Evening star., 1947-08-17
lust Between
Ourselves 80.
BY PhiIipH. Love-

Every year about this time I
find myself wondering If a vacation
is worth all the trouble involved.
This year, as in the past, I spent
my vacation on a farm beside the
st. Marys River, in the Southern
Maryland county of the same name.
+ had a swell time, but
Well, shopping for the trip kept
the whole family busy for at least
two weeks in advance. First aid to
our ailing 1887 automobile also re-
quired considerable time and effort.
Then, of course, satchels, suitcases
and even cardboard. boxes had to be
packed, and fitting same into the
car in such a way as to leave space
for four passengers, including dog,
was job calling for the skill of an
engineer.
"Aunty," as we call our elderly
two-door sedan, negotiated the 30
mile trip in the usual ~ hours,
but the whole family-even the dog
was secretly worried about her
the whole time. When we reached
the farm, none of us felt much like
unloading the car, carrying the sat-
chels, ETC., into the house and un-
packing them, but the job had to be
done, just the same.
u y X X
The three-week loafing period
passed in twinkling, and then the
whole operation-all but the shop
ping, that is-had to be repeated.
For some reason, however, the same
amount of clothing, etc., wouldn't
fit into the same number of satchels,
ETC., and more boxes, and even a few
paper bags, had to be put into serv-
ice. There was additional freight,
too-butter, eggs, vegetables and
fruit-which had to be tucked in
somehow. BY the time Aunty was
ready to take to the road, she was
all tired out just from holding the
stuff.
The return to Washington was
even more worrisome than the trip
to the country, principally because
the car was three weeks and about
$50 miles older. Consequently, when
we arrived home after the usual
az hours, we felt even less like
unloading and unpacking than we
had when we reached the farm;
but, again, the job had to be done.
BY bedtime, only the dog, Butch,
was in good humor.
Was the vacation worth all the
bother?.
The day of our return, the answer
might have been no. But now
Well, Aunty held up satisfactorily,
so the round trip must be marked
down as at least satisfactory. On
the farm, We went to bed when we
pleased. The food was delightful
country ham, country butter, crabs
and fish right out of the river, vege-
tables fresh from the garden, milk
straight from the cows, home made
biscuits and rolls. We grabbed
f1shed and swan nearly every day.
We rowed when we felt like it, and
when we didn't, we used one of the
two motorboats. We even caught up
with some of our reading.
x u X X
There was some miscellaneous
fun, too. One night, there was q
farmers cooperative meeting, fol-
lowed by hillbilly dance; another
there was parish swingaroo at St
Georges Church, Valley Lee. Also
there was a weekend visit by my
Uncle Thaddeus and his family.
Uncle Thad put on an impressive
exhibition of the unusual art o1
swimming with both head and feet
out of water. He had been perform
ing only a few minutes when he
called This is the funniest water
I've ever been in. It's got scaldine
places in it," A little later, he
asked: What makes this waite,
burn so? Is it the salt?" Finally, he
gave up swimming, with the ex.
planation: I'm burnt up. Funniest
water I ever did see!"
| That night, we doused him with
fresh water from the well-which
is about as good a treatment as any
for seanettle stings.