The Washington herald., 1915-09-26

nation.
The cave was on or in the top of little
SOUR of the Catskills that had strayed down
to the rivers edge, and, not having Terry
ticket had to stop there. The bdijou noun
tains were densely wooded and were infested
by ferocious squirrels and woodpeckers that
forever menaced the summer transients. Like
badly sewn strip of white braid, macadaH-
lied road ran between the green skirt OF the
hills and the foamy lace of the rivers edge A
dim path wound from the comfortable road up
q rocky height to the hern1it's cave. One mile
upstream was the Viewpoint Inn, to which sum-
mer folk from the city came; leaving COOL cleo
tric-fanned apartments that they might be
driven about in burning sunshine, shrieking, IN
gasoline launches, by spindle-legged Modreds
bearing the blankest of shields.
Train your lorgnette upon the hermit and let
vour eve receive the personal touch that shall
endear you. to the hero.
A man of forty. Judging him fairly, with
long hair curling at the ends, dramatic eyes, and
? forked brown beard like those that were I'M
posed upon the West some years ago by self
.,,o;nted "divine healers' who succeeded the
grasshopper crop. His outward vesture ap-
peared to be kind of gunny-sacking cut and
made into a garment that would have made the
fortune of a London tailor. His long, we'll
shaped fingers, delicate nose, and polse OF man.
ner raised him high above the class OF hernlts
who fear water and bury money in oyster-cans
in their caves in spots indicated by rude crosses
clipped in the stone wall above.
The her11its home was not altogether
cave. The cave was an addition to the hermit
age, which was a rude hut made of poles daubed
with CLAW and covered with the best quality of
rust-proof zinc roofing.
In the house proper there were stone slabs
for seats. a rustic bookcase made of unplaned
poplar panks, and table formed OF a wooden
slab laid across two upright pieces OF Druid
temple and that of Broadway beefsteak dun
econ, Hung against the walls were skins OF
wild animals purchased in the vicinity of Eighth
street and University place, New York.
The rear of the cabin merged into the cave
There the hermit cooked his meals on rude
stone hearth. With infinite patience and an
old axe he had chopped natural shelves in the
rocky walls. On them stood his stores of -four,
bacon, lard, talcum-powder, kerosene, baking
powder. soda-rnint tablets, pepper, salt and
Olivo- Cren1o Emulsion for chaps and rough
ress of the hands and face.
The hermit had herrnitted there for ten
wears. He was an asset of the Viewpoint Inn.
To its guests he was second in interest only to
the Mysterious Echo in the Haunted Glen. And
the Lovers Leap beat him only few inches,
Aat-footed He was known far (but not very
wide. on account of the topography as
scholar of brilliant intellect who had forsworn
the world because he had been Tilted in love
affair. Every Saturday night the Viewpoint Inn
sent to him surreptitiously basket of pro-
visions. He never left the immediate outskirts
of his hermitage Guests of the inn who visited
him said his store of knowledge, wit, and scin-
tllating philosophy were simply wonderful, you
know. That summer the Viewpoint Inn was
crowded with guests. So, on Saturday nights,
there were extra cans of tomatoes, and sirloin
steak. instead of rounds" in the hermits bas
ket.
Now you have the material allegations in the
case. So, make way for Romance.
Evidently the hermit expected a visitor. He
carefully combed his long hair and parted his
apostolic beard. When the ninety-eight-cent
alarm-clock on a stone shelf announced the hour
of five he picked up his grrnny-sacking skirts,
brushed them carefully, gathered an oak staff,
and strolled slowly into the thick woods that