Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1912-05-30

{ tails and fascinating possibilities OF
camp life must be explained to the
newcomers
The first few days were days Of
| learning and preparation, days Of mis-
4 hap and misadventure, OF joyous
| laughter over bIunders in getting set
/ tied, or learning the mysteries of rod
and line, or becoming hardened and
acclimated. The weather proved per
| feet; It was late October and the
/ nights were very cold, but there was
no rain and the bright sunny days
were invigorating and exhilarating to
| the last degree. They had huge fires
| and plenty of blankets and the colder
! it was in the night the better they
slept
It was an intensely new experience
| for the girl from Philadelphia, but she
showed a marked interest and adapt
ability, and entered with the keenest
! zest into all the opportunities Of the
| charming days She was good sports
/ woman and she soon learned to throw
a fly with the best Of them. Old Kirk
| lection and as he was one Of the best
rods in the mountains, she had every
advantage.
She had always lived in the midst
of life. Except in the privacy of her
own chamber she had rarely ever
been alone before-not twenty feet
from a man, she thought whimsically,
but here the charm of solitude at
tracted her, she liked to take her rod
and wander off alone. She actually
enjoyed it.
The main stream that flowed down
the canon was fed by many affluents
from the mountain sides, and in each
of them voracious trout appeared. She
explored them as she had opportunity,
sometimes with the others, but more
often by herself. She discovered
charming and exquisite hooks, little
stretches of grass, the size perhaps Of
| a small room, flower decked, ferny
| bordered, overshadowed by tall giant
| pine trees, the sunlight fltering
through their thin foliage, checkering
the verdant carpet beneath. Huge
moss covered bouldeTs, wet with the
everlasting spray of the roaring
brooks, lay in midstream and with
other natural stepping stones hardly
| invited her to cross to either shore.
! Waterfalls laughed unsteady in her
| ears, deep still pools tempted her skill
and address.
Sometimes leaving rod and basket
| by the waterside, she climbed some
particularly steep ACTIVITY of the
canon wall and stood poised, wind
blown. a nymph of the woods, upon
some pinnacle of rock rising needle
like at the canon's edge above the
sea of verdure which the wind waved
| to and fro beneath her feet. There IN
the bright light, with the breeze blow
ing her golden hair, she looked like
some Morse goddess, blue eyed, ex-
hiIirated, triumphant.
She was perfectly formed woman
on the ancient noble lines of Milo
rather than the degenerate softness
of Medici She grew stronger of limb
and fuller Of breath, quicker and
steadier of eye and hand, cooler OF
nerve, in these demanding, compelling
adventures among the rocks in this
mountain air. She was not a tall
woman, indeed slightly under rather
; than over the medium size, but she
was so perfectly proportiOned, she car
ried herself with the fearlessness Of a
: young chamOis, that she looked taller
, than she was. There was not an
ounce of superf1uous flesh upon her.
. yet she had the grace Of Hebe, the
strength of Pallas Athene, and the
swiftness of motion of ATLANTA. Had
she but carried bow and spear, had
she worn tunic and sandals, she might
have stood for Diana and she would
have had no cause to blush by com
parison with the finest model OF
Praxiteles' chiseI or the most splen-
did and glowing example of Appelles
brush.
Uncle Robert was delighted with
: her; his contribution to her western
outfit was a small Winchester. She
: displayed astonishing aptitude under
; his instructions and soon became won
, derfulIy proficient with that deadly
weapon and with a revolver also
There was little danger to be appre
: hended in the daytime among the
mountains, the more experienced men
t thought, still it was wise for the girl
2 always to have a weapon in readiness
l so in her journeyings, either the Win
chester was sIung from her shoulder
or carried in her hand, or else the Colt
dangled at her hip. At first she took
/ both, but finally it was with reluc
} lance that she could be persuaded to
take either Nothing had ever hap
L pened. Save for a few birds now and
then she had seemed the only tenant
( of the wilderness of her choice.
One night after a camping expert
ence of nearly two weeks in the noun
= tains and just before the time foT
f breaking up and going back to civil
ization, she announced that early the
: next morning she was going down the
( canon for a days fishing excursion.
2 None Of the party had ever fol
4 | lowed the little river very far, but il
2 was known that some ten miles below
. the stream merged in a lovely gem
e like lake in a sort Of crater in the
4 | mountains From thence by series
d of water falls it descended through
2 the foothills to the distant plains be
Y yond. The others had arranged tc
e climb one especially dangerous and
f ambition provoking peak which tow
cred above them and which had never
e before been surmounted so far as
d they knew. Enid enjoyed mountain
0 climbing. She liked the uplift in -eet
ing that came from going higher and
3 higher till some crest was gained, but
{ on this occasion they urged her to &C
g company them in vain.
( When the fxity Of her decision was
established she had a number of offers
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