128 THE MOUNTAINS 



ground for John's bearing of innate dig- 

 nity. One of our American essayists, 

 probably Emerson, refers wonderingly to 

 the exquisite dignity with which a well- 

 bred woman crosses a muddy street. In 

 much more awkward situations, I have 

 watched John carry his twisted wreck of 

 a body with the instinctive dignity which 

 belongs to a king. Indeed, it has flashed 

 through my mind that there might be 

 lingering in John's veins an inherited 

 trace of the blood of a chieftain who cen- 

 turies ago ruled an African tribe. The 

 most singular thing, though, pertaining 

 to this bearing of dignity was that it was 

 a visible conquest over many ungainly 

 physical features. What Abraham Lin- 

 coln did in a large way John did in a much 

 smaller way, namely, he penetrated and 

 dominated his entire body with a su- 

 premely independent spirit. John was 

 reputed to be "queer" or "cranky," and 

 it is not surprising, for he was as rigidly 

 independent as is a red oak in a hailstorm. 



