Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-01-17

noetou Is lined with spruca horr,s
ana gray blankets, hastily disnosad
eoVer all Across the opposite side ~
uie room stretches long deal tah,a
VIZ benches at either edge. Here the
men eat when they are in camp.
Low prioge" again, and down a sten
, me other room. The MACE Is
nshted by two tiny windows and Is
1 noheycombed all about with donb,n
! rows OF hunks against the walls The
sihaH central space is half filed nv a
pox-stove- over which. from b,,nlx ia
JUNK oou-looking lines are hung. Do
not stnink the camp has departed from
..s CUSTOM and allowed a iron-essentiai
hhe Wasnlng to obtrude itself. Not AZ
M lnese lines are for wet socks, onix
Is no washing day in camp. jusS
as mere Is no evening and no hoiidaS
out sunday. and no day too cold "a
stormy for work. - 7iiTii
AS we walk down the smootb widE
/ logging road You will see, at short dis
! .ahces apart, huge piles of logs, the
YARDS, from which the men are now
/ hauling off," i. e., loading the sleds
ana hauling the load to the landing by
/ the river
1 the first thing that ought TO be discoy
| cred by the successful housekeeper-
mistress herself-is that "a laugh is
| worth hundred groans in any mar
! het- l nave always believed in this
| ,heoretlcally, but have not always risen
| 10 the occasion. Like most American
women. am naturally too apt to
worry, sometimes when it is too late to
| remedy matters.
MY object lesson came through a
| lovely eastern woman transplanted to a
rarcn IN Arizona where help could new
! er be depended upon and the nearest
/ store was seven miles away across the
DESERT | lived near her and with her
| Tor over year, and no matter what
The weather might be--and sometimes
the thermometer registered 119 degrees
| IN the shade'--no matter how large her
! FAMILY, no matter how aaggravatingly
Things might crisscross themselves, she
| always managed to laugh her way out
| OF II. And she was not a giggler either
| One hot Saturday morning, I recall
| in particular, l had my sewing on the
wide porch, where 1 could hear her and
| see her as she fitted in and out, busy
! seemed to come to her to do. It was
| one of those times every houselseeper
| knows them from sad experienced when
| without any apparent cause everything
| went wrong. In the first place Dowsie-
| Bell, the good old family COW, had taxi
| en- upon herself the notion to seek fresh
| fields and pastures new, and had alb
| seconded in the night without leaving
| her address. This entailed long
| search On the part of the small boy of
! the family and a late breakfast for all,
as the new milk was an essential feat
ure with the breakfast cereal. Then
| TIE ice gave out and the fresh ice
wouldn't come from town before late
| afternoon, and to keep milk and meat
| from spelling they must be at once
| scalded and cooked. Next dust storm
came whistling its way through the
house just as the rooms had all been
| brushed aud busted, and then load
of unexpected company drove in for
| dinner
| knew the secrets of the depleted
Harder and all the Saturday work to be
done, and wondered if she wouldn't
look little annoyed. But not bit of
| it. Her welcome was as sweet and
| spontaneous as though supplies and
| servants galore could be ready to her
| call. AS soon as the guests We're made
| comfortable, she ran back to the kitch-
en- to get her dinner under way. There
| wasn't much to choose from, but a
tomato bisque for the first course could
| soon be made ready, there was lamb
! for rechauffe potatoes, lettuce for a
salad and layer cake could be quick
| ly whipped together to serve with fruit
! for dessert.
] The tOma toes We're put SteWing for
the soup. the potatoes pared and put on
to boil. the filing for the cake cooked
and set off to cool, and the cake itself
/ stirred together and put into tins to
| bake. Inless than15 minutes the layers
were ready, tender, brown and aroma
tic. and the active cook began putting
them together, the filing between.
| But alas! The cake was hot, the cream
| not perfectly cold, and just as she had
put the top layer on and started to look
after something else. flop! went the top
of the cake fiat on the floor. ! think
should have been paralyZed, but not
she.
"Di9 you ever see anything so per-
| fectIy absurd?" she called out. and we
| who ran out to eondole, remained to
| laugh with her over the perveTsity OF
fate. But this was not all. The cake
was rescued, scraped and treated TO a
| pew filing and a frosting could be
used but the soup, the precious soup
| chose Just that day of all others to get
| overturned, Kettle and all, just as the
! milk was added and dinner was ready
10 serve.
Did she cry then? Not a bit of it, =
| merry peal of laughter, distinctly con-
| tagious, brought us all in once more to
4 see what new calamity was upon u.s.
i've tried my best she said, still
laughing, "but the Fates are adverse.
/ Let's eat what is left of the dinner be-
fore anything else gets away from US.
Under almost any other circun-
stances that dinner would have been d
melancholy failure. As it was. thanks
i To .he self control and sunny nature OF
| the hostess, much laughter made the
merry feast and merriment made