The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-06-01
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
THIS COLUMN is OPEN TO ALL.


-' &c VI f-N ~ ALL
For The Cecil Wing.
C,UpIyc oyrp ,T,,Up rpnpnp
IL.
We awoke the next morning with the
,,
"' "nr 'p'' POI '''s Go ''u'"
we All had passed the night III toiefaoie
comfort. We had slept upon our blankets
spread ont upon the ground. and we now
began preparations for making the tent
more comfortable. After breakfast, which
we prepared with our own uuskilIed hands,
the boats were sent off To a neirhhorino
island to gather spruce bouphs for our beds,
They came back by dinner time loaded
with the fragrant twigS of spruce. which
we carefully spread upon the ground with
in the tent, so arranging them that the
stems all Law one way. Over these we
spread our gum blankets and one layer of
wooden blankets. and our bed was made.
and those who have used such an one know
how comfortable and fragrant it is. 1t is
said that such bed of spruce boughs is a
preventive Of cold, no matter how damp
the weather, and have to say, corrobative
of this, that | have passed many nights
upon them, aud have yet to take the first
cold from such exposure. Whether the
aromatic spruce has ANYTHING more to do
with it than to make dry covering for the
ground, do not know, but am thoroughly
aware of the safe and pleasant bed which
they make As to our physical comfort.
we were pretty well fixed. We had that
I'll
party. The weather was for the most part
delightful and the camp well located. -
Everything, in fact, was Just as a party
given to pleasure could wish. with one ex
ception, and that was, we had no cook. and
as cur appetites, under the stimulus of out
door life and the breeZas which swept down
from the mountains. We're like cross cut
saws, we had abundant need for one. But
as that was to be part of the programme,
we took to it like philosophers, or perhaps
had better say cooks, for We all took our
turns, each presiding over the culinary de-
partment with all the skill and knowledge
he possessed but alas. | fear, with much
less zeal than we were accustomed to show
i'll other things. But we praised the cook
ing and battered the cooks, and tried, with
the sauce of good spirits, to make every
thing taste well, and it is surprising how
well one succeeds, when this is tried.
Fish were abundant; rock bass. lake
trout and bull heads were the most numer-
Gus and most easily caught. PickeIel were
TO be caught Also and were accounted very
hne, but, unfortunately, we were not pro
Vlded with the right Kind OF tackle for
them, as we had no trolling lines or spin
ming minnows, SO we were forced to con
tent ourselves with fry of less note. The
la n lar fnl II no lob
trout OF superior, were very numerous, but
poor bters. They may have possessed
large stores, III their sub marine world, of
more aristocratic food than the wriggling
worms with which we tried TO tempt their
appetiJes, and 50 felt they could afford to
Indignantly spurn our bait. The water
was so clear that we could see them sport
ing in great numbers twenty or twenty
five feet below the surface. | have ac-
tually, as with the white fish of Superior,
leaned over the gunwale and let my hook
drop down among them, rubbing their
noses and scratching their backs before
could get them to notice it, and when they
did bite we did not have to wait until we
felt them pull before bringing them up.
but could watch the whole process from
the boat. There is great fascination in
this kind of fishing. 1t requires little Of
that exacting patience which we see per
soniied in the angler, sitting half the day.
on the river bank, waiting for his cork to
90 under But the most numerous and
the best biters, were the rock bass, which
actually swan about you in countless num-
bels, and were fine fish to eat, though
not large 1t was cur custom to appoiut
two men for each day. who were under oh
legations to provide The table with enouob
G.-b
breakfast of bacon, fried potatoes. bread.
butter and coffee, thew would start ont in a
boat and return at dinner time. or sooner
if their store of fish was LARGE euouoh.
The afternoons were generally snent nv
the entire PARTY, lounpipg ahout the camp.
or skirting the shady side of the island. in
search of ANYTHING new. picturssuue or
strange. These trips, which were greatly
euioyed by all of MS, we yyould take in onr
boats. We mioht call them trims of dis.
covery. We would occasionally visit the
shores of other islands within two or
three miles and snend tba Time iaisureIv
rowing along their ever. cbauoiuu and wen
derfuIly beautifpi shores These shores
were hard and drv HAVING clean and
of,entimes a rocky beacb and treas GROW,
ing down to the edge and casting tbeir
heavy branches ont over the water Nov
usual,v romantic snot and heinz strncl Inv
its STRANGE beautv would djsembark and
LONG for a PAINTERS skin that we might
preserve and carry AWAY with ms some of
it's striking features If is an evidence If
the wild heantv uf tbase shores tbat I.la
George views are frenuantly on nxLihi,inn
at Earla,s Gallery in phil,Jalnhia .nJ
formed some of the most attractive water
and land views of the axbiI,itinn A. the
new Academy of Fine Ar,s in Tho same
civ last Snring One If Tho rnst fasc;
mating occupations TO me unon these trims
y,as ieapinr over tho how ar storn ,nd
shading nv ewes, TO look at the haantifnI
n,,nrama yiaw Of tbe hot,or, ,r thn lal,a
Where if was shallow ennnoh to 500 .ha
hnttor, distinctly fron, ta,, to t,,ort,. faat
it was FASCINATING almost bevond belief
The SHELLS and pebbles and fallen trees nra.
scented n most heautitnl n;ctrra 7 h.ys
looked Tin NV ewes ,ctua,i, ached With tba