The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1910-11-17
Mid the Tall Pines.
By Young Steady.

The late fall of 1904 found me in
-one of the large cities of the West,
without work and very little money.
After a long and fruitless effort to
secure employment / chanced one
day to be passing large employ
ment Office when my attention was
drawn to several signs announcing
that men were wanted to work IN
the woods. More out of idle curl
,osity than any hope of finding
solution to my own difficulty, | en-
tered.
The man in charge of the office
was busy answering the questions
of some twenty men who apparently
had come in search of just such
work. The proposition was very
simple. For the sum of two dollars
employment was furnished, al 8 o
transportation to the scene Of such
employment-which was some hun
dred miles out of the city. The
wages paid were from twenty-five
to thirty-fve dollars per month
everything found.
After answering questions as to
size and location of the camp, the
number of men employed and the
rest. the man in charge announced
that shipment would be ms d e
that night, whereupon several men
stepped forward, paid their fees and
received in return tickets of employ
ment. When left the Office car
ried with me a similar ticket OF
admission to long winter of hard
ships and privation, but where / felt
reasonably sure of food and shelter
which meant much to one in the cir
cumstances in which l was placed
Shortly before train tim e that
evening I returned to the office
turned over my baggage to the man
in charge received my ticket and
with some fifty others was sooI
aboard the train. AS the journey
was wholly without incident / viii
pass on and briefly describe the few
succeeding months and the condi
tions under which they were spent
The life of the shanty-man il
necessarily hard one. He enjoy
few of the luxuries of home life
He works long hours and is dali!
subject to hardships and dangers
Rolling OUT at four in the morn
ing, he must often walk five miles t.
work. His days work ends whel
he can no longer see and his return
to camp is made in the dark. Afte
the evening meal the men return t
the sleeping shanty where the even
ing is spent in playing cards. singin
songs, or some of the many form
of amusement, or, rather, torture, Z
which Jack is a past master.
The presence of a greenhorn" j
camp is readily noticed and it wa
with some misgiving that l slippe
into a seat alongside of fatherly
looking old gentleman on my fir
evening in my new home. By wa
of starting the evening amusemen
in which / was destined to play
prominent if not a willing part,
blanket was removed from one {
the hunks and spread upon the foo
Several of the boys stepped forwar'
took hold of the blanket and all th'
seemed wanting was t he victim
This little difficulty was readil
overcome, however, by one Of m
newly found friends picking me U
and tossing me into the blanke
which seemed to suddenly take lit
for the next moment / was fyir
ceilingward. This sort of thir
was kept up until they were force
to stop from shere exhaustion, aft
which was arranged several 9th
equally pleasant games for n
amusement, in all Of which | unwil
ingly played the leading part.
was tired and disgusted boy WI
turned in that evening when at MI
o'clock orders were given to dou
the glim. My initiation was col
plete, however, and from then on