Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-24
HIS UPWARD START

front of a great avenue hotel The man
had an air of distinction. A wealthy Michi-
gan lumberman. buried deep in a leather
chair at one of the hotels windows, nod
ded smilngly in the direction Of the fine-
looking man who had just stepped ilto
the auto alongside his lovely wife.
''Nifty-looking boy tove been cook in a
lumber camp, eh?" said the lumberman.
Which. Of course. he never was" said
the Michigander's companion.
Don't you believe that he wasn't" said
the lumberman. 81 come pretty near
knowing. for 1 was the foreman Of his out
fit, and we had great talk and laugh
over the whole business at dinner in this
hotel yesterday. I'm rather proud OF the
boy. and l feel a sort Of proprietary In
terest In him yet.
But didn't know anything about him,
much less who he was. when he bracsd
me for cooks job in Alpena. Mich, twelve
years ago last fall. I was a foreman then.
and engaged in hiring gang to take into
the Michigan woods for the winters work.
I'd pretty we'll filled the crew up. but was
still shy a cook for the outf1t-lumber
camp cooks are hard to get. 1t was pretty
near time to take the gang into the camp,
and l was becoming worried about my in
ability to snag a cook, when one day
young fellow, with dissipated look about
him. steered in my direction and tackled
me for the cooks billet. He was some
didn't strike me as being anything like
lumber camp cook. He had pretty good
edge on when he applied for the job, but
that didn't bother me northumberland gen.
eraiiy Keep their jags a-going pretty COM
fortably until they make camp for the sea-
sons work, and once in camp there is, of
course, no liquor for any of them. 1 asked
TINS young fellow If he had ever cooked
IN lumber camp before, and he said no.
Then inquired what made him think he
could dish up the grub for a wood-gather-
ing OUTFIT and he told me that he had picked
up the knack of cooking in the course Of a
number OF big game hunting trips In the
far west. l wasn't, however, taking his
plain word for 1t that he'd suit as a cook
ana so led him to the boarding house
where ! had my gang sheltered and put
MIN In the kitchen to try him out Despite
the paipable bun that he had on-which he
kept polished up. by means Of frequent
with minnie made good. / could see at
once from the way he rassled the pots and
s SKI r and tackled the job of getting that
Ooaroins house dinner that he was onto the
MIN on al $50 a month
TWO days later we struck for the camp
away up near Lake Superior. 1t took us
four days to make the big bunk house
headquarters, and during that time my
COOK had pretty tough fight with the
katzenjammer. He looked as If he had
oeen on a long spree. and as all booze was
IorDidden from the beginning Of the run to
carp and his supply had run out with no
way of replenishing it, there was no other
plan for him but to sober up 1t was plain
mat the job wasn't any easy one for him.
either but he was game. not putting up
any groan or grumble. but just taking his
medicine like man. He was pretty jumpy
ana Jerky In his sleep during those TOUR
camp and he got to hustling around to put
up the mems first meal he began to look
all right, and / knew that he was going to
40. l never saw a man pick up SO fast as
RI n 6tripc tho Gv-S%
OF mis- employment as a lumber camp cook.
His skin cleared up, his eye frightened,
and he took on flesh. The gloom went out
or him, and he whiStled as he went about
with the embarrassing.
He turned out to be the best all-round
COOK that l ever saw in a lumber camp,
and l had been going into the woods then
for dozen years A lumber camp cook is
generally the man Of the outfit toward
whom all hands have a standing crouch,
but this young fellow made such a hit with
the crew that they had nothing but rough
words of praise for him from the beginning
to the end OF his employment.
After about month or so he began to
mingle up with the indoor sports Of the
completely by the fine ability he displayed
as boxer and wrestler-and when I got
him he looked so run down that I doubted
If he could stand the gaff. But there
wasn't bruiser In the camp that had any
business at all with the cook when it came
to putting on the gloves. nor was there a
husky in the camp who could press his
shoulders to the mat There was a fiddle
in the camp that had been left there
from the previous winter. and the things
that the cook could do to the instrument
were sure a heap. The fact that he was a
well-educated man might have prejudiced
him in the view of his mates had he not
known thoroughly well how to carry him
self. But he put on no Tugs whatever, and
the men considered him all to the good. The
cook nursed the victims of the inevitable
accidents of lumber camps, and he showed
a surprising amount of surgical and medi-
cal skill. had my eye on that young fell
low. and 1 didn't want him to get away
from me. So. when April came around,
and the drive was over. and we broke camp.
1 herded him up in corner. all by him
self, and says to him:
Jack, you're in too fine trim right now,
after the long let-up from the red-eye, to
take and stuff your hide with 1t again. now
that you're loose. All Of the boys'H get
billing. Of course. as soon as we hit the
first rum-shack and 1 may go up against
a few balls myself, but we're all tough
BIRDS and We know how to handle 1t and
get away with it. You'd better pass 1t up
yourself. or it'll land you. Take your dough
decent, civilized visit with EN-. And want
you to turn up In Alpena again next fall.
and I'll take you into camp at $40 month.
How about it?'
THE cook smiled and said he'd see about
It, AS the trip to the boat that was to
carry US down to Detroit progressed l was
glad TO see tnat my WORDS OF ADVICE had
apparently stuck with the cook. He didn't
take a drink. although all the rest of the
boys were, of course, spifficated and riot
Gus during the whole trip.
II was puzzled. as the vessel drew nigh
to Detroit, to see the captain of the boat
hand my cook a fne-looking and bulgy
grip. But I was not asking any questions.
Half an hour after getting the grip the
cook emerged from the captains room,
wearing about swagger an outfit Of toys
as ever you'll see off of fashion plate.
He looked like the real merchandise. but
the thing was still a-plenty mysterious to
me.
1.-The boat tied up at her pier in Detroit,
and then my employer, one of the richest
lumbermen in Michigan, rushed up the
gangway, and the first thing / knew he
had my cook in his arms and was patting
him on his shoulders for all he was worth.
'','By the Lord son. now you look like
the man you ought to be! the old man was
saying to my cook, and then the cat was
out of the bag. My cook was my employ
er's scapegrace son. of whom I had often
heard. The boy had been in hot water, ow-
ing to his addiction to the old stuff, ever
since his early youth. He had been Danish
ed from Heidelberg, where he was getting
his education. for alcoholic pranks, and
upon his return to Michigan he had embark
ed on a series Of colossal toots that had
almost driven his family to distraction He
had been offered the alternative of going