Middletown transcript., 1920-12-11
Prologue.

TJOlUYuCs III
y -
II one can Just lie close enough to the
breast Of the wilderness. he can't heip
but be imbued with SON Of the life tnat
pulses therein.-From Frontiersman
Diary.
Long ago, when the great city OF
Gitcheapolis was a rather small, un-
tidy hamlet in the middle OF plain,
1t used to be that 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 ineffi-
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 heauty-loving instincts OF every
inhabitant in the town who had any
such instincts. 1t was muddy ana
murky and generally distasteful.
A little boy played at the edge OF
the water, this spring day of long ago.
Except for his interest in the pond, 1t
would have been scarcely worth while
to 90 to the trouble Of explaining that
1t contained no fish. He, however,
bitterly regretted the fact. In truth.
he sometimes liked to believe that 1t
did contain fish, very sleepy fish that
never made a 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 fished here,
he thought, particularly. if he were
careful not to get his shoes covered
with mud. But she wouldn't let him
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 a 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 hard time believing what
an intense, heart-devOuring passion
the love Of the chase can be, whether
1t is for fishing or hunting or merely
knocking golf balls into little hole
upon a 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. It was acquired by just as Ia
borious a process-the lives of un-
counted thousands of ancestors who
fished 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
WCTC IlOI luC COlOl VI IL CSIl SI1lOl1lS u
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. It did. however, afford an
illustration to him Of one of the real
~ astonishing truths of life. He saw
shadow in the water that he pre-.
tended he thought might be a fish. He
threw a stone at It.
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 tc
thinking. He wondered II, had the
pool been larger, the ripple still would
have spread; and If the pool had 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 Gitcheapolis was
great and prosperous and no longe,
untidy, he was going to find out thai
a cause is nothing but rock thrown
into pond of inf1nity. and the ripple
that is Its effect keeps growing ant
growing forever.
The little incident that is the rea
beginning of this story was Of NJ
more importance than a pebble thrown
into the snow-water pond: but its eff
feet was to remove the life of Da1
Failing. since grown UP, far out o.
the realms Of the ordinary.
| And that brings all matters dowr
to 1919. in the last days of particu
larly sleepy summer. You would hard
~ know Gitcheapolis now. The bus,
ness district has increased tenfoltl
And the place where used to be tn,
pool and the playground of Dan Fail
Ing is now laid of in as greer ant
pretty city park as one could wisl
to see.
Some day, when the city become.
more prosperous, pair Of swans ant
a herd of deer are going to be intro
duced, to restore some of the natuln
wild life Of the park. But in the sun:
mer Of 1919. few small birds ant
possibly half q dozen pairs of squir
rels were the extent and limit of th'