The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-12-17
'entiing
By EMERSON BURRIs

| country and live outdoors.
TO get the whole benefit of the stu
alton l set up tent. / built a foo
with my own hands and did what
could to make my habitation attrac
tive. In this l failed signally. 1t is
! not in man to beautify a home. Al
any rate, 1t was not in me. The In
terror furnishings of mine consisted OF
cat and trunk. As for food, was
/ encamped on the bank of stream in
which there We're plenty of fish, and
| when / wanted meat / could shoot
! game, but not near where | was.
had to go quite 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 number of
them occupied None of them were
| very near me, or, rather, In selecting
camping ground / got as far as pos
sible away from all OF them.
One day, on returning from a hunt
ing trip, on entering my tent / 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
In the center of the tent was a tiny
table, with a lamp ON it. l had used
q candle.
That some woman had done all this
was my first thought; that she had
seen me and taken an interest in me
comely and otherwise attractive was
my third.
These preliminaries having flashed
through my mind, looked about me
to observe the cottages nearest me
with 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 a word
of information for me- And yet / fam
cied that concealed in one of them
girl had pair of glasses fixed on me,
watching to see how / acted at the
moment of my discovery of her handi-
work. So 1 stood In front of the tent
with my face toward the landscape,
took off my hat and threw a kiss
No response came to me- The cot
tages were as mute as before. But In
fancy / heard a musical laugh ring
ing out on the quiet air.
Building my fire in my improvised
range, number Of fat stones, pro-
ceeded to cook my supper, brace of
quails had shot during the day.
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 l 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 1t will be attended to.
was not slow in awaiting myself of
the invitation-not that needed much
culinary work done, but because hoped
thereby to get clew of the cook. But
In this was disappointed. The store
keeper was an old woman, who was
very deaf, or pretended to be: at least
she turned deaf ear to my inquiries. |
The only reply got was Tomorrow"
inferred that was TO come tomor- |
row for the bird left, and when 1 |
did so received 1t deliciously cooked.
/ win not specify the devices / en-
ployed to find out who was my bene-
factress, made excuses to chat with
several of the ladies Of the neighbor-
hood. OF one l 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.
I discovered my girl, however, and
BY accident, or, rather, by taking adj
Of seeing something that gave
4 clew. Having occasion to visit the
express office at the railway station,
saw a box bearing the label Of vend-
sr of sporting goods addressed to a
Miss Clara Farnsworth. The size and
shape of the box led me to believe that
{ contained archery goods, / straight
way inquired which was the Farms
worth cottage, and my informant d.
'ected me to one no nearer and no far
her than the rest, but especially well
ituated to get view Of my camp.
Tagging bullet with note Of
hanks to Miss Farnsworth for her
,indness to me, fred the bullet into
large tree in the front yard of the
place. The next day
tote came to me through the post from
FRS. Farnsworth acknowledging that
he family had seen my camp and
ould not resist temptation to make
more comfortable. The lady also ex-
ended an invitation for me to call.
/ found Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth's
lmily to consist of one daughter nine.
cen years old. Now that the secret I
'as out she enjoyed exceedingly my a
escription of my feelings at seeing