Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1916-02-29

| with sobs. He seemed torn by some
mighty grief. AS I softly withdrew
could hear him groaning, God! God!
Cod" Not that he was calling upon
God; it was mere expletive, but it
| came from his soul.
At dinner he asked the hunters for
remedy for headache, and by eve
ming, strong man that he was, he was
half blind and Keeling about the cabin.
I've never been sick in my life.
Hump" he said, as 1 guided him to
his room. Nor did l ever have a
headache except the time my head
was healing after having been laid
open for six inches by capstan-bar."
| For three days this binding head
ache lasted. and he suffered as wild
animals suffer, as it seemed the way
on ship TO suffer, without plant, with
out sympathy, utterly alone.
This morning, however, on entering
his stateroom to make the bed and
put things in order, l found him well
and hard at work. Table and bunk
were Uttered with designs and calcu-
lations. On large, transparent sheet,
compass and square in hand, he was
copying what appeared to be a scale
of some sort or other.
Hello, Hump" he greeted me gen.
tally. I'm just finishing the finishing
| touches. Want to see it work?"
But what is it?'' l asked.
"a labor-saving device for mariners,
navigation reduced to kindergarten
simplicity" he answered gayly.
There was a ring of triumph in his
voice, and his eyes. clear blue this
morning as the sea, were sparkling
with light
you must be we'll up in mathemat-
ics." l said. Where did you go to
school?"
Never saw the inside of one, worse
luck" was the answer. 81 had to dig
it out for myself"
"And why do you think have made
this thing?" he demanded abruptly.
Dreaming to leave footprints on the
sands of timer" He laughed one OF
his horrible. hooking laughs. mot at
all. To get it patented, to make
money from it, to revel in piggishness
with all night in while other men do
the work. That's my purpose. Also
l have enjoyed working it out"
1.-THE creative JOY" | murmured.
81 guess that's what it ought to be
called. Which is another way of ex
pressing the joy of life in that it is
alive, the triumph of movement over
matter, of the quick over the dead, the
pride of the yeast because it is yeast
and crawls."
l threw up my hands with helpless
disapproval of his inveterate materi
alism and went about making the bed
He continued copying lines and figures
upon the transparent scale. It was a
task requiring the utmost nicely and
precision, and | could not but admire
the way he tempered his strength tC
the t1neness and delicacy of the need
When l had finished the bed,
caught myself looking at him in g
fascinated sort of way. He was Ger
tainly a handsome man-beautiful In
never-failing wonder, | remarked the
total lack of viciousness or wicked
ness or sinfulness in his face. Who
vas he? What was he? How had he
happened to be? All powers seemed
his, all potentialities- then. was
he no more than the obscure master Of
a seal-hunting schooner with repu
tation for frightful brutality among
the men who hunted seals?
My curiosity burst from me in g
food of speech.
why is it that you have not done
great things in this world? With the
power that is yours you might have
risen to any height. Unpossessed Of
conscience or moral instinct, you
might have mastered the world. bro
ken it to your hand. And yet here you
are, at the top of your life. where di
minishing and dying begin, living an
obscure ard sordid existence, hunt
ing sea animals for the satisfaction
of woman's vanity and love of deco
ration. reveling in 6, piggishness, tC
use your own words, which is any
thing and everything except splendid
Why, with all that wonderful strength
have you not done something? There
was nothing to stop you, nothing that
could stop you. What was wrong
Did you lack ambition? Did you fall
under temptation? What was the mat
ter? What was the matter?'
He had lifted his eyes to me at the
commencement of my outburst, and
followed me complacently until l had
done and stood before him breathless
and dismayed He waited moment
as though seeking where to begin, and
then said:
Hump, do you know the parable
of the sower who went forth to sow
If you will remember, some Of the
seed fell upon stony places. where
there was not much earth, and forth
with they sprung up because they had
no deepness of earth. And when the
sun was up they were scorched, and
because they had no root they with
cred away. And some fell among
thorns, and the thorns sprung up and
choked them"
"Well?" ! said.
"Weu?" he queried. half petrlantly
ut was not well. was one of those
seeds"
! He dropped his head to the scale
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