The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-08-19
yERMONT'S OLD MAN
OF THE MOUNTAINS
He Is the Green Mountain Club Guard
ian on the Top of camel's Hump

across the Connecticut river, has an
old man of the mountain.
But the two old men are quite differ
|ent.
Climbers of Cancels Hump will tell
you so.
They know because the Green Noun
tain states old man OF the mountain
always has his eye cut for them.
The old man is one of the first
things 10 attract their attention as
hey finish the last and hardest half
mile OF the two and one-half mile
grind up the mountain-side. His vel
come is not so stern as that accorded
visitors in the White mountains, for
his face is not of rough fogmed stone,
though quite as rugged.
A better name for the guardian of
Cancels Hump and its visitors and one
more commonly used whose who
know him is AT Your Service" Blondln
For the Green mountain "old man" is
very human and not at all unlike the
rest of us, albeit he has a warmer
heart than many of us. He is literally
an old man, having seen Go summers
in different sections CT Vermont.
AT is he became an apprentice i'll
the granite industry and by spells foa
Eo0 years he has followed this trade
But he never managed TO save a great
deal and the lure OF the woods finally
took hold of him two years ago, lead
| ing him to take the position last sum-
mer as guardian OF the Green Noun
tain club property atop the Hump.
Not a woodsman by nature, "At
Your Service Blondin rapidly acquir
ed his own special sort of wood icre
and soon added his nickname by reas
on ~ the honest services he performed
FROM debt of $50 incurred by the
Green Mountain club in the upkeep
+ the Camels Hump huts the year
previous, "At Your Service" managed
10 give even better service and at the
same time reduce the yearly deficit to
about Sc. This year he is endeayor
ms to break even, all that the club
desires.
At the same time the number of
visitors has been increased because
the odd man" makes friends of every
one who climbs the mountain. IN
variably he is there with open arms
as you reach the hut area near the top
If his list of guests is large he does
not hesitate TO loan you the use of his
own little tin shack with its supply
of store, cook stove and "a rather
| hard but welcome bunk, while he
himself puts up with crude bed of
boughs in the small damp swopdshed'
OF canvas nearby.
Some visitors to the Hump have q
mania of climbing the peak by moon
light and II AT Your Service" Biondin
learns that they are coming by reason
of telephone message before they
start he takes his lantern and Journeys
down the long trail to "Callahan's, :"
where the two trails up the Hump be
gin, and waits for their arrival, that
they may be safely escorted to the top
Then he builds a rousing fire, gets
water from the excellent spring near
the huts, and helps them prepare some
warm coffee.
Keeping house atop the Hump some.
times grows monotonous, as there
81 z NAAIh aHIAAo VI eRfCial hofo WITCH
no visitors appear On such days "At
Your Service" has time to attend to
getting ahead on his supply of wood
and stores. To do this he must make
many trips into the woods with his
saw and an axe or jog down the trai
( to Callahan's with yoke after the
canned food supplied him by the Green
Mountain club.
Again there will come rainy spell
and The ''old man" then need not
worry about forest fires hut can sit in
This cabin and muse upon the philoso
ply OF life
After such a spell of loneliness AT
Your Service is usually eager in his
welcoming of guests for with their
coming he has someone to talkto He
is no uninteresting talker, either
He tells you of the bear he met on
July 6, of his dislike ,lor killing the
hedghogs that abound on all Vermont
mountains, his successes and defeats
in life, and all in such way that he
makes you think he wou d have return
cd to the lower regions, where many
people are always willing to listen 10
NiASi Chis gOA liNlh AtbN iistlNlutu W
visit the Hump at just the exact time
you did
Il was going down the long trail" he
says: wearing my rubber soled shoes
/ didn't make much noise because of
the shoes and on rounding a bend saw
me beer coming toward me aboat so
feet away. The bear looked up, saw
my forestry badge, realized he was
on forest land belonging to the state,
reared on his hind legs and made off
for all he was good for"
A knawing sound at the underpinn-
ing of the shack will attract his at
tention and he will tell of how he
never kills a hedghog unless, the ami
NAL persists in hanging around" and
getting in the way.
"At Your Service" plays no favorites
he likes everyone and treats ar alike
Vermont's old man of the mountain
is much more worth while than is
New Hampshire's. Barre Times
Too Much Government