Burned Bridges

a sluggish python-a python that rested its mouth upon the shore of Lake Athabasca while its tail was l

n tribesmen long before the Ancient and Honorable Company of Adventurers laid the foundation of the first post at Hudson's Bay, long before the Half Moon's prow first cleft those desolate waters. They have been trodden, these dim trails, by Scotch and French and English since that historic event, and by a numerous progeny in whose veins the blood of all three races mingles with that of the native tribes. But th

still fairly plentiful. Along Lone Moose a dozen Cree and half-breed families disappeared into the back country during the hazy softness of Indian summer and came gliding down in the spring with the

. In the fringe of these dusky woods, at various intervals of distance, could be seen the outline of each cabin. They were much of a sort-two or three rooms, log-walled, brush laid upon poles, and sod on top of that for a roof, with fireplaces built partly of mud, partly of rough stones. Folk in such circumstances waste no labor in ornamentation. Each family's abiding p

there. It contained at least four rooms. Its windows were of ample size, the doors neatly carpentered. A wide porch ran on three sides. It bore about itself an air of homely comfort, heightened by

there grew a variety of vegetables. The produce of that garden had grown famous far beyond Lone Moose village. But the spirit and customs and traditions of the

wn. He had a green-bound book in his hand. While he stuffed a clay pipe full of tobacco he laid the volume across his knees. Every movement was as deliberate as the flow of the deep

fifty. His hair, now plentifully shot with gray, had been a light, wavy brown. His eyes were a clear gray, and his features were the antithesis of his high-cheekboned ne

d oblivious, or at least undisturbed, until the child stood up, laid hold of his knee and shook it with playful persistence. Then Carr looked over his book, spoke to the boy casually, shaking his head as he did so. The boy persisted after the juvenile habit. Carr raised his voice. An Indian woman, not yet of middle

ay, obscuring streak of rain riven by vivid flashes of lightning. Carr laid down his book and refilled his pipe while he gazed on this common phenomenon of the dog-days. It swept up and passed over the village of Lone Moose as a sprinkling wagon passes over a city street. The downpour was accompanied by crashing detonat

emplation of the freshened beauty of meadow and woods, a man and a wo

n. Turning, they came on again toward Carr's house. Sam Carr's clear gray eyes lit up. The ghost of a smile hovered about his bearded lips. H

slender and pliant as a willow, with all of the willow's grace in every movement. For all the twenty-odd years between them, and the gulf of sex differentiation, there was in her glance and bearing much of the middle-aged man who sat on the porch with a book across

. Though they had but lately been fair in the path of the thunderstorm they had escap

gh to shed the rain," she smiled. "Or I

s seated. He had no more than greeted Car

while the coolness last

mmy," the gi

ed suit. "Don't give u

no da

n to the landing, and backed it free with his paddle. Ten strokes of

gazing silently at her while she continued to look after the vanished canoe whose passing left tiny swirls on the dark, slug

ixed intently upon his face, with a queer questioning expression in them, a mute appeal. H

ophie?" he ask

ubbing the damp, bead-decorated toe of one on top of the other, her hands resting idle in the lap of her cotton dress. She se

me to marry him,

ened. The glow in her eyes gave way altog

is short beard

I would be surprised at the trees leafing out in spring. And, as it happens, Tommy observed the conventions

ow, Dad," s

sued the inquiry in a de

When I'm with him I feel sure I'd be perfectly happy to b

motions are not in harmony on that subject. Eh? So far as Tommy

him a little

on't, and I should know which, shouldn't I? The first and most violent manifestation of love is mostly physical, isn't it

in you what I believed to be a decided mentality. I've tried to show you how to get down to fundamentals, to work out a philosophy of life that's really workable. Knowledge is worth having for its own sake. Once you find yourself in contact with the world-and for you that time is bound to come-you'll apply all the knowledge you've absorbed to problems as they arise. If there's a rational solution to any situation that faces you, you'll make an effort to find that solution. You'll do it almost instinctively. You can't help it. Your brain is too alert ever to let you act blindly. At the pre

don't understand myself and my shift

xperience. Ordinary mating is based on sex instinct. Love is mostly an emotional disturbance generated by natural causes for profoundly natural and important ends. But marriage and the intimate associations of married life require something more substantial than a mere flare-up of animal instinct. Lots of men and women aren't capable of anything else, and consequently they make the best of what's in them. But there are natures far more comp

ling for Tommy Ashe, and therefore I can't imagine myself in any oth

mmon with Tommy with that part left out? Suppose you got so you didn't care whether he kissed you or not? Suppose it were no longer a physical pleas

at all," the girl said positive

he tides. But we'll let that pass. I'm trying to help you, Sophie, not to discourage you. There are some situations in which, and some natures to whom, h

s neck, and her fingers play

onestly say that I've ever been ov

dryly. "Between the propositions I th

little and her breath wen

gravely. "I supp

en something wet and warm dropped o

" he said soft

efly, I think, I am sorry for Tomm

r a brief time, Sophie. Tommy's a good boy, but it will take a good deal of a m

the meadow and the green woods beyond. For ten minutes he sat, his posture one of peculiar tensity, his eyes on the distance unseeingly-or as if he