The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1920-12-17

III one can just lie close enough " snS
breast of the wilderness, he can't help
but be imbued with some Of the life that
pulses ~therein.-From a Frontiersman's
Diary.
Long ago, when the great city OF
Gltcheapolis was a rather small, I'M
tidy hamlet in the middle OF a plain,
II 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 ineffi-
cient drainage system of the city did
not quite absorb. Besides being the
despair of the plumbers and the city
engineer, 1t was a severe strain on
the beauty-loving instincts of every
Inhabitant in the town who had any
such instincts. II 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 20 to the trouble of explaining that
II contained no fish. He, however.
bitterly regretted the fact. In truth,
he sometimes liked to believe that II
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 IL he fished here.
ne thought, particularly IL he were
careful not to get his shoes covered
with mud. But she wouldn't let him
70 down to Gitcheapolis creek to fish
with the other boys for mud cat. He
was not very strong. she thought, and
II was n rough sport anyway. and be-
lsides-she didn't think he wanted to
70 very badly. AS mothers are usual
ly particularly understanding, this
was a curious thing.
The truth was that little Dan Fall
Ing wanted to fish almost as much as
he wanted to live. he would dream
about 1t Of nights. His blood would
glow with the thought Of 1t In the
springtime. Women the world over
will have a hard time believing what
an intense, heart-devouring passion
the love of the chase car be, whether
II Is for fishing or hunting or merely
knocking golf balls into a little hole
upon a green. Sometimes they don't
remember that this instinct Is just as
much a part Of most men, and thus
most boys, as their hands or theii
lips. It was acquired by just as la
borious a .process-the lives OF un
counted thousands of ancestors who
fshed and hunted for a living.
II was true that little Dan dldn'
look the part. Even then he showed
signs Of physical frailty. His eye'
looked rather large. and his cheeks
were net the color of fresh sirloin, a
they saould have been. In fact, on'
would have had to look very hard u
see any color in them at all. Thes'
facts are interesting from the llgh
they throw upon the next glimpse o
Dan. fully twenty years later.
Except for the fact that II was tn
background for the earliest picture o
little Dan, the pool back OF the court
house has very little importance Il
his story. II did. however, afford al
Illustration to him of one Of the real
" astonishing truths Of life. He say
q shadow IN the water thst he pre-
tended he thought might be a fish. I'll
threw a stone at II.
The only thing that happened wa
a splash. and then a slowly widenin
ripple. The circumference Of the ri
nile grew ever larger. extended an
videned. and finally died at the edg
of the shore. II set little Dan I
thinking. He wondered II, had n
pool been larger. the ripple still woul
have spread; and II the pool had bee
eternity. whether the ripple woul
have gone on forever. AT the time
did net know the laws Of cause an
effect. Later. when GitcheapOAs w
great and prosperous and no long
rntidy, he wat going to find out tn
a cause Is nothing but a rock throw
into a pond Of infinity. and the ripp
that is IT'S effect keeps growing al
growing forever.
The little incident that Is the re
beginning Of this story was Of
more Importance than a pebble throw
into the snow-water pond: but its {
feet was to remove the life of d
Failing. since grown up far out
The realms Of the ordinary.
And that brings all matters das
20 1919 In the lest DAYS Of a partic
Larry sleepy nmmer. You would haE