The Indianapolis times., 1923-09-04

some or his Ideas In regard TO the
North. 1t was no longer easy to be-
neve that his father had exaggerated
it's beauty and its appeal, It's desola-
ton and its vastness. 1t was
strange thing for man used to cities
to go day upon day without seeing
scarcely a village beside the sea.
single human being other than those
of his own party. Here was one place.
it seemed, that the hand Of man had
touched but lightly, If at all.
The impression grew the farther
north he went. Ever there was less
sign of habitation upon the shore. The
craft passed through narrow chan
nels between mountains that cropped
up from the sea; it skirted wooded
islands; 1t passed forgotten Indian
villages. where the totem poles stood
naked and weather-stained before the
forsaken homes OF the chiefs. The
glasses brought out a wonderland
scene just beyond the reach Of their
unaided sight-glacier and snowslide.
lofty peaks and waterfalls. The mys-
tic, brooding spirit of the North was
already over them.
They had touched at Ketchikan. the
port Of entry to Alaska, and thence
headed almost straight west, across
the gulf of Alaska and toward the far
stretching end Of the Alaskan PENN
sula. During these days they were
far out of sight Of land, surrounded
only by an immeasurable ocean that
rolled endlessly for none to see or hear.
They were already far beyond the
limits Of ordinary tourist travel. The
big boats piled as far as Anchorage at
the head OF Cook Inlet-to the north
and east Of them now-but beyond
that point the traffic was largely that
Of occasional coastal traders, most Of
them auxiliary schooners of varying
respectability They seemed to have
the ocean almost to themselves. never
to see the tip OF sail on the horizon,
or a fishermans craft scudding into
port. And the solitude crept into the
spirits of the passengers Of the Char
on.
1t became vaguely difficult to keep
up a holiday atmosphere. 1t was in
creasingly hard to be gay, to fight
down certain inner voices that had
hitherto been stifed. Some way. life
didn't seem quite the same, quite the
gay dream 1t had hitherto been. And
yet this immeasurable vista of DESC
late waters-icy cold for all the sun
light that kissed the approaching lips
of the waves-Was some way like a
dream. too. The brain kept clear
enough, but 1t was all somewhat con-
fusing to an inner brain, a secret self
that they had scarcely been aware Of
before. It was hard to say which was
the more real-the gay life they had
echo in their ears, or these far-stretch-
ing wastes Of wintry waters.
They couldn't help but be thought
full. Realities went home TO them
that they had no desire to admit
fervent belief in their own sophistica
ton had been their dominant point
Of view, a disillusioned and a real
ism that was the tone OF their genera
ton. denying all they could not see
or hear, holding themselves super
ciliously aloof from that gracious
wonder and simplicity that still
blesses little children; but here was
something that was inscrutably be-
yond them. They couldn't laugh 1t
away. They couldn't cast II off with
a phrase Of cheap slang; demeaning
1t in order to hold firm to their own
philosophy Of self. Here was some
thing that shook their old attitude Of
selflove and self-sufficiency to its
foundations. They thought they
knew life, these three; they thought
they were bigger than life, that they
had mastered 1t and found it. but
now their unutterable conceit. the
pillar of their lives, was threatening
to fall. This sunlit sea was too big
for them; too big and too mighty and
too old.
The trouble with Neds generation
was that it was a goddess genera
tion; the same evil that razed Baby.
Ion to the dust. Ned.nand his kind
had come to be sufficient unto them
selves. They had lost the wonder
and fear Of life, and that meant
nothing less than the loss of their
wonder and fear of the great Author
CT life To these. life had been a
game that they thought they had
mastered. They had laughed to
scorn the PHILOSOPHERS that a hundred
generations Of nobler men had built
up with wondering reverence Made
arrogant by luxury and ease. thew
knew Of nothing too big for them, nc
mystery that their contenptuous
gaze could not penetrate, no wonder
that their reckless hands could not
unvel They Were drunk with their
own glories. and the ultimate Source
OF all things had no place in their
PHILOSOPHERS or their thoughts. It
was true that churches f1ourished
among them, that Charity received
her due; but the old virile faith.sthe
reverent wonder. the mighty urge
that has achieved all things that
nave been worth achieving were cold
and dead in their hearts. But ont
here In this little, wind-blown craft
surrounded by an immensity of
desolation beyond the power of their
minds to grasp. 1t was hard to hold
their old competency. Their old
PHILOSOPHERS were barrenly INSULT
cient, and they couldn't repel an
ever deepening sense of awe. The
wind, sweeping over them out of the
vastness, was a new voice, striking
the laughter from their lips and In
stilling coldness that was almost
fear In their warm youthful blood.
The sun shone now, but soon vast
areas. not far of, would be locked
tight with ice: never the movement
of wave. never the flash of a sea-
BIRDS wing over the wastes: and the