THE GIRL FROM TIM’S PLACETHE GIRL FROM BY CHARLES CLARK MUNN Author of “Pocket Island,” “Uncle Terry,” “The ILLUSTRATED BY FRANK T. MERRILL New York GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Published, March, 1906. Copyright, 1906, by All rights reserved. The Girl from Tim’s Place. INTRODUCTION When we leave the world’s busy haunts and penetrate the primal solitude of a vast wilderness, a new realm peopled by mystic genii opens to us. Each sombre gorge, where twisted roots clasp the moss-coated walls, discloses fabled gnomes and dryads. Nymphs and naiads outline their shadowy forms in the mist of every cascade. Elfin sprites dance in the ripples of a laughing brook, and brownies scamper away over the leaf-swept hilltops. A wondrous Presence, multiform, omnipresent, and ever fascinating, meets us on every hand, and there in those magic aisles and sombre glades, where man seems far away and God very near, Nature sits enthroned. It is with the hope that a few of my readers may feel this forest-born mood, and in its poetic spirit forget worldly cares, that I have written the story of “The Girl from Tim’s Place.” THE AUTHOR.
PART I |