Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-01-15
WHAT ONE
WIFE is DOING
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

color painting. That was all the
training she had. Painting was
dropped for other interests. Her
brothers were studying mineralogy
and measuring glaciers, and she
helped them with their scientific
photography.
Fifty Sketches a Summer
After marrying DIR. Walcott she
gradually took UP sketching again.
Now, 80 flower sketches a summer
is considered a fair average. 1t is
becoming difficult for her to find
subjects for her brush in the North
west because so much of the ground
has been covered in field trips. She
is still kept busy, though, for DR..
Walcott looks out for flower speci-
mems while he is engaged in his e :
plorations. And in winter other
scientists who know of the work
send her interesting plants to be
painted.
When a new specimen comes in
she drops everything and paints fast
before 1t has a chance to wilt. Every
plant must be sketched while 1t is
fresh. When in the field she likes
D6SL To Ldke ii 6pCC1lilCA ~ LIZ -
and arrange it in water with a good
light on it.
Sor1e plants are SO fragile or are
found so far from the camp thai 1t
would be impossible to carry speci-
mems back in good condition. In
such .ses Mrs. Walcott takes her
paint box out of her kit and goes to
work wherever she is, V though
o. I.1-s5a Iox, nncaI yoaoy he naRnG-
sary to keep her hands from getting
stiff.
Flowers as Rare as Alpine Blooms
1--WE hear of the flowers of the
Swiss AIps,' Mrs. Walcott says, but
in the Rocky Mountains of the
northwestern States and Canada
there are Alpine flowers Just as rare
and eautiful as any in Switzer-
land"
Her collection contains sketches OF
such plants as the bladder campion
which does not grow at an altitude
of less than $500 feet. 1t is surpris-
ing how the mountain plants strug-
gle for existence against overwhelm-
ing odds. Poor soil, rocks, nov
and cold nights do not discourage
Inc WHO IlOW6IS u IIllG iESlOiIs ga
flower, the woolly fleabane, has a
wool-like covering to keep 1t warm.
Others bloom close down between
the rocks and in sheltered valleys.
Many of these plants of the west
ern mountains are similar to the
wild flowers of nor accessible parts
| of the country. The names too are
similar. Yet almost always there
/ are slight differences readily percep-
tible to the botanist.
There is comparatively little
bright pink or rose color in the wllo
flowers of this section. Purple and
yellow are more in evidence, and
there is a good deal of red, especial
lv in the berries and other fruits Of
the plants. The basque flower, e
rurple ~bell-shaped bloom grown II
abundance. Then there is the REL
liIv which covers the meadows OF
protected mountain sides, and tn
Alpine c~inquefoil, like a yellow but
tercup, the blue camas, and seVera
hundred other wild flowers tina
adorn the mountains in midsummer
Or. Walcott and wife have rang
ed over thousands of miles In the
SeIkirks and the northwestern
Rockies from points in far northern
! Canada GOWN W nlQhbaAG @AN 49,
ington, They go into inaccessible
parts of the mountains, campint
Sometimes a week away from a rail
road, as distance is figured by trail
The other members of the party arr
the cook and two packers to TAX
care of the five saddle horses ant
ten pack ponies. They camp in from
twenty to thirty places between jun
and October and make excursion
from these headquarters on horse
back or on foot. j.,
Twenty-four summers spent II
camping have taught Mrs. Walcot
to regard as routine incidents that
tenderfoot might regard as breath
lessly exciting. Finding the horse
stuck in ~quicksand and having to un
pack then in order to pull them on
is all in the days work with sea
soned campers, she says. Wild AM
mails do not brighten them becaus
they do not attack the animals.
If there are no outstanding ad
ventures in this business of pursuin
fossils and wild flowers throug
~ouicksands, up dangerous mountai
trails, and over swift mountai
streams, it may be only because tn
scientists life in the field is one cor
tinuous and absorbing adventure.