| Show the old settler my dear san Jua ners he was a typical trapper of the 49 nineties and his trap line extended from snow flat to slick ahrn on the west slope we had seen his hobnail tracks crossing gulches and ridges sometimes following his pack burros when he was moving camp and sometimes aone alone intent on making his rounds but the old man himself a seemingly solitary wanderer was as elusive as old bigfoot the lone wolf which he was trying most of all to catch and then 4 one ne day at noon as w we followed a narrow shelf for a drink at a little spring we found ourselves right in the old mans camp to our surprise lie he was right there instead of away after his traps and to our very much greater greater surprise he i was dressed in in a clean gray suit neat soft shoes his long hair and beard carefully combed and trimmed and he sat on a cam campstool camp p stool reading the bible we just wondered whether or not he had taken leave of his senses as we stopped short in in astonishment do you boys know this is sunday or that mean anything to you he asked in tones which assured us he was perfectly sane and a pleasant man to meet finding us willing to listen he launched forth on the matters with which he seemed to have been busy as we came in sight in order for us to live in this world he began there are certain laws which are necessary for us to observe those laws have been kindly given by the creator who placed us here and on our observance of them depends not only continued life here but our in another world for which we are here to prepare because we are given reason to understand der stand our laws have been given to us in plain words but the essential laws are given to all things to the brute creation as well as to men every living thing he continued t with words of the educated man which we later found him to be is given laws for its health and preservation they are mys terou sly written in its being by what we call instinct these coyotes and wolves have laws given to them for their temporal salva continued on page ten fen the old settler continued from par 1 tion and if the coyotes had the stamina to t observe their laws as i carefully as old bigfoot they I 1 would live on and on as he be does but these coyotes are a lot of weak willed renegades rene gades who yield ito to temptation anc have to pay for it with their lives I 1 know by their tracks that when they come ito to my bait made deadly with poison or with traps the laws of their salvation admonished them to get away but they stand around there weakening to temptation te MP till they break their law and find themselves in a trap or I 1 in convulsions with poison eat old bigfoot oh I 1 have great respect for that old fellow he has taught me much about fidelity to purpose when he detects my lures he turns promptly away he jumps clean of all my tracks he has the wind tell him about me instead of it telling me about him his howl is always to deceive me never to give me any clue aganet him I 1 do wish I 1 could be as faithful to the laws which god has given to me as he is to the laws which god has given to him think it over boys if a wolf can be faithful to keep the law to the best of his understanding how much obligation are we under un der to do as well ALBERT R |
