Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1920-06-04
Their LUCKY DAY
How Members of Camping Party
Found a Cook.
Finding Of Mamma in the Wilderness
or Getting Water From Rock Would
Mot Have Been Wonderful
After That Experience.

It might seem reasonable to believe
| that in the wilderness the troubles
and trials caused by cooks or the want
Of cooks could be comfortably left be-
hind, but according to Mrs. Mary Rob-
ertS ltnehart such is not the case. So
essential place in the routine Of, a
large camping party does a cook oc-
| cuny that trouble with that imp0r-
tant parsonage is Il dire calamity. In
"TentiGs Tonight" Mrs. Rinehart
gives her views on the subject and
describes the nerve-racking experience
of trying A6 keep hold of an unstable
cook.
BY the end of the second day, she
says, we were we'll away from even
that remote part of civilization from
which we had started, ard Il terrible
: 42ir:s e : us dawning on us. The Coo
did not like Us -
Now, the center Of a caI1f2llnL4s@. trip l"
the cook He has the hardest >10is-
that l know of lie cooks with made
quate equipment on tiny stove in
the open, where the air blows the
smoke into his face and cinders into
his food. Worse than that, he must
cook not only for the party, but for
a hungry crowd Of guides and pack
ers that sits in a circle and watches
Ia, hi nn1nr
his feet He is the first up in the
morning and the last in bed. He has
to dry his dishes on anything that
comes handy, and then pack all his
grub" OH an unreliable horse and
start off for the next eating ground.
SO, knowing all this, and also that
we were about thousand miles from
the nearest employment office and
several days hard riding from set
tlement, we>went to Bill with tribute.
We praised his specialties. We gave
him a college lad, turned guide for
the summer, to assist him. We gath
cred up our own dishes. But gloom
hung over him like cloud.
A few days later the climax came.
One afternoon we found a rangers
cabin and rode into it's inclOsure for
luncheon. Breakfast had been early,
and we were very hungry. We had
gone long miles through the thick and
silent forest, and now we wanted
food. We sat in circle on the ground
and talked about food.
At last the chuck wagon drove in.
We stood up and gave hungry cheer,
and then-Bill was gone! Some miles
back lie had halted the wagon, got out,
taken his bed on his back, and start
ed toward civilization on foot. We
stared blanlly at the teamSter.
well" we said, "What did he Say?"
I "All he said to me was so long ="
said the teamster.
And that was all there was to 1t.
There we were in the wilderness, far,
far from cook.
In savage silence we lunched out of
tins. When we spoke it was to i'm
pose horrible punishments on the de-
faulting cook. In silence we finished
our luncheon; in silence, mounted our
horses. In black and hopeless silence
we rode on north, moving every mo-
ment farther and farther from cooks
and hotels and tables .d'hOte.
At last in a clearing we saw man
sitting quite idly beside the trail. We
rode up to him and said:
"Do you know of any place where
we can find 4 cook?''
And this man, who Lad dropped
from heaven replied:
Il am cook"
SO we put him on our extra saddle
horse and took him with us. He
cooked for. us with might and main,
dawn and night, until the trip was
over.