The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-08-24
Boston Globe


of bacon taste more like snipe or toast
than the crisp ozone that floats through
the hills and forests where man can mon
key DER the green grass without violat> |
ing city ordinance.
The picnic is an aggravation. 1t has
just enough of civilization 10 be a nui-
sance and not enough barbarism to make
life seem a luxury. If our aim be to lean
up against tree all day in short seer
sucker coat and little pantaloons that se>
gregated while we were fostooning the
hammock, the picnic is the thing If we
desire TO 90 home at night with Jolly
symphony on each knee and a thousand
legged worm in each ear, we may look
upon the picnic as success.
But to those who wish to forget the
past and live only in the booming present,
to get careless of gain and breathe brand
new air that has never been used, to aps
pease AN irritated liver or straighten out
torpid lung, let me say, pick out high,
dry cline. where there are trout enough
to give you an excuse for going there,
take what is absolutely necessary and no
more, and then stay there long enough to
have some fun.
If we picnic, we wear ourselves out
trying to have a good time, so that we
can tell about it when we get back, but
we do not actually get acquainted with
each other before we have to quit and re
turn.
To camp is to change the whole pro-
of II oh
in the never ending conflict for dollars
| and distinction To get full breath aud
look over the field Still il is not always
smooth sailing To camp is sometimes
| to show the material of which we are
made. The dude at home is the dude in
camp, and wherever he goes he demon
strates that he was made for naught |
do not know what Il camping party would
do with dude unless they used him TO
bait bear trap with, and even then it
| would he taking mean advantage of the
bear The bear certainly has some rights
which We ARE bound ia all dccehcy to re
| spect.
| James Milton Sherrod said he had Il
| peculiar experience once while he was in
1
| I'VE went over from Lsrmy, said he,
lin July, eight years ago-four Of us
| There was me and Charcoal Brown and
old Joe and young Joe Connoy. We had
| just got comfortable down on the Lower
| Fork, out of reach of everybody and six
ty miles from doctor. when Charcoal
Brown got sick Well, we had big time
1 Of
thing about it. Long in the night Brown
| began to grOan and whoop and holler.
and made diagnosis OF him. He didn't
have much sand anyhow. He was trying
to get pension from the government on
the grounds of desertion and failure to
provide, or some such "A blame thing ol
another, SO | didn't feel much sympathy
for him But when lit the gas and eN>
amined him | found thai he had large
fever on hand, and there we were without
"A doggon thing in the house but jug oil
emigrunt whisky and paper OF condition
powders for the mule. | was a good dea
ratified at first to know what the dickens
to do for him. The whisky wouldn't dc
him any good, and, besides, if he was
goin' to have a long spell of sickness We
needed it for the watchers.
wall, it was rough. I'd think of {
thousand things that was good fur tcvers
and then I'd remember that we hadn't go
EN-. Finally old Joe says to me, James
why don't We soak his feet? says he
Soak nuthin, says /; what would "
soak EN- in?' We had long handled fry
, | in NJ 81,
course, but it was too SMALLER to do any
good anyhow. 50 we abandoned that sy
nopis right off First | thought I'd try
the condition powders in him; but hatcC
to 90 into case and prescribe so reCk
less Finally thought about a case o
rheumatic that had up in Bitter Creel
years ago, and how the boys filled thei
socks full of hot ashes and put EN- al
over me Till it started the presbyterian al
over me, and got over it. So we begun
to skirmish around the tent for socks
and hope may be teetotally skun if thcr
was a blame sock in the whole syndicate
Ez fur me, | never wore EN-; hut | dix
think young Joe would be fixed Ill
wasn't, though said he didn't want to b
considered proud and high strung, 50 h
left his socks at home.
Then we begun to look around, ant
finally decided that Brown would di
pretty soon if we didn't break up the few
er, so we concluded to take all the ashe
under the camp fire. fill up his cloze
which was loose, tie his sleeves at tn
{ wrists and his pants at the ankles, Civ
5 him dash of condition powders and
little whisky to take the taste out Of hi
mouth and then see what ejosted natur
would do.
I $50 we stood Brown up agin tree ant
poured hot ashes down his back till h
begun to fit his cloze pretty quick, an
S then we laid him down in the tent ant
e covered him up with every thing we ha
y in our humble cot. Every thing workc,
well till he begun to perspirate, and the
there was music, and don't you forget il
That kind of soaked the ashes, don't yO
see, and made lye that would take tn
, peellng off Il telegraph pole.
4 Charcoal Brown jest simply riz Il
and uttered shrill whoop that Jared Tia
geology of Colorado, and made my bloc
run cold. The goose flesh riz on old 10
ConnOy till you could hang your hat o
him anywhere. 1t was awful.
o Brown stood up on his feet and threV
f things and cussed us till we felt ashame
of ourselves. I've seen sickness goo
deal in my time, butt give it to 20
straight never seen an invalid stand II
in the loneliness of the night, far froI
J: home and friends. with the concentrate
0 I've oozing out of the cracks in his boots
t and reproach people the way Charcoa
Brown did us.
"He got over it, of course, befor
d Christmas, but he was a different ma
i after that. I've been out campin' wit
1 L I...A |.