THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



in the case of the forest entomologists), for we were always close 

 to some kind of agriculture; but everyone who has ever travelled 

 extensively among farming communities will appreciate the 

 wealth of humorous incidents, the great number of unusual 

 people, and, in a small way, the inconveniences and hardships. 



I have just spoken of the forest entomologists. Once when 

 I was starting out from Washington I told my wife that inci- 

 dentally I intended to visit a logging camp in northern Cali- 

 fornia. She begged me not to do it. She said that it would be 

 dangerous and that I ought not to take any risks. I didn't know 

 the country, but I reassured her and started out. Eventually, 

 after a long journey with many stops, I reached Klamath Falls 

 in the heart of the great forests. I had expected rough quarters 

 and a roughish life, but there were several omnibuses at the 

 station. I asked one bus driver which was the best hotel. "Oh," 

 he said, in his frank, honest. Western way, "that isn't my hotel. 

 You'd better go to the White Pelican." Which I did. And the 

 White Pelican proved to be the best and most up-to-date hotel 

 that I had seen since I left the east. The pages were in uniform; 

 there was an electric grill; many rooms had baths; and there was 

 an elevator service that could hardly be surpassed. I thought of 

 my wife's fears and went to sleep, probably, with a broad grin 

 on my face. The next morning a trained assistant called with 

 an automobile and took me to the camps and the surrounding 

 forest. I encountered no dangers whatsoever. 



These trips were nearly always taken in the summer months. 

 By the first of September or a little later the chiefs of bureaus 

 had to be back in Washington to prepare their annual reports 

 which went to the Secretary of Agriculture on the first of Oc- 

 tober. The Secretary then wrote his own annual report, based 

 largely on the information handed in by the chiefs, and this 

 report he submitted to the President on the first of November. 



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