m
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
GIFT
Carey MoUilliams
THE NATURAL MAN.
Freedom is this to me -
'The remedy.
ARRANGED AND PRINTED FOR THE PUB-
LISHER, AT ALWIL SHOP, RIDGEWOOD,
NEW JERSEY.
Copyright, 1902, by J. Wm. Lloyd.
The friendly and flowing savage, who is he?
Is he waiting for civilization, or is he past it,
and mastering it?
Whitman.
'If you would live at your ease,' says Democ-
ritus, 'manage but a few things.' * * * For the
greater part of what we say and do, being unnec-
cessary, if this were but once retrenched we
should have both more leisure & less disturbance.
Marcus Aurelius.
// is not meant, Reader, that you
should live life as this man lived it, but only
that you should fearlessly and gladly live
your own life.
C H A P T E R I
T was June ; hazy, hot, volup-
tuous, with just a hint in the
clouds piling like pillows of
wn behind the Western
bourne that upon them Thunder and
Storm were sleeping.
Just here the trees opened a little on
the lower side of the terrace and she could
see far down the mountain slope and off
over the cities and fields of the plain. Lazy
with the heat her horse stopped; or per-
haps horses also like beautiful views. Be it
as you please, here they paused and gazed
downward. Then occurred that which to
io THE NATURAL MAN
her seemed as a vision, a phantasy.
There was a clatter of hoofs below,
beating the still air vividly, and along the
open space of red road down there, perhaps
one hundred yards away, flew a naked
horse, that is saddleless, bridleless, and on
his back a naked man, or nearly so, waving
a green branch. Hardly had he disappeared
behind the thick shade of overarching
trees before she doubted her eyes, so like
a relief on an ancient tomb had seemed the
muscular figure clinging with sinewy legs
to the glossy steed, vine-crowned and
branch-laden, cumbered with no garments.
"There are no demi-gods in these
days," she said.
But just then came a shrill neigh from
the right hand distance, and a nickering
whinney from the left, and out into the
open on the same track came a young colt,
THE NATURAL MAN n
all legs, tail, & outstretched neck, bolting
with all the wasteful speed of his youth
after his retreating dam.
" There must be something real about
it, Jack," she said, stroking the mane of
her steed, who was much interested, ears
a-prick, " One may imagine Greek heroes,
but horse-babies are too ridiculous to be
anything but facts."
Jack did not resent this insult to his
race, but turning one eye and ear back at
the sound of her voice deliberately took
up the ascent once more.
Many women would have feared, and
with dread visions of escaped lunatics
would have returned home headlong, but
this young woman, haughty and reserved
as her acquaintances deemed her, was
withal dauntless and daring, and had no
tremors.
12 THE NATURAL MAN
But perhaps two hours later she decid-
ed that she had lost her way. Not that
there was aught alarming in that, either, for
it was not yet noon & she had only to take
any downward track to get to the low land
where some main road could be found.
Accordingly she took the first down trail,
a mere woodcutter's track, and after awhile
came to a better road, and then to a cross-
ing. Here Jack shied, and she started, for
there, on a bank, half in the sun, asleep,
lay her demi-god again. He was not nude
completely, for close-fitting breeches of
corduroy reached to his knees, but elsewise
he wore nothing but a wreath of wild grape
leaves on his broad brow, plumed with one
barred owl-feather. Brown as a nut with
sun-tan, his carven muscles stood out
sculpturesquely as he lay on his back, one
knee drawn up, one hand under his head,
THE NATURAL MAN 13
the other thrust into a great pouch at his
girdle. His hair was heavy, as always with
those who eschew hats, and a little curly,
his face bearded, strong and not unhand-
some, his flesh clean.
Undoubtedly he was crazy, but he was
picturesque, and she was an artist and not
afraid ; besides he was not mounted now,
and Jack was fleet. She looked & admired,
and even penciled a little sketch on her
note book. But before more than the face
was done Jack grew suspicious, snorted,
and stamped on the stony road-bed, and
the demi-god woke, stared at her in a little
confusion, reddened, and sat up. Perhaps
even a Greek would have blushed to awake
in a wood and see a haughty young wom-
an, elegantly attired, regarding him with
just a trace of amusement gleaming under
her level brows and slipping away a note
14 THE NATURAL MAN
book and pencil.
" Excuse me, but will you tell me
which road to take to go to Rippleford? "
He stood up with a light bound, and
his voice was gentle and refined.
" Certainly ! I will with pleasure. But
neither of these. You must go with me
down this one a little way, and then I will
put you on the Rippleford road."
Putting his fingers to his lips he blew
a piercing whistle, and out of the woods,
from somewhere, came cantering the black
mare she had seen and the gawky colt.
Braided into the mane and flowing tail of
the mother-horse were several feathers,
Indian-wise. Trotting by her side with one
hand on her mane the demi-god leapt on
her back, and guiding her by a motion of
his hand, rode alongside of his questioner.
"Now if you will come with me, please,
THE NATURAL MAN 15
I will show you the road."
" Mercy " thinks this daring young
woman, " I am in his power now, I must
humor him, anyway. He has a splendid
torso, too, and what a calf and instep. I
would like to model them."
But she said nothing, and the silence
was a little constrained.
He rode just ahead, &? the colt ran in
front and teased the mare, made her prance
and curvet, but the little thing was afraid
of Jack.
After going a little way they came in
sight of a small valley with the mountain
very steep on the North-West, a beautiful
park-like vale with much green grass
growing in fine turf, and beautiful clumps
of noble trees, a brook in the centre, and
cows and goats grazing. And on the side
near her was a stout fence made of stumps
16 THE NATURAL MAN
and pleached trees.
" What a lovely place," she said, "who
owns it?"
" I do."
" Poor, naked man, he is very crazy,"
she thought.
" Indeed! you are very fortunate."
He gave her a smile, a quick gleam of
white teeth under a long mustache.
" Yes, I am the happiest of men."
A pleasant form for insanity to take, if
one must have it. She must humor it.
"And these cattle, they are yours?"
"All mine."
A little more silence, &? then they came
to where a road seemed to come out of
this vale and off to the eastward.
"This is the road to Rippleford."
" Oh thank you! I am greatly obliged."
" No, on the contrary I owe you
THE NATURAL MAN 17
thanks for the pleasure you have given
me."
He looked very sane, with a pleasant,
clear light in his eyes, and she smiled a
little.
" Then even the happiest of men can
recieve an additional pleasure ? "
" Why, certainly, who more so! to
him that hath shall be given! "
" But I spoiled your nap."
He reddened again and murmured like
a shy schoolboy, apologetically:
" It was so beautiful there, and so de-
lightful to lie on one's back and look up
into the sky, and hear the bees murmur
in the tree tops."
"It was indeed, I quite envied you,
for I used to do just that when a child."
Instantly his shyness vanished in the
enthusiasm of one who utters a favorite
i8 THE NATURAL MAN
thought.
" And why do you not do it now? You
would enjoy it just as much now as you
did then. Nay more, for the adult mind
can interweave more charms, can be more
consciously happy, can receive more wide
delights than the child mind. Why do you,
why does every one, pine for the joys of
childhood and yet refuse the means that
childhood instinctively takes to attain its
pleasures ? "
He was warm with enthusiasm, his
eyes flashing, his sensitive features glow-
ingly expressive, but he did not look in
the least maniacal, f? his voice was gentle
almost to music, and yet low as if used
mainly in the utterance of murmured soli-
loquies.
But she thought of herself, the flattered
and stately Miss Earle, asleep on her back
THE NATURAL MAN 19
in the sun, gazed at possibly by a naked
demi-god on a black mare, and she replied
very coldly.
" No, I thank you. I do not think the
attitude would become me."
A smile came into his eyes, twitched
the corners of his mustache & ran all over
his face. He was actually laughing at her.
She opened her eyes a little with a
haughty flash of indignation.
" Good morning, sir, I must be going
now! "
He leapt from his horse, and running
to the roadside plucked from the grass a
bunch of wild strawberries and, running
beside her horse as she moved off, held
them up.
" I was rude," he said, " please forgive
me and take these."
His face was so contrite, & his action
ao THE NATURAL MAN
so spontaneous (besides, she remembered
that she must humor him) that she said,
" Oh, it is of no consequence. Thank
you, these are delicious."
"You are very generous," he murmur-
ed, "good morning. This road will take
you direct to Rippleford. If ever you come
this way again, come and see my home."
And leaping on his mare, who had
trotted behind him like a dog, he turned,
and galloped toward his valley. In spite of
herself she could not help turning Jack
and looking after him. The black mare
flew toward the fence and cleared it like a
bird, while after came the nickering colt.
He could not jump the fence, too, but as
the outside was less steep than the inside,
he found a place where he could clamber
up to the top of the wall, and from here,
leaping down, he was soon tearing after his
THE NATURAL MAN 21
dam. And the last that Theodora Earle
saw of them, all three rode with a splash
into the brook, where the mare commenced
to drink, and the man, the owlplume nod-
ding on his head, sat on her side, plashing
his bare feet in the cool stream.
CHAPTER II
T was the office of the Ripple-
ford Record.
Such places are all unbeau-
U^ tiful and they are all alike.
But the editor washed his inky fingers
and set out his two chairs, for he had lady
visitors- his cousin Edith, with the flaxen
hair, and her dark friend, Theodora Earle.
" Oh, indeed, Cousin Sax is very am-
bitious," Edith was saying, " he aspires to
have the best country paper in the State.
Paid contributors, you know, & that sort
of thing."
Saxon Ward laughed. "Yes, Cousin
24 THE NATURAL MAN
Edith writes me stories sometimes."
"O my stories are nothing. But you
really have one great contributor."
" Forrest Westwood, you mean. Yes,
he is a genius in his way. I must show you
the little poem he brought me in yesterday.
Said he had just composed it. Came tear-
ing up here on a gallop, as usual, & away
again in a cloud of dust. What a happy,
healthy vision he is, a living picture. And
Blackbird looks just as happy, as she car-
ries him, and almost as intelligent."
" Oh Cousin Sax, let me see the poem,
please, right away! "
" Well, its right there in the desk, on
top, under the paper weight. You must
see this man before you leave, Miss Earle.
As an artist, you would appreciate him. I
would wager considerable that he is the
most picturesque man in America. Thoreau
THE NATURAL MAN 25
was nothing beside him."
"Indeed! tell me about him."
" Well, he was born not far from here,
on a common country farm. Nothing re-
markable about the Westwoods, generally.
Just farmers, but perhaps a little more
given to wood craft than most of their sort.
His father died from a carriage accident
[which also injured his mother] when he
was a mere boy. He grew up after his own
devices, and was always peculiar. Always
wandering in the woods, or reading, or
saying strange, startling, beautiful things.
He took a long trip when a lad, with an
uncle, up in the Adirondacks and Canada,
and again out West. Another time he went
off and spent a year among the Indians.
But his mother became an invalid, as a
result of her injury, & he came back and
stayed with her till she died. She idolized
26 THE NATURAL MAN
him, and gave him his way in everything,
and as a boy he laid his plans to be what
he is now. He obtained the gift from her
of a tra6t of wild forest land on the moun-
tains, &? made a bargain with a wood-cutter
by which the majority of the trees were to
be cleaned away, stumps and all, the
stumps to be piled on the borders as a
fence, in return for the valuable timber cut
down. The wood-cutter had the best of it,
financially, but Westwood was level-head-
ed, too, in his way. He had gone over the
ground & marked all the trees he wanted
saved, and a landscape gardener could not
have done it with more judgment. He
sowed all the clear ground between the
clumps of trees with grass, and from time
to time set out fruit 2? nut trees and grape
vines and flowering shrubs; and by the
time he became a man and was ready to
THE NATURAL MAN 27
occupy it he had a perfect American Eden
there, a lovely park, which was part mea-
dow, part pasture and part orchard. After
his mother died he sold the home farm,
moved to this park in the forest, and gave
himself up entirely to the realization of
his eccentric fancies. His pet doctrine is
that in becoming civilized human beings
have forgotten the art of happiness, which,
he maintains, can only be found in living
like a child and close to nature. To be a
sort of gentle savage, or refined barbarian,
or, as he would call it, " a natural man," is
his ideal. He rather despises property, &
gave away most of his to a widowed aunt
who was left poor with a very large family.
He lives mainly on his own game, milk,
eggs, fruits and honey, and by selling his
surplus of these, carving nick-nacks to sell
to summer visitors, & writing for my paper
28 THE NATURAL MAN
he has a small income. But his habits are
so simple he has more than he wants, and
considers himself rather a rich man. His
one dissipation is the purchase of books."
"All this is very interesting, but does
not prove him so very unique."
" No, but he is unique, nevertheless.
Imagine a man, in conversation naive as a
child, sometimes shy and sensitive, some-
times bold, eloquent and enthusiastic, but
always saying the most startling things in
the most sincere and persuasive way ; a
poet; a sculptor, or at least a carver; a
musician who wanders thro* the deep
woods at midnight and flutes divinely to
the moon; who reads Greek and Latin;
who wears no more clothing than the
weather, and Society's prejudices force him
to; who sleeps out doors in summer and
often in winter; who hunts with the bow
THE NATURAL MAN 29
and arrow; who rides bareback; carries
great weights on his head ; lives in a half-
cave and in the midst of a happy family of
dogs, goats, cows, horses, squirrels, snakes,
birds and bees ; is as frankly pagan as a
Greek, and a gentle contemnor of all con-
ventionalities and sacred institutions."
" Now, Theodora, listen to this! "
TRIO LET.
'To lie on one's back and look at the sky
Up thro' the branches & leaves of gee en!
Pf^hy, I used to do that when only so high
Lie on my back and look up at the sky,
At the white and the blue, and wish I
could fly:
It gives one a feeling so great and serene
To He on one's back and gaze at the sky,
Up thro* the branches & leaves of green.
30 THE NATURAL MAN
" There, isn't that just lovely!"
" It is quite pretty."
"Quite pretty! I say it is perfectly
beautiful ! "
"You must praise generously, Miss
Earle, for Cousin Edith has quite lost her
romantic heart to my picturesque friend."
"Did you say he composed that yes-
terday? "
" So he said. But what makes you look
so peculiarly?"
" Oh, nothing, only I feel that I could,
you have told me so much, you know,
sketch your hero, lying on his back on the
bracken. Let me try."
(Pulls out her note book and begins to
make marks rapidly, concealing the page
from the others.)
" There, isn't that like him? Am I not
a seer? "
THE NATURAL MAN 31
"Splendid! Miss Earle, why, it is a
portrait! "
" Why, Theodora! how could you do
it!"
Just then came the clatter of hoofs
without, an anxious neigh, and a nickering
whinney.
" Speak of the devil " said Saxon
Ward, "come here, girls! "
Adown the village street toward them,
reeling rhythmically in an ambling pace,
came Blackbird, with Westwood on her
back, and the ubiquitous, leggy colt. Evi-
dently both mare and master had on their
society attire, for she had a panther skin
surcingled on with a broad horsehair cinch,
in lieu of saddle; and he wore Indian leg-
gins and moccasins, and a sort of vest, or
rather shirt, sleeveless, with large armholes
and cut low fcf square in the neck, made from
32 THE NATURAL MAN
numberless mole skins, so neatly sewn to-
gether that the outside was as unbroken as
velvet & softer than any woven nap could
have been. On his head were now no vine-
leaves, but the owlplume twirled in the
braided lock, and on his back hung a bow
and quiver of arrows. Behind the proces-
sion, at an easy jog-trot, side by side like
a well-matched team, lolling red tongues
and hanging long velvety ears, came two
little beagle hounds.
It was a pretty pageant, seen in the
long rays of the declining sun.
In his right hand Westwood carried
something. Seeing the heads of Ward and
Edith out of the window he sprang up,
standing, on the back of Blackbird, start-
ing her into a canter, fcf came up swinging
a great hawk, transfixed with an arrow,
around his head with a very boyish air
THE NATURAL MAN 33
and shout of triumph. But catching sight
of Miss Earle's face beyond he dropped
back to a sitting posture in some confusion,
and with such precipitation that he nearly
lost his seat altogether.
"There, Theo," scolded Edith, "I
wanted him to show off, &f he commenced
beautifully, and you frightened him so that
he nearly tumbled down."
" Well, that would have been showing
off wouldn't it? "
" Be still ! you always were a fright
anyway. Mr. Westwood I want to make
you acquainted with my very dear friend,
Miss Theodora Earle of Boston."
Westwood bowed to this head-long
introduction, and then, leaping off Black-
bird, came striding in with the two little
hounds at his heel.
" I think Miss Earle and I have met
34 THE NATURAL MAN
before."
"Oh the horrid, deceitful thing!
Why Mr. Westwood, here she has been
letting Cousin Sax and me tell her all
about you for the last hour, as if she had
never heard of you, and now it appears you
were acquainted."
"Talking about me!" began West-
wood, embarrassed again.
But Miss Earle came to his assistance.
"Indeed I never heard of this gentle-
man before. But I met him day before
yesterday, while riding on the mountain,
and he directed me to Rippleford. He was
very kind. So you see there was no decep-
tion, except a little bit of mystification
about the picture which I would have
cleared up before long. You see I first saw
Mr. Westwood "
"Asleep in the sun, I'll wager! That's
THE NATURAL MAN 35
how you got his picture ! Forrest, that's a
good one on you! Fairly caught that time."
"Yes, he was asleep, and I had just
time to sketch his face when he woke. It
was very rude, Mr. Westwood, forgive
me."
" I will forgive you, if you will accept
my invitation and come to Vale Sunrise
and see my home."
"'Vale Sunrise,' a pretty name! is
that the name of your home ?
" No, Vale Sunrise is the name of my
farm. Cave-Gables is the name of my
home."
" The names are a temptation in them-
selves. I will surely come, some day, if
Mr. Ward or Edith will go with me."
" It is a great honor, Miss Earle,"
said Saxon Ward, "invitations to visit
Cave Gables are not common, I assure
36 THE NATURAL MAN
you."*[f" I believe that, & I am very grate-
fill, Mr. Westwood."
" But see here, Theo, I have a crow
to pick with you. To think of your having
those adventures with Mr. Westwood on
the mountain, two days ago, and not a
word to me two days ! just think of it.
Ah, you are a faithless friend."
" Miss Earle is not such a chatter box
as you, Cousin Edith."
" Oh Cousin Sax! how mean of you.
I'm not a chatter box, am I, Mr. West-
wood?"
"No indeed, Miss Lyle. It is certainly
not boxed"
" Mr. Westwood ! and I appealed
to you ! Very well, I will punish you sir,
and vindicate myself, by not speaking to
you for a whole week sometime."
" What beautiful dogs you have, Mr.
THE NATURAL MAN 37
Westwood. I am very fond of dogs. Come
here doggies, I want to pat you!"
The little beagles, lying side by side
between Westwood's feet, picked up their
ears at this, and wagged their tails a bit by
way of canine courtesy, but did not other-
wise move, except to look from Miss Earle
to their master.
" It's all right, babies, she is a friend.
Go to her."
Then up got the little houndkins and side
by side, as usual, went to Miss Earle, and
received the caresses of the two young
ladies with evident delight. But at a
"Hist!" and beckoned finger from their
master, they instantly returned, and laid
down by his side as before.
" They would take a prize at any show,
Mr. Westwood."
" Yes, the rearing and training of bea-
38 THE NATURAL MAN
gles has been a passion in my family for
at least a century, and we have a strain of
our own. The Westwood beagles are well
known ; for beauty, intelligence, docility
and tenacity of scent there are none better,
and I can sell my pups for a fancy price.
I have two puppies now at home, unsold.
Bell, here, is the mother, and the father a
pedigreed prize winner."
" Indeed, then please consider them
sold to me & train them for me as you see
fit. I want them for my little brother in
Boston. What are these dogs named?"
"Bayer and Bellt. Bay & Bell for short."
" Mr. Westwood is a sort of a baron,
Theo, and his dogs are his henchmen and
retainers. He has two to guard his castle,
two to herd his flocks and two to hunt
with and usually some puppies for
squires."
THE NATURAL MAN 39
" Where did you get the hawk, For-
rest, and what are you going to do with
him!"
" Yesterday he killed a hen of mine.
And the day before one. And I swore
vengeance 5? lay in wait for him. But his
eyes were anointed with the oil of prudence
and he saw me. And today I took The-
ocritus and went up to the Swallow's Nest
to comfort my soul with bucolic poetry.
There hiding, my enemy unsuspectingly
came, and wheeled in slow rings just below
me, always looking down at the hens; and
when the moment came I rained one of
my gentle shafts upon him so that he fell,
spirally down-whirling, into the very
midst of those he would have slain, and -
I just picked him up fc? brought him here.
I didn't know then what it was for, but I
know now that the gods made me carry it
4O THE NATURAL MAN
so as to have something wherewith to ap-
pease the just wrath of Miss Lyle and
persuade her to speak to me as of yore,
without the direful silence of one whole
week spoken of by Edith the prophet."
" O thank you, Mr. Westwood, how
good you are! I will have it stuffed and
mounted. But you know I could never
have kept that threat, for I am a chatter
box, and that's the truth."
" Well, I must go now. My kine 'with
trailing feet fc? shambling gait' will be com-
ing in & lowing to be milked. Goodnight,
Miss Earle. And you, my good friends,
come with her, as soon as you can, and
spend the day with me. Good night all.
Here babies, heel ! march! "
And in another moment Blackbird was
skimming toward the setting sun, bearing
on her back this strange man, along the
THE NATURAL MAN 41
dusty village street, the owl-plume flutter-
ing above, and the little hounds, shoulder
to shoulder, running hard behind.
"He has to dress more when he comes
to the village," Saxon said, "for the village
fathers were moved to righteous indigna-
tion, once, and arrested him for indecent
nakedness."
"What do you think of him, Theo?"
" His strangeness is all that you des-
cribed it, certainly. But I don't know
whether I like him or not, yet. When I
first saw him I thought he was crazy.
" Everybody does, I guess."
CHAPTER III
UST as Vale Sunrise became
aware of its name that sum-
mer morning, came into it
from the eastward three riders,
long shadows going far before, their horses
hoofs brushing dew from the herbage.
They were on the trail leading from
the gate to Cave Gables.
"Ah, there it is!" said Saxon Ward,
as a turn in the trail revealed a tall Gothic
gable on a terrace at the foot of the moun-
tain. Between where they stood and the
terrace was an intervale, as the pleasant
old word is, of alluvial land and in this a
44 THE NATURAL MAN
narrow winding lake, made, evidently, by
damming the brook which flowed from the
terrace, and a little unfenced garden about
which patroled two black and white collies
evidently to keep off the cows, goats and
other creatures which might destroy its
succulent products.
" How like Arcadia! " said Miss Earle,
as she dwelt on the beauties of the scene
the sparkling dew, the long, cool shadows,
the morning light on the dimpling lake, the
browsing goats and kine.
" It is Arcadia," said Edith, ardently.
" See, there goes Forrest now! "
Up the path on the terrace they saw
him mounting, balancing a vessel of milk
on his head, his two little hounds behind.
Just then the collies gave warning, a thun-
derous reply came from mightier canine
throats at the dwelling, &? the beagles and
THE NATURAL MAN 45
puppies added their shriller notes to the
din. Forrest set down his milk, said some-
thing to the dogs, and then, with a whoop,
came bounding down the terrace & along
the trail toward them with great leaps like
a boy. It was noticeable, the discipline of
his dogs. The collies barked but did not
leave their charge, the beagles barked but
did not offer to quit the milk they had
been told to guard. The guardian mastiffs
did not appear in sight.
In a moment Forrest, flushed, laugh-
ing, the morning light shining on his bare,
brown sides, was with them, holding out
the hand of welcome.
" So good of you to come, and at this
time. The morning hours are so beautiful.
They are my hours. I am "at home," as
the fashionable people say, at sunrise."
"I knew that," said Edith, "and so
46 THE NATURAL MAN
these lazy folk were routed up unmercifully
this morning^ forced to come,willy-nilly."
As they rode on, he trotted by their
side with bare feet in the dew. He had
not even a chaplet or an owl-plume on this
time, nothing but the corduroy trunk and
pouch, but the lithe muscles worked beau-
tifully. As he ran he plucked flowers and
handed them up to the ladies.
" I have just finished milking " he said,
as they crossed a little rustic bridge at the
head of the pond. " The cattle come up
here in the morning about the water and
then I milk what I wish. Some one or
other comes from the Red Farm 5? milks
the rest. They are gone now, for I stopped
after milking to catch a couple of fish."
"The Red Farm is half a mile away,"
explained Saxon, "and the people, there,
buy Forrest's milk, and bring him butter,
THE NATURAL MAN 47
bread and whatever of that sort he needs."
"Commerce even in Vale Sunrise,"
laughed Forrest, as he picked up his milk
pail & balanced it on his head with Hin-
doo dexterity, while the little dogs wagged
tails of welcome to the visitors. " You see
I need quite a good deal of milk, myself,
and my dogs and chickens take more."
" And do you do all this work before
breakfast?"
" Not exactly. I get a pint of warm
goat's milk from the first udder I come to
in the morning, and after that breakfast is
a leisurely matter, perhaps, in the fruit
season, plucked from the vines & bushes."
They were now on the terrace, and the
place, to Miss Earle at least, was full of
interest. Cave Gables seemed rightly
named, for three gables, one east, one west,
one south, lifted above three cave like
48 THE NATURAL MAN
openings in a pile of rocks over which
vines and bushes grew in wild confusion.
In front a grove of stately tall trees on the
level terrace, between the trunks of which
the entire Vale could be seen in all its park-
like loveliness, the brook as a silver thread,
the lake flashing in the sun, the forest-
covered hills surrounding. East of the
dwelling the brook came roaring down the
steep, across the terrace, and again in a
series of cataract leaps down the terrace to
the intervale. On the further side they saw
poultry under the trees, evidently dwelling
in other caverns there, and stands of bees,
in primitive "gums," under a projecting
ledge of rock. On the hither side, near the
eastern gable, the waters of the brook were
joined by those of a spring coming out of
the mountain. On each side of the open
south door of Cave Gables lay two im-
THE NATURAL MAN 49
mense mastiffs, tawny as lionesses, thun-
dering mightily at them till their master
spoke, then coming civilly enough, but
with dignity, to welcome and be petted.
He turned their horses loose to roam
at will, and then led them west, a rod or
two, close to the mountain steep, where
the view was specially fine and a large flat
rock lay level on four others under a
mighty shagbark.
" This is my summer table, for perhaps
you know that in the season of the sun I
live without doors."
He ran and brought a bundle of furs
to make them seats, and then, excusing
himself, went off with his milk. They saw
him pour some of it into a carven trough,
whereat all the dogs and a huge black cat
came and drank their fill, & then wade the
brook and give to the hens, and place the
50 THE NATURAL MAN
remainder in a cool crock in the spring.
Always, they noticed, he waded the brook
instead of using the stepping stones or
leaping across. While he was gone they
discovered his summer bedroom a bed
of warm dry sand close under the moun-
tain side; a projecting rock, high, over-
fringed with vines, keeping off the rain. A
pillow of balsam fir, a red blanket, a bow
and quiver - that was the furniture.
Carved on the soft sandstone was this
poem
SULTRT SUNRISING.
Praise me the summer mornings, beautiful,
Sultry, and fullest of passionate life:
The hot sun, like a young lover, waking,
Leaping down on the fair earth, amorous;
'The dew on the grass bright like a bride's eyes;
The flies buzzing dreamily, dreamily.
THE NATURAL MAN 51
A cool deliciousness tinct with fire;
Pricked by desire an indolent softness;
Bliss of the naked flesh; kisses that sting
Of sun and air on the skin.
O praise me
The summer mornings, sultry and beautiful.
Great with Greek spirit, animal, innocent.
He came up, now, and began to make
a fire in a fire place of stones, semi-circular,
opposite this "bed-room."
" We found your nest while you were
gone, " Edith called, gayly.
"Yes? But did you notice that there
were other nests, above mine, along the
under edge of the rock?"
They had not noticed that.
"They are friends of mine, those eave-
swallows, s? we do not disturb each other.
52 THE NATURAL MAN
They make pleasant little noises in the
evenings, while I lie there and look out at
the stars, or when I get up to replenish
the fire on cool nights."
" Do the collies guard your garden day
and night?"
"No, at night the beagles take their
place, and then the collies come and sleep
with me or by the fire."
" Do you always sleep here ? "
"O no. If the whim seizes me I take
my blanket & wander where I will, sleep-
ing wherever I stop. On moonlight nights
I wander till morning, sometimes, & sleep
in the daytime to make up."
While talking he drew from his pouch
a bundle of damp moss and opening this
they saw two fine black bass, still breath-
ing. He went to the brook, killed and
cleaned them, and then spitted them on
THE NATURAL MAN 53
sharp white sticks inclined to the fire, turn-
ing them at intervals. v
Now he set the table. He spread a
"table cloth" over the rock and it was a
wonder to them. Made of white, soft buck-
skin, fringed with knife cuts, and decorated
Indian-wise, with pictures of fruit, game,
campfires and sylvan feasts.
They were interested &f amused to see
him fish his table utensils out of the waters
of the brook, and at their nature too. All
were home-made, except the knives. Forks
of hand carved bone and horn. Bowls and
trenchers and spoons of bass-wood, beech-
wood, tulipwood and maple; carved, all of
them, in dainty and artistic fashion. Cups
of horn, gourd, f? cocoa-shell, carved also;
the gourds having evidently been cut
while growing so that the marks and pat-
tern grew into them. And there were even
54 THE NATURAL MAN
individual butter dishes, made from mus-
sel-shells not carved, but highly polished,
displaying the nacre. The two that he set
before the ladies had real pearls attached,
encrusted in their mother. Not a single
thing of glass, or china, or crockery of any
sort.
" Is the brook your pantry? "
" It is at least my cupboard. You see
I do not like to wash dishes, so after every
meal I put all into the brook, there to
wash till called for, and I have plenty so
any refractory dish may have enough. And
the little minnows and craw-fishes and
cutting sands and whipping waters make
all clean for me, at last."
It was so droll that they all laughed
merrily, and fell to admiring the dishes.
Everything was in harmony. There
were fresh butter from the Red Farm on
THE NATURAL MAN 55
great cool cabbage leaves, strawberries on
vine leaves, bread on a tray of birch bark,
cream in a calabash, honey-comb in a hol-
low stone, a bouquet of wild dog-roses and
ferns wrapped in moss and set in a turtle
shell.
Suddenly he stopped in comical dismay.
"How stupid I am! I never asked if
you breakfasted before you came ? "
Saxon laughed, and Edith said mis-
chievously:
"Yes."
" For shame! Edith," said Theodora,
" No, Mr. Westwood. We knew you
would want to feast us and we took only
a cup of coffee before starting."
"There it is again!" he cried, "coffee!
and I never thought of it. You see, I
never drink any of these things, & forget
others do. But perhaps I have something
56 THE NATURAL MAN
you will like." ^[ And bounding into his
dwelling [for he seldom seemed to walk
anywhere, but ran or leaped like a roe-
buck] he brought out several long-necked
bottles in his arms.
" Sorry. In this case I had to use glass.
I have to compromise sometimes with
civilization, & there really seems nothing
in nature to take the place of a bottle
where air must be excluded. Here is un-
fermented wine this from the wild grape,
this from wild raspberries, this from wild
blackberries, take your choice. Every sum-
mer I gather great quantities of wild fruit
and take it to the Red Farm and they can
it for me on shares, or make wine. Only
theirs they ferment."
It was a strange wild feast, which those
visitors never forgot. Sitting on furs
around a rock, eating those simple, delici-
THE NATURAL MAN 57
cious viands and drinking pure fruit juice,
while the birds sang over and around and
the sun peeped in through the branches,
and the vale was beautiful before them.
And strangest of all was that bare-
skinned, sun-tanned man, with the knotted
muscles, soft voice & happy dreaming face.
The eave swallows flew twittering
about their homes, a cat-bird was musically
busy in the thicket, a thrush sat fearlessly
on her nest anear, while her mate on the
dry branch, not twenty yards away, made
the air pulse with delicious music; and a
grey squirrel ran up to Forrest's hand for
crumbs, passing saucily under the beagles'
noses, who hardly deigned to notice. And,
finally, two little kids came and danced on
the rock at the terrace edge.
It was the Golden Age.
" Mr. Westwood" said Edith suddenly,
58 THE NATURAL MAN
"you are a professional Natural Man
what are the most natural foods?"
He laughed, as he usually did when
he spoke, as one might at a favorite child.
"I fancy, as we are monkey-cousins,
that fruits and nuts, after original milk, are
the most natural. Eggs are like milk and
resemble nuts. After eggs insects & shell-
fish; then fish; then flesh. I forgot herbs,
and roots but they are less natural, I
fancy, anyway."
"Insects ! bugs ! Oh my ! Are we to
eat them?"
" Monkeys are fond of many insects.
I suppose that our prejudices cut us off
from much palatable food in that line, for
no good reason. Certain grubs are consid-
ered a delicacy in some parts of the world,
and grasshoppers and locusts are spoken
of as delicious by those who have tried
THE NATURAL MAN 59
them." ^[ " Ugh ! they may have them."
" But you do not mention the grains,
Mr. Westwood."
" No, for I fancy they are least natural,
except in the milk. "
" But do you not dislike to kill ? " said
Theodora.
" No, my sympathy with nature does
not seem to effect me in that way. I have
much real fellow feeling with the creatures
but that does not lead me to abhor killing.
That king bird, hovering so prettily in air,
has killed nine flies and a midge since we
began talking, & the thrush has killed for
his mate a beautiful caterpillar at this
instant. Far up the mountain side there!
do you see him poise on that butternut?
is a red squirrel who will slip into the
first unguarded nest he finds and suck the
eggs or the brains of the nestlings as he
60 THE NATURAL MAN
would a nut." If "I see, Nature sets you
a savage example, surely. But is there
nothing in nature that moves to mercy and
peace and comradeship?"
" Certainly, but within the species as a
rule. To your species loyalty, to other
species war, is the law of nature for gre-
garious animals. I belong to the human
species and to men I give that sympathy,
love &f fellowship which my nature urges."
" But does it not make the heart hard
to one's fellows to kill anything? "
"No. I never had a hard heart. I do
not like to give pain. I like to kill instant-
ly. But I never fought with a man in my
life, or wanted to injure one. Nor have I
ever seen any evidence to show that hun-
ters or butchers were murderous or cruel
toward men. All this talk, too, that diet
affects morals is mere superstition. A poor-
THE NATURAL MAN 61
ly-nourished man is always irritable, that
is all, but cruelty & mercy are matters of
education and innate disposition, not of
beans or beef."
"True," said Edith, "I know Mrs.
Pearson, who lives on hot water and raw
beef. She is the gentlest woman I know, a
Quaker, & a fanatic on cruelty to animals."
"What is your doctrine of diet?"
"I can hardly be said Jo have one, ex-
cept simplicity. Still I have a prejudice
against the grains. They make people fat,
slow, lazy, old too soon. Some roots are
as bad. I use a little bread, but not much
and that mainly corn bread. Then wheat
fields and potato fields are not as poetic
as groves and vineyards and orchards.
In the summer I live on'milk, curds, eggs,
fish, berries, fresh vegetables, melons and
tomatoes from my garden. In the winter
62 THE NATURAL MAN
and fall and spring I have game, beef,
mutton, goat-venison, honey, canned
fruits, apples, nuts, milk, eggs and fish as
before. There are seasons too of special
diet. When strawberries are ripe I live on
them almost altogether. The same with
huckleberries, raspberries, blackberries, and
later grapes, apples, nuts and persimmons.
Whatever food nature provides most boun-
tifully I make my chief food at that season.
There is a time when I live altogether on
green corn.
"You see I want to supply my own
wants, mainly, and be self-sufficient, and
live simply. I have succeeded better even
than Thoreau. He imported rice, sugar,
flour, cocoa, salt, rye and Indian meal,
molasses, pork, lard, dried apples. None
of these things, I, except a little bread or
Indian meal at intervals; and besides these
THE NATURAL MAN 63
I import butter, some grain for my fowls
and cattle, and oil for my lamp. And my
exports, you see, are considerable. My
surplus milk and eggs, honey, apples, ber-
ries, nuts, game, fish, calves, colts, puppies,
why the sale of my puppies alone would
more than buy all that I use, except books.
" And then, by daring to live the sim-
ple, natural, savage life, I save so many
expenses. Thoreau bought shoes, I make
my own moccasins or sandals and wear
those only on rough journeys or in winter.
He bought clothes. I make mine of leather
or corduroy, for I can tan as well as an
Indian, and can cut and sew as well as any
tailor, &? in summer, as you see, the labor
in that line is not much. I make my
own bows and arrows, boomerangs,
raw-hide lassoos, sometimes even bone
fish hooks. It is delightful and poetic
64 THE NATURAL MAN
to live the life of the primative man. My
arrows are tipped with real Indian-made
flints, picked up here and there in many
states, & I have two-hundred odd of them.
The bow strings are of sinew. I sleep in
skins. You see how simple my agriculture
is; my grapes and berries grow wild, my
apples need little care, my garden is but
small and the work in it a delight. In the
winter I raise the water of my pond sev-
eral feet and that floods many acres where
lush grass grows in summer. They come
from the Red Farm and help me cut that
on shares. Really, the only thing that
troubles me is the thought that I am liv-
ing here in idyllic happiness while hun-
dreds, thousands, yes, millions of my
fellows endure miseries I dare not dwell
on. I have no more land than an average
farmer, and that poor and stony. I do so
THE NATURAL MAN 65
little I am almost ashamed when I com-
pare it with the agonized struggle of all
about me, and yet I produce more than I
want and am actually growing rich on my
surplus."
And he stopped and looked at them
with an expression of perplexity, wonder
and apology on his face almost child-like.
Saxon Ward was sitting with his chin
in his hands, staring at him.
"You always make me feel like a
fool ! " he blurted.
Forrest laughed 5? rolling over on the
ground looked up at the sky.
"I am very different from these others-"
" Different ! I should say so. You are
the most original man I ever knew, and
by George ! you are the sanest. The rest
of men are a pack of idiots. You have
everything in life worth living for buoy-
66 THE NATURAL MAN
ant health, leisure, intimacy with Nature,
time to read, to think, to realize your own
happiness, to work out your own artistic
longings, room to grow and be yourself,
creature comforts, f? untrammeled liberty-
yes the rest of us are all crazy."
" I think it is this way," said Forrest,
tickling the stomach of the great black cat,
who lay on her back and alternately purred
and lazily struck at him, " I am an egoist.
I think only of myself, but other people,
I think, make the mistake of forgetting
themselves."
" How do you mean? "
"Why they no sooner begin to start
in life than they begin to think about other
things & other people more than them-
selves. They have what they call
'ambitions.' Clothes like other people,
houses like other people, food like other
THE NATURAL MAN 67
people, business like other people, opinions
like other people, customs, manners, re-
ligion, politics all like other people. That's
the way the race runs, & every man in
the race is trying so hard to catch up with
the one before him that he has no time to
think of himself, except the head man,
and he runs so hard to keep ahead that he
has no more time for self-acquaintance
than the others, and dies struggling just
as hard as the last man in the procession.
Not one is contented, or can give any sane
reason for his * ambitions.' Now that is a
true picture of civilization. Bah ! I would
rather be a savage."
"I see."
"But I am not willing to sacrifice my-
self to things. / am more than clothes,
houses, money, business, reputation, eti-
quette, religion, fashion, codes, fc? institu-
68 THE NATURAL MAN
tions. To grow like a tree in the forest,
bearing my own leaves &f fruit on my own
roots, in my own soil, is my ambition. Let
others do as they will, I ask nothing from
them but room to grow."
"I don't see," said Edith, "how you
ever came to think of such a thing as living
this way."
"And I wonder not so much," said
Miss Earle, "at the thought as at the
courage to live it."
"Was it Thoreau that suggested it?"
said Ward.
" No. Strangely, I never read Thoreau
till I was nearly a man and all this had
taken shape. Thoreau encouraged me, that
is all. I was an original, headstrong boy,
loving to be alone and to think. When I
first learned to read I read a book about
Indiansy-Catlin's. I decided that the Indian
THE NATURAL MAN 69
was wiser than the white man and made
him my teacher. I devoured books only
to absorb everything that praised nature,
and savage, simple, wise living. Theocritus
made a great impression on me, and Epi-
curus, and Marcus Aurelius. The Red
Man and the Greek were the influences
that shaped my soul. It has always seemed
to me that when civilization is questioned
by the savage it has but a sorry little to
say for itself.
"At any rate I decided it had nothing
for me, except books, Art, and a few of its
simplest inventions. It did not take much
courage, Miss Earle. I decided to be
myself when a mere child, and after that
everything was easy and inevitable. Had I
lived for praise, first, it would have taken
courage."
" But come," he said, bounding to his
yo
THE NATURAL MAN
feet with that sudden, elastic springiness
so characteristic, " I will show you Cave
Gables."
And hustling his quaint table ware into
the brook, leaving dogs, cat and birds to
dispose of the crumbs, he led the way to
his odd abode.
CHAP T E R IV
RIGINALLY Cave Gables
had been a great rock on the
mountain. Crashing down in
some ancient landslide it had
split crucially fc? now there were four rocks
instead of one, lying there on the terrace,
close to the steep, ten feet high or so, and
rather more feet apart. Forrest had leisure-
ly erected a Gothic roof of peeled chestnut
logs, clapboarded with riven shingles,
and then covered these with earth and
stones, brought down from the steep above,
till only the sharp gables emerged from
the mound.
72 THE NATURAL MAN
A curious building, half art, half na-
ture, part cave, part castle, with goats
running & birds nesting on the roof. The
greater part of each gable taken up by a
glass window above, and a massive door
of hewn planks and wooden hinges below.
On each side of the front door, in the
soft sandstone, were little caverns scooped,
where the great mastiffs lay "Watch"
and " Ward."
Leonine, yellow eyes gleamed kindly
at them as they entered and canine tails
beat the welcome-tattoo.
Because of the great trees that grew
around it was shady and cool within, in
spite of the large, uncurtained windows,
and the apex of the Gothic roof was dim
and dusky. The house, within, was a Ro-
man cross, the long arm to the west, the
short ones north, south, and east. Thus,
THE NATURAL MAN 73
though there were no partitions, there were
really four rooms, each about ten feet wide,
or rather more, with rock walls ten feet
high. The floor, the native soil beaten
hard and smooth, swept clean, ff adorned
here and there with skin rugs and curious-
ly woven mats.
" It is Forrest's fancy," explained Saxon
Ward to Miss Earle, " that a man's house
should correspond to his character. He
would have every one be architect, if not
the builder, of his home."
" Nature helped me here, design and
build it, too," said Westwood. " I have
another whim that every thing in my
home should be home-made, or at least,
hand-made, and so full of associations. I
haven't quite succeeded, but pretty near it."
The west room attracted them. On one
side it was piled high with cord wood. On
74 THE NATURAL MAN
the other was a long closet of wattle or
wicker work, a sort of pantry.
"This is my basket & store," laughed
Forrest, opening a wicker door in this and
showing them the interior. Very strange
& primitive it looked puncheon shelves,
barrels made from hollow logs, troughs,
wooden bowls, gourds, baskets, nothing
modern except glass bottles and fruit cans.
The north room was the "winter
room." No window in this gable, and the
whole room had an inner and level ceiling
of hewn puncheons laid round side down.
This left a loft above, to which there was
a ladder from the outside or middle of the
cross; the entrance to the room draped
with deerskin curtains.
At the inner end of the "winter room"
was a fireplace built of rocks as large as
this strange savage could carry and piled
THE NATURAL MAN 75
up not inartistically. Before this a great
bear skin rug, & above a puncheon mantel
and a moose skull and antlers. The fire-
dogs, two slender, sooty, horned devils of
hammered iron, their tails running back to
hold the logs.
Overhead, suspended from the log
ceiling by iron chains, was a rude dragon,
also of hammered iron, bearing a lamp in
the claws of each front foot.
" A blacksmith, who has art as well as
iron in his blood, made me these for
birthgifts," Forrest said.
" Look at his bed ! " cried Edith.
It was a short, broad canoe of tulip
wood, beautifully carved and inlaid with
owls, bats, moons, stars & other nocturnal
devices, the background stained black.
This half filled with dried fern leaves,
sweet-fern leaves, bay leaves, pine, cedar
j6 THE NATURAL MAN
and hemlock needles, and no telling what
else woodsy, soft and fragrant. The whole
nest completed by beautiful robes of musk-
rat, raccoon, mink, and other soft furs,
tanned with the hair on, and painted on the
inside with Indian pictures, each robe a
complete epic of forest life.
The rest of the furniture consisted
of two well rilled bookcases with puncheon
shelves and buckskin curtains; a three-
legged little puncheon writing table; a
a great basket armchair made of bulrushes;
an immense stuffed buffalo head, used as
an ottoman; skin rugs; f? queer cushions
made of skins of raccoons, foxes, etc.,
heads and tails on, stuffed with wild-fowl
feathers.
Theodora noticed that the pens were
wild-goose quills, the inkstand a carved
horn, & a fossil ammonite the paper-weight.
THE NATURAL MAN 77
"When I draw those buckskin cur-
tains, and shut this room off, on cold
nights, it's snug enough before a good fire."
" Yes," said Ward, " I was here, once,
on a winter night, when the wind howled
without. To see Forrest sitting on that
buffalo head, dressed like an Indian, the /
collies, mastiffs & beagles sprawled about,
the black cat blinking at the devils in the
fire, while the flame-light danced around
the room and lit up the carvings and those
drawings on the buckskin tapestries, made
a savage picture I shall never forget."
There were two Indian pipes, feather-
fringed, long-stemmed, crossed on the wall
with an Indian pouch.
"Do you smoke?" asked Miss Earle
in amazement.
"Yes, and no. I learned to smoke \
among the Indians to be able to accept the
78 THE NATURAL MAN
pipe of peace. The Indian was superior
even in his vices. Before the whites came
from Eskimo-land to Aztec-land there
was not an Indian who knew how to brew
an intoxicating drink, or to use it. Tobacco
was the only solace, &f that was diluted into
l Kin-nee-Kin-nick' and used most tem-
perately. Tobacco-smoking is the least
harmful of all the drug-vices 6? the most
poetic and philosophic. When a friend
comes who smokes I offer him my pipe
of peace, but I never smoke now, myself.
Even tobacco is too disturbing. I love an
unclouded soul.
That pipe was given me by the New
York Indians when they adopted me. The
bowl is from the famous Pipestone Quarry
in Minnesota. The other bowl is of burn-
ed clay. I found it when digging in my
garden. Perhaps some other savage raised
THE NATURAL MAN 79
corn there before me."
They examined the east room. It had
a number of book cases, a massive table
of hewn timbers pinned together f? several
of the woven, bulrush armchairs. On the
table Miss Earle noticed the rough draft
of a poem, which she obtained permission
to read.
A TR UE MAN is a FOREST TREE.
Liberty , / love thee passing welt,
And spurn the sordid thoughts of those who
tell
Of values compassed by betraying thee
Cheap, cheap, too cheap the price at which
they sell.
1 love the rivers and the open air,
The clouds, the wilderness, and wild things
there;
8o THE NATURAL MAN
And say a true man is a forest tree.
By Nature planted deep and rooted fair.
I love the wind-floods and the shaken sea,
'The great blue sky-tent's clean immensity,
The manly mountain and the pregnant plain-,
With these the song-soul breathes in sympathy.
I love the primal, ancient, granite fact,
The mystic meaning moving in the att;
The old world-currents tiding in my brain
Make seem small loss the gew-gaws I have
lacked.
It was noticable in this room, as well
as the entrance hall, that the soft sand-
stone walls were freely chiseled into sig-
nificant shapes, some weird, some grotesque,
some dimly suggestive, as though the
rock had naturally fc? accidentally assumed
THE NATURAL MAN 81
familiar shape. If The east room wall sug-
gested a dark or cavernous forest full of
mystery
Tree-trunks, rocks, guarded branches
half lost in misty formlessness here and
there a human foot, or leg, or hand or
half-everted face showing; or the coils of
a serpent with hidden head; or vague forms
of lurking feroe.
In the entrance hall the conceptions
were heroic and clearly wrought out. On
the west side Indians and dogs were in
furious combat with a bear, on the east was
an imaginary home scene of pre-historic
man. Both full of spirit & skillful shaping.
" O my ! Look at these eyes ! What
is it, a wildcat ? " and Edith caught For-
rest's arm and pointed into the dark loft.
Forrest laughed and gave a chuck, and
Edith screamed and jumped aside as a
82 THE NATURAL MAN
great bird floated down, like a ghost to his
head, making the cavernous dwelling ring
as he suddenly erected himself and, glar-
ing at them with wild eyes, uttered a
demoniac boo-hoo-booer-hoo!
"That is my winged cat, Hoolahoo.
I raised him from a baby," said Forrest,
stroking the bird, who glared at them sus-
piciously for a few moments, his eyes
gradually closing to mere slits, and then,
lifting his wings, flew noiselessly back to
the loft.
"At night he comes in & out of yonder
hole in the peak, and by day other birds
come in & out there too. I have not learned
to consider a bird in my house unlucky."
"* Hoolahoo ! ' an Irish owl ! " giggled
Edith the irrepressible.
The only other noticeable features of
the dwelling were a carpenter bench be-
THE NATURAL MAN 83
yond the " Basket and store," and the
various ornaments and utensils hung on all
the walls antlers, skulls and heads of
wild animals; horns, pouches, lariats, fish
rods, fish spears, hunting knives, axes and
hatchets, bows & arrows, lances, clubs and
canes, guns and pistols, gourds.
Perhaps most curious of all, up in the
roof, near the hole, was an immense hor-
net's nest with the insects busily going in
and out.
" I think I remember," said Miss Earle,
"reading in ' Walden' of a dream Thoreau
had of 'a larger and more populous house'
than his, Standing in a golden age * * * a
vast, rude, substantial, primitive hall; * * *
a cavernous house wherein you must reach
up a torch upon a pole to see the roof.' "
" When I read that I was ' struck all
of a heap ' for I had built this house first.
84 THE NATURAL MAN
It seemed strange that my partly accident-
al house should so nearly have realized
his ideal."
Coming outside Forrest brought his
flute.
" Wait here a moment."
Springing up the sides of the irregular
exterior of his dwelling he seated himself
on a ledge sf began playing a weird mel-
ody. And as they looked a great snake,
shining black, slid out from among the
rocks.
Six feet long, the constrictor seemed
in ecstasy. His body expanded and con-
tracted with long-drawn breaths, his neck
lifted and swayed rhythmically, his tongue
darted unceasingly in & out, his eyes were
bright yet mild. He drew near to Forrest
and swayed before him, then, suddenly,
while Edith cried out with terror, twined
THE NATURAL MAN 85
around his leg and quickly up to his neck,
where he stroked his head about the man's
face like an affectionate cat.
Forrest put down the flute, talked
gently to the creature, petted him, un-
wound & laid him gently down, and then
came to them.
" O horrid ! " said Edith, " why do you
make pets of such dreadful creatures! "
Forrest smiled.
" I have a pet toad, too."
" I am disgusted. Why do you not
-love beautiful things, only?"
" Beauty is a matter of appreciation."
" Do you mean to say that the toad is
as beautiful as the humming-bird?"
"It is a matter of appreciation."
"Forrest argues" said Saxon, seeing
that his friend had fallen into an abstracted
silence, "that everything in nature is
86 THE NATURAL MAN
beautiful, that everything in the universe
has its charm. It is for us to find the charm
and appreciate the beauty, and the volume
of the sum total of our pleasure depends
upon the thoroughness of our appreciation."
" Well, I declare, you gentlemen make
me out narrow, prejudiced and ignorant to
your satisfaction," pouted Edith.
"Everything has its charm," smiled
Forrest, looking at her.
"Even the screams and pouts of a
pretty woman," seconded Saxon.
"There's not much charm in being
laughed at."
"Laugh with the laughers and you
laugh as long as they."
"And have a double laugh with
and at them."
Edith began to smile at her tormentors.
" But there are normal differences of
THE NATURAL MAN 87
beauty and charm in the relation of phe-
nomena to ourselves; while abstractly they
may be equal, our history and physiology
justify all our likes and dislikes."
"Thank you, Forrest."
"Yet whoso cultivates the overlook
sees the most beauty and joy."
"If charms are equal, the city is as
good as the forest, the artificial life as the
natural aha ! I have you, Sir Savage ! "
"Not yet. I repeat, charms are ab-
stractly equal but race history &? individual
constitution justify our preferences the
city charms, artificiality has joys, luxury
delights, vice and crime and all evil have
attending pleasures yet man was wilder-
ness-born and wilderness-reared. The few
generations of artificiality have not aborted
the instincts inherited through long ages
of nature. The happiness and health for
88
THE NATURAL MAN
which the city man sighs and struggles are
easy as breathing to the natural man."
" Do you distinguish between happi-
ness and pleasure?" asked Miss Earle.
" Certainly. Happiness is the pleasure
the joy of healthy existence & healthy
action in soul and body."
CHAP T E R V
HAT will you have for din-
ner?" he suddenly asked.
"O," said Edith, "give us
just what you would have had
yourself. We want to live just as you do,
today."
" Yes," said Theodora, " today we are
your disciples."
" But I meant to pick my dinner from
the wild strawberry vines."
" Delightful ! so will we."
"Well, we had better commence now.
I see by the sun that it is approaching
noon, and one takes more time satisfying
90 THE NATURAL MAN
hunger, picking food bit by bit in that
wild way."
So he led them to places where, among
the rich grass, the ruddy fruit grew in
profusion. " They are ripe before the grass
this year," he said.
" Do you remember," he asked, "that
Thoreau relates that when he was so an-
archistic as to refuse to pay his poll tax,
and they imprisoned him, he was released
in time to pick his dinner of huckleberries
on Fair Haven Hill?"
"Yes, I remember; it is in * Walden.'"
"Do you pay a poll tax, Mr. West-
wood? "
"O yes, I pay taxes, of course. I
believe in these things no more than
Emerson or Thoreau, but resistance to
them is folly, except on the mental plane.
Some day the world will understand that
THE NATURAL MAN 91
to take any man's property without his
consent is robbery, & then taxes will cease."
" But what will support social institu-
tions?"
" Free contributions will support what-
ever institutions the people desire, just as
churches are supported now in these
States."
He made them dainty cups of leaves,
sewn together with their own stems.
"Take these and put berries in them,
eating as you work, & when we each have
a cup full we will go to our table and sit
in the shade and eat them."
When their cups were full they did so,
and he brought them fresh cream and
maple sugar and carven spoons, and they
feasted divinely. And he gave each a chap-
let of vine leaves fcf an owl plume, and said
laughingly: "Now you are my disciples."
92 THE NATURAL MAN
"This grove is like a temple," said
Saxon.
"Yes, I think all architecture was
suggested by nature and imitates it."
" Mr. Westwood, why don't you go to
church? "
He put on a comical look.
" Do you really think, if I went to
church next Sunday, 'just as I am, without
one plea,' that I would be welcome? "
Edith laughed, as her fancy conjured
up the vision of this naked pagan sitting
in a stuffy tabernacle among the scented
ladies and starched deacons of the scandal-
ized congregation.
"I really don't think the church has
anything for me, Miss Lyle."
" ' The friendly & flowing savage, who
is he? Is he waiting for civilization, or is he
past it, and mastering it?'" quoted Saxon.
THE NATURAL MAN 93
" Mr. Westwood," said Theodora, with
her grave thoughtful tones, "would you
mind telling us what you think of religious
things; your views are different from those
of most, I fancy? "
He leaned back against the shagbark
and looked up among the leaves, while the
black cat rubbed, purring, against him.
"Yes, so different that I hardly know
how to tell them. No one ever asked me
before."
"As a youth I rejected all creeds, re-
velations, gods. I was atheist, or, better,
agnostic, for I said I did not know. But
neither did I believe. But gradually a
strange feeling of kinship between myself
and nature grew in me. I gave myself up
more and more to these strange invisible
currents of life, as the sea obeys the moon
and the sap the seasons. The feeling which
94 THE NATURAL MAN
I had always had that in the trees & rocks
was life, a life similar to my own except in
degree, intensified, until suddenly the
whole thing crystallized, as it were, and I
saw that the whole universe was One
Great Life."
" Pantheism," said Saxon.
" Perhaps you may call it that. But I
am not sure it is like other people's pan-
theism. To me the universe is a living
organism, living, breathing, intelligent
throughout, if you do not define these
terms too rigidly. I feel that in the whole
infinite universe there is but one life, one
force, one element, one substance, one ex-
istence^ one fact. One. It seems to me
that all these apparent forces, substances,
elements, are infinitely interchangeable s?
elusive and at bottom the same."
" But what puzzles me in pantheism is
THE NATURAL MAN 95
to know where / come in," said Saxon.
"Yes, I understand. I would have
been a pantheist years before had I not
felt that to hold the doctrine was to lose
my own identity. But suddenly I saw it
differently. If there is in all the universe
but One, then I am that One; not in the
sense of completeness, of course, but in
the sense of continuity 6? identity of spirit
and substance and nature. This is the
hardest part to explain to you; indeed I
do not know that I can make you see it
as I see it." He paused a moment & then
pointed to the brook. "You see that the
water divides there and flows on each side
of a great rock. Now, if we imagine the
brook endowed with consciousness, no
doubt the stream on the right of the rock
will feel itself separate from the stream on
the left, but to us they are plainly con-
96 THE NATURAL MAN
tinuous and the same. So I suppose every
life in the world flows from the same in-
finite source and finally returns to it and
while feeling itself separate, because limited
and partial, is really continuous and the
same."
"O I understand you!" cried Theo-
dora, "I see it all. What an infinite
dignity &f largeness it seems to give one's
life ! It awes me."
"Yes," said Forrest, with a grateful
look at her, "and you feel that more and
more as you consider it. You realize that
not only are you continuous with the
divine cause, but with the whole universe
in its every part and motion. Every man
that you see is yourself under another form,
every animal also, and not only that, but
every rock & tree, the streams, the fields,
the skies. You are everywhere and every-
THE NATURAL MAN 97
thing. The sense of identity, individuality
and personality which you possess you
now see is really a dim and partial appre-
hension of your Divine Personality and
immortality. You have lived forever and
shall live forever, for you are the One
Only and Self-existent. You may die mil-
lions of times, as regards change of form,
and still you have eternal & indestructible
life. You are able to give yourself up un-
restrainedly to the enjoyment of the passing
panorama of life, because it is the pano-
rama of your own eternal evolution. You
are at peace with God, because you are
God, you are at peace with the universe
because you are the universe, you are at
peace with men because you are mankind.
You begin to understand the divine
serenity of Emerson, the child-like ease
and sufficiency of Thoreau, the infinite
98 THE NATURAL MAN
comradeship of Whitman. These men all
felt more or less clearly their continuity
with the universe. As you grow into the
thought, everything enlarges. This life is
but a days journey, there are millions more
before you; death is but a sleep, a change
of form, and no matter how long you sleep,
or what you dream, you shall wake and
know yourself at last. You have all the
time there is to grow in, all the universe
to enjoy yourself in, and you shall see all
things and have all experience."
" It is very great," said Saxon, " but I
do not understand, if we are continuous
with God and of the same substance, how
it is that we can be so weak and wicked,
and full of mistakes and trouble."
" It is a problem that seems to me fully
answered by my theory," said Forrest,
" God is complete, he is everything; being
THE NATURAL MAN 99
complete, he is perfect, for only complete-
ness can be perfect. But we, so far as we
are members and parts of God are incom-
plete, imperfect, for the partial cannot be
perfect. And imperfection explains it all
our strength is imperfect therefore we are
weak; our goodness is imperfect therefore
we are wicked; our wisdom is incomplete
therefore we are full of mistakes. And
where there are weakness, sin, mistakes,
there must surely be regret and trouble.
But we can not reproach the Perfect for
our imperfections, because to give us any
separate life at all he had to give us the life
we have with all its consequences; he could
not, mighty as he is, make the partial at
the same time whole, and the imperfect at
the same time perfect, and so all the rest
follows. And from this I deduce that the
futher we are from the divine, the center,
ioo THE NATURAL MAN
the source, the more imperfect, the weaker,
the more ugly, foolish, wrong we are and
that, on the other hand, every step of ap-
proach toward the divine makes us strong-
er, wiser, more sane, healthy, happy; better
balanced, completer. This explains the
instant satisfaction f? growing reward which
comes to every man who aspires to a
higher life, who covets wisdom, who pur-
sues beauty, who idealizes and worships
his ideals; it explains the inevitable delight
of charity, generosity, liberality, comrade-
ship, for all these things unite us & draw
toward the source."
He stopped and seemed lost in thought
and they looked at him in wonder, almost
in reverence.
" It explains and justifies all religions,"
he went on, dreamily, "everything and
every thought has sometime fc? somewhere
THE NATURAL MAN 101
been worshipped. And rightly, for every-
thing and every thought is divine. The
divine is in everything, serpent, tree, or
stone, and everything is a symbol of divine
things, and every book is a Bible & every
thought a revelation, and every man a
Messiah."
" Ugh! " said Edith, with comical hor-
ror, "Suppose my Methodist minister heard
of such things. Justifying idolatry! I ought
not to listen to such words."
" It is grand, sublime! " said Theodora
with a flash of her dark eyes. "The noblest
gospel that ever I heard, and the only one
that ever gave my sceptical, pessimistic
nature the least feeling of security f? peace.
There is room in this. It is a religion for
grown-up folks."
Forrest smiled at her enthusiasm and
stroked the black cat sleeping between his
IO2 THE NATURAL MAN
knees. ^[ "It makes one very contented and
happy. There is charm, beauty, divinity
in everything, however lonely or ugly. On
one side, at least, each thing lays hold on
everything & extends to infinity and there
is no real separation. We are like the sea
'in the hollow of his hand' and cannot fall
out."
"There are infinite possibilities in the
doctrine, I can see," said Saxon. "It is
certainly the largest and broadest of creeds
and appears to offer a key to innumerable
problems."
"Wait," said Forrest, and dumping the
astonished cat on the grass, who stretched
herself and yawned reproachfully, he dart-
ed into his castle.
" His religion reminds me " said Edith,
"of that cannibal sailor of the Nancy Bell,
in Gilberts' poem, that c elderly naval man'
THE NATURAL MAN 103
who sat on a stone and sang 'in a singular
minor key:'
f O Tm the cook y and the captain bold.
And the mate of the Nancy brig;
And the bos*un tight ,
And the midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain s gig.' "
They all laughed, but Miss Earle was
inclined to look a little indignant at the
flippant comparison.
" Don't be mad, Theo, I'm not quite
so shallow as I seem, and I really think I
shall always feel a little better for what
Forrest said today."
Forrest came back with a paper in his
hand.
"Here is a poem I wrote on these
ideas."
" One moment," said Saxon, putting
up his hand, " how does this belief of yours
IO4 THE NATURAL MAN
bear on future life, transmigration, etc.? "
" I am not very clear, there. Perhaps
the spirit retains its cohesion for a time
after death and leads an unbodied spirit
life; but sooner or later, I suppose, it
breaks up and disperses or goes into some
other form. To a certain extent the doc-
trines of the spiritists f? transmigrationists
may both be true. Matter continually
changes its form; so, I think, does spirit.
Matter I suppose is only visible spirit and
spirit only invisible matter, & each merely
a form or expression of the one, divine
force which, in the last analysis, is the only
thing. I suppose no knowledge to be lost.
Every form I think keeps a perfect record
of its changes. In our crude way we read
them in the teeth of a horse, the horns of
a cow, the rings of a tree, the strata of a
world. If we knew enough we should find
THE NATURAL MAN 105
the record exact and unbroken nothing
omitted. When at last after every minor
change, we enlarge into conscious Divine
Identity we shall know, remember and
foreknow everything - nothing lost, noth-
ing imperfect, nothing to regret, nothing
to antagonize only infinite serenity,
strength, health, knowledge and peace."
" That makes Nirvana look very dif-
ferent from annihilation."
" Here is my poem: "
IDENTITY.
O little cloudy aloft in blue,
Of the same cloth cut, am I, as you?
And do /, like you, some day fly
Along the azure-tinted sky?
Am I the blue, the mist, the rain,
The clod that drinks it on the plain;
The little flower with lifted lips.
io6 THE NATURAL MAN
The bee that out its nectar sips?
With the falling star am I undone?
Do I burn in glory in the sun?
Is there but One? Are all things mine?
Am I a worm? Am I divine?
Have I ever lived; do I ever die
And yet exist eternally?
Again, again, and yet again
Transmutation, loss yet gain.
Sometimes seeing, sometimes sleep,
The backward wave, the forward sweep,
The ebb, the sin, the diastole,
The bloom, the genius, the thunder-roll;
Contradiction agreeing sure,
The trap self -caught with its own lure,
The circle returning whence it came,
Ever unbroken the spheric frame.
THE NATURAL MAN 107
O little bird, in the upward tree,
Surely I know your minstrelsy!
lightning-pen on the midnight sky,
1 read at last your word on high.
" Tell me the secret of happiness? "
"Feel your identity and agreement
with the universe and appreciate the joy
of the moment."
CHAPTER VI
E led them now toward the
lake, walking himself in the
brook, which splashed about
his bare legs, while they clam-
bered along the banks. Part way they
came to a clump of stately trees, from a
branch of one depending a loop of wild-
grape vine a distance of 50 or 60 feet.
"This is one of my play grounds,"
said Forrest, "and here is my swing."
Catching the loop of vine he ran up
the slope with it, and then, springing up
with his foot in the loop, he shot out a
hundred feet or more &f back again, while
no THE NATURAL MAN
the great limb swayed and sprang above.
A beautiful scene, full of wild, child-like
abandon.
f "What a magnificent animal !" whis-
pered Saxon.
"More than that," murmured Miss
Earle, "a wise, free soul."
"He certainly holds something that
we lack."
When they came to the lake he could
persuade none of them to enter his little
birch canoe: they feared an upset, so he led
them to where a great, sprawling willow
thrust a number of big limbs out horizon-
tally over the water.
"This tree was blown down once, over
the lake, and then some of the branches
became upward trunks."
They seated themselves on this roman-
tic natural pier, sitting on trunks, leaning
THE NATURAL MAN in
against limbs; Forrest sitting on one close
to the water, letting his feet plash.
The water was deep, yet clear, & they
could see sunfish, bass, pickerel, and
sometimes a turtle below. As Edith leaned
over to look at them she suddenly cried out:
" O there goes my ring ! "
Forrest marked the spot from which
the ripples dilated, and then, without a word,
tossing his wampum belt fc? pouch ashore,
he dropped forward from his perch like a
great turtle and slid down through the
clear water in pursuit of the jewel.
He looked like an immense frog, down
there, paddling about. Almost immediately
he rose with the circlet in his grasp, present-
ing it to Edith who thanked him profusely,
and then rested himself unconcernedly on
a sunny branch with his feet in the water
again. Wearing only what swimmers call a
H2 THE NATURAL MAN
" trunk," anyway, he was quite amphibious.
" I will show you some fun," he said,
and putting his hand to his mouth he
"yodeled" like a Switzer.
Instantly loud barks rang thro' the
Vale, and in a moment the mastiffs, the
beagles, the collies, came rushing toward
them.
" Here come the henchmen ! " said
Sax.
" Into the water, children ! " cried For-
rest, clapping his hands.
No second invitation, that warm day,
was needed. With joyous clamour the dogs
dashed pell-mell into the cool fluid;
splashing it high, swimming, chasing each
other, lapping with greedy tongues; while
the spectators applauded.
Forrest could not resist the contagion,
but leapt from his branch and joined with
THE NATURAL MAN 113
them, sometimes in the canoe, sometimes
swimming, sometimes playing "tag" on
the bank.
They were wild with delight to have
him with them, and tore around, barking
frantically, their eyes shining with joy.
Suddenly he stopped and waved his
hand.
" Watch, Ward, home again ! "
Very promptly, but with wistful back-
ward glances they departed.
"To your work again, boys!" he said
to the collies, &? they, too, with suddenly
sobered countenances, returned to their
duties.
" How did you get your bark canoe ? "
said Miss Earle.
" I bought it Lpf an Indian in the
Adirondacs, and a great time I had getting
it here. I paddled it whenever I could,
H4 THE NATURAL MAN
lifted it on my head over " carrys," and
the rest of the way Blackbird dragged it
on a " travois." She was disgusted with the
job, and had a great notion to kick it into
smithereens, but thought better of it on
my account.
" Woman-like," said Saxon.
"Ah, yes, Blackbird is a very lady."
He was lying now in the sun, on a flat
rock, near the water, drying himself, and
looked very Greek-like with the damp
locks slightly curling on his brow and his
naked limbs glistening in the bright light;
all reflected in the water.
"Tell us about your trips to the
Adirondacs."
" O do you care to know ! Well, quite
often in the summer, when the hay mak-
ing is over, ( I love that 5? never miss it)
I leave my place to the care of the people
THE NATURAL MAN 115
of the Red Farm, take my rifle, my bow
and arrows, my flute, my mastiffs and
beagles, a buffalo robe & two blankets, and
hie away to the mountains. The journey
to and fro is pleasant, for the people on
the way all know me and call me the
"White Indian." I am a circus to the
farmers, and they are glad to have me stop
a night. They feed Blackbird royally, and
the dogs, to see them perform, and my
bow-shooting, lasso-throwing, and flute
playing, always make me a free-comrade.
In the mountains I camp till cold weather,
and then come home laden with pelts
and happy memories of the great woods.
I have friends all through there
guides, Indians, half-breeds, campers; but
I am alone, preferably. A man in the
presence of Nature should be on his best
behavior, but these people feel nothing, see
n6 THE NATURAL MAN
nothing and chatter nonsense, mostly."
" Read us another poem," coaxed
Edith, " something about the woods."
He went gravely to his pouch, and
pulling out a MS. read them this:
C~SWAMP HAPPINESS.
I
Were I a betracbian cool.
Sitting beside some pool,
In an alder-stump cave in the bank;
With a fern before
And moss on the floor ',
And my walls dew-droppy and dank;
A bulrush bed,
A toad stool,
Fishes to see
For company;
And a turtle agog
On a lo?
THE NATURAL MAN 117
With a Chinaman s neck to his bead;
A newt on the stair,
In a lily-pad chair;
And a drift-wood boat,,
On which I could float,
With a devil-fly perched at the helm;
Water to whelm\
And a very deep voice in my throat
Tell me,
Would not that be happiness?
II
Were I a sinuous snake
Under a bush in a brake;
With a pitch-forky tongue,
Bifurcate,
And elate;
With a toad in my maw
Still wriggling and raw;
A red flower by my side;
A spider net overswung,
n8 THE NATURAL MAN
Jeweled with dew;
Shady water before
Wherein I could glide;
Arrow-leaves by the shore;
Hot sun overhead;
A little green heron Pee-quawk!
Black birds to whistle and talk,
And one with a shoulder of red
Perched in a white-birch tree.
Listening a Pewee-bird sing
Of a yellow-jack bee and his sting:
Sting me-e-e ! Sting me-e-e !
Would not that be happiness?
Ill
Were I a sun perch in the pond,
Armored in rainbow and red;
Eyes rolling hither and yon;
Droop-cornered mouth to my head;
A telescope yawn;
Daggers all over my back,
THE NATURAL MAN 119
Bristling when I would attack
Cannibals after my spawn',
Driving them out and beyond
My clean-swept , gravelly nest
In the sand;
(Shoal water next to the land.
Clear amber water and warm.)
Gold-fin fanning at rest,
Under the Nymphea shade;
Or charging with passionate spite,
Jealous afraid;
Dreaming of babies a-swarm
Before me in fluent crowd,
Darting, fine-shredded cloud
If I were that Amazon Knight
Would not that be happiness?
IV
Were I a musquash in the swamp,
Loving a swim and a romp
Beneath the moon;
I2O THE NATURAL MAN
When the waters are bright and still,
And the bare, dead tree on the hill
Gleams white;
And the bark of the coon,
Or the laugh of the loon
Wakes the night;
The owl neighs " Ah-y-y-hey-hey-hool "
And the night hawk booms " Bhoo-oo! "
And the little mouse cowers in fright,
With a wigwam of mud,
Rising out of the flood;
Bedded warm and soft
In the dome-shaped loft;
With bank-caves, beside,
To dive to and hide;
Under cover so nice
When winter brings ice
What think you,
Would not that be happines?
THE NATURAL MAN 121
V
Or were I the man by that swamp.
On the hill above, in the camp,
Noting the play go on:
The iris-fish and her spawn;
The frog in his swimming school;
The snake asleep in the sun;
'The black-bird 's gurgle of fun;
'The turtle's drop from the stump,
Sss-plumpl
In the pool;
The muskrat 's dive;
'The paper hive
Of the bees;
And at night
'The camp fire' s light
On the trees;
'The sounds that wake
The forest still.
Whistle and cluck of whippoorwill,
122 THE NATURAL MAN
The screech owl's quavering shake,
Faint beard plash from the lake
Ah! that indeed would be happiness!
"Come and see the Swallow's Nest
before the afternoon is too far spent."
They went back thro' the trees and up
by Cave Gables again. Back of it a goat path
went up the precipitous hill-side. Forrest
aided Miss Earle, and it gave her artistic
nature a strange thrill to be so close to this
nude, supple savage & feel his firm grasp
on her arm.
She felt a desire she did not indulge to
put out her hand on his back and feel the
sinewy play of his shoulders.
Swallow's Nest was just at the hilltop.
One jutting rock formed the floor, and
another, some eight feet over, a sort of
pent-house roof. On three sides open to the
THE NATURAL MAN 123
view; at the back, rock. Rocks piled up
formed a rude battlement about the edge,
and a bitter-sweet & a wild clematis fringed
along the eaves. Under the roof a number
of eave-swallows had nests, flying in and
out twittering. There were a little table, a
bench, & a hammock from which whoever
swung could see the whole view.
The outlook was superb, over hills,
dales and plain.
" O what a lovely balcony ! " cried
Edith, "and what a view! I could stay
here forever."
"Is it here you write your poems?"
asked Miss Earle.
He looked at her with a little of his
former shyness, and yet seemed pleased.
" Yes, I write a good many here in
summer time. I read and study here, too.
1 like to be here in a thunder storm and
124 THE NATURAL MAN
watch it pass over the country, and the big
drops fringe down along the rock-eaves."
"These little swallows do not fear you?"
"O no. We are old comrades. They
are shy now, for you are here, but often
perch on me, or the table, when I am alone,
and share a lunch with me."
Edith had climbed into the hammock,
and he gently swung it as he stood, while
the others sat by the table. They were all
happy and at ease.
Miss Earle leaned forward, with her
elbows on the table, f fixed her dark eyes
on Forrest.
" Would you advise all people to drop
their present habits and live as you do,
Mr. Westwood?"
"O no; the garment should fit the form.
What I would advise is that every man
should live his own life, questioning him-
THE NATURAL MAN 125
self closely, however, whether greater sim-
plicity would not bring more happiness.
Be yourself, be free, is my advice, and I
believe simplicity promises more than
luxury."
" Then you do not condemn luxury?"
" Not at all, if it is cheap enough."
"Could you reform society on your
ideal, what would it be like?"
He showed his teeth in a smile and
then looked thoughtfully out over the
landscape.
"A Federation of the Free."
" O Mr. Westwood," burst out Edith,
"don't talk like that. Tell us in detail just
what it would be like."
He laughed now, and patted her head
as one might an impulsive child.
" I have no very clear idea. I have
been living my own life, not planning for
126 THE NATURAL MAN
others. Still I have dreamed sometimes
that the world was changed, that laws,
governments, institutions were about
worked out, and all nations one. In my"]
dream the people seemed to be gathered
together over the world in hamlets and
village-groups, drawn more by similarity
of taste and feeling than by necessity. Not
exactly or totally communistic, but co-oper-
ating in so many ways as in some things to
approach that. The land possessed only by
those who used it and while using it.
"In my dream everybody took a share
in the necessary work, & thus a few hours
apiece was enough each day, and all were
employed and all compensated. The rest
of the time, everybody took pleasure,
read, studied, did artistic work, what
they pleased. And these artistic products,
being fruits of love, were not sold but
THE NATURAL MAN 127
given to friends, or freely to the public.
The artist working in his moments of
leisure to express his sense of beauty,
asking no reward but his own satisfaction
and the praise of sympathetic observers.
And I seemed to see all habits, customs,
behavior, much freer and simpler than
now. No social law except that of non-
interference; no fashions, no restraints, no
inquisitions in morals or religion, individ-
ual tastes followed everywhere, and every
human flower after its own kind."
Edith clapped her hands, but Miss
Earle kept her dark eyes gravely on his
face. She was deeply interested, and seemed
like a person absorbed in the approaching
discovery of some long sought solution.
" I thank you, Mr. Westwood. I be-
lieve there is more in that dream of yours
than you are aware of."
128 THE NATURAL MAN
He gave her a swift, strong glance and
each seemed to look into the other's heart.
They went down, after a while, and
had a little supper on the terrace; and then
they talked of books and nature and sang
songs & listened to his flute till dark came
and the moon rose.
He brought their horses, then, and
walked with them to the confines of his
little domain. The black cat ran with him
and the great owl swooped down from
somewhere and perched on his head. And
as the bird swayed on its unsteady perch
turning its pivoted head to stare at them
at whiles, and flapping its great wings, they
thought of Odin.
And the moonlight drifted whitely
down through the trees on all.
After they had left him, & could only
hear his flute ringing sweetly through the
THE NATURAL MAN 129
silent woods, Miss Earle, riding between
her two companions, said:
" Do you know, that man has taught
me the greatest truth of my life? I have
been profoundly dissatisfied with my own
life and that of the world, as you know.
Now I am coming up here on this moun-
tain side, shall purchase land next this
philosopher, and, gradually gathering
around me like-minded spirits, we will
form a nucleus of that freer society of
which he has dreamed. What do you say,
dear friends, will you help me?"
"We will."
And in the distance, sweet & far, rang
the flute.
CHAP T E R VII
T was morning again in Vale
Sunrise, the dew on the flowers
and leaves, the level light
streaming through the trees.
A beautiful tall girl walked in the path
near Cave Gables. Her gown was of the
simplest, and short enough to show her
beautifully turned bare feet and ankles.
From her uncovered head her fair hair fell in
two thick braids far below her waist. Her
great gray eyes were pensive and dreamy.
She sat down on a log and seemed lost
in thought. Suddenly there was a glad bark,
a beagle fawned upon her, and she looked
132 THE NATURAL MAN
up to see Forrest close at hand, with the
milk crock balanced on his head.
" O Forrest ! " she said, a glad light
breaking thro' her clear, brown complexion
and making her somewhat irregular fea-
tures beautiful.
He set down the crock &? putting his
arms around her, kissed her tenderly.
"What brings you here, my sweet
Light of the Morning? "
She smiled happily at his loving words
and patted his brawny arm, in a sort of
proud timidity, with her shapely hand.
" They were so busy at the Red Farm,
this morning, they could spare nobody to
come for the milk. I said I would come,
but mother grumbled and said I saw too
much of you now. Father winked at me,
behind her back, sf said he wished I would
go, as it would be a great favor to him."
THE NATURAL MAN' 133
"Your mother does not like me, alto-
gether? "
"No. It was all right till I took to
wearing simple frocks, going barefoot,
wearing my hair down in braids, and read-
ing Emerson instead of the fashion paper.
Then it was ' O Mabel, why don't you be
more ladylike!' from morning till night.
But after all I have my will, & father says
he likes me better this way."
Forrest laughed. " Lucky for you that
you are a spoiled child ! "
He blew his long whistle, there was a
neigh, and soon came Blackbird, galloping.
She ran sniffing to Mabel, who gave her a
ginger cake from her pocket. Forrest pick-
ed the girl up in his strong arms and
lifted her like a bundle to the mare's back.
" O but I came to carry the milk," she
protested.
134 THE NATURAL MAN
"You do look like a picture with the
crock on your head," he replied, "but this
morning you shall ride and I will carry,"
and he lifted the crock again and walked
beside her.
" O Forrest you are so good 5? hand-
some, and I am so happy!"
And a thrush near them sang till the
woods trembled with the music, and the
waters of the brook tinkled over the stones.
CHAPTER
O M E years are dead, and it
is Vale Sunrise again. The
northern end of the Vale,
where Cave Gables is, remains
unchanged, but south of the lake, and be-
yond, is a strange sylvan village. In this
hamlet live our old friends, Theodora
Earle, Edith Lyle, "Mabel of the Morning
Light," as Forrest calls her, Saxon Ward,
and many we have never known. Each has
his or her own little home, for a separate
habitation for each individual is one of the
tenets of this ideal community. They call
themselves Simplicists, and the home of
136 THE NATURAL MAN
each is supposed to represent that person's
character and be sacred to his whims and
ideals. Mabel's father has joined the com-
munity, <y his farm is now divided among
as many of the community as wish farm
work. The artistic blacksmith, who made
the fire-devils for Forrest's ingle, has his
smithy on the edge of the village. Saxon
keeps his printing office in Rippleford,
but lives in Vale Sunrise, and edits a paper
for the community. As much as possible
the people employ each other, and so have
a self-supporting community. Some of the
members are artists, one is a sculptor,
several are journalists or authors. A noted
singer and two noted musicians call this
"home." These artistic and literary folk
sell their products and talents to the out-
side world, but among themselves these
things are favors & not a matter of dollars.
THE NATURAL MAN 137
The community has a carpenter, a mason,
a tailor, a dress-maker, a baker, a cook
who cooks for all, a laundry that washes
for all, some housekeepers who go around
and do the housework for all. There
is a public library, reading rooms, a
museum, an art gallery, a social parlor, a
hall for meetings, lectures, dramas, etc.
All dress as they like, live as they like, do
as they like. Everything is free but the
repression of freedom. There are no codes,
no laws, no rigid customs, no officers. In
a mental sense Forrest may be regarded
as their leader, and Miss Earle in a busi-
ness sense, but nobody is bound to stay,
acquiesce or obey, but by his own sense of
benefit. They co-operate in buying and
selling, 5? in caring for the sick and help-
less, and in insuring each other's property.
Very happy these people seem to be,
138 THE NATURAL MAN
secure in each others comradeship and
sympathy, free to think, speak, act as they
will ; working short hours, and spending
the rest of their time in pursuit of beauty,
wisdom and innocent joy. Wealth is des-
pised, and those contented with the least
regarded with envy. Thoreau's Walden is
a text book, Chloe and Daphnis models,
life an acted pastoral.
In their homes & dress the individual
peculiarities come out with most pictur-
esque emphasis. Mabel lives in a little
English cottage of rough stone, with lat-
ticed windows & thatched roof, and dresses
like a shepherdess. Miss Earle affects Greek
draperies, & resides in a grotto-like studio
with a glass roof from which all the light
comes. There is an immense aquarium in
the centre of the room, and an immense
Wardian case in the wall; the other walls
THE NATURAL MAN 139
are frescoed in sylvan scenes or hung with
pictures; moss -colored carpets cover the
floor; statues stand around. Edith Lyle
lives in a tiny Swiss chalet and dresses in
bloomers. Saxon has an American log
cabin. The blacksmith lives in a house of
iron, full of artistic iron work of his own
design and making, and dresses like a fif-
teenth century artisan. A naturalist finds
simplicity in dwelling in a tent all the year
around, and dressing in green in summer,
white in winter. An author declares the
Japanese the ideal Simplicists, and builds
his home on their lines. Another author
declares simplicity is to be found in avoid-
ing all unnecessary work & in the utmost
frugality. He lives in a one-roomed box
house of boards, painted all plain red in-
side and out, one window, no chimney, a
kerosene stove, no carpet, a bed of blank-
140 THE NATURAL MAN
ets on the floor, hung up by day. He lives
on uncooked fruits and nuts only. His
furniture consists of a few pine boxes of
different sizes, holding his effects. He sits
on one, eats from the top of another.
Three baskets, a pitcher and glass, a nut-
cracker, nut-pick and knife furnish his
table. Beyond that only a desk, book
shelves and books. He dresses in canvas
and lives mostly in the out-of-doors. An-
other lives in a tower, on a hill, with a
glass room at top.
It is an odd world, but a happy one.
Is it a freak, or a sign of the future ?
OTHER WORKS BY
J. WILLIAM LLOYD
DAWN-THOUGHT
A volume of Larger Religion
$.50, i. oo, 1.25
WIND-HARP SONGS
Poems of the Free Spirit $1.00
THE RED HEART IN A WHITE WORLD
Suggestions for Free Society $. 10
SONGS OF THE UNBLIND CUPID
A Little Bunch of Love Lyrics $.30
THE FREE COMRADE
A Magazine of Ideals and Sincerity
Monthly, $. 50 a year
For sale by J. William Lloyd
Ont-of-t he-Way Home
Westfield N. J.
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