IN THE CATSKILLS 



for us in the wilderness that was faultless as a kitchen 

 and dining-room, and a marvel of beauty as a loun- 

 ging-room, or an open court, or what you will. An 

 obsolete wood or bark road conducted us to it, 

 and disappeared up the hill in the woods beyond. 

 A loose boulder lay in the middle, and on the 

 edge next the stream were three or four large nat- 

 ural wash-basins scooped out of the rock, and ever 

 filled ready for use. Our lair we carved out of the 

 thick brush under a large birch on the bank. Here 

 we planted our flag of smoke and feathered our 

 nest with balsam and hemlock boughs and ferns, 

 and laughed at your four walls and pillows of 

 down. 



Wherever one encamps in the woods, there is 

 home, and every object and feature about the place 

 take on a new interest and assume a near and 

 friendly relation to one. 



We were at the head of the best fishing. There 

 was an old bark-clearing not far off which afforded 

 us a daily dessert of most delicious blackberries, 

 an important item in the woods, and then all the 

 features of the place a sort of cave above ground 

 were of the right kind. 



There was not a mosquito, or gnat, or other pest 

 in the woods, the cool nights having already cut 

 them off. The trout were sufficiently abundant, and 

 afforded us a few hours' sport daily to supply our 

 wants. The only drawback was, that they were out 

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