A Mountain

There is an ancient fable concerning a certain prophet, one who had married a wealthy widow, that he stood upon a plain and beckoned to an eminence before him, saying "Come to me, mountain." The mountain moved not. A second time he bade it: "Straightway come hither to me, sir mountain." And still the mountain came not. Thereupon, his patience unexhausted, he gathered up his burnoose, and with appropriate words, since the mountain would not come to him, he went to the mountain. All this happened many years ago, before there was a Congress of the U. S.

Now matters are in a different state; for if one person or a group of persons desires to appropriate a mountain, there is always recourse to the Congress. It is this method which has been adopted by the City of Tacoma. But there is this difficulty with the modern method: that, whereas no one could take exception to the prophet's procedure in his difficult case, recourse to Congress is likely to be attended by dissension.