252 THE IDYL OF THE SPLIT-BAMBOO 



which the screen-door is not sewed, is made in double 

 flaps between which the free edges of the screen- 

 door are secured with safety-pins in closing it. 

 Edges of screen-door are bound with tape. The 

 outer door may be entirely closed, be stayed out in 

 front like that of a Frazer canoe-tent, or be closed 

 at either side with the opposite side held open. A 

 small piece of sapling is run through a pocket at the 

 top edge of the door-sill to prevent sagging. 



The material is the best quality unbleached muslin 

 about twenty-five yards of it tanned by immer- 

 sion in a hot decoction of ground white oak bark. 

 (Another time we believe we will go in for a green 

 color, with " Diamond " household-dye, and will 

 use the government airplane cloth, beautiful for 

 tents.) The muslin was passed through the solution 

 three times, rinsed each time, and hung out to dry 

 (thereby greatly arousing the curiosity of the neigh- 

 bors). This before cutting. The proportion for 

 the dye, as given by Kephart, was two pounds of the 

 dry ground-bark to three and one-half gallons of 

 water. After chipping the bark into small pieces 

 with a hatchet it was ground in a hand grist-mill. 

 When dry, the muslin was waterproofed by the alum 

 and lead method. This consists in preparing two so- 

 lutions, one with three-quarters of a pound of alum 

 and the other with the same amount of sugar (ace- 

 tate) of lead, each of which is dissolved in four gal- 

 lons of boiling soft water. When dissolved, and 



