Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/198

 spectacle he knew that away to the northward there were grim, cold storms—his instinct told him so.

He went about his day's work calmly enough. He prepared a very good breakfast, and ate it in the comfort of a, chair at a table. He looked about him with awe and reverence. Here had dwelt a fairy lady of the river. This had been her home; this had been her chamber of secrets; this had been the housing of a rare and beautiful soul; he dared not let his imagination run free in this place.

He walked up and down in that little boat, looking to right and left, and everywhere he saw the touch of her hand, everywhere he felt her presence, and the aroma of that fair place smote his nostrils like incense—a faint, delicious perfume sweeter than any he had ever known before.

He floated on down till noon, and then he swung into an eddy, where he anchored in order that he might sleep and make up for his lost rest. He went into Nodland, dreaming fair dreams as a poet will when in the proper mood, untrammeled by noxious environment. His soul had expanded, his vision had welled up in proportion, and his heart rejoiced as never before.

This is what Old Mississip' does to an appreciative poet.

But Old Mississip' was not yet through with G.