Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-09-05

-~ ~ washed in a tin basin
If it came handy. or
in tin dipper If the basin was missing or
otherwise engaged, and by evening, in a
bathing suit that would make even Coney
Island catch it's breath, l have laved my
self in the muddy waters of the Mississippi
AS write, sizzling sunbeams play over the
FURNISHED tip of my sorely burned nose,
and barking dogs gambol over my body,
recumbent on the bosom of the earth, my
mother. Other kin have 1 in the remote
confines of civilization, but every one is
left behind. For the nonce I am not saying
my catechism. l am living it, and the dust
of which l am made, l admit to the close
communion of a family connection Dirt is
my brother; flies, ants, caterpillars and
spiders are my sisters, and nature is the
srandparent of us all. 1 would scorn to
speak to man who brushes his teeth or
says his prayers. L am both above and
beneath every obligation Of civilization and
| Christianity.
In word, 1 am camping out.
The Idea of Canning.
When man ten days ago sought me- on
| the shady side Of a comfortable piazza and
| asked me II l didn't want to go camping.
LOT answer l merely mentioned my age and
reminded him that 1 am married. 1t
| is Well enough to go camping when you are
young, tough-bodied, adventurous and an
absolutely outside the Jurisdiction Of q con-
science as to systematically sneak out of
al the hard work there is to be done. and
When' being untrammeled by marriage
VOWS. nope may rely on love-makinp to
assist pennyroyal and smudges In mating
the mosquito-burdened nights Endurance
But Tor me-thank heaven!-I am lust as
wise as l look. jaw 90
"oh. come along" said the man. "Botber
your Old age and your Icing married, We
nave a shanty up on the island: Won can
sleep IN spring bed instead of on the
GROUND as you USED to do in company DAYS
OF your youth; all the doors and Windows
are screened, SO there are no mosouitoes
ana you'll not have TO do a stroke of work
we nave couple of Indians to wash the
uiShes' ana Johnson and l are going to do
all the cooking"
That last uldid my prudence. To have
coupi. of men in a position to suffer INV
Kicking against the coffee, growing against
the roast, pW'hirg back in disgust from the
dessert-that would be something to make
me believe my downtrodden, housekeeping
sex ls really as superior as Mary Ellen
Lease says 1t is.
just Where 1t Ia,
Mud Hen Lake Is embraced by an island
IN the MississiI pi river. eight miles north
of Bloody Run, ard directly across from
Curley Slough To the general mind 1t
might express more geography to say that
1t Is days travel down the river from ST
Paul Here the Mississippi Valley Rod and
Gun Club Owns several hundred acres of
mud. water and dry land, and on the slip
perry banks of the lake have built a camp
consisting of a dozen tents and as many
more small log houses 1t was as guest
to this camp l was bidden
johnson and the Other Man preceded us
the day before we started-"we" being a
Sphinx Woman, Nervous Woman, a Wo-
man With History. Girl Who Longs TO
RiCf md vyCalf
Prairie du Chen, ten miles down on the
Wisconsin side, along the edge of the bluffs
that on either side hem in the upper Mis-
sissippi. The road was such as to keep
constantly before our minds whether in
case of meeting another wagon 1t would be
pleasanter to be flattened out against the
wall of rock that extended high and hope
less on one side. or, on the other side mix
our remains with the barbeG wire fence
that. on pitch straight down, would have
hindered a free descent to the railroad
track that was parallel with us some dis
lance below. The man who drove us has
been wandering in his mind ever since.
say drove us, but I mean drove us all but
the Nerve US Woman. She walked, what
time she was not clinging by her eyebrows
to the side OF the bluff screaming that she
knew there was snake in the road or
dangling over the outer edge Of the road,
frenziedly declaring that she heard a mad
bull roar. 1t was after she had kept us
Naiting nearly an hour while she STAYED
penned in behind a great rock for protec-
ton against an infuriated Jersey COW that
the light of reason went out forever in the
eyes Of the man driving US. Then there
vas really something to scare one I never
saw nor dreamed of such driving.
An Incredible Performance.
You would not believe me If I told you
that 1t is possible to drive pair of horses
and wagonful of women straight up and
o, err trees twenty and thirty feet tall, yet
we did this repeatedly we were crossing
the bottoms Of the river. Anything that
appeared before us, our now hopelessiy
driveling man on the box whipped over,
and the Mississippi river would not have
son and the Other Man fortunately been
waiting on the bank and succeeded in
stopping us before it was everlastingly too
late. AS we were being padded across to
the camp, the last glimpse I had of our
demented driver he stood with his arms
around his two horses necks crying as II
his heart would break
The Nervous Woman was Johnson's wife,
and the tone Of voice in which he snubbed
her agonizing recital Of the perils we had
come thro ugh, caused me to doubt some
what whether, after all, 1t would be best
to find fault with the cooking. Indeed, the
first glimpse 1 had of Johnson and the
Other Man caused me to doubt about
great deal to which had previously made
up my mind. For one thing, I have always
believed and have often said that no charm
ever persuade me to stop an hour on an
island with a man who would go barefoot
ed and wear as few clothes as history tells
us Robert Louis Stevenson affected on the
Island of Samoa
Sparely COstumed.
But here I had agreed to spend ten days
In camp with johnson and the Other Man,
who were clad-yes. they We're clad, but
that is certainly the most that could be
said about them. A decollete knit under
shirt and a pair of golf trousers consti-
tuted their complete outfit. I don't mean
to say they had only these articles between
them They each had such an outfit, but
that was little CROUCH. When remonstrat-
ed about the aboriginal cut Of their clothes
and the fewness thereof johnson told me
it was aboriginal or nothing in that camp,
and l could take my choice When still
objected to the bare feet they began prats-
Ing the kneipp cure, and the next morning
we all had to try it. They stole our shoes
In the night and we haven't found them
yet. though the truth is after the second
day. We gave up looking, turned aborigines
ourselves and like 1t.
Johnson's shanty was embowered In
chinquapins in honor of our coming. Chin
quapins, so named by the Indians. are a
species of lotus, two or three times tho
size of ordinary pond lilies, of a deem
creamy tint suggestive of the impurities
In which their loveliness has root. and of
OverpOWering frIgranCA.