Behind the Backlog 



make a fire for some one else than you 

 can successfully pick a wife or hus- 

 band for another person. It's chancy 

 enough, some say, to pick one for your- 

 self, or be picked, as the case may 

 be; and the building of the fire, if it 

 is to be considered as a fine art 

 which I certainly contend it to be is 

 not the simple act it seems. I speak 

 of course from the standpoint of those 

 fortunate few who have been blessed 

 by Nature with the gift of reading fire- 

 light mysteries. 



That oak now flaming so brightly 

 on the fire seems trying to tell me 

 something. When I turned away a 

 while ago it lapsed into absolute in- 

 difference, so I give it a good poke and 

 listen to its simple story. What did it 

 say? A lot. Much more no doubt than 

 you would care to hear. I had been 

 reading Parkman and his thrilling 

 tales of how a great new world was 

 found by France and lost again. This 

 oak was from a tree that once had 



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