XLVII 



THE WINTER CAMP-FIRE 



THE chief requisite of a winter camp- 

 fire is volume. The feeble flame and 

 meagre bed of embers that are a hot 

 discomfort to the summer camper, while 

 he hovers over coffee-pot and frying-pan, 

 would be no more than the glow of a 

 candle toward tempering this nipping 

 air. This fire must be no dainty nib- 

 bier of chips and twigs that a boy's 

 hatchet may furnish, but a roaring 

 devourer of logs, for whose carving the 

 axe must be long and stoutly wielded 

 a very glutton of solid fuel, continually 

 demanding more and licking with its 

 broad red tongues at the branches that 

 sway and toss high above in its hot 

 breath. 



So fierce is it that you approach cau- 

 tiously to feed it and the snow shrinks 

 away from it and can quench of it only 

 the tiny sparks that are spit out upon it. 

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