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