The Winslow mail., 1920-12-10

Diary. ~l.-From a Frontiersman' s
long ago, when the great city of
Gitcheapolis was rather small, un-
tidy hamlet In the middle of a plain,
1t used to be that a pool of water,
possibly two hundred feet square,
gathered every spring Immediately
back of the courthouse. The snow
falls thick and heavy in Gitcheapolis
in winter; and the pond was nothing
more than snow water that the inefi
cient drainage system of the city did
not quite absorb. Besides being the
despair of the plumbers and the city
engineer, it was severe strain on
the beauty-loving instincts of every
inhabitant in the town who had any
such Instincts. 1t was muddy and
murky and generally distasteful.
little boy played at the edge of
the water, this spring day of long ago.
Except for his interest in the pond, it
would have been scarcely worth while
to go to the trouble of explaining that
II COu uO l1ci. LIZ, AOWCNCls
bitterly regretted the fact. In truth,
he sometimes liked to believe that 1t
did contain fish, very sleepy fish that
never made ripple, and as he had an
uncommon Imagination he was some
times able to convince himself that
this was So But he never took hook
and line and played at fishing. He
was too much afraid of the laughter
of his boy friends. His mother prob
ably wouldn't object if he fshed here,
ne thought, particularly If he were
careful not to get his shoes covered
go down to Gitcheapolis creek to fish
with the other boys for mud cat. He
was not very strong, she thought, and
it was rough sport anyway, and be-
sides-she didn't think he wanted to
go very badly. AS mothers are usual
ly particularly understanding, this
was curious thing.
The truth was that little Dan Fail
ing wanted to fish almost as much as
he wanted to live. He would dream
about it Of nights. His blood would
glow with the thought of it in the
springtime. Women the world over
will have a hard time believing what
IN intense, heart-devouring passion
the love 81 the chase can be, whether
it is for fishing or hunting or merely
knocking golf balls into little hole
uron green. Sometimes they don't
remember that this Instinct is just as
much part Of most men, and thus
most boys, as their hands or their
lips. 1t was acquired by just as la
boriOus a prOcess-the lives of ua.
counted thousands Of ancestors who
fshed and hunted for living.
1t was true that little Dan didn't
look the part. Even then he showed
signs of physical frailty. His eyes
looked rather large, and his cheeks
were not the color of fresh sirloin, as
they should have been. In fact, one
would have had to look very hard to
see any color In them at all. These
facts are interesting from the light
they throw upon the next glimpse of
Dan, fully twenty years later.
Except for the fact that it was the
background for the earliest picture of
little Dan, the pool back of the court
house has very little Importance in
his story. 1t did, however,. affordl an
illustration to him of one, Of the real
Iy astonishing truths of life. He saw
a shadow in the water. that he pre-
tended he Thought might be fish. He
threw a stone at 1T.
The only thing that happened was
a splash. and then slowly widening
ripple. The circumference Of the rip
pie grew ever larger, extended and
widened, and finally died at the edge.
of the shore. 1t set little Dan &C.
thinking He wondered If, had the.
pool been larger, the ripple still would
have spread; and if the pool hasll BEEN
eternity, whether the ripple would
have gone on forever. At the, time he
did not know the laws Of cause and
effect. Later. when Gitcheapois was
great and prosperous and no longer
untidy, he was going to find out that
a cause is nothing but a rock throwm
nts a pond of infinity, and the ripple
hat is It's effect keeps growing and
growing forever.
The little incident that Is the real
beginning of this story was of no
nore importance than a pebble thrown
nto the snow-water pond; but its ef-
e@ was to remove the life Of Dan
'ailing, since grown up, far out of
ne realms of the ordinarXA
And that brings all matters dov N
} 1919, in the last, days of a part GU.
rly sleepy suIamer You would f,ard.
;~know Giteheapolis now. The busi.
ass district has increased Anfold
nd the place where used to he the
,ol and the playground Of TIan Fail
g is now laid off in as, fareen and
etE city park as Que tnnld wish
see.
Some day. when the atty becomes