The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1911-10-12
The Disturbing
Element

lNO. SdlQ tQe SlTI III tho 6idy
pongee. as she put aside her green silk
parasol and proceeded to hunt down
half dozen hatpins lost in the maze
of tiny green buds on the gray hat.
I'm through camping"
Her audience sat up and gasped in
wonder. The girl in the gray pongee
was the champion camper of the neigh
borhood
I've camped for the last time!"
she said. emphatically, after allowing
a proper time to elapse. for the sake
OF impressiveness Its grown worse
and worse every year. but this year it
was positively unbearable.
When we first started camping"
explained the girl in the gray pongee,
I'VE made an ironclad rule that we
would lead the simple life. We would
live In our gym clothes, eat our meals
IN go-as-you-please fashion and pass
the evenings in whatever garb pleased
us most; in fact. be perfectly natural
for the whole two blessed weeks.
1T was such relief to know that
you could luxuriate for those two
weeks in boomers and blouses, or in
wet bathing suits. without having to
worry lest somebody accidentally see
you. l used to count on 1t all winter.
when l went around strapped into
dresses that would have burst If
had had another eighth of an inch Of
circumference!
Then last year some of the girls
informed us that crowd of young
men were going to camp near US. and
we'd have to entertain them once in a
while. Some of us baked, not so
much at the entertaining once in a
while as at the fact that there were
going to be- men in the neighborhood.
1t meant that we'd have to think about
our looks and that spoiled the camp
ing!
well. we had to endure the inflic-
ton. The men were there and when
they weren't invited they came any
way and sang silly songs under our
windows
THE girls they knew thought it was
so romantic. The rest of us, however,
were simply disguised and we told
the girls SO, too. But do you suppose
1t did any good? They just smiled
sweetly and went and covered their
faces with cold cream and powder be-
fore going sailing. for fear they'd get
sunburned!
THE rest of us made up our minds
that we'd not be--shall say bullied?
into dressing up every evening. even
If those who had callers did devote
their mornings to ironing and washing
to make themselves lovely We deter
mined to go on dressing as we had
dressed before and merely to shun the
men.
But do you suppose we could?
Mercy! We'd 60 for stroll down by
the bay and there we'd meet one Of
our girls all in white with a man!
We'd dart behind trees until they'd
passed and then we'd go back along
the path thinking that we'd get into
dark corner of the porch and have a
good time talking. But the darkest
corners were always filed with
couples and of course we couldn't sit
in the light in our boomers! 1t was
simply case of dress up or go to bed.
SO we finally chose the former for it
was too hot to swelter in bed. and the
men came awfully early!
This year. when we went out, the
girls all promised faithfully that they
wouldn't invite single man. We were
going to have a real old fashioned
camp, and. oh! how / was looking for
ward to it!
well, the very first evening who
should happen to pass by in an auto
mobile but Jack Strone! One of the
girls called out to him-and / lust
know she had been expecting him. We
all had to run in and dress in skirts,
while he sat in his car and waited for
US.
He took some of us for a ride, and
before he left he asked If he couldn't
bring out the whole party of fellows
who were doing summer engineering
near by! We had to say yes, after he'd
given US a ride
"That ended all the fun. There were
enough young men to 60 around, and
then some, and they came morning.
noon and night! We had to wash and
iron long after we ought to have been
asleep, so that we might be neat and
fresh all day long. for fear some Of
them would come out to coll. 1t was
simply awful!
Il vowed that l was never going
again But the others seem to like it
and they're going to make a regular
house party of their camping next
year,"
Its too bad that Fred has to be
away all summer isn't it?" murmuref
listener. cautiously. Now, if he'd
Yes" admitted the girl in the gray
pongee. dreamily. IF Fred had been
there"
A ripple of laughter aroused her and
she blushed rosily
What's the Use?
Folks do lot of useless things.
don't they?" asks the man with the