River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1873-08-05
Camping Out.

Have You ever read Gypsy Breyn-
toni" And do you remember the time
that Gypsy, Sarah, Rowe, Tom, and
MIR. Hallan "camped out, how
Gypsy nearly shot Tom, and how it
rained so hard that they had to 90 TO
the nearest house one night2 | had
always wanted to. camp out, and,
after reading about Gipsy's experience,
was determined that | would. and that
1 wouldn'tgo tosany house. no matter
how hard it rained, and that would be
as brave as any one
When it was decided that we were to
go To CatskilI last summer, ! made up
my mind that we would fipd some
place to camp out " in, for surely the
Catskil mountains must be full of nice
places for such exploits. Where
there's will there's way" you know;
and as / had the "will," the sway -
was made, and just week from the
day we left home we started for High
Peak, the highest of the Catskill
Mountains.
There were seventeen of us, and we
drove off amid the waving of handker-
chiefs, throwing of old shoes, footing
of horns, cheers, and whatever else
could make noise. We shocked the
county people. as we drove along, by
singing all. the college and drinking
songs we had ever heard.
When we reached Haines Falls,
which was as far as the wagons could
go, we stopped TO strap on our
burdens, for every one had TO carry his
own blanket, and help with the provi.
sions and cooking utensils, and every.
thing must be strapped on our backs
to leave our hands free; then, like the
Pilgrims, we started up the "Hill
of Difficulty" and O, such a hill as it
was five miles of stones, boys, wet,
slippery moss, rugged rocks, steep and
dangerous, with the pleasant prospect
of beng dashed to- pieces on the rocks
below if we made one misstep. But
the longest lane must have a turning,
and so 1 suppose the highest mountain
must have top; and finallyw reached
said top, tired, dirty and hungry MS /
think Christian must have been, and
as glad to drop our burden as he was
when he arrived at his journeys end.
The prospect was grand; We were
four thousand feet above the sea, but
after one look we had to turn our at
tention TO the necessities of this life
for we cannot live upon scenery, how
ever grand and beautiful il may be-
First, there was the fire to be made, so
the gentlemen chopped wood enough
to last all night, and soon we had a
splendid blaze. Then the meat was
cooked and the coffee boiled, and our
dinner was ready. The next thing was
to make hut of boughs, for we had
no tent; so we went to work at once.
for ii was after seven o'clock, and
would soon be dark. The hut was al.
most finished, and we we're congratu.
lating ourselves ON our shelter for the
night, when, by some accident,
the whole thing fell with a
crash, and We were houseless,
homeless wanderers on the face
of the earth, or rather the top Of
the mountain. As it was too dark to
build another house, We decided to
sleep on the ground in the open air
very sensible decision, since il was
the only thing we could do. We sat
by the fire and sang and talked until
twelve o'clock, ana then eve folded
our cloaks about us, and would have
silently y stolen TO sleep, but one of
the gentlemen insisted upon singing MS
to sleep with that, classical song, Z" His
heart was true TO Poll. " We all stern
w refused to be locked in the arms of
Morpheus with such a key, and, as he
persisted, some one called out, 30, do
kill that Poll I" aud faint voice was
heard. saying, "Will some one please
choke Mr.. Smith z" Still he kept on
until he stopped from sheer exhaus-
ton, thInk.
There was one of the loveliest Aurora
Borealises 90 be seen that night ami
as there was nothing between us and
the sky 10 interoepti the view, We had
the advantage over those who slept IN
houses. We sat and watched IL until
two O'Clock then ! fell asleep.
There was a glorious sunrise next
"a great ball of fire coming
up from the sea, over hills, aud casting
a lovely glow over the whole sky but
again the necessities Brought us down
from romance to reality W. had eaten
almost everything the night before,
and there was only q piece Of bread
and butter for each until we would
reach home so we shouldered our
burdens and were about % start,
when il was discovered that both
our names had not been re.
corded on the rocks. Now that is u
ceremony that should never be omit
ted and If any one should go 20 High
Peak, We would find the "Tapleyites
ilnmortalized in white paint
OF course we could not come home
worn and tired, for that had been
prophesied by those who stayed at
home besides, we were Tapleyites,
and must be "jolly under all circum-
stancesn SO two Of the gentlemen ran
ahead blowing horns, and the rest OF
ms followed in the wagon, singing, at
the top OF our voices, "We won't 20
home till morning. Atevery house the
people were waiting 20 ice us pass, for
all the village knew that party had
/" camped out on High Peak the night