The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1915-02-25
HAPTE 1.
CHILDREN IN THE GIANTS
CASTLE.

house that stood at the top Of the hin
overlooking the town. They called II
THE Giants. Castle" Not because it
was inhabited by a creature of unusual
stature or one of prodigious strength,
but because childish fancy is SO prone
to identify visible aspects with those
inspired by the Imagination. The house,
profoundly insistent in it's dominance
or the youthful vision, was not far re-
moved from that which their tender
intellects were pleased to consider a
fitting abode for certain stupendous
personages, whose acquaintance they
had made, as have all other children
whose education has not been stunted
by cross and unfeeling parents
through'the medium of fairy books and
weary nurse maids tales. Their small
but vivid i~maginations seized upon the
prlm n unusually peaceful abode as
a perfect Illustration of what an ogre's
castle ought to be, and no amount of
persuasion in the shape of realism
could dull that impression init they
outgrew the delights and fears of nur-
sery literature.
dren lived in THE Giants CASTLE"
quite without fear Of being devoured by
the master thereof, initiated not a
whit against the juvenile fancy of
Corinth-by-the-Sea, Notwithstanding
liberal playground and Sunday school as
ISOLATION.
The real occupants of the house were
not taken into account. If they had
been, there would have been no excuse
for the name. 1t pleased the very young
to imagine that there We're other and
more horrific creatures lurking behind
the grey, weatherstained walls; it
pleased them to believe that each Of the
square little windows in the cupoja
represented a peephole through which
a 1eroclous giant peered in quest of the
we'll known "Englishmun." And so,
they lived in a delicious dread of the
ogre and yet romped with the two
small denizens about the yard and
through the rooms-(when opportunity,
IN the shape of an invitation to come
up n play" presented itself. All of
winch goes to prove that nursery tales
are terrifying only when one has gone
TO bed and is left alone in the dark.
AS a matter of fact, the people who
lived in the big grey house, from mas
ter to servant We're as mortal as NOR
tai could be. To be quite precise, the
master himself was a very superior
sort of mortal. in that he set himself
up as an example for all other men
to be patterned after. That so few Of
his gender succeeded in coming quite
up to the standard was not so much a
disappointment to him as it was a sat
isfaction to them.
Mr.. Blagden was a most exemplary
'Gl 40 " i tltt anu IiloI Gl1lN llt "pS
a giant. Yet, While he was respected,
he was not feared. No one fears a
truly good man. If the town in which
Mr.. Blagden lived had been a trifle
larger than it actually was in the mat
ter of population it is quite likely he
would not have been respected. But it
was a small town, and the good are al
ways respected in small towns The
paths are narrow there, and they are
very straight. 1t is a simple process.
you might say, to be moral and upright
when the paths are so narrow that one
is obliged to pursue a straight curse
or suffer the consequences of a bump
against his neighbours wall, which in
Variably is built close up to the path
n has many eyes as we'll as ears.
When [ say that everyone in Corinth-
by-the-Sea respected Mr.. Blagden, my
assertion should be taken with a grain
of salt. Respect has its degrees, and
Corinth had it's analysts. Down along
the water front there We're drinking
places, and in them were profane phil
oSophers who maintained that Mr..
Blagden was no better than other men
If one could get beneath his skin. I'm
expectedly, of course. But. If you got
beyond the drinking places, adjacent
to which the paths We're necessarily
crooked and not all restricted, you
speedily would be set straight again as
to Mr.. Blagden's real standing in the
$ollllilulllIS. IilS pllbip \
to certain u~nregenerate men called
sailors, and everyone knows that a
sailor sees nothing good in a landsman.
He never has, and he never will. we
may. therefore. take it for granted,
despite the windy opinions of those
vituperative seadogs, that Mr.. Blagder
deserved the high esteem in which he
was held by the people of Corinth.
Besides, what is more to the point
the sailormen were not citizens of Cor
NTH, but inhabitants Of the m
Home situated in the nearby village OF
Todville.
Todville was what you might describe
as a subur Of Corinth. 1t pleased tht
Corinthians to speak Of 1T as a suburb
when abroad in the land. At home. II
the bosom of the municipality, they
failed to regard Todville in the SANE
charitable light. Among themselves
they looked upon the village with con
siderable scorn and a great deal D
aversion. 1t was like a growth upon
the smooth, placid countenance or Cor
NTH.
There NAV have been very excellen
reason for this uncharitable attitude
on the part of the SNUG citizens OF Cor
inth. Todville was in the path OF eX
pansion. / do not mean to say that tn
village, which chung like a parnacl
to the side of it's big sister, was in an.
sense a restriction to the
or material growth of Corinth. Not a
all. 1T stood in the way of civic prize
principally a it occupied tn
most picturesque spot OF ground 10 "
found anywhere along the coast 70
miles around. Inasmuch as it was with
I'm 10 minutes walk Of the most fash
ionable and exclusive residence dlstrlc
of Corinth. and because it was in itsel
a mean and humble witness to tn
progress of the splendor 1T halted. ZOO
VILE was a despised spot, though GOV
eted. With Todyille and its half nor nun
Womb have been able to spread it
gathered plumes, and fly out from 1t
crowded nest to settle down upon
new and coveted stretch Of earth, ther
to prink and pout with all n arrog
ance of a peacock, while the worl
passed by and envied.
But mean little Todvillc stood IN IN
way. The charmed point that ran gu
into the sea. lofty and ironic; Win II
magnificent view up and down Tn
coast, from whose heights n coui
stare in pity across and e eey1n tn
poinf 7 cav was quite beyOnu III