Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-31
TOTS TOYS SAVE
SNOWBOUNO FOLK
FOOD GONE, CHILDREN'S BEAN
BAGS GIVE MEAL
All Eat Heartily of Contents We'll
cooked--Then, storm Abstlno,
Party snowshoes Back to
Civilization

Special TO The Herald.
LIMESTONE, Mo, Jan. SO,-Had It
not been for the wit OF a woman and.
incidentally, one unused to the woods
party of city folk would have gone
hungry for a day or more last week
while rusticating in the forests to the
west OF here The woman Is Mrs. j.
q. Northrup of Boston, and the other
members OF the party were her hus-
band, Carson Blake, his brother,
and three young Northrup children.
Mrs. Northrup Is devoted to painting.
and when her husband built bunga-
low In the Maine woods last summer
she was delighted. With her children
she arrived here before the cabin was
completed and spent days painting for
ests and skies. When she left she said
she would return shortly after Christ
mas and make some studies of winter
skies and effects, and to this end the
party came back on December 81.
Before leaving camp Mr.. Northrup
banked the walls with moss mixed with
finely chopped spruce boughs, laid in
supply of cordwood and prepared for
extremely cold weather. Having been
In the woods good deal he left no
stone unturned to insure comfort, and
when the party plowed it's way to the
cabin 1t was seen that he had Planned
we'll.
Toy Chest a Discovery
While no provisions were left because
of the numbers of mice and red squir-
rels that infest the locality arrange
ments were made here to send in
enough ham, beef. flour, eggs, butter
and other edibles to last a week This
was the length of time the party in
tended to stay. The provisions were
according to agreement and
at the end of the week hardly enough
were left to make respectable meal.
All would have gone well had not
the unexpected happened. The morning
the party was to break camp after q
light breakfast a fine snow began to
fall and this continued until rising
wind made the trip hazardous Instead
of abating the storm increased to a
Mrs. Northrup secured the bungalow
from top to bottom to find forgotten
food. but nothing more substantial than
three apples could be discovered. These
were served as their sauce for dinner,
and for supper Mr., Blake found half
dozen acorns some squirrels had housed
under the gable. Then every one drank
all the water he could.
The children, the oldest of whom was
g. became fretful as their hunger in
creased, and at their usual bedtime
they refused to go to sleep. Mrs. North
rup bore with them patiently for an
hour, and then suggested that they
dress. open trunk of playthings
brought in during the summer, and
amuse themselves until the sandman"
came around.
Provisions Run Short
The little folk had no sooner spread
out their toys than Mrs Northrup ut
4 g 4
light and fairly gurgled with glee. Then
she whispered to her husband His
mouth watered. Mr.. Blake wanted to
know what all the excitement was
about, but the only information he got
was that hearty meal would be served
for breakfast.
The moment the children had re-
turned to bed and Mr.. Blake had re-
tired Mrs. Northrup seized six bean
bags with which the little folk had
been playing and ripped them open.
Out of the six she managed to get two
quarts of beans. These We're put TO
soak in water, and then she went to
bed. Early next morning before the
others were astir the mother found her
beans swollen to four times their nat
ural size and proceeded to make a stew
or thick soup. other beans were put
in the oven to bake and the meal was
ready,
How welcome those unseasoned beans
were or how good they tasted can only
be imagined by those who have felt the
pangs of real hunger. Every one ate
all he could, for there was enough of
the food for four full meals, and capped
the meal with long draughts of water.
Snow continued to fall until the fol-
lowing morning, when the skies cleared
and the party got to civilization on
snowshoes. each carrying one of the
children pick-a-back.