Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-15
FIFTEEN

| WlQ6 ldWn Will oCdF OlQl4itlCy Bill uOs
that I adore. There is what she
calls a smokebush right by the bay
window, a bay window that you 81
in, the windows almost down to tht
| floor. Then there is one of those
] old trumpet-fiower vines, with such
jolly 'orique" red flowers that tbs
humming birds are always hutter-
ing into, and there is a plum tree
just about full Of plums (and so are
Ted and / most of the time). ano
there are apple trees and everything
one could wish to make the idea
picture Of the simple life in tbs
country.
L can't describe all the inside Of
the house, it's mostly books and nice
deep chairs.
Ted and I are doing all the cook
ling. When / saw how much of q
cook Ted was, 1 suggested that she
and / have a monopoly on that job
because she says she can do plain
cooking, but hates doing deserts and
fussy things. and that's the only
kind I can do. So I'm doing deserts
and salads. and we're having a won
derful time.
Also Mrs. c. Is having a little
IOolf aAl0 1C0 1A L dI0 A4lahAAA6 III
all sorts Of new songs as we wash
the dishes. We get them done in
no time, and then we go upstairs
land do the upstairs work, and it's
Jail great team work. Then Ted and
II do a little sewing,-we're each
making a dress, and they're going
to be too sweet for anything. Ted's
is brown cotton crepe and mine is
a l0xya1xy dorl hItr0 W0 = ron lin
them very simple, for more reasons
than one, and doing a little bit of
drawn work, which is surprisingly
easy and surprisingly effective also.
When we get tired we go out to the
buy a spool of thread and get up
real thrills over the free fashion
'sheetsl l never had such a good
time anywhere. Ted's family have
a way of just adopting you, and I GER
tainly do like 1t. They have lots of
people dropping in all the time for
meals, all sorts of funny ones that
have known Mr.. and Mrs. c. in
other towns, and have known them
just enough to sponge a meal or two
III them, while they are going through
Coldwater, changing from n rail-
road to another. Some of them Ted's
father and mother can't remember
at all, but they take them in just
the same, and send them on their
way rejoicing. Ted and 1 rejoice too,
on account of the dishes, but then,
they are so much fun that we get up
little impromptu dramas using the
unexpected guests as the cast. So
we have decided that we get even
all right, and nobody knows the
difference.
Well, we did have a lark last week.
A couple of Ted's brother Joe's
friends came down from G. in
canoes, and stopped off to e Ted's
people. They said they had to find
out about Joe's whereabouts, but /
think it was Ted they were really
interested in. At any rate. they were
persuaded to stay owe night,
(mighty easily persuaded, I'll sayl)
land they stayed in Joe's room, OF
course. At breakfast they suggested
THAT they take us two girls and Ted's
father for a chaperone, and get an
other tent for Ted and me, and &C
on dow the river on a two days
paddle.
Well, it sounded like heaven tc
us. and Mr.. c. said he'd be GLAD
Ito go, SO we hustled to get our gear
together, just the least possible
lameunt of course, since it had to &C
along with us in the canoes and We
didn't want them to be too heavily
LOADED. Mrs. c. said she'd be glaC
Ito have the house all to herself as
she had some cleaning Of closets to de
land she didn't want anybody around
when she did it. so she could look
as sketchy as she wanted to wher
doing such hot and dirty work. So
knowing that she didn't like the
river anyway, we could go Off with
perfectly clear consciences as far as
she was concerned.
We each had a duffle bag and a
tent and the fewest clothes possible
tied up in a tight roll. You can see
we weren't preparing for any dazzl-
ing of the males of the party. We
wore our khaki things, middies and
knicks, and khaki hats and bandan-
mas around our necks. No short
sleeves for the river, either. Ted said
she had learned that much on a pre-
vious canoe trip, when she had had
only short sleeves, and her arms had
not only been terribly burned. but
also awfully bitten up by mosquitoes
that always seemed to descend about
five o'clock In the afternoon, just
when padding was necessary to get
the party to the desired camping
spot. So it was long sleeves.
Mr.. c. took turns riding in first
one canoe and then the other, and
he took his turn at the padding,
too. He is certainly a dear.
I had no idea how lovely q canoe
trip on a little river could be. There
are always SO many turns in the
river, often such a narrow shallow
spot that there isn't enough water
for the canoe to make the turn. Then
we had to make our portage" as
the boys called it, and thai meant
moving out all the stuff and carry
ing the over the dry spot.
At noon we stopped, hot n
hungry, and while the boys and Mr..
C. were getting up the littlest hre'
didn't need it for warmth, you
can just believe,-Ted and l got the
frying pan out of the duffle bag. put
on some strips of bacon, dumped in
an egg apiece, had a lot OF thick
slices of bread, some maple sugar
and a pail of cold water, and there
was our dinner. It was good, too
We had to keep cooking more bacon
and more eggs, and we finished a
whole loaf of bread, but as Mr.. c.
said, you have to make up in guam
|tity what you lack in variety. One
of the boys secured up the frying
pan in the pleasantest way / have
ever seen a greasy frying pan wash
ed. He simply took a bunch OF