Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1921-02-04
Prologue.

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II one can Just lie close enough to the
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
Gitcheapolis was rather small I'M
tidy hamlet In the middle of plain,
II 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 inetii-
cient drainage system of the city did
not quite absorb. Besides being the
despair of the plumbers and the city
engineer, it was a severe strain on
the beauty-lOving instincts of every
inhabitant I'm the town who had any
such instincts. 1t was muddy and
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 go to the trouble of explaining that
It contained no fish. He, however,
bitterly regretted the fact. In truth,
he sometimes liked to believe that it
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 IL he were
careful not to get his shoes covered
with mud. But she wouldn't let him
20 down to Gitcheapolis creek to fish
with the other boys for mud cat. He
was not very strong, she thought. and
II was rough sport anyway, and be-
sides-she didn't think he wanted to
60 very badly. AS mothers are usual
ly particularly understanding, this
was n rurIe.--sthiug.
TO Observation-Disclosures "a,
he wanted to live. He would dream
about II 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 can 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 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 un-
counted thousands of ancestors who
fishcd 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
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 feet that II was the
background for the earliest picture of
little Dan, the POOL back OF the court
house 5ns very little importance in
his stor-. 1t did. however, afford an
Illustration to him Of one of the real
ly astonishing truths Of life. He saw
shadow in The water that ne pre-
tended he thought might be n fish. He
throw a stone Mt II.
Tic only thing that happened was
splash. and then slowly widening
ripple. The circumference of the rim.
plc grew ever larger. extended and
w,dered, AMI finally died at the edge
OF the shore. II set little Dan to
thinking. He wondered If. had the
r pool been larger, the ripple still would
have spread; and * the pool had been
eternl.y. whether the ripple would
have gone on forever. At the time he
did net know the laws of cause and
effect, Later. when Gitcheapolis was
great and prosperous and no longer
untidy. he WIS going to find out that
~ but a TUCK Thrown
into pond Of inflnity. and the ripple
tina. is It's effect keeps growing and
growing forever
The li:flc incident that is the real
beginning Of this story was of no
more Importance than a pebble thrown
into the >now-water pond but its eff.
feet was ia remove the life of Dan
Falling. since grown up, far out of
the realms of the ordinary.
And that brings all matters down
TO 1919 In the last days of a particu.
larry sleepy summer. You would hard
~ know Gi:cheapolis now. The bust.
nees district has increased tenfold
And the place where used to be the
pool 2Dd the playground of Dan Fail.
ing IL now laid Off in as green and
pretty u city park as one could wish
to sec
Some Gay. when the city becomes
more prosperous. pair Of swans and
herd Of deer are going to be intro.
duced. tn restore some of the natural
Wild life VI the park. But In the sum.
mer OF 1919. Il few small birds and
possibly half q dozen pairs Of SOUR.
rels were the extent and limit Of the
wild creatures. And at the moment