initial commit of ebook 1763HEADmain

2 files changed, 899 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/ntrfk10.txt b/old/ntrfk10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fd35c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/ntrfk10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,899 @@
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Nature Faker, by R. H. Davis
+#16 in our series by Richard Harding Davis
+
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check
+the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!!
+
+Please take a look at the important information in this header.
+We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an
+electronic path open for the next readers.  Do not remove this.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations*
+
+Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and
+further information is included below.  We need your donations.
+
+
+The Nature Faker
+
+by Richard Harding Davis
+
+May, 1999  [Etext #1763]
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Nature Faker, by R. H. Davis
+******This file should be named ntrfk10.txt or ntrfk10.zip******
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, ntrfk11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ntrfk10a.txt
+
+Etext scanned by Aaron Cannon of Paradise, California
+
+Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions,
+all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a
+copyright notice is included.  Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any
+of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+
+Please note:  neither this list nor its contents are final till
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.  To be sure you have an
+up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes
+in the first week of the next month.  Since our ftp program has
+a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a
+look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a
+new copy has at least one byte more or less.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.  This
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If our value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-six text
+files per month, or 432 more Etexts in 1999 for a total of 2000+
+If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the
+total should reach over 200 billion Etexts given away this year.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext
+Files by December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion]
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only ~5% of the present number of computer users.
+
+At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third
+of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we
+manage to get some real funding; currently our funding is mostly
+from Michael Hart's salary at Carnegie-Mellon University, and an
+assortment of sporadic gifts; this salary is only good for a few
+more years, so we are looking for something to replace it, as we
+don't want Project Gutenberg to be so dependent on one person.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+
+All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are
+tax deductible to the extent allowable by law.  (CMU = Carnegie-
+Mellon University).
+
+For these and other matters, please mail to:
+
+Project Gutenberg
+P. O. Box  2782
+Champaign, IL 61825
+
+When all other email fails. . .try our Executive Director:
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org
+if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if
+it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . .
+
+We would prefer to send you this information by email.
+
+******
+
+To access Project Gutenberg etexts, use any Web browser
+to view http://promo.net/pg.  This site lists Etexts by
+author and by title, and includes information about how
+to get involved with Project Gutenberg.  You could also
+download our past Newsletters, or subscribe here.  This
+is one of our major sites, please email hart@pobox.com,
+for a more complete list of our various sites.
+
+To go directly to the etext collections, use FTP or any
+Web browser to visit a Project Gutenberg mirror (mirror
+sites are available on 7 continents; mirrors are listed
+at http://promo.net/pg).
+
+Mac users, do NOT point and click, typing works better.
+
+Example FTP session:
+
+ftp sunsite.unc.edu
+login: anonymous
+password: your@login
+cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg
+cd etext90 through etext99
+dir [to see files]
+get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files]
+GET GUTINDEX.??  [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99]
+GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books]
+
+***
+
+**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor**
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault.  So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
+you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement.  If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-
+tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor
+Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at
+Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project").  Among other
+things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
+under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works.  Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this
+etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors,
+officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost
+and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or
+indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause:
+[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification,
+or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word pro-
+     cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the etext (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the
+     net profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon
+     University" within the 60 days following each
+     date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare)
+     your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time,
+scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty
+free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution
+you can think of.  Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg
+Association / Carnegie-Mellon University".
+
+*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+Etext scanned by Aaron Cannon of Paradise, California
+
+
+
+
+
+The Nature Faker
+
+by Richard Harding Davis
+
+
+
+Richard Herrick was a young man with a gentle disposition, much
+money, and no sense of humor. His object in life was to marry Miss
+Catherweight. For three years she had tried to persuade him this
+could not be, and finally, in order to convince him, married some
+one else. When the woman he loves marries another man, the rejected
+one is popularly supposed to take to drink or to foreign travel.
+Statistics show that, instead, he instantly falls in love with the
+best friend of the girl who refused him. But, as Herrick truly
+loved Miss Catherweight, he could not worship any other woman, and
+so he became a lover of nature. Nature, he assured his men friends,
+does not disappoint you. The more thought, care, affection you give
+to nature, the more she gives you in return, and while, so he
+admitted, in wooing nature there are no great moments, there are no
+heart-aches. Jackson, one of the men friends, and of a frivolous
+disposition, said that he also could admire a landscape, but he
+would rather look at the beautiful eyes of a girl he knew than at
+the Lakes of Killarney, with a full moon, a setting sun, and the
+aurora borealis for a background. Herrick suggested that, while the
+beautiful eyes might seek those of another man, the Lakes of
+Killarney would always remain where you could find them. Herrick
+pursued his new love in Connecticut on an abandoned farm which he
+converted into a "model" one. On it he established model dairies
+and model incubators. He laid out old-fashioned gardens, sunken
+gardens, Italian gardens, landscape gardens, and a game preserve.
+
+The game preserve was his own especial care and pleasure. It
+consisted of two hundred acres of dense forest and hills and
+ridges
+of rock. It was filled with mysterious caves, deep chasms, tiny
+gurgling streams, nestling springs, and wild laurel. It was
+barricaded with fallen tree-trunks and moss- covered rocks that
+had
+never felt the foot of man since that foot had worn a moccasin.
+Around the preserve was a high fence stout enough to keep
+poachers
+on the outside and to persuade the wild animals that inhabited it
+to linger on the inside. These wild animals were squirrels,
+rabbits, and raccoons. Every day, in sunshine or in rain,
+entering
+through a private gate, Herrick would explore this holy of
+holies.
+For such vermin as would destroy the gentler animals he carried a
+gun. But it was turned only on those that preyed upon his
+favorites. For hours he would climb through this wilderness, or,
+seated on a rock, watch a bluebird building her nest or a
+squirrel
+laying in rations against the coming of the snow. In time he grew
+to think he knew and understood the inhabitants of this wild
+place
+of which he was the overlord. He looked upon them not as his
+tenants but as his guests. And when they fled from him in terror
+to
+caves and hollow tree-trunks, he wished he might call them back
+and
+explain he was their friend, that it was due to him they lived in
+peace. He was glad they were happy. He was glad it was through
+him
+that, undisturbed, they could live the simple life.
+
+His fall came through ambition. Herrick himself attributed it to
+his too great devotion to nature and nature's children. Jackson,
+he
+of the frivolous mind, attributed it to the fact that any man is
+sure to come to grief who turns from the worship of God's noblest
+handiwork, by which Jackson meant woman, to worship chipmunks and
+Plymouth Rock hens. One night Jackson lured Herrick into New York
+to a dinner and a music hall. He invited also one Kelly, a mutual
+friend of a cynical and combative disposition. Jackson liked to
+hear him and Herrick abuse each other, and always introduced
+subjects he knew would cause each to lose his temper.
+
+But, on this night, Herrick needed no goading. He was in an
+ungrateful mood. Accustomed to food fresh from the soil and the
+farmyard, he sneered at hothouse asparagus, hothouse grapes, and
+cold-storage quail. At the music hall he was even more difficult.
+In front of him sat a stout lady who when she shook with laughter
+shed patchouli and a man who smoked American cigarettes. At these
+and the steam heat, the nostrils of Herrick, trained to the odor
+of
+balsam and the smoke of open wood fires, took offense. He refused
+to be amused. The monologue artist, in whom Jackson found
+delight,
+caused Herrick only to groan; the knockabout comedians he hoped
+would break their collar-bones; the lady who danced Salome, and
+who
+fascinated Kelly, Herrick prayed would catch pneumonia and die of
+it. And when the drop rose upon the Countess Zichy's bears, his
+dissatisfaction reached a climax.
+
+There were three bears--a large papa bear, a mamma bear, and the
+baby bear. On the programme they were described as Bruno, Clara,
+and Ikey. They were of a dusty brown, with long, curling noses
+tipped with white, and fat, tan-colored bellies. When father
+Bruno,
+on his hind legs and bare feet, waddled down the stage, he
+resembled a Hebrew gentleman in a brown bathing suit who had lost
+his waist-line. As he tripped doubtfully forward, with mincing
+steps, he continually and mournfully wagged his head. He seemed
+to
+be saying: "This water is much too cold for me." The mamma bear
+was
+dressed in a poke bonnet and white apron, and resembled the wolf
+who frightened Little Red Riding-Hood, and Ikey, the baby bear,
+wore rakishly over one eye the pointed cap of a clown. To those
+who
+knew their vaudeville, this was indisputable evidence that Ikey
+would furnish the comic relief. Nor did Ikey disappoint them. He
+was a wayward son. When his parents were laboriously engaged in a
+boxing-match, or dancing to the "Merry Widow Waltz," or balancing
+on step-ladders, Ikey, on all fours, would scamper to the
+foot-lights and, leaning over, make a swift grab at the head of
+the
+first trombone. And when the Countess Zichy, apprised by the
+shouts
+of the audience of Ikey's misconduct, waved a toy whip, Ikey
+would
+gallop back to his pedestal and howl at her. To every one, except
+Herrick and the first trombone, this playfulness on the part of
+Ikey furnished great delight.
+
+The performances of the bears ended with Bruno and Clara dancing
+heavily to the refrain of the "Merry Widow Waltz," while Ikey
+pretended to conduct the music of the orchestra. On the final
+call,
+Madame Zichy threw to each of the animals a beer bottle filled
+with
+milk; and the gusto with which the savage-looking beasts uncorked
+the bottles and drank from them greatly amused the audience.
+Ikey,
+standing on his hind legs, his head thrown back, with both paws
+clasping the base of the bottle, shoved the neck far down his
+throat, and then, hurling it from him, and cocking his clown's
+hat
+over his eyes, gave a masterful imitation of a very intoxicated
+bear.
+
+"That," exclaimed Herrick hotly, "is a degrading spectacle. It
+degrades the bear and degrades me and you."
+
+"No, it bores me," said Kelly.
+
+"If you understood nature," retorted Herrick, "and nature's
+children, it would infuriate you."
+
+"I don't go to a music hall to get infuriated," said Kelly.
+
+"Trained dogs I don't mind," exclaimed Herrick. "Dogs are not
+wild
+animals. The things they're trained to do are of USE. They can
+guard the house, or herd sheep. But a bear is a wild beast.
+Always
+will be a wild beast. You can't train him to be of use. It's
+degrading to make him ride a bicycle. I hate it! If I'd known
+there
+were to be performing bears to-night, I wouldn't have come!"
+
+"And if I'd known you were to be here to-night, I wouldn't have
+come!" said Kelly. "Where do we go to next?"
+
+They went next to a restaurant in a gayly decorated cellar. Into
+this young men like themselves and beautiful ladies were so
+anxious
+to hurl themselves that to restrain them a rope was swung across
+the entrance and page boys stood on guard. When a young man
+became
+too anxious to spend his money, the page boys pushed in his shirt
+front. After they had fought their way to a table, Herrick
+ungraciously remarked he would prefer to sup in a subway station.
+The people, he pointed out, would be more human, the decorations
+were much of the same Turkish-bath school of art, and the air was
+no worse.
+
+"Cheer up, Clarence!" begged Jackson, "you'll soon be dead.
+To-morrow you'll be back among your tree-toads and sunsets. And,
+let us hope," he sighed, "no one will try to stop you!"
+
+"What worries me is this," explained Herrick. "I can't help
+thinking that, if one night of this artificial life is so hard
+upon
+me, what must it be to those bears!"
+
+Kelly exclaimed, with exasperation: "Confound the bears!" he
+cried.
+"If you must spoil my supper weeping over animals, weep over
+cart-horses. They work. Those bears are loafers. They're as well
+fed as pet canaries. They're aristocrats."
+
+"But it's not a free life!" protested Herrick. "It's not the life
+they love."
+
+"It's a darned sight better," declared Kelly, than sleeping in a
+damp wood, eating raw blackberries----"
+
+"The more you say," retorted Herrick, "the more you show you know
+nothing whatsoever of nature's children and their habits."
+
+"And all you know of them," returned Kelly, is that a cat has
+nine
+lives, and a barking dog won't bite. You're a nature faker."
+Herrick refused to be diverted.
+
+"It hurt me," he said. "They were so big, and good-natured, and
+helpless. I'll bet that woman beats them! I kept thinking of them
+as they were in the woods, tramping over the clean pine needles,
+eating nuts, and--and honey, and----"
+
+"Buns!" suggested Jackson.
+
+"I can't forget them," said Herrick. "It's going to haunt me,
+to-morrow, when I'm back in the woods; I'll think of those poor
+beasts capering in a hot theatre, when they ought to be out in
+the
+open as God meant they----"
+
+"Well, then," protested Kelly, "take 'em to the open. And turn
+'em
+loose! And I hope they bite YOU!"
+
+At this Herrick frowned so deeply that Kelly feared he had gone
+too
+far. Inwardly, he reproved himself for not remembering that his
+friend lacked a sense of humor. But Herrick undeceived him.
+
+"You are right!" he exclaimed. "To-morrow I will buy those bears,
+take them to the farm, and turn them loose!"
+
+No objections his friend could offer could divert him from his
+purpose. When they urged that to spend so much money in such a
+manner was criminally wasteful, he pointed out that he was
+sufficiently rich to indulge any extravagant fancy, whether in
+polo
+ponies or bears; when they warned him that if he did not look out
+the bears would catch him alone in the woods, and eat him, he
+retorted that the bears were now educated to a different diet;
+when
+they said he should consider the peace of mind of his neighbors,
+he
+assured them the fence around his game preserve would restrain an
+elephant.
+
+"Besides," protested Kelly, "what you propose to do is not only
+impracticable, but it's cruelty to animals. A domesticated animal
+can't return to a state of nature, and live."
+
+"Can't it?" jeered Herrick. "Did you ever read 'The Call of the
+Wild'?"
+
+"Did you ever read," retorted Kelly, "what happened at the siege
+of
+Ladysmith when the oats ran low and they drove the artillery
+horses
+out to grass? They starved, that's all. And if you don't feed
+your
+bears on milk out of a bottle they'll starve too."
+
+"That's what will happen," cried Jackson; those bears have
+forgotten what a pine forest smells like. Maybe it's a pity, but
+it's the fact. I'll bet if you could ask them whether they'd
+rather
+sleep in a cave on your farm or be headliners in vaudeville,
+they'd
+tell you they were 'devoted to their art.'"
+
+"Why!" exclaimed Kelly, "they're so far from nature that if they
+didn't have that colored boy to comb and brush them twice a day
+they'd be ashamed to look each other in the eyes."
+
+"And another thing," continued Jackson, "trained animals love to
+'show off.' They're children. Those bears ENJOY doing those
+tricks.
+They ENJOY the applause. They enjoy dancing to the 'Merry Widow
+Waltz.' And if you lock them up in your jungle, they'll get so
+homesick that they'll give a performance twice a day to the
+squirrels and woodpeckers."
+
+"It's just as hard to unlearn a thing as to learn it," said Kelly
+sententiously. "You can't make a man who has learned to wear
+shoes
+enjoy going around in his bare feet."
+
+"Rot!" cried Herrick. "Look at me. Didn't I love New York? I
+loved
+it so I never went to bed for fear I'd miss something. But when I
+went 'Back to the Land,' did it take me long to fall in love with
+the forests and the green fields? It took me a week. I go to bed
+now the same day I get up, and I've passed on my high hat and
+frock
+coat to a scarecrow. And I'll bet you when those bears once scent
+the wild woods they'll stampede for them like Croker going to a
+third alarm."
+
+"And I repeat," cried Kelly, "you are a nature faker. And I'll
+leave it to the bears to prove it."
+
+"We have done our best," sighed Jackson. "We have tried to save
+him
+money and trouble. And now all he can do for us in return is to
+give us seats for the opening performance."
+
+What the bears cost Herrick he never told. But it was a very
+large
+sum. As the Countess Zichy pointed out, bears as bears, in a
+state
+of nature, are cheap. If it were just a bear he wanted, he
+himself
+could go to Pike County, Pennsylvania, and trap one. What he was
+paying for, she explained, was the time she had spent in
+educating
+the Bruno family, and added to that the time during which she
+must
+now remain idle while she educated another family.
+
+Herrick knew for what he was paying. It was the pleasure of
+rescuing unwilling slaves from bondage. As to their expensive
+education, if they returned to a state of ignorance as rapidly as
+did most college graduates he knew, he would be satisfied. Two
+days
+later, when her engagement at the music hall closed, Madame Zichy
+reluctantly turned over her pets to their new manager. With Ikey
+she was especially loath to part.
+
+"I'll never get one like him," she walled Ikey is the funniest
+four-legged clown in America. He's a natural-born comedian. Folks
+think I learn him those tricks, but it's all his own stuff. Only
+last week we was playing Paoli's in Bridgeport, and when I was
+putting Bruno through the hoops, Ikey runs to the stage-box and
+grabs a pound of caramels out of a girl's lap-and swallows the
+box.
+And in St. Paul, if the trombone hadn't worn a wig, Ikey would
+have
+scalped him. Say, it was a scream! When the audience see the
+trombone snatched bald-headed, and him trying to get back his
+wig,
+and Ikey chewing it, they went crazy. You can't learn a bear
+tricks
+like that. It's just genius. Some folks think I taught him to act
+like he was intoxicated, but he picked that up, too, all by
+himself, through watching my husband. And Ikey's very fond of
+beer
+on his own account. If I don't stop them, the stage hands would
+be
+always slipping him drinks. I hope you won't give him none."
+
+"I will not!" said Herrick.
+
+The bears, Ikey in one cage and Bruno and Clara in another,
+travelled by express to the station nearest the Herrick estate.
+There they were transferred to a farm wagon, and grumbling and
+growling, and with Ikey howling like an unspanked child, they
+were
+conveyed to the game preserve. At the only gate that entered it,
+Kelly and Jackson and a specially invited house party of youths
+and
+maidens were gathered to receive them. At a greater distance
+stood
+all of the servants and farm hands, and as the wagon backed
+against
+the gate, with the door of Ikey's cage opening against it, the
+entire audience, with one accord, moved solidly to the rear.
+Herrick, with a pleased but somewhat nervous smile, mounted the
+wagon. But before he could unlock the cage Kelly demanded to be
+heard. He insisted that, following the custom of all great
+artists,
+the bears should give a farewell performance."
+
+He begged that Bruno and Clara might be permitted to dance
+together. He pointed out that this would be the last time they
+could listen to the strains of the "Merry Widow Waltz." He called
+upon everybody present to whistle it.
+
+The suggestion of an open-air performance was received coldly. At
+the moment no one seemed able to pucker his lips into a whistle,
+and some even explained that with that famous waltz they were
+unfamiliar.
+
+One girl attained an instant popularity by pointing out that the
+bears could waltz just as well on one side of the fence as the
+other. Kelly, cheated of his free performance, then begged that
+before Herrick condemned the bears to starve on acorns, he should
+give them a farewell drink, and Herrick, who was slightly
+rattled,
+replied excitedly that he had not ransomed the animals only to
+degrade them. The argument was interrupted by the French chef
+falling out of a tree. He had climbed it, he explained, in order
+to
+obtain a better view.
+
+When, in turn, it was explained to him that a bear also could
+climb
+a tree, he remembered he had left his oven door open. His
+departure
+reminded other servants of duties they had neglected, and one of
+the guests, also, on remembering he had put in a long-distance
+call, hastened to the house. Jackson suggested that perhaps they
+had better all return with him, as the presence of so many people
+might frighten the bears. At the moment he spoke, Ikey emitted a
+hideous howl, whether of joy or rage no one knew, and few
+remained
+to find out. It was not until Herrick had investigated and
+reported
+that Ikey was still behind the bars that the house party
+cautiously
+returned. The house party then filed a vigorous protest. Its
+members, with Jackson as spokesman, complained that Herrick was
+relying entirely too much on his supposition that the bears would
+be anxious to enter the forest. Jackson pointed out that, should
+they not care to do so, there was nothing to prevent them from
+doubling back under the wagon; in which case the house party and
+all of the United States lay before them. It was not until a
+lawn-tennis net and much chicken wire was stretched in intricate
+thicknesses across the lower half of the gate that Herrick was
+allowed to proceed. Unassisted, he slid back the cage door, and
+without a moment's hesitation Ikey leaped from the wagon through
+the gate and into the preserve. For an instant, dazed by the
+sudden
+sunlight, he remained motionless, and then, after sniffing
+delightedly at the air, stuck his nose deep into the autumn
+leaves.
+Turning on his back, he luxuriously and joyfully kicked his legs,
+and rolled from side to side.
+
+Herrick gave a shout of joy and triumph. "What did I tell you!"
+he
+called. "See how he loves it! See how happy he is."
+
+"Not at all," protested Kelly. "He thought you gave him the sign
+to
+'roll over.' Tell him to 'play dead,' and he'll do that." " Tell
+ALL the bears to 'play dead,'" begged Jackson, "until I'm back in
+the billiard-room."
+
+Flushed with happiness, Herrick tossed Ikey's cage out of the
+wagon, and opened the door of the one that held Bruno and Clara.
+On
+their part, there was a moment of doubt. As though suspecting a
+trap, they moved to the edge of the cage, and gazed critically at
+the screen of trees and tangled vines that rose before them.
+
+"They think it's a new backdrop," explained Kelly.
+
+But the delight with which Ikey was enjoying his bath in the
+autumn
+leaves was not lost upon his parents. Slowly and clumsily they
+dropped to the ground. As though they expected to be recalled,
+each
+turned to look at the group of people who had now run to peer
+through the wire meshes of the fence. But, as no one spoke and no
+one signalled, the three bears, in single file, started toward
+the
+edge of the forest. They had of cleared space to cover only a
+little distance, and at each step, as though fearful they would
+be
+stopped and punished, one or the other turned his head. But no
+one
+halted them. With quickening footsteps the bears, now almost at a
+gallop, plunged forward. The next instant they were lost to
+sight,
+and only the crackling of the underbrush told that they had come
+into their own.
+
+Herrick dropped to the ground and locked himself inside the
+preserve.
+
+"I'm going after them," he called, "to see what they'll do."
+
+There was a frantic chorus of entreaties.
+
+"Don't be an ass!" begged Jackson. "They'll eat you." Herrick
+waved
+his hand reassuringly.
+
+"They won't even see me," he explained. "I can find my way about
+this place better than they can. And I'll keep to windward of
+them,
+and watch them. Go to the house," he commanded. "I'll be with you
+in an hour, and report."
+
+It was with real relief that, on assembling for dinner, the house
+party found Herrick, in high spirits, with the usual number of
+limbs, and awaiting them. The experiment had proved a great
+success. He told how, unheeded by the bears, he had, without
+difficulty, followed in their tracks. For an hour he had watched
+them. No happy school-children, let loose at recess, could have
+embraced their freedom with more obvious delight. They drank from
+the running streams, for honey they explored the hollow
+tree-trunks, they sharpened their claws on moss-grown rocks, and
+among the fallen oak leaves scratched violently for acorns. So
+satisfied was Herrick with what he had seen, with the success of
+his experiment, and so genuine and unselfish was he in the
+thought
+of the happiness he had brought to the beasts of the forests,
+that
+for him no dinner ever passed more pleasantly. Miss Waring, who
+sat
+next to her host, thought she had seldom met a man with so kind
+and
+simple a nature. She rather resented the fact, and she was
+inwardly
+indignant that so much right feeling and affection could be
+wasted
+on farmyard fowls, and four-footed animals. She felt sure that
+some
+nice girl, seated at the other end of the table, smiling through
+the light of the wax candles upon Herrick, would soon make him
+forget his love of "Nature and Nature's children." She even saw
+herself there, and this may have made her exhibit more interest
+in
+Herrick's experiment than she really felt. In any event, Herrick
+found her most sympathetic' and when dinner was over carried her
+off to a corner of the terrace. It was a warm night in early
+October, and the great woods of the game preserve that stretched
+below them were lit with a full moon.
+
+On his way to the lake for a moonlight row with one of the house
+party who belonged to that sex that does not row, but looks well
+in
+the moon-light, Kelly halted, and jeered mockingly.
+
+"How can you sit there," he demanded, "while those poor beasts
+are
+freezing in a cave, with not even a silk coverlet or a
+pillow-sham.
+You and your valet ought to be down there now carrying them
+pajamas."
+
+"Kelly," declared Herrick, unruffled in his moment of triumph, "I
+hate to say, 'I told you so,' but you force me. Go away," he
+commanded. "You have neither imagination nor soul."
+
+"And that's true," he assured Miss Waring, as Kelly and his
+companion left them. "Now, I see nothing in what I accomplished
+that is ridiculous. Had you watched those bears as I did, you
+would
+have felt that sympathy that exists between all who love the
+out-of-door life. A dog loves to see his master pick up his stick
+and his hat to take him for a walk, and the man enjoys seeing the
+dog leaping and quartering the fields before him. They are both
+the
+happier. At least I am happier to-night, knowing those bears are
+at
+peace and at home, than I would be if I thought of them being
+whipped through their tricks in a dirty theatre." Herrick pointed
+to the great forest trees of the preserve, their tops showing
+dimly
+in the mist of moonlight. "Somewhere, down in that valley, he
+murmured, "are three happy animals. They are no longer slaves and
+puppets--they are their own masters. For the rest of their lives
+they can sleep on pine needles and dine on nuts and honey. No one
+shall molest them, no one shall force them through degrading
+tricks. Hereafter they can choose their life, and their own home
+among the rocks, and the ----" Herrick's words were frozen on his
+tongue. From the other end of the terrace came a scream so
+fierce,
+so long, so full of human suffering, that at the sound the blood
+of
+all that heard it turned to water. It was so appalling that for
+an
+instant no one moved, and then from every part of the house,
+along
+the garden walks, from the servants' quarters, came the sound of
+pounding feet. Herrick, with Miss Waring clutching at his sleeve,
+raced toward the other end of the terrace. They had not far to
+go.
+Directly in front of them they saw what had dragged from the very
+soul of the woman the scream of terror.
+
+The drawing-room opened upon the terrace, and, seated at the
+piano,
+Jackson had been playing for those in the room to dance. The
+windows to the terrace were open. The terrace itself was flooded
+with moonlight. Seeking the fresh air, one of the dancers stepped
+from the drawing-room to the flags outside. She had then raised
+the
+cry of terror and fallen in a faint. What she had seen, Herrick a
+moment later also saw. On the terrace in the moon-light, Bruno
+and
+Clara, on their hind legs, were solemnly waltzing. Neither the
+scream nor the cessation of the music disturbed them.
+Contentedly,
+proudly, they continued to revolve in hops and leaps. From their
+happy expression, it was evident they not only were enjoying
+themselves, but that they felt they were greatly affording
+immeasurable delight to others. Sick at heart, furious, bitterly
+hurt, with roars of mocking laughter in his ears, Herrick ran
+toward the stables for help. At the farther end of the terrace
+the
+butler had placed a tray of liqueurs, whiskeys, and soda bottles.
+His back had been turned for only a few moments, but the time had
+sufficed.
+
+Lolling with his legs out, stretched in a wicker chair, Herrick
+beheld the form of Ikey. Between his uplifted paws he held aloof
+the base of a decanter; between his teeth, and well jammed down
+his
+throat, was the long neck of the bottle. From it issued the sound
+of gentle gurgling. Herrick seized the decanter and hurled it
+crashing upon the terrace. With difficulty Ikey rose. Swaying and
+shaking his head reproachfully, he gave Herrick a perfectly
+accurate imitation of an intoxicated bear.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Nature Faker, by R. H. Davis
+
diff --git a/old/ntrfk10.zip b/old/ntrfk10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee908d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/ntrfk10.zip