I
Morning View Kentucky
14 November 1956 '
Hello, Mr. McCarthy,
I must admit I didn‘t listen to your program the morning after
election day. I didn't listen to anything. as the first light seeped
through the fog I went out amid the big trees and stayed there
severalahours. Ordinarily, I rather enjoy the embattled uproar of a
presidential campaign; but this One left me so overwhelmed somehow --
so thoroughly talked to —- that I wearily declared a moratorium on
words. Not until Saturday afternoon when I had three separate,
simultaneous football games emerging from two radios and the tv set,
did I return to normal.
Truthfully, I probably would have missed your post—election program
anyhow, for it was early apparent that the mist drifting thnaugh the
tree patch might develope into an edge-of-the—world fog, and such a
fog is too infrequent and too strangely exhilarating to be ignored.
I doubt that I can adequately describe this fog condition and the
sensation it imparts. I am not at all sure of the factors involved
in the suddenly Just right combination of light, of barely moving
mist, of the great, half-shrouded trees, of the gentle slope of
the tree patch tOWard the back fence, and the sudden sharp falling
away of open ground thence into the little valley. I only know that,
' for a few brief moments as I move slowly toward the back fence, it

is on the very rim of nothing, that the little valley and the hills
beyond have dissolved into emptiness, and I am within a few feet
of the edge-of-the—edge—of —the-world. It is as though I were
standing on one of those ancient pro-Columbus maps which depict
ocean or land abruptly terminating in sharp~edged Space wherein
weird monsters float.
While Waiting for the anticipated fog conditions, I walked about to
the feeders, the formerly crisply boisterous leaves drenched to
silence beneath my step. Moisture dripped softly from eVery twig, and
those trees still retaining their leaves sent small, individual
showers to the ground beneath the span of their branches. It was
very quiet, as birds and little animals are apprehensively silent
in fog, fearing to reveal their presence to unseen approaching
predators. nowever, as I walked, a little disk of security accompanied
me, my arrival encouraging the birds to slip from hiding for food
and even to call in subdued tones.
The dogs, I noticed, shared the apprehension to some degree, being
exceedingly alert as they padded along with the silence of panthers.
One, after listening carefully for a moment, barked in the direction
of the unseen pond-field, the shock waves of his deep voice bringing
down an intensified shower from the sodden oak under which I stood.
Presently one dog discovered an interesting scent, and away they
quietly marched in siggle file over the wet, bright leaves, following
the meandering trail like little trolleys on unseen rails, or beads
sliding along an invisible wire. Caboose-Wise the puppy brought up
,the rear With great dilligrnce, Save at such times when he stepped