A VACATION IN A WAGON 
Or an Inexpensive Way of Seeing Colorado 
BY MARY K. MAULE 
HE days of the summer 
vacation season were 
over, and already the 
tan of camp and sea- 
shore was beginning to 
give place to the city 
_| bleach, when two men 
"(| met on Broadway with 
| a mutual expression of 
pleasure and a hearty 
grip of the hand. 
“How fit you look, 
3 old man,” exclaimed 
one. ‘‘ Where have you been and what have 
you been doing to get yourself insuchtrim ?”’ 
‘Been off to the wilds, Tom,’’ replied his 
friend, ‘‘back to the simple life. No more 
bandbox life in a seashore summer cottage 
for mine. I’ve had the vacation of my life 
at about one-third of the cost of our usual 
outings.” 
Tom looked interested. 
‘Say, look here, Billy, if you’ve found 
any kind of a summer vacation that don’t 
cost a man all he’s saved up for a year back 
I want the receipt.” 
“All right, old man, and welcome. Been 
to lunch? No? Come on, then; the fact is, 
I’m dying to tell you all about it.” 
In a cool corner of the club, over a sub- 
stantial luncheon, to which Tom noticed 
that Billy did full justice, the latter burst 
forth enthusiastically: 
“T tell you, Tom, there’s nothing like it. 
I am a new man, mentally, morally and 
physically, and my wife and the kids are 
similarly rejuvenated.” 
“Oh, did you have your family with 
youre, 
‘“‘Sure. That’s all the fun. You see, it 
was like this. Phil and Ethel have been in 
college this year, both working pretty hard, 
and my wife thought when vacation time 
came they ought to have a good rest. Sum- 
mer hotels and seashore cottages did not 

seem to appeal to us, for, as Carrie said, if we 
went to either one it would be nothing but 
dress and dance and flirt for the kids and no 
rest for any of us. I wanted them to live an 
out-of-door life this summer and have a good 
time—and at the same time not cost me a 
fortune—and so I did a lot of quiet thinking. 
You know I came from the West, and some- 
how or other the Rockies had been calling 
me for quite a while, so as soon as Phil and 
Ethel got home I proposed that we take our 
vacation in Colorado. That seemed to 
please them all right, and as a special treat 
to Phil I suggested that Ned Armstrong, 
Phil’s chum and a fine boy, of whom we are 
all fond, should be a member of the party. 
‘All the time I had my little plan up my 
sleeve, but said nothing about it until we 
got to Denver. When I sprung it you just 
should have heard those kids shout! A trip 
to Europe wouldn’t have been in it for a 
moment with my suggestion. I’ve got the 
jolliest family in the world, anyhow. Carrie 
is the very .best of good companions, 
Ethel is a happy, whole-souled, outdoors 
kind of a girl, and Phil—well, Phil is a chip 
off the old block when it comes to the out- 
door life.” 
“You bet he is, Billy. But drive on, I’m 
anxious to hear this great plan of yours.” 
Billy grinned. 
“My own scheme,” he said, proudly. 
“Camping party, seeing the country and 
traveling hotel all in one. Hold on, I'll 
explain. You see, I was a cattleman once, 
and I thought then there never was such fun 
as traveling with the round-up. That gave 
me the idea. I thought why not travel 
through the mountains of Colorado by 
wagon? Well, when the folks all approved 
of my scheme we set to work at once. After 
a good deal of dickering around we suc- 
ceeded in finding a good, strong, reliable 
team of horses, accustomed to mountain 
travel, and a light, strong wagon, which I 
