THE COVERED BRIDGE 



145 



n't. I thank yon for what yon did and 

 said last night, for it has made me see 

 thing's in a truer light than I ever did 

 before. If you will forgive me for the 

 way I have acted toward you, we'll 

 continue our trip, and I think you can 

 trust me hereafter to act as a gentle- 

 man should.' He offered his hand, and 

 I shook it and said : 'Certainly, we'd let 

 bygones be bygones, and take a fresh 

 start.' 



"Well, we stayed out a full month, 

 and I never was with a more gentle- 

 manly, agreeable fellow than he was 

 all that time. He was as pleasant and 

 sociable and good-natured as any man 

 you ever saw. Every night we used 

 to sit around the camp fire talking for 



hours, and I don't think I ever en- 

 joyed a trip more than I did that one. 

 "Well, that night after the quarrel, 

 while I lay in my blankets too boiling 

 mad to sleep, I saw him get up a num- 

 ber of times and walk around in the 

 moonlight — in fact, he was up and 

 walking around nearly all night. And 

 I just studied it out that the look of the 

 mountains — they're the grandest sight 

 on earth by moonlight, and it was full 

 moon that night — had had a good sort 

 of an effect upon him, and had made 

 him feel that the things he had always 

 thought of the most importance don't 

 amount to so much after all, and that 

 a man that is a man is a man anyway, 

 wherever you find him." 



THE COVERED BRIDGE 



By FRANK FARRINGTON. 



You can talk about gymnasiums, 



An' recreation piers, 

 And all your city playgrounds, 



With bran newfangled gears. 



But after seein' every one, 



I've jes' made up my mind 

 There ain't a place invented yet, 



So far as I can find, 



That beats the ol' red covered bridge, 



That hung across the crick, 

 When Jim an' Bill an' me was boys, 



An' up to every trick. 



In there on rainy days or dry 



Was al'ays lots o' fun, 

 With holes to fish through — beams to climb, 



An' races to be run. 



Of all good spots for havin' fun; 



From butment up to ridge, 

 There never was another one 



Like our old covered bridge. 



