Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-08

man and wife, they have been there all
summer. living in queerly fashioned
tent. unventilated and made hot as pos
sible by a small range in which wood
fire is constantly burning, the smoke of
which finds exit in a chimney of stove
pipe protruding from slit in the can
vas roof. The woman is at least three
times as large in every direction as
her husband. The latter seems to be
the chief harmony" provider, for his
sole apparent duty is to strum ms
guitar all day long. The couple seemed
to be perfectly willing to pose for
picture, and affab BILE to a degree.
Don't you mind the mosquitoes" we
asked.
"Skeeters, Nom deed. Them things
been bitin' us so long they's jus nat.
churly 'noculated. Seems like they don
min us an we don min 'em."
"You must be rich to camp here all
the time?" was ventured.
mo, sir, Not 'xactly that. respond
ed the lord and master of the place.
THE missus gets tolerable good wages.
an we saves it up in the winter Ihem
the chllun's workin. too. That t., hei lips
We wished that we could talk some
more, but had to move on
In one bend where the bank was high
and the current swift, we saw pa
triarchal negro sitting fishing with
handmade rod and line. He was an
interesting relic of slavery days. We
wanted to take picture of him, but he
refused to allow it because, as ne ex-
pressed it, 81 amt gwin a let NOBODY
your soul and pussonality gifts lost
every time y let it be took on PIC
tur'.'
We did learn something from him.
though. He pointed out In the SOL
mud that lined the bank the tracks OF
various wild things, and told how o1ten
he had seen the pack of the Chevy
Chase Club. after dutifulIy Following
the anise seed for weary miles. sudden,
ly break into full cry upon the tran
of that animal commonly known as the
North American skunk. This. as a rule,
has depressing effect on the after
moons pleasure. so far as the hunters
and huntresses are concerned.
Not long after passing the venerable
and superstitious informant, we came
to the District line, a point which
George Washington once proposed Tor
a reservoir to supply the capital with
water, for it was believed that Rock
creek could supply all that would ever
be needed. Here we decided to pause
for refreshments. One OF US llsnted
fire. and the other got out the frying
pan and chops. No sooner had we be-
gun than an officer of the District
police came out of a path and ordered
us to put out the fire. He explained
that fires are not allowed in the ma
tional park, which we had just entered.
and we were obliged. therefore. to move
back few yards into Maryland. 1t
was then nearly o'clock. it having
taken us almost five hours to come
from Forest Glen.
Supper over, we shook the gravel and
sand out of our rubber soled shoes,
which were necessary to protect the
feet against the sharp stones of the
channel when wading was to be done.
and started off through the park. From
this on we were no longer incon-
venienced by drift wood. Uncle Sam is
a good business man and uses every
available bit of timber in the reserva-
ton for f1rewood for the public schools.
thus clearing the channel and warm
ing the school buildings in one opera
ton. The engineer department of the
District of Columbia has charge of the
upkeep of the place, which was estab
lished in 1890 and contains some 1.605
acres of land. There are. twenty-five
miles of bride paths five miles OF foot
paths. picnic grounds and swimming
holes in the park.
Much of the widness of the first part
of the journey was lost after entering
this section. 1t is impossible to paint
the fathomless twilight puppies in
which the hills above enfold them
selves. or tell of the nations of birds