Tamawaca Folks: A Summer ComedyBaum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)
General
Tamawaca Folks: A Summer Comedy
Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)
Macatawa, Lake, Region (Mich.) -- Fiction; Romans à clef; Summer resorts -- Fiction
Old man Crosby, who had been shot in the hip in a raid, ran the Bank of
Oklahoma, and ran it so crookedly that Jarrod was often in despair. No
one would believe a Crosby under oath, while Jarrod was acknowledged
by even his enemies to be square as a die and fair as the scales of
justice. So his position was extremely difficult. He saved the Crosbys
from their misdeeds for years, by dint of hard work and constant
diplomacy, and at last, when a thousand penalties confronted them and
could not be staved off much longer, the lawyer managed to sell for
them their entire holdings and induced them to retire from business in
general and lawlessness in particular.
When it was all over Jarrod went home to Kansas City, nodded to his
wife, looked curiously and with some interest at his children, and
then sat down in an easy chair and sighed. It was all new and strange
to him--this being "at home"--and he wasn't sure at first whether he
liked it or not.
Mrs. Jarrod liked it, though, and made much of him, so that gradually
his uneasiness wore off and he settled down meekly to the practice
of law in general. Four or five hours a day he spent in his office,
listening to the unimportant grievances of common folks and striving to
keep his nerves from jumping.
He hadn't thought to feather his nest, yet the Crosbys had
good-naturedly tossed a lump of money at him and he had accepted it.
But a nervous man must keep busy, even when those same nerves operate
to keep him cold and quiet as an alternative to dancing and yelling
like a madman. So Jarrod "held on to himself" and tried to enjoy his
devoted family and the petty details which were all that remained
of a business too long neglected to serve those wild Crosbys. The
reaction had set in following his recent months of hard work, and
before many days he felt himself both physically and mentally exhausted
and knew that unless he deliberately created a diversion his run-down
constitution would be likely to involuntarily create one that he
wouldn't like.
As fate would have it, on a balmy spring day he met an old friend--a
Dr. Brush--who was a prominent and highly respected clergyman. Said the
doctor:
"You need a change, Jarrod. Why don't you go to some quiet, pleasant
summer resort, and loaf until fall?"
"Where can I find such a place?" asked Jarrod.
"Why, any of the Lake Michigan resorts are desirable--Tamawaca, Bay
View, Charlevoix or Petoskey. I've been to Tamawaca a couple of summers
myself, and like it immensely. It isn't so fashionable as Charlevoix
and Petoskey, but it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, bar
none."
"What's there?" enquired Jarrod, listlessly.
"Lake Michigan, to begin with; and Tamawaca Pool, which is really a
lovely inland lake. You'll find there good fishing and bathing, a noble
forest running down to the water's edge, pretty cottages nestled among
the trees, lots of ozone, and quiet till you can't rest."
"Eh?"
"I mean quiet so you _can_ rest."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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