St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-07-27
AN IDEAL CAMP.
A Correspondent Finds 1t In Camp Lakewood
on the Shores Of the Raging Caspian.

ing a few days stay with st. Johns
bury friends at Camp Lakewood, on the
shores of the raging Caspian, in Green's
boro, writes the CALIFORNIAN thus OF his
experiences:
81 am away up here in northern Yer
mont in Camp Lakewood, on Caspian
Lake, the guest OF St. Johnsbury friends,
and there are no friends quite up to the
St. Johnsbury standard. Taken al
together this is the most charming place
for a camp and this is the most charm
ing camp | ever encountered. All Yer
monters know Caspian Lake with its
three miles or so Of length and its two
miles or so OF breadth and it's ever so
many feet OF height above the sea level,
with its crystal clear and sparkling
waters fed altogether by springs. One
must climb these hills on the borders OF
the lake to appreciate it and to find the
highest cultivated land in the state. for
when you get up here you are out OF the
reach ofthe locomotive whistle, the morn
ing's paper doesn't get along until night
and there reigns the quiet and stiffness OF
the God-made country, where one has
no possible use for the man.made town.
There are twenty odd cottages in the
Lakewood Camp, St. Johnsbury being
well represented by the Hardy and Tyler
families. Speaking Of the high altitude
fland cultivation there is here an equal
~ high altitude OF mind cultivation.
The first cottage you reach as you enter
the camp from the village is occupied by
a Bowdoin professor of Greek, the learn
ed and broadminded Woodruff, and next
him resides a clergyman, the genial and
able Morrow OF Randolph, who is talked
Of for the Chaplaincy Of the ext senate,
and who ought to be a n. D., if he isn't.
Then comes the attractive cottage OF
Benz. H. Sanborn, the Boston publisher
of school text books, a veritable prince
of entertainers as the writer can testify,
and near by St. Adams able high school
teacher, Bagnall. and next him the ac-
complished Hardy, now lost to st.
Johnsbury but gained to Amherst. w.
c. Tyler Of St. J%ohnspury, who comes
next, is too well and favorably known
to everybody within reach Of the Brooks.
Tyler establishment to need an introduc-
ton, and then there are Landon of Bur-
lington, who is in the field for state
superintendent of schools, Whitehill OF
Montpelier and sprinkled about the rest
OF the camp an innumerable cloud of
professors Of all sorts of languages and
things, which accounts for the unwritten
law Of the camp that in order to become
a member thereof one must either be a
professor Of some sort or desire to be
one.
But notwithstanding the literary tone
of the camp there is an unconventionali-
ty about the life here, and a delightful
compantionship that leads one % forget
his educational defects and to just revel
in the rare atmosphere, the beauty and
shade Of the dense forests and almost
entire freedom from the customary
annoyances of insect life in the country,
for there are no insects on or in the
charming town of Greensboro within
whose limits limps this limpid lake.
There is rowing here and sailing too
and fishing unprecedented. The rowing
could not be improved upon. These
learned professors pray every morning
as earnestly as anybody for divine care
and protection and then trust their
precious lives to the uncertainties of a
sail boat, evidently expecting the Almigh-
ty to make an exception in their cases if
a broken rudder falls off or a loose screw
falls out. AS to the fishing, there's more
fishing in this lake than in any other
body of water in New England, and
there are great fish here, too, if you can
only induce them to bite, lake trout run
ming from five and six pounds up to the
credulity Of the listener, but it requires
no end of patience and skill and long
waiting to get at EN-. Since a st. Johns
buryite is reported to have caught a IS
FOUNDER, the writer will say nothing of
his modest catch, said to have weighed
eight pounds, but looking every ounce of
10; but to be entirely honest about it
catches Of any weight are like angels
visits, few and far between. The true
sportsman doesn't mind trials and dis
appointments, however on one occasion
ished far into the night in a driving
rain trying to make myself believe that
it was fun to sit in a wet boat with my
feet in two inches of water, q Shiny
blood-sucker crawling up my trouser leg
and less than a two inch stream running
down my back; and after all this, the
only thing | caught was a slight cold.
1T would take all the advertising space
in this sheet to fairly report the reception
accorded my friend and myself in this
camp of camps. The bonfire and the
camp sing around it; the walk to the
top OF Cooks hill where, it is safe to say
one may see as far as ones eyes can
reach; the preaching by the Greek prof
lessor on Sunday i'll the village church
the rows On the lake; the sociability oil
the camp folks; the pure air; the de-
licious food and the glorious appetites
we brought to it.
Yes, the Lakewood supplies all thecon-
ditions OF the ideal camp; it leaves moth
ing to be desired save the privilege and
the opportunity to enjoy it. Fortunate
is he whose lines tall in such a pleasant
place, and whether he catches anything
out OF the lake or not he is dead sure tc
catch glimpses of altogether delightful
people, and take away with him the
p%leasantest sort OF recollections ofGreens
boro and the raging Caspian and Lake