Page:Caroline Lockhart--The Fighting Shepherdess.djvu/309

 appointment, but the present shock had been of such an unexpected nature that for hours Mr. Sudds had been in a state little short of groggy. The maiden aunt of seventy upon whose liberal remembrance he had built his hopes as the Faithful hug to themselves the promise of heaven, had married a street car conductor and wired for congratulations. He had pulled himself together and staggered to the meeting where, though still with the sink- ing sensation of a man who has inadvertently stepped through the plastering of the ceiling, he was able to dis- semble successfully.

Clearing his throat, the Gov'nor fixed his eyes upon "Hod " Deefendorf, owner of the Double Cross Livery Stable, and demanded:

"Among all the voices of Nature is there a more pleas- ing or varied sound than that of falling water? "

He paused as though he expected an answer, so "Hod" squirmed and ventured weakly that he "guessed there wasn't."

The Gov'nor continued: "The gentle murmur of the brook, the noisy rumble of rapids, the thundering roar of mighty cataracts can you beat it?" In a country where the school children giggled at sight of an umbrella, the question seemed irrelevant, so this time no one re- plied.

" Consider the rivulet as it glints and glistens in cease- less change, the fairy mists of shimmering cascades, the majestic sweep of waterfalls — has Nature any force more potent for the use of man than falling water? No! None whatever! And I propose that we yoke these rac- ing tumbling forces back there in yon mountains and make them work for us!"

The members exchanged glances the Gov'nor was living up to their expectations of him.