THE LURE OF FIELD WORK 61 



which there must be added tramps, vicious domes- 

 tic animals, and cross dogs. I have braved the 

 heat of the sun until my helper refused longer to 

 work with me, and I have experienced the torture 

 of chills, fever, and delirium from incipient sun- 

 stroke. 



There is no way of gauging the hardships of a 

 field worker. One of the most vivid recollections 

 I have is of a day spent in securing two chapter 

 tailpiece decorations for "The Song of the Cardi- 

 nal." In the morning of a day of intense heat 

 after a night of rain in late June, I almost suffo- 

 cated in a steaming valley beside the Wabash 

 River, w T here I was making pictures of a bed of 

 wild morning glories; a few hours later, while wad- 

 ing the river to secure pictures of a bed of rose 

 mallows, I contracted a chill which ended in con- 

 gestion that gave me a ten day fight for my life. 



There are hundreds of negatives in my closet, 

 and if they could speak more than half of them 

 could relate a thrilling tale of the hardship and 

 dangers endured to secure them; but with it all 

 I came through fifteen years without any broken 

 bones and with no permanent damage done to 

 my health except that after the near sunstroke I 

 never again have been able to endure the same 

 amount of intense heat for the same length of time 

 as before. During the past five years, I have not 

 been so fortunate. 



One of the real discomforts of a professional field 



