Show SHORT STORIES Beloved River By Robert Levitre Provo i r — M— - — BILL FRAMPTON tat on the porch of his shade and worked at patching iia landing net He repaired the worn places very' carefully It was summertime The trout season would' open the following day and all the rest of his equipment was in "order In an hour or so he’d be all ready for the first day's fishing Early summer viewed from the— rustic veranda of Bill’s cabin was a sight tb remember Less than a stone’s throw away right beyond his vegetable garden ran the clear waters of Little Cottonwood River riffling over shallows foaming boulders around running deep and mysterious in the quiet pools beneath the willows Beyond very close arose tfie precipitate face of Bear Mountain one of the Wasatch range of the Rockies This combination of and mountain river canyon Bill and to Old to home spelled liLs wife Hattie They were as necessary to the contentment of the old couple as skyscrapers to a Hew Yorker or the sea to a sailor But the river held first place with Bill For over thirty years he had fished its crystal waters He puttered at raising a little garden and a few sheep between times but fishing was his passion There was no other man in the 'country who knew the habits of as well as he He the rainbow trout a knew where they would lie at any given time of day or season what bait they would take and lastly1 Just how to present that inducement most skilfully Old Bill took the same deep pride and enjoy- OLD spick-and-sp- an - snow-deposite- d ment in his fishing that a painter might in the masterpiece taking form upon his canvas or a poet in the composition of his poem Therefore this afternoon he his landing net very careed 1 fully Obviously of Outdoors His figure blended harmoniously with the scene about him as he worked He was obviously of the outdoors The same sun that had tanned his face to a dark brown about his eyes had put crows-fe- et with long come wrinkles the that at the gazing sunlight on water His hair was gray— he was past seventy— and the deep lines in his face were the lines set there by meditation by quiet pleasant thoughts His physique was lean and rugged and gnarled as the scrub oaks on the mountainside He was ordinarily above him cheerful but today as he worked there was a wistfulness about his clear old eyes and air unwonted gravity in his expression "Joe Mack is due today’’ His came wife portly and ruddy-face- d out on the porch to impart the tidings Old Bill’s eyes twinkled "Reckon I hadn’t forgot IJattie He ain’t never missed now for the past fifteen years Hell be climbin’ off the ‘Creeper’ when she stops you’ll see” "The Creeper” was the dinky engine that made the trip through the canyon once a day snowslides and washouts permitting “I heard her whistle a while back BUI’’ I did too” Suddenly his fingers paused In their work and he looked up at his wife with 'troubled eyes "I — I reckon we better not tell him about the— river It would spoil his vacation” "Maybe we better not Bill” his wife agreed soberly “Leastwise not until he’s ready to go back home again” “Wg won’t mention it then” Sill said with finality and once more resumed his mending ' They See Joe "Uh-hu- h The “Creeper” coughed to a stop at the road crossing near the cabin just as Bill finished his net He and Hattie stood at the edge of the step peering expectantly at the train as the sole passenger alighted "It s Joe sure enough!” Hattie exclaimed - it Is’’ Bill rejoined as the possibility of his failing though e were ridiculous “Joe” was a medium tall somewhat overweight man about ten years younger than Bill He looked a bit soft and1 out of physical trim but the features of his face were strong and dominating and his now with gray eyes were — He twas pleasan- expectatlon dressed in clean but much used and faded khaki trousers and shirt His boots had obviously been used upon many an outing before and the shapeless felt hat he wore would have Immediately barred him from any polite society gathering His arms were loaded with assorted fishing paraphernalia' "Bill how are ya! Hattie you're sure looking fine!” He dumped his tackle on the porch grasped Bill’s hand warmly then leaned over suddenly and kissed old Hattie’i wrinkled cheek "Why Joe Mack!” she exclaimed in mock reproval while Bill guffawed heartily vowing it yrax the first time she’d blushed in fifteen years "You must be feelin’ pretty frisky Joe” he said “But we’ll soon take that out of you when you start wadin’ them riffles in hip boots” "Can’t start too soon for me T need hardening up I've got pretty soft the last year stlckln’ too close to business I’ve been lookin’ forward to this trip ever since the first of January" “We was wonderin’ today if ycHr was cornin' for sure” Hattie com- mented "Coming! Say this means more to me than all the rest of the year I’ve not missed now in fifteen years and I reckon I'll be here the next fifteen too” Pathos in Glances The old fisherman’s eyes met his wife's for a moment admonishing her to silence and the pathos in their exchange of glances was unmistakable "Yes sir” Joe chatted on happily unaware of the message in e their eyes "Yes two weeks every summer on the Little Cottonwood with Bill and Hattie— that’s marked on my calendar in red letters” Old Bill nodded his head slowly "Two weeks” the other went on "to forget business to forget everything else and just live Isn’t that right Bill? Have I ever mentioned business while I’ve been out here?” "Never have so far as I recollect slr-e- I Fishln’ and bus’ness don’t go together good anyway I alius said” "That’s just the point I’m here to relax So&ne on Bill! Come on Hattie! Let’s put this stuff away and go down and have a look at the river There followed then two wonderful weeks of fishing and loafing It was a big occasion for Hattie and Bill as well as for Joe The old couple had very few callers and Joe Mack would doubtless have felt flattered if he had known that his coming meant as much to them as the vacation did to him He and Bill tramped the river like two happy carefree kids For the first day or two Joe’s luck wasn’t so good— a man can forget a lot In a year But at the end of a week he was running a close second to Bill proud as a lord of his prowess He was a master fisherman too Fifteen years of Bill’s tutelage had brought results Two weeks drifted quickly away On the afternoon of the last day the two old fishermen tired happy and with a good catch of trout apiece wended their way back toward Bill's cabin They paused a hundred yards away for one last cast in "the big hole under the Cottonwood" "Oo ahead and try her BUI” Joe said leaning his rod against a tree and stretching out luxuriantly on the shaded grass Bill cast and hooked and landed h a trout Then he too leaned his pole against the tree and sait down by the other Joe” In surprise “What is it?” "This is our last fishin’ trip on Little Cottonwood” BUI flopped out of the river and into his basket “Is that a joke BUI?” he asked Incredulously “No” the old fisherman said slowly “But maybe I just as well start out and tell you from the beginning” “I wish you would” Bill lighted his pipe after fUling it deliberately “ ’Bout a month ago” he began "Hattie and me hitched up the old bay horse to the buckboard and drove up the river six or seven miles It was one of the first warm days we had after the snow melted We took some lunch along and Just went up fer a trip and to get a few poles for a fence Well fer a week or more the’d been quite a lot of cars stringin’ along pver on the canyon road without no seemin’ reason and sure enough there ' was three or four cars there when we arriv’ and some fellers all dressed up was standln’ lookin’ in the river and talkin’ to each other” Joe was listening attentively He nodded his head slowly "I was so plumb curious to know what they was doin’ there by the river that I climbed out of the rig and wandered over that way They looked up and laughed when they seen me a’comln’ My old clo’es persons traveled frequently ‘“Hello there grampaw' one fresh lookin’ feller says ‘Have you lost anything?’ v ‘I just thought maybe somebody had fell in the river or somethin’’ I said not wantin’ ’em ‘to think I was pryin’ into their business “ ‘No one has’ one of the others speaks up and says ‘Were just looking over the site of the future road Work had not yet begun’ but an expensive motor car was parked beside the road and two men stood viewing the site from the river’s edge Old Bill recognized 'one of them as the arrogant young engl- neer who had derided him on his former visit His arrogance was not so apparent now He chewed upon g cigar and scowled into the waters ’ below ‘ He "removed his cigai and essayed a grin as the old fisherman approached ‘Well well!” he said to his friend "here’s grampaw again” Then to the old man: "Hello Grain paw! Have you got all the fish the water through a tunnel that asked "Yeh I ased ’em why they didn’t put it in ten miles below where the river narrowed again and they told me the mountain was twice as fay through down there" “Were the men you saw representing the company that’s going to put in' the dam Bill?” "I asked- ’em if they was goln’ to do it This youngish one that I didn’t like so well swelled up an’ says he’s head engineer for the - n Construction comtold me the bid hadn’t pany been! let yet but his company had it ip the sack ‘Anyway grampaw’ he said after that 'whoever does it the river’s going to be Just as dry down your way’ Then they all Hayes-Johnso- He ' caught yet?" Bill Frampton paused in embarrassment and said "I jest allowed I’d come up and find out for sure when the workln’ begins” “Next month” the engineer said shortly “What time of month be you startin’?” The engineer scowled Again "To tell you the truth Grampaw” he said “if it gives you any satis? faction to know it we may not start at all” Old Bill’s eyes lighted up "Then there’s not there’s not—” "Oh yes There’s no use looking so happy old man The dam is going In alf right But there was a rumor in last night’s papers that the Midwestern Company might get It” He paused and again chewed "It’s tfie viciously on his cigar first' time they've meddled In any work this far west” he added half to himself " The News Breaks car came rapidly up the canyon at this juncture and was brought to a halt beside the one already there Its sole occupant a A middle-age- d gentleman alighted and came hurriedly toward the river He carried a newspaper and gesticulated with it excitedly as he approached “Midwestern got it Johnson!” he exclaimed Addressing the engl- - One of them is death Four more days Tomorrow the next day then Queer but somehow she knows that nothing will alter her course' Pete Is going to suffer as she has suffered How silly He’s gone Isn’t he? The morrow A velvety drizzle with it fine mist everywhere Ellen It slating In the lounge before the fireplace watching the glowing coals She puts a log on the fire It pitches at one end and the bright flame leaps along th rough bark Why— the bark is curled Just like his hair Peter amlles at her from the dancing flames A she glances up and footstep there he stands He pauses for a moment then crosses the room and takes her Into his arms Shs ' does not resist but her arms hang dully and her lips are cold - “Ellen do you love me?” "I ahall always love you Peter" simply “Tomorrow no tonight Will you marry me?” Her eyes are filled with bitter softness as she listens “Peter' do you realize whafr I’ve suffered?" she asks gently Impetuously “I’ve suffered too - tonight?” And with' wondering eyes Ellen opens ths long box offers hlnv a clgaret and takes one for herself She tosses the other into the glowing embers and gently closes ths 1 Hd “Perhaps Peter” 4 d Eventually the daily dread of the beginning of the dam drove him to find out definitely for himself just how much longer his reprieve was to last He harnessed the old bay horse and once mbre with his wife' on the rickety seat beside him drove laboriously up the canyon Cottonwood Dam’ “I was took aback I tell you and when I got my breath I said ‘But if you put a dam in there it’ll' dry up the river down below’ “Then you ought to of heard ’em laugh Joe “ ‘Exactly’ says this first brash feller who is youngish and has a little black mustache ‘We'll deflect No Place to Fish “ ‘I won’t have no felace to fish "Then they laughed some more” As Joe Mack listened the lines of his face were set frrimly “Did you say anything more?” he said sadly up and down the canyon road The tension of waiting got on BUl’s nerves as the days passed Each morning he looked apprehensively Into the riYer expecting to find its waters turbulent with the mud of the first excavations Each day finding it stiU clear he gathered his equipment with eager haste and fished— fiahed down stream Always down stream so that have that many more pre- clous moments to fish if the mud should come didn't look none too good I guess curious watched the blue amoke of her dgaret curl and drift upward toward the celling Why did Peter have to drift too when he knew she loved him? Why? That was three weeks ago They had been aitting in her cosy apartment talking when suddenly Pe-- Ur turned to her and said he was through Ellen didn't understand but men are like that She hadn’t minded for the first few days but Sunday came— and on Sunday they had always gone for a long drive in the afternoon and stopped at some inn for tea All that gone Her whole world and happiness If everything else htd smashed- - why wait she r- fleeted bitterly The Idea rather obsessed he! for a few days Then It began to fix Itself In her mind and one afternoon she went to a druggist and purchased a bit of volatile poison Just enough to put lyi one clgaret She took a package of Camels pushed a little of ihe powder Into one of them with a fine wire put them in a long box and mixed them thoroughly Each night just after- dinner when Peter always dropped in she took one of the clgareU and alowly smoked £ And each night' Ellen wondered whether tomorrow she would go to the long box Yet the days passed and slowly the box emptied ' Tonight there are only four left FALLEN Joe Mack arose and took his pole from against the trunk of the big cottonwood He was very thoughtful and very calm "Anyway BiU” he said quietly "Tm going to make nne more good cast Into this big cottonwood hole” Joe returned to the city and the summer wore slowly along BUI fished the river He spent most of his time now along 1U banka and in Its swirling wading knee-dee- p waters The river was his love More so now than- - ever Fishing was for the old fellow a very real and very necessary part of his exla- tence He felt now ss a prisoner who counts the dsys before his execution As such a prisoner might gaze -- at each vanishing sun he gazed now upon the Cottonwood river and cherished the thrUl of battling with each fighting rainbow Tension of Waiting Work on the dam had not yet begun though cars bearing officious-lookin- g Joe Can’t Understand The city man could have been no more astonished if a trout had ' U of U Student there” "No good fishin’ waters up "“Yes?” asks The Third of Three By WOOD WORSLEY "Can’t we fish above the dam BUI?” paw’ “ ‘But’ I told ’em ‘I live down below here and that’ll take the water out of the river by my place’ “ ‘I suppose you’ll have to carry in your drinking water in a barrel then’ he says “ ‘I git my drlnkin’ water out of a spring’ I said ‘That don’t worry me none “‘What does then?’ ghjs feller -- Start this summer and finish up next But all next season th’ waUf’ll be too muddy— an’ after that there won’t be no more river” h" will begin right over by that rock and open at the other end Into Sunset Valley Less than a mile through right here It’s what you call an irrigation project gram- - - start pretty "Uh-huh shadow-flecke- "Course ten-inc- ly across the waters "I suppose they’ll soon” Joe said finally BUI said absently He out across d the gazed water for a few moments in silence Then he saidf’Tve got somethin’ I’d just as well tell you “Uh-hu- This Section laughed again” Both men stared out thoughtful- got” (Free Lance) — “Well Joe” he remarked "looks like your outin’ is about all over for another year” “Yep” Joe admitted regretfully "But it’s sure helped me Look at my color and look how hard I’ve By Writers of neer "They underbid us fifteen hundred McArthur’s gone crazy Johnson Ht's gone crazy!" "Who's gone crazy!” old Bill ssld mildly "MacArthur president of the Midwestern If It’s any of your bust- ness old man Here!” He thrust the paper at the engineer "Look! A picture of the old fool and two columns of his Idiotic specifications!” The engineer studied the front page and whistled to himself as he retd “Why the imbecile! He’s going to put it in down at the gap! What’s the man thinking of? The tunnel will have to he twice as long!” "He’s (ost his mind’’ the new arrival sald bitterly "like I said It’s ever the most damfool stunt In of heard my life!” Bill Frampton touched the engineer’s arm hesitantly His eyes were shining and his bronzed hand trembled "Kin I look at him?” he asked "Kin I see his picture?” The young engineer thrust the paper at him "There he is grampaw!” he said with savage irony "The great Joseph MacArthur of the Midwestern Construction Company!” Old Bill looked at the picture for a long minute With a ragged sleeve he wiped a tear from his furrowed cheek Then he returned the paper while a happy little smile lighted his face "Shucks it ain’t either!” he said "It’s just Jos Mack with his store Mfe-sls- would be spending a minute or two grinning at the antics Put it up to 30 feetwith a akilled performer and ha would even apend a half hour But give him a Blondin carrying another man acrosa tha Niagara on hia back walking a rope high above the brink and this same man could not be carried away ha would fight to atay and aea th end Why? forsooth a man ia flirting with th extremes! danger might in fact allp and carry another to death with him Thla ia tha case of the author Ha is just funny or ridiculous as he sensation and aentiment just at the level of our heada and doea it clownishly He ia somewhat interesting it he doe it at atill greater risk But let him assume tha fullest risk and endanger the sentiments of a race and if ha haa ' the artistry to “get across" and make all feel that it is ona of the most nat ural simplest and safest of performances he becomes a great author So our beginners need to be warned to atep lightly carefully and gracefully in their compositions when dealing with those fine things called sensations emotions sentiments and “effects” Do not hesitate to attempt them but be not disappointed if your editor with a sigh relieved by a grin send your effusions ° e ' I red-fac- clothes back for further trial This author staggar somewhat as he makes his passage usee too many words at time somewhat slightly bungles a real situation but he doea finally “get acrosa” and raally there is rssl pleasure over his performince1 ed on” KDITOKIAL NOTE Thu story score one retl success as compared with those which havt been read previously It has a true heart interest which will appeal to tha general reader It is the lailure to get this appeal which holds many good authors to the most mesger returns from stories much belter told than this After all no author can afford to lose the applause of the common people for art that appeal only to the initiated has lost most of its opportunity to elevate Yet the handling of the elements which bring this appeal is as dangerous as carrying and playing with dynamite Sensations emotions sentiments and "effects" are ih material Out of which great stories are made but how easily they deteriorate into sensationalism emotionalism (even hysteria) and But one who aspires to write stories which- stir the heart as well as tha mind and only such ara great stories must handle and shape these dangerous elemental The risk mtist be taken Apparently there is nothing attractive to the mind unless acOne would not companied by risk stop an inytant to see a boy walking a wire stretched two feet from th ground Bauer it to five feet and h ' Banish congestion pain the sure faster way "Ben -- Cay" penetrates! Fer speedy relief from psim and acbesr mb on generously vigor“Ben-Gay"- ” effec--tivls- - ously This original Bsume Analgesiqne penetrates through skin Seth muscles directly to the very pain area — tnd does it in a flash Then it stays there until the pain is rented “Ben-Gayrelieves pain faster because it does go deeper and because it does stay in longer Many imitations have been attempted But for roof byposenshising (pain relieving) action get tbe box with tbo red on iu -- ' “Ben-Gay- RUB ” MIN AWAY WITH DAUME'BEmf IT P’E"N-E‘T'R-A"TE- ‘$ |