Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-22
Dayid's Outlook


| w sat by Davd's bedside, was David's
attitude toward that threatened return
Of his. For David had opposed it. offer
ing dozen trivial, almost puerile rea-
sons, had shown. indeed. II logged
obstinacy and IN irrtabilty that were
somehow oddly like fear. David afraid !.
David, whose life and heart were open
| books. David. whose eyes never
wavcrcd. nor his courage. ;,
"You let well enough alone. Dick,
he had finished. "Iou'vc got every
thing you want. And medical man
can't afford to go gndding about. Whch
people want him they want him.
But he had noticed that David hnd
been different since. He had taken 10
| following him with his faded old eyes,
had even spoken once Of retiring and
turning all the work over to him. was
it possible that David did not want hin
to go back to NOradu?
Iic bent over and felt the sick man
pulse. 1t was stronger, not so rnp'a.
The mechanical act took him back TO
| his first memory of David.
| He had been lying in rough punk
| in the mountain cabin. and David. be-
side him on Il wooden box, had been
bending forward and feeling his pulse;
| He had felt weak and utterly inert ana
he knew now that h" had been very III.
Tho cabin had been small ana lohclF
one, with SNOW w-pcnkS not far above IT,
! and it had been very cold. During the
day woman kept up the fire. liet
name was Maggie and she moved about
the cabin like thin ghost. At night
| she slept in loanto shed and DAVID
kept tho fire going. A man who seemed
| to know him wcll-.Iohn Donaldson, he
learned. was his namc--was Maggie
husband, and every so often he came,
about dawn, and brought food and
supplies.
After long time. as he grew
stronger, Maggie had gone away, ana
! David had fried the bacon and heated
the canned tomatoes or the beans. Be-
! fore she left she had written out n
roripc for biscuits. and DAVID Wn"i"
study over it painstakingly, and thcn
! produce n painful OF burned anI
| ilarkcncd humps. over which he would
groan and agoni2c.
He himself had been total injurious:
He had lived sort Of animal life OF
food and sleep. and later on OF small
tentative excursions around the room
IN legs that shook when he walked. The
cabin. and David had read Il great deaf.
and talked at intervals. David had
tried to fill up tn" gap in his mind.
That was how he learned that David
was his fathers brother, and that his
father had recently died.
Going over it all now. it had certain
J clements that were not clear. jhcS
! had, for instance, never gone back 10
tho ranch at all. With the first clear
iny of the snow in the spring John
donaldson had appeared again. leading
! two saddcd horses and driving Il pN'i
animal. and thcy had started off. leaving
! him standing IN the clearing and gazing
nftcr them. But they had not followed
Donaldson's trail. They had started
west, over the mountains, and David
did not know the country. Once they
were lost for three days.
He looked ar the figure on the bed.
Only ten years. and yet at that time
David had been vigorous. seemed almost
young. He had aged in that ten years;
| On the bed he was an old man. II tired
old man at thnt. On that long ride he
had been tirclrsS. He had taken the
burden Of the nightly camps, and had
| hacked trail with his hatchct across
snow fields while Dick. still weak. but
furiously protesting. had been com
ucllcd to stand and .'atch.
Now. with the perspective Of time
behind him. and with the clearly defined
issue Of David'S protest against his re-
turn to the West, he went again over
| tn" detalis OF t""t "lnl'r Tlu ~ ''t
Why. had 'M'Y, hHt takeh i'onnIu,on w.h,
trail? Or gone Oa'k 10 ah' r"mc" n.y. mH -,
since l''H"l'..''' o,,nY lW Inn,hor Toctnr
other visitors come An"'n"T ;I "EI'o, '','
th" nSht n" 9In"S' ",IG n,rd n", cloS" c' -"
under the amp nrmI"n I ~ I"t ''"or "nr,.
screened W'n'TM T,, thnt It , 'e"" Wv on ,ir
pocket prayer n""H ,,'"' fo" lay VIZ '"'
stand h'Tld" 'I' o'n, IT, lo,,o,
why h3@ l"IS nLt "rr.''n , m'n |'".t', ',,G,
ana 'ona'IH'l "'.us"t I n" T'',, w =
why ana ,n,'h,n,,'' h,tn 'Un % a. . tho,
quests never nni's ,h "iIrn,d r"T' ,oi;ns o;i"s
when '''E Ssru'H th tm' onn ,",''tt", hn.t t,ii
| from a,NWhe'c' 'ncS WIRE po'" '"''
bear"eH' hi,,.o,s -, eror,,,r I1o
re T'aJ Tto"oJ,' h;s Im,einoti" - ,nn
had alIoWen MS II iIn"sa'i','on Sa, ION ~ ""
away WIN i'"l' ie '"n '''''
! ing IlGh'' "nH no one WnH ""'"
| l'Nyld '"h', 'l"Is''u "'''' ~ n.H"'' .
N"Ner'"'!''' NV N"' .o',' ''"' W., -, " "
new nneaslnsss ana hnNir'E, ,rh nT1
lmrid r'''h'''l H"''a NV, t',ts Ivy, ~; Hr Mo"'"
90 I" ;\or"I'' "o I, ~ ''tu ~" ''Irr"",II''
ana ther' v" """n' "nu 'H' i"'"."'
/ sens, ana ''car up ,ne .h'nes 'l"' p"'A'
cred him' Ail'r thht
II" thnuEu' "t E'lIao'lh' OF h'r
sweetness ana sali'y; ne rehl'mnnr'"
! her nt IN" tnrHtre the evening before
lost IN us m",''''IS Us '",'TmS' h"T fr', mS r"pn
! verge of tears.