The Call of the Unknown 



set. Not that there is anything par- 

 ticularly criminal in that form of occu- 

 pation; but you know we practical 

 folk have a way of sneering sometimes 

 at the fellow who can see anything 

 worth a second look in the plunging 

 of a great globe of fire through cloud- 

 belts into the dark unknown. 



It is a pleasing prospect that lies 

 between our doors and the far-away 

 place where fresh pictures are painted 

 every evening. Rolling grass-lands, 

 wide open spaces between little groups 

 of friendly tjrees — ^maple, willows, oaks; 

 in the foreground a bit of water with 

 a foot-bridge; and, at the edge of our 

 little world, low hills covered with 

 forest growths. We can see, and we 

 know all about everything that has 

 place in the nearer view, but, "hang it 

 all," remarks my friend that Carnegie 

 trained beneath Bessemer fires, "what 

 is there about those woodlands we can 

 see away out there in the west that 

 invariably catches my eye, and excites 

 [i8i] 



