I 



THE PICTURE THAT WALKED 



719 



sons of the men who bought that low land stayed home 

 in summer to help the old folks and stuck around in 

 winter because the price of fur had gone away up and 

 because the unburned swamps along the river were get- 

 ting full of rats and mink and foxes. 



The town had changed. Somebody bought a tumble- 

 down house and made a summer cottage of it. Others 

 followed. A stranger came in and opened an ice cream 

 store right under the home boys' noses ; another started 

 a bakery. Mclntyre's oldest boy went into the curio 

 business and spent his winters rounding up squaws who 

 had not forgotten their tribal arts. His place was a 

 corker, the tourists said. The clothing store put in a 

 big-town front. Mclntyre was making more money out 

 of tackle and ammunition than he ever had out of hard- 

 ware. The grocery stocks Haskins had lots of competi- 

 tion by then were filled with unheard-of stuff. There 

 was a movie house and two doctors and a dentist and a 

 buok-store. . . . Well, Blueberry was a better town 

 than it ever had been. 



Only now and then did it go dead. Absolutely, posi- 

 tively dead. That was when the big bell over the fire 

 house rang and the speed truck with its equipment ran 

 out. Then store doors slammed and Fords trailed the 

 truck out of town, into the cut-overs, and the banker 

 sure, there was a bank and doctors and merchants 

 sweat and swore and worked until the menace was de- 

 stroyed. Why shouldn't they? Their town was built 

 on forest fire prevention. 



Rube Pottle was an old man. Twenty-five years since 

 the Company pulled out. Twenty yeal| since he painted 

 hij picture. He carried a cane, then, becatise of those 

 hard days fighting ^slash fire alone, likely. A gold-headed 

 cane, given to him by the Company, along with a lot of 

 other things. He came out of the Company's building 

 the three-story, brick one on the corner. He had just 

 been talking with the Company's chief forester. He 

 walked three blocks past comfortable residences and 

 thrifty stores. He stopped and looked down the hill to 

 the river. There stood the shell of a mill, weather-beaten. 

 Some men were working on it. He smiled and lifted his 

 old eyes to the hills. They were blue-green that morn- 

 ing . . . oh, so green ! the pine crowns waved 

 gently in the autumn breeze. 



He went into Bisbee's, where Art's oldest boy was 

 running the business and found Art. 

 " 'Lo, Rube." 



"Mornin', Art." Pause. Rube scratched his chin. 

 "Jest come in to put on a little more paint." Art was 

 puzzled. He had not heard that phrase for years ; then 

 he remembered and grinned. "Yup, paint," went on 

 Rube. "Th' Company's comin' back." 

 "Back! Rube, you're crazy!" 



"So's been said before, several times. But they'll 

 ojjen their camps this winter. They're rebuildin' th' mill 

 now. They're goin' to start thinnin' their pine out, Art. 

 Pulp, excelsior, lath, mebby some little box lumber. . . . 

 They'll start her this fall an' she'll go on forever. . . . 

 Least, that's what th' forester tells me. . . . " 

 Art scratched his head and grinned again. 



"By gosh!" he said, under his breath. "By gosh! 

 Company comin' back to operate 1 We got the best town 

 in the state to live in! We got our own kind of farms; 

 we got jobs for the boys in winter; we got a bigger 

 average population than we had in the old days ; we got 

 more money n we ever had ; business is always good 

 because that tourist crop never fails. ... By gosh. 

 Rube, that darn-fool picture you painted that night outa 

 nothin' just naturally stepped right out of her frame and 

 walked !" 



THE ROTHROCK MEMORIAL 



In the November issue, American Forestry 

 published a notice of the movement looking to the 

 [)lacing of a bronze Memorial Tablet in the Depart- 

 ment of Forestry in the Pennsylvania State Capitol 

 Building at Harrisburg, commemorating the services 

 of Dr. Joseph Trimble Rothrock, who so faithfully 

 and efficiently served and promoted the forestry 

 interests of our country throughout his lifetime. 

 The project is in the hands of a Committee com- 

 posed of representatives of the State Forestry De- 

 partment of Pennsylvania, Dr. H. S. Drinker, 

 Major R. Y. Stuart, Colonel H. W. Shoemaker, 

 Mr. George W. Wirt, and Prof. Joseph S. Illick. 



Ftiends and admirers of Dr. Rothrock, who de- 

 sire aid in the erection of this memorial, which 

 it_is estimated will cost $1,500.00, should mail their 

 contributions to Dr. H. S. Drinker, Chairman of 

 Committee, Merion, Montgomery County, Pennsyl- 

 vania. The following is the proposed tablet in- 

 scription, which is to be headed by a medallion 

 portrait of Dr. Rothrock to be modelled by the 

 eminent sculptor. Dr. Robert Tait McKenzie, of 

 the University of Pennsylvania. 



To 



JOSEPH TRIMBLE ROTHROCK 



Born April 9, 1839; Died June 2, 1922. 

 Patriot, Soldier, Pioneer, Forester, Botanist, Sports- 

 man, Physician, Educator, Author, Public Servant, 

 Distinguished Citizen, Loving" Husband and 

 Father. 

 The Father of Forestry in Pennsylvania 

 First Commissioner of Forestry of Pennsylvania 

 Active and Devoted Member of the Pennsylvania 

 State Forest Commission from 1893 until his death 

 M. D., University of Pennsylvania, 1867 

 Professor of Botany at Pennsylvania State College 



and later at the University of Pennsylvania 

 A leader in the Conservation of our Forests and 



Streams 

 One of the Founders and a life-long Member and 



Officer of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association 



Vice President of the American Forestry Association 



Honorary Member of the Society of American 



Foresters 



Founder and Promoter of the State Forest Academy 



and of the Mont Alto Sanatorium 

 In his life he exemplified the typical traits and vir- 

 tues of American manhood, and in his death he left 

 us the memory and example of one who embodied 

 in his character and life, "Whatsoever things are 

 true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things 

 are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 

 are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report." 



From His Friends 



