062 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUIvTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



when we were fishing again, two young men 

 came along on the opposite shore, and seemed 

 to be critically examining the rapids, when 

 one of them said, " Oh ! we can shoot them 

 all right," and pretty soon down the two came 

 in a canoe just about like ours. It looked 

 like boys C(. acting down hill, only the boat 

 went over the rushing yielding water faster 

 than any sled. It jumped and bounded in a 

 way that seemed positively awful. Had it 

 touched one of those sharp granite rocks, it 

 would have been only an e^g-shell. The boys 

 were experts, and handled their oars with 

 lightning like skill and rapidity. Only a lit- 

 tle water splashed over into 'heir boat. 



It is quite customary for campers to take 

 along some mus-ical instrument. In the eve- 

 ning I went out in our boat alone by moon- 

 light to learn how to run the boat straight 

 while paddling on only one side. While I was 

 having great fun in learning how, Ed was 

 playing his cornet. The instrument sounds 

 beautifully over the water, and it also lets oth- 

 er campers know there is somebody near. 

 Soon we heard applause from a point across 

 the bay, and, a little later, the two young men 

 who went down the rapids came over for an 

 evening visit. They are students from Buffalo; 

 have made a special study of shooting rapids 

 in different places. One day while my com- 

 panions were away I went down the rapids 

 near our tent to bathe my foot, for a corn was 

 troubling me. It gave me so much relief I 

 rolled up my pants and began wading on the 

 rocks in the rapids. This was lots of fun, but 

 did not satisfy me, so I stripped entire, and, 

 holding to projecting rocks, let the surging 

 boisterous torrent play all about me. Just at 

 this time Ed and Tommy came suddenly 

 around a point, their boat being carried by an 

 extempore sail made of a piece of burlap. 

 They were somewhat surprised to see the inva- 

 lid of the party apparently in the midst of the 

 rapids, as nude as he came into the world. 

 There is something funny about this. Less 

 than an hour before, I was shivering in the 

 north wind, with my coat all buttoned up 

 around my chin. Well, the same wind was 

 blowing strong when every rag was removed, 

 and yet I was not uncomfortable at all. After 

 the first chill of getting under water was off, I 

 felt like playing in the rapids an hour or two, 

 and have felt better ever since I got such a 

 splendid rinsing with the soft pure Muskoka 

 water. 



Ed made a cupboard out of a dry-goods box 

 we found, with a good door to it to keep out 

 the porcupines nights. They are the worst 

 thieves ; and Tommy made a beautiful oven 

 one day when Ed and I were out after bread. 

 I said there were no neighbors ; but one eve- 

 ning Ed declared he heard the voice of a calf 

 across the woods in a certain direction, and 

 we went on an exploring voyage. We ran up 

 a creek with our boat, until we came to a por- 

 tage so long and steep (over a hill) that I 

 couldn't carry my end of the boat ; but I found 

 a trail, and we pushed ahead exploring for a 

 mile or more, when we found cattle-tracks. 

 After another mile we found fenced fields, and 

 crops and house and barn. Oh how good it 



seemed to see these evidences of civilization, 

 and "home," even after only a few days in 

 the wilderness ! The woods around here are 

 so dense one can scarcely make a mile an hour 

 without a trail. We found red raspberries, 

 huckleberries, and some blackberries, with 

 wild flowers in great profusion. As Ed is 

 quite an extensive florist he could name al- 

 most every plant, even in the woods, at a 

 glance. The father and mother were both ab- 

 sent ; but the children sold us a loaf of bread 

 for a dime. Oh ! but wasn't that bread good 

 after our long walk through the woods ? The 

 wild red raspberries are the most luscious, or 

 it seemed so that day, of any fruit in the world, 

 as they melt in one's mouth. 



After catching more bass, and teaming 

 around all day, the sparkling moonbeams 

 looked so entrancing on the waters of the lake 

 that I took the boat and paddled out in the 

 middle of the water ; and while I was out 

 there busy trj ing to learn the trick of han- 

 dling the sail in the light breeze that sprang 

 up, I heard a voice from the camp: 



" Look here, young man ! haven't you had 

 almost exercise enough for one day ? Sixty 

 years is pretty well along to be playing ' boy' 

 toward ten o'clock at night as you are doing." 



To tell the truth, I had y£>«;'meals yesterday. 

 I was out rowing before sunrise, and got hun- 

 gry, and took a lunch before the boys were 

 up ; then I ate a pretty good breakfast with 

 them, had a big dinner after fishing, and a 

 grand supper after we went after the bread. 



Oh ! I must tell you about our sail that just 

 makes our boat " hum " when the wind is 

 right. It is only a strip of burlap that Ed saA s 

 cost just five cents. This is tacked on a stick 

 about a yard long, and hung on a pole stuck 

 in the bow of the boat. Now take one of the 

 lower corners in each hand, and let the cloth 

 bag out over the bow. With a brisk wind, and 

 some one to steer, it will make the boat just 

 plow the water. 



Our friends are perhaps aware that for years 

 my constant prayer to the great Father above 

 has been for direction in this matter of health. 

 The great God who created us in his own im- 

 age certainly has some great, good, and wise 

 intentions for us in this very matter of regain- 

 ing and preserving health ; and although I 

 have often wondered why we were not told 

 more specifically what we should and should 

 not do, I have never lost faith in God. I am 

 sure he has good and wise reasons for leaving 

 us so much, as it seems, in the dark. I have 

 had faith to believe that I should live to see 

 some great progress made in the treatment of 

 disease. Well, durin:^ the last two weeks my 

 prayer has been, at least to some extent, an- 

 swered. When I left home I was hardly fit to 

 start out on a trip. Unless I was exceedingly 

 careful what I ate, my old trouble was very 



