South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-07-27
By LEON W. DEAN.


ally fine trout or a deer in season.
Mountain House Joe would see that
you got it.
He was like any one Of a hundred
other Adirondack guides-and diff
ferent. Just where the likeness left
off and the difference began II was
hard 20 tell. II wasn't IN his clothes;
possibly the way he carried them
had something TO do with it. It.
wasn't in his talk, although the ma
tive vocabulary had been consider
ably weeded and fortified. Perhaps
il was because he was So everlast-
ingly clean about camp and didn't
begin TO shirk once he had got you
into the woods. Moreover. he did
things as though his head wasn't
used solely as an ornament Sitting
around the camp fire at night you
somehow had the feeling that the
man lounging a little apart from
the rest was at bottom as much a
gentleman as any OF you. What
ever the reason, Mountain House,
Joe was considered the most popu-
lar guide in the mountains.
One night in the rugged dehles of
Indian Pass he gave us the first real
peep beneath the crust We were
looking away over a score OF dark
ening mountain peaks TO where
Whiteface reared its lofty head, still
strongly etched against the northern
sky.
How sings Horace? = 'mundi
moles operosa' - the toilwright
mass of the world! l wonder what
the old Roman would say If he
could look upon a sight such as
this?"
1t was Lieut.. Golden who spoke.
Joe, squatting on his heels by the
fire where he was preparing the
evening meal, turned his head
abruptly.
IF he were modest he would say
that you had just given him credit
for what rightfully belongs to Ovid"
The temptation had proved too
provoking and our cook of many a
merry excursion had suddenly be-
come a scholar of the classics. But
straightway he was Mountain House
Joe again and no amount OF urging
on our part could complete the
metamorphosis.
We were TO stay in the pass a
week, when the ladies were 10 join
us for another before we turned to
the city.
The day they arrived Joe ana 1
were out on a fOraging expedition
from which we did not return until
after dusk. We could hear their
voices, sounding peculiarly sweet IN
that wild spot, as we approached
the camp. At the edge Of the clear
ing 1 pressed forward TO greet them.
and a moment later turned with a
flourish to introduce Mountain
House Joe, the best guide in the
mountains.
Mountain House Joe was nowhere
on the landscape.
Some five minutes afterward
saw him come up under cover or the
smoke, carrying a large armrul Of
| frewood for which there was no
earthly need.
Joe was a man who knew mis-
| place and always kept il, but tonight
his efforts TO keep aloof were so
/ bald, so unlike himself and almost
/ discOurteous that the situation at
/ times became rather embarrassing
/ We tried 10 pass it off on the charge
| OF bashfulness, but 1 had my doubts.
What the deuce is the matter
with the fellow" whispered Charlie
Osgood after a series of inglorious
attempts TO inveigle him INTO con
versation. iii begin to think there
is something in that old Indian
! legend after all, and thiG Joe is con-
hspiring to ship us all home minu:
FOUR hair"
! Despairing at length Of a story
from Joe. which we had come 10 an
ticipate as a part of the regular
! evening program, we turned back tC
the papers which the ladies haC
brought with them, now several day.
old.
1t was fall and the annual Yale
| Harvard football battle was only g
few weeks distant. The papers wer,
full OF it,
We were a Harvard crowd anC
felt free to express our minds.
"All Brickly," said Dick Valentine
turning the pages, "All Brickly and
> Harvard"
Say, how long has it been any
how. since Eli took a fall out o
us?'' asked Charlie Osgood. I've
lost count. 1t reminds me OF Dad
He says he has had so many birth
days that he's lost all track or then
and doesn't know where he is"
!. Even the girls were beginning K
chime in when up spoke Dell Fer
guson. You could always lgur,
on Delrs doing or saying the unex
pected.
Don't build your hopes too high
} boys" she said. I've noticed tina
it's a pretty safe bet which end o
the score a weak Harvard team VIII
be holding but you can't always tel
about Yale"
This from Dell was a cropper
Dell was quite the queen bee Of on
coterie and we had taken her 70
granted in this as we had come [,
= in other things. completely forget
ting that she had not always beef
one OF us.
II was Mrs. Mabel who broke tn