew, in the eye
of God above her. All, but the eyes
divine look long and see far; things
beyond the human ken are all re-
vealed. None OF the party had ever
come this far from the camp in this
direction she knew. And she was
glad to be the first, as she fatuousIy
believed, to observe that majestic soli-
tude.