Page 3 (2/2)

And what of the fall? In his journal--his whatnot diary, his daily record of the business of the orphanage--Dr Wilbur Larch wrote of the fall Each of Dr Larch's entries began, "Here in St Cloud's"--except for those entries that began, "In other parts of the world" Of the fall, Dr Larch wrote: "In other parts of the world, fall is for the harvest; one gathers the fruits of spring and su slu that is called winter But here in St Cloud's, the fall is only five "

What sort of cliine resort weather? Would an orphanage bloom in an innocent town?

In his journal, Dr Larch was demonstratively conservative with paper He wrote in a ses, which were absolutely filled Dr Larch was not a uess who is the enemy of the Maine forests, the villainous father of the unwanted babies, the reason the river is choked with deadwood and the valley land stripped, unplanted, eroded by the river floods--guess who is the insatiable destroyer (first of a logger with his hands pitchy and his fingers mashed; then of a lumberman, a saw-ers only a s or with luuess who"

To Dr Larch, the enemy was paper--specifically, the Rah trees for luh trees for all the paper the Ramses Paper Company seemed to want or to need--especially if one failed to plant new trees When the valley surrounding St Cloud's was cleared and the second growth (scrub pine and rando up everywhere, like seed, and when there were no s to send downriver, from Three Mile Falls to St Cloud's--because there were no more trees--that hen the Ramses Paper Co down the sawthe river at St Cloud's andcamp, downstream

And as left behind? The weather, the sawdust, the scarred, bruised bank of the river (where the big log drives, jas themselves: the mill with its broken ith no screens; the whore hotel with its dance hall downstairs and the bingo-for-h river; the few private ho-cabin style, and the church, which was Catholic, for the French Canadians, and which looked too clean and unused to belong to St Cloud's, where it had never been half as popular as the whores, or the dance hall, or even bingo-for-money (In Dr Larch's journal, he wrote: "In other parts of the world they play tennis or poker, but here in St Cloud's they play bingo-for-money")

And the people ere left behind? There were no Ramses Paper Company people left behind, but there were people: the older, and the less attractive prostitutes, and the children of these prostitutes Not one of the neglected officers of the Catholic Church of St Cloud's stayed; there werethe Ramses Paper Company downstream

In his A Brief History of St Cloud's, Dr Larch documented that at least one of these prostitutes kne to read and write On the last barge downriver, following the Ramses Paper Company to a new civilization, a relatively literate prostitute sent a letter addressed to: WHICHEVER OFFICIAL OF THE STATE OF MAINE WHO IS CONCERNED WITH ORPHANS!

Somehow, this letter actually reached someone Forwarded many times ("for its curiosity," Dr Larch wrote, "as ency"), the letter was delivered to the state board of est ht out of medical school," as Dr Larch described himself--was shown the prostitute's letter as a kind of bait The rest of the board thought that young Larch was "the one hopelessly naive De them The letter said: THERE SHOULD BE A GODDAMNED DOCTOR, AND A GODDAMNED SCHOOL, AND EVEN A GODDAMNED POLICEMAN AND A GODDAMNED LAWYER IN ST CLOUD'S, WHICH HAS BEEN DESERTED BY ITS GODDAMN MEN (WHO WERE NEVER MUCH) AND LEFT TO HELPLESS WOMEN AND ORPHANS!

The chairman of the state board of ht that President Teddy Roosevelt was the only other man in the world besides himself who had not been made from a banana

"Why don't you look into thisthat out of this invitation a state-supported facility--for orphans!--would soon develop It would one day gain at least partial federal support, and even that ue and least dependable support offered by "private benefactors"

Anyway, in 190_, as the twentieth century--so young and full of promise--blossomed (even in inland Maine), Dr Wilbur Larch undertook the task of righting the wrongs of St Cloud's He had his work cut out for him For almost twenty years, Dr Larch would leave St Cloud's only once--for World War I, where it is doubtful he was ined for the job of undoing what the Ramses Paper Company had done than a man named after one of the world's coniferous trees? In his journal--as he was only beginning--Dr Larch wrote: "Here in St Cloud's it is high tiood of someone What better place for iood of all--than a place where evil has so clearly flourished if not altogether triumphed?"

In 192_, when Homer Wells was born and had his little penis snipped and was naela (asn't) had in common a pet name of their own for St Cloud's founder, physician, town historian, war hero (he was even decorated), and director of the boys' division

"Saint Larch," they called him--and why not?