Prescott High School - Hassayamper Yearbook (Prescott, AZ)

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proposition was final and that the whole idea was to delay his happiness. He rapidly figured that it would be at least three years before he would have fulfilled the conditions. Three years: the time appalled him. Three years when all his plans had been laid for three months. His heart sank ; he tried to look cheerful and as he left the room he said, “All right. Dad.” As he had promised the night before he now went to tell Marthina the ultimatum. She had such a way of seeing the bright side of things that whenever he felt badly he always went to her for consolation and unfailingly he got it. Tonight he hardly expected it, but in the face of all their dis- appointment, that she felt as much as he, she managed to cheer him up. “Well,” he said, “here’s the proposition: it will he three years before I will have enough, unless I have a rich uncle leave me about fifteen thousand dollars, and I can’t think of any right now.” “Well. Dan.” said Marthina. “why don’t you form a company and build a plant of your own?” and she laughed a little at her own suggestion. Dan smiled, too. He knew that it was an impossibility. Their conversa- tion turned to that subject closest to their hearts, that of their union and its unavoidable delay. As he left that night his sweetheart’s last words, “Don’t you worry, Dan, I am willing to wait for you,” and her little smile and the love in her big brown eyes told Dan more than words could express. It seemed to stir him to his very depths and he went home re- solved to fulfill his father's demands in other and quicker ways than merely saving his salary. Sleep did not come very soon, and as he lay there think- ing, the words of his sweetheart, “Build a power plant of your own,” came and went thru his brain. He wondered where he would get capital for any such proposition and then the idea behind the Wallingford stories came into his mind. Dan had read every one of these stories and longed to per- form some of these wonderful financial exploits himself, and now more than ever. He thot of every plan possible but without satisfaction, and finally resigned himself to sleep to dream he had formed a power company along Wallingford’s line and sold it to his father with immense profit to himself. The voice of his mother calling him to breakfast woke him out of this. The day was Sunday and feeling his disappointment he took his rifle, called to his collie and together they set out for a walk. Unconsciously their steps led them up the river. When they were a mile or so out of town Dan sat down on a rock to contemplate the scenery. Here was the Tug River, a stream of considerable size, coming out from between two 23

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Dan. “just as soon as you give me the job. I have already asked her. Well, boy, I gave you credit for more sense than that: you can't marry her, I tell you. If you do I won't give you the job, and knowing that the position was what Dan had banked on he thot he had scored on his son, and Dan realized, too, that he could not marry without the posi- tion. “Well, Dad, tell me why. “Why?” Mr. Taylor ex- claimed. “Why? Can't you see why? What have you got besides that job? S'posin' you get sick and didn’t have me, what then? Think of these things, boy.” Dan could see some argument in his father's words, but in the buoyancy of youth these were mere trifles, yet he knew, too, that he had better try and win his father around in some way or other. So, in- stead of answering, he left the room and went to tell his sweetheart bad news instead of the good he had planned on. As soon as he entered the door Marthina knew something was wrong and she challenged him with it. With a heavy heart Dan told her his father’s words, but this did not daunt the little girl. She had all the confidence in the world in Dan and when he looked into the big brown eyes he felt some of her confidence in himself. “But, Toots,” this was his pet name for Marthina. “what are we going to do?” he asked. “1 don’t know, Dan, she answered, “but you wait until to- morrow and see your father again and maybe he will have thot better.” “You don’t know father like I do,” Dan said with a sorry little smile, “but, we'll hope for the best.” Dan went away that night with renewed hope, determined to see his father again and persuade him that his course was proper. It was the next evening when Dan again brot the mat- ter up. Mr. Taylor rather expected it and was in a good humor and prepared to reason with his son. To Dan’s question of his still being opposed to the marriage, he said he was, and con- tinued. saying, “Dan. you are a good boy and I like your little girl, but it isn’t a business proposition for you to go into this thing without something more than a job. Mow about it, have you seen the Senator yet?” “Xo,” said Dan, “he won't be back from Washington till next week.” “Well, my boy. I’ll tell you what I'll do. You give up this proposition for awhile and go into the plant and work, and work well, and for every thousand dollars that you save I will give you two thousand in Power stock. When yon have fifteen thousand dollars T will give my free consent to your marriage. Your salary instead as T first said, will be three, so you can shorten the time. Take my advice, though, and don't try to hasten the time by speculating, it might make it longer.” and Mr. Taylor laughed. Dan knew two things; that this 22

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high hills and suddenly breaking out into a great plain. Roanoke was situated just at the point where the stream emerged from the mountains. As he sat there thinking, not so much of the scenery but of Marthina. her words of the night before again ran thru his mind and like a flash the thot “water power” came. He got up excitedly and whistling to the dog started on a fast walk up the river. He had not been up in this part of the country for several years and his recol- lections, tho hazy, yet brought to his mind the thot of a deep, narrow canyon, just after the meeting of the Tug River with its principal tributary. Clear Creek. The sight he beheld when he rounded a sudden turn made his heart leap. Here was a most ideal site for water power. Its very adaptability to the development of power made him fear that some one had been there before and he looked anxiously for some sign of a location notice, but he saw none. He had no means of estimating the power available, but from his visits to various hydro-electric plants he knew the possibilities were tremendous. He estimated that the capacity of a plant here would easily double that of his father’s and with the low cost of maintenance as compared with the steam plant in town, it was astounding. It was nearly noon when he finished his explorations and he hurried back home, answering his father’s query as to his whereabouts with “hunting.” Excited more than his wont, he called Marthina on the ’phone and asked to be excused that afternoon, but that he would se her in the evening, and ended by telling her that he couldn’t tell her why he wouldn’t be there. Immediately after lunch he hunted up his classmate, Albert Phillips, who had graduated the same year but in the law college, and found out from hi'm all about locating power sites. He found it necessary to post his notices and then re- ceive his grant from Congress. The Congressional part of it scared him somewhat, but remembering that Marthina’s father was expected home in a day or so and being on good terms with him he would ask for advice on that part of the proposition. The next morning Dan did not show up at the plant, and at noon asked his father for a few days off, giving as an excuse that he had some friends coming whom he wanted to show around. The consent was granted as Dan had worked faithfully all summer. That afternoon saw him with a surveyor staking off his damsite. The surveyor, too, was struck with the possibilities of the place and told Dan to hang onto it. The next afternoon Senator Sherman arrived and he had hardly gotten home when Dan came in excitedly, almost for- 24