James Oliver Curwood, Disciple of the Wilds

by Hobart Donald Swiggett

Thus began Jim Curwood’s social life in Wakeman, and at first he took full advantage of it, for it was indeed truly social as compared to that which he had heretofore been accustomed.

There were many new things that Jim was going to have to learn if his social and everyday life in Wakeman were to be successful. Throughout his life he had been under the constant guidance of his devoted mother. She had cared for his personal appearance and insisted that he always keep himself as clean as possible. But in this new environment he learned that he must look after his personal appearance himself. He also learned that one’s personal appearance and habits counted first and foremost. He discovered that he must wear a tie. He found that he must wear presentable clothing to school instead of the farm clothes. He had to keep his hair trimmed and his teeth brushed. The things which had before seemed utterly trivial now were of major importance to his new life in the city of Wakeman.

Perhaps the most exasperating discovery which young Jim Curwood made shortly after he had moved into Wakeman with his family, was the fact that he must take more than one bath per week. So instead of the usual Saturday night affair, the young man found himself in the tub as often as three times a week. He hated it all.

As his new life opened before him Jim discovered that there were girls in Wakeman. The startling fact was that he found they were very pretty girls, too. Coincident with this discovery came the necessity for a little spending money from time to time if one were to get along. So, from the first time that he met one of Wakeman’s better type girls, he was constantly in need of nickels or dimes. Soon his financial problems developed to the stage where Jim was asking for quarters instead of nickels and dimes, as is only natural when a young boy begins to get “ideas.”

As Valentine Day approached, Jim met a very pretty girl whom he decided he would like to present with a Valentine. Although the tiny card cost but three cents, Jim was somewhat bashful and backward in giving it to her when the time came. So he mailed it out the day before and signed only his scrawled initials upon the back of it. Somehow the memory of his Jeanne back on the farm seemed to have slipped from his mind, for this new young lady filled his every waking hour.

As he and his new girl friend became better acquainted Jim thought he should take more than three baths a week and in a short time he was to be found in the tub almost every night. Another thing which was called to his attention was that he should always keep his fingernails clean, that a tie should always be worn, and above all that he should keep his shoes blacked every day without fail. Mother Curwood as well as her husband had noticed the tremendous change that had come over their young offspring and were pleased by it. Their coming to Wakeman seemed to be proving itself worthwhile.

In a few short weeks arrived that which young Jim Curwood had been looking forward to with great anticipation—the beginning of the fall term in the school to which he had traveled so far and on which so many of his hopes were based. Here Jim became interested in something which was to remain with him all the days of his life—Astronomy.

Through the teachings of this new subject Jim developed an entirely different conception of God. He came to know and to realize then that God had created this earth as a center of things, and that we were most fortunate to have been chosen to live upon it. He believed then that God had created all this for mankind alone, that man was everything. That the birds, the beasts of the wilds, and the fish of the streams did not matter. He believed then, as so many millions do today, that those creatures were put here just for man to slaughter if he so desired....

Winter came and passed all too soon for Jim and it was not until spring arrived that he learned of his family’s plans to leave Wakeman and return to the farm. He also made the startling discovery at this time that he had not learned much more here than he had back at the little red brick schoolhouse. True, he had learned city life and all of its startling realities, but it was the little red school house back there in the country that he yearned for.

When but one more week was left for the Curwood family to remain in Wakeman, brother Ed came into town with the team and wagon, while Mr. Curwood made all final preparations. Talk of the farm, the fields and the streams had turned Jim’s thoughts entirely to the open spaces once again.