Show I IOne flACK BACK TO 10 ll GUt UP One of or the commercial travelers now ln JI living prosperously prosperously pros pros- ros- ros In iii Salt Snit Laico waked a Hood of Ilca pleasant ant memories memo memo- vies ries the other othel da day when when ho he said sail he lie sold chewing gum gum away back In the pioneer loneer days ays of that commodity Now the pioneer producer pro of that cO commodity lt in Indiana In In- diana lana was as the tamarack tree Irce Those days ns n's the best Dest thing was when the lie schoolmaster ter tel got bot sick and ha had to dismiss his pupils and you went vent with Little Jim or 01 Clarissa and and amI anda amIa a whole lot of other hut children but the rest didn't count countdown countdown down down own across the Held that ha had been covered with snow all Jill through the winter but ha had been bared hared by the wind and the warmer sun of the March the wind that was as vs still till I shat sharp enough out there on the open fields but hut which was helpless and as ns one entered the lie woods There Thereas was as a mass of or blackberry berry briars In the fence corIel corners cor cor- ners I at the cd edge e of or the wood ool and a n hedge of or sumac and sassafras and beyond that was AVES the big oak with witha a hole holo at the base babe of oC its ILs bole blackened h by lire and the tho legend of or a bear that once took refuge refugo from hunters t there And AmI there was the group of oC fox dens in the he soft son sand of tho ho deeper depths of oC the wood and then the Ute southern hillsides where the ho forest foiest pushed hushed Its feet into the tho marl marsh h and amI where scarlet wintergreen berrIes peeped up through the lie lingering snow and between tho ho carpet of oC lead dead oak leaves lea that had hall drifted down gently for COl better better bet bet- ter tel pr prOtection There were tile Hie broad i reaches caches Q of f huckleberry huckle huckle- he berry IT bushes hushes with the ferns that ferns that you OU used to call can brakes all brakes all about them and arid a a. little farther Carther on the tall straight forms of tho the tamarack It-ee It trees The Tho first warm days as a's of or a south moving sun I beckoned the sap san i from from the moist rocks kept warm I by y the thick garment arment of oC many years years' vegetation and there was the tho sudden checking of oC th the sap with the cold nights that hat followed followell And Ami the Hood that ha had started on its Hs errand lo lothie ragged tops of or the the trees exuded exude from every crevice In the Dark bark and formed In little knots that always s 's found and that Clarissa er imperiously required Little Jim had a n pocket knife given him hini at Christmas Christ Christ- mas nias and riot not yet ct grown rown so common that he ho would use it for ordinary needs s. s But ut he lie would bare Its blade blado In the tho service of or Clarissa And you OU stood like a loyal oal squire while Little Jim climbed up to lo the better lumps of or tIre the colored amber gum cut it awa away with his gleaming knife and grandly divided e it between the tho two girls From nil all around the tho mar marsh h there were crIes cilos of or the tho other children I but ut there is a depth and a a. seclusion lon in tamarack swamps that protected little Jim and when be ie he growing venturesome climbed fifteen feet feel up the lie bare bole of oC a tamarack anH anU dropped unhurt to the ground round with a pocket poel-ct full rull of or gum there was not ot tho the slightest reason in the world wh why he should not riot give tho the bigger half hal to Clarissa and amI leave looye you ou and to tell him All right lIght Mr 11 Jim We e can get all th the gum Sum wp fi want without you OU What a wagging of or jaws th there re was when they children children chil chil- dren ren came out of or the swamp SWami What hat a Jolly lance dance the they had about the tire fire that one of or them with a n pre pre- elous and expensive match that had been hoon purloined from the time house What hat a shivering tale the elders of or the parly told lold of or the panther that lint once came caine to th the fallen Callen white while oak up there at the corner of or tire the field and screamed like a woman all through one fearsome night What j Joy oy of or sll sliding on the tire glassy Ice Ico that lint had been protected protected pro pro- by hy rank shrubbery from the sun that hat had searched out all other ponds and destroyed thc them m And then lien what a Joy jor was that walk home In tho the shelter of ot tho the hedged hedge l fence row and across the tho field with its shocks of oC corn like tepees of oC suddenly vanished Indians and through tho the orchard which still gave an occasional apple that a bo boy of or fifty years ago could coul cat and antI never feel a apang apang apang pang And so on home ant and the work of or the evening o Somehow the mention of ot primitive o l things In gum sum brings back act all aU tho the smells smalls of or tho the forest In winter and the silence of or the the tam tamarack rael marsh marsh ani and tho ho swift loves of ot ota ofa ofa a boy the boy the loves that are arc rather the lasting things thinS'S In life nfl after r all They have havo handsomer gum sum nowadays But Dut It Isn't half haIr the fun to set It H. |