The bee., 1913-11-14
'entiing
By EMERSON BURRIs

MY uOCtOE tOiu me 10 go lnJO tue
country and live outdoors.
To get the whole benefit Of the stu
alton set up tent. I built floor
with my own hands and did what I
could to make my habitation sttrac-
tive. In this failed signally. 1t is
not In a man to beautify a home. At
any rate, Il was not in me. The in
terror furnishings Of mine consisted Of
a cat and trunk. As for food, was
encamped on the bank OF stream In
which there were plenty Of fish, and
when wanted meat 1 could shoot
game. but not near where was. l
had to 60 quite a distance for that
and usually made an all day trip OF it.
In the region near about me there
were scattered houses, some of them
farmhouses, some summer cottages for
city persons, for the country was very
beautiful and the air salubrious. The
greater part of these houses were now
vacant, but there were a number of
them occupied. None of them were
very near me, or, rather, in selecting
a camping ground got as far as pos
sible away from all Of them.
One day, on returning from hunt
ing trip, on entering my tent I met
with a surprise. A dainty little wash
stand, with bowl and pitcher, stood in
one corner, while above 1t hung a
small mirror. Several colored litho-
graphs were pinned to the tent walls.
On the floor was a wicker armchair
such as is used in summer on piazzas.
In the center. Of the tent was a tiny
table, with lamp on it. had used
candle.
That some woman had done all this
was my first thought; that she had
seen me and taken an interest in me
was my second; that she was young
comedy and otherwise attractive was
my third.
These preliminaries having flashed
through my mind, / looked about me
with a view to locating the lady who
had made me comfortable. The sur
rounding dwellings were all on higher
ground and my view of most of them
unobstructed by trees. There they
were, bathed in the light of the setting
sun, but not one of them had word
Of information for me. And yet fan
cied that concealed in one of them
girl had a pair of glasses fixed on me,
watching to see how l acted at the
moment of my discovery of her handi-
work. So l stood in front of the tent
with my face toward the landscape,
took off my hat and threw kiss.
No response came to me. The, cot
tages were as mute as before. But in
fancy l heard a musical laugh ring
ing out on the quiet air.
Building my fire in my improvised
range, number of fiat stones, l pro
ceeded to cook my supper, brace of
was thinking the while that my bene-
factress was watching me. And the
next day had proof that she was, for,
going to the spring from which / OBJ
tanned my water supply. ON my return
| found sticking in the ground few
yards from my tent an arrow and
wrapped about it bit of paper bear
ing the words:
Leave ANYTHING you wish cooked at the
store and it will be attended to.
was not slow in availing myself of
the invitation-not that needed much
culinary work done, but because hoped
thereby to get a clew of the cook. But
In this I was disappointed. The store
keeper was an old woman. who was
very deaf, or pretended to be; at least
she turned a deaf ear to my inquiries.
The only reply l got was Tomorrow"
| inferred that was to come tomor-
row for the bird I left, and when /
did so received it deliciously cooked.
1 will not specify the devices l en-
ployed to find out who was my bene-
factress. i made excuses to chat with
several Of the ladies Of the neighbor-
hood. OF one begged the loan Of
needle and thread, Of another a little
baking powder, Of another some qui-
nine. Each and every one of these
persons granted my request willingly,
but gained no information from any
one of them.
1 discovered my girl, however. and
by accident, or. rather, by taking adj
vantage of seeing something that gave
clew. Having occasion to visit the
express Office at the railway station.
saw box bearing the label OF vend-
er of sporting goods addressed to
Miss Clara Farnsworth. The size and
shape of the box led me to believe that
1t contained archery goods. straight
way inquired which was the Farms
worth cottage. and my informant di-
rected me to one no nearer and no far
Their than the rest, but especially well
situated to get view OF my camp.
Tagging a bullet with a note OF
thanks to Miss Farnsworth for her
kindness to me, | fired the bullet into
large tree in the front yard of the
Farnsworth place. The next day
note came to me through the post from
Mrs. Farnsworth acknowledging that
the family had seen my camp and
could not resist temptation to make
II more comfortable The lady also ex-
tended an invitation for me 10 call.
I found Mr. and AIpa IsopneWarthic