The record. [volume] (St. Maries, Idaho) 1913-1918, 1914-07-24

and through a Held OF rich TIM
Othy hay. AT last We halt before
clump of grand old pine trees
perfect in shape, broad at the
base and tapering upward like
spures, one old giant more than
l4O feet high raising his head far
above the others. Here they
stand like sentinels guarding the
entrance to this little Paradise.
If you listen closely they will
whisper this message to you,
that all who enter here shall for
time forget they are grown
ups, cast aside their cares and
worries as one would an old gar
ment and clothe their minds with
the sweet simplicity and joyous
nature of their early childhood"
The air is laden with a sweet, de-
licious odor, and we wonder what
it can be; there stands a little
cottage with vine encircled porch
The wild sweet honey suckle. a
luxurious growth, 50 covered
With pink and yellow blossoms
you can not see the green hum
ing birds are busy iluttering
about, never taking time to light
but feeding while ON the way.
Passing on a little farther we
come to another house almost
hidden from view by oVerhanY-
ing cherry boughs laden with
ripe red cherries. One side of
the cottage is banked by ferns, the
like of which you will not often
see. Some small others GROWN.
to a height of three and four feet.
The tall graceful maiden hair
fern, growing on its slender
brown stem, seemingly so fra
gile had been brought from her
home in the dim moist woods and
was flourishing, the wood fern
so delicate and fine in its teacery
as to resemble a piece of rare Did
lace, the swamp fern that we see
growing everywhere heavy and
coarse in texture but beautiful bc
cause of its dark rich green.
Here it was that we met the
owner of all this beauty the man
who is known as the Hermit of
the ST. Joe valley. Al first we
were somewhat aVerse TO meet
ing him, for according 10 iradi-
ton a hermit is not like other
men, then too we had expected
10 see an old man for 60 years
ago he had left his old home M
Scotland and journeyed to this
country, 30 years had been spent
alone in this one spot. Imagine
our surprise here, was man
strong and vigorous, coming TO
meet us, with a step fun of life
and energy. At the sound of hls
voice our fears banished, for the
voice, more than the words a man
utters, tells us what manner of
man he is. We are given a hearty
" slcome. If the hermiis are like
this one l am sure 1 wish There
were more of them and the world
would be the better for 1t We
OF this hurried work-a-day world
might learn a valuable lesson
from this quiet courteous man
who as he walks about with UNI
covered head among his trecs
and flowers and birds makes MS
think of our own great naturalist
Thorean. A ripping sound
breaks the stiffness, and looking
through the trees we behold a
perfect miniature water ial
which seems to come from a
SOcky cavern. Here it comes
dancing and leaping from rock tC
rock a distance of thirty feet anC
more and forms the clear, COO
stream which flows close ny US
Z We pass through an arch WY
cross a small foot bridge an,
here we are on a little island
ideally located for camping. Tn,
tall trees that encircle the IS
land with their heavy foliage
form a beautiful green roof oVel
our heads, within is a wide oper
space covered with a thick shor
grass, and here we camp for the
day. A swift water canoe comes
gliding along bearing some >
} our party and laden with goo,
things to eat. Here we foun,
rustic tables and benches an,
an old stove and plenty Of WOO,
furnished US by our host. Trul.
we thought we must be in fiar,
land, for we had only to make
wish, when 10 and behold lhl
desired thing was at hand. Whel
we sat down TO dinner we saw
party of fishermen go driflin.
down the ST. Joe on a raft mad
of logs. Happy they were al
children out for a holiday. SOol
a whistle, a roar, a train RUSHING
by brought us back to eartl
again. After dinner the mel