IN THE CAMPS OF CRCESUS. 



GENE S. PORTER. 



For everybody knows, if you have the clothe % 



You can go in the crowd where the rest of 'em goes." 



Though I prefer spending my summer 

 days along willow fringed rivers, on mir- 

 ror surfaced lakes, down dashing trout 

 streams, in marches and lilied floods, 

 through trackless forests, where every step 

 is overflowing with delight, there are occa- 

 sions when through necessity I quit the 

 camps of hunters and anglers, clothe my- 

 self in the garb of civilization, and consort 

 with the possessors of millions. Person- 

 ally I should prefer to scrub. Why should 

 a woman waste her strength and neglect 

 her intellect to fill her house with fine fur- 

 nishings, when there is all God's incom- 

 parable workmanship just outside her door ? 

 Why shorten life in the effort to live in a 

 young palace and keep it in order, when I 

 would leave it for the woods and the wa- 

 ters every moment I possibly could ? Why 

 spend hundreds to case my frame in bars 

 of steel, wads of cotton, wire, leather, dry- 

 goods and jewels when I know I will break 

 for the birds, flowers and my little furred 

 friends at every opportunity? 



My world is jewel strung. There are 

 diamonds on every morning's twinkling 

 blades of grass, on every wind tossed leaf, 

 in the shifting golden sands of the trout 

 streams ; and diamonds every time the sun 

 rises on a snow bound world. 



The Deacon and I were going to Indian 

 river. I had wailed over Indian river for 

 10 years. Since I had owned a camera and 

 had been interested in Recreation I had 

 talked of it in my sleep. It was S turday, 

 and we would be compelled to stay in Pe- 

 toskey over Sunday, but we figured that 

 we could get to Indian river by noon Mon- 

 day. That was what we proposed, but we 

 were disposed of in an entirely different 

 manner, and that is how we came to visit 

 the camps of Croesus. 



Long ago the woods began at Grand 

 Rapids. From Reed City on was wilder- 

 ness, with impenetrable forests," here and 

 there a trout stream dashing over logs and 

 stones, and rippling green marshes, broken 

 by great patches of scarlet foxfire. Now, 

 the fire fiend has laid low those majestic 

 forests and the stumps lie upheaved in 

 miles of stump fences, the ugliest things 

 that ever defaced a landscape. The swamps 

 are cleared and doing a rushing business in 

 potato patches ; the trout streams are 

 chained and used to run horrible board 

 saw mills, surrounded by ugly, unpainted 

 shanties that are the forerunners of what 

 people call civilization. It is another name 

 for destruction of all natural beauty of the 

 landscape. 



You can see and hear almost anything 

 at Petoskey. I have seen a swell of 2 

 continents glide around a corner on a 

 chainless bicycle, and 3 minutes later a big 

 Indian, in the garb of a farmer, swoop 

 around the same corner on $15 worth of 

 rubber and steel. I have seen a dainty, 

 silk lined girl snap her camera at a little 

 scarlet clad Armenian playing in the gut- 

 ter, and a few seconds later a corsetless 

 squaw in a pink calico frock and a mon- 

 strous red and green hat, turn a kodak 

 on the same picture. I snapped mine at her 

 and took the boy later. 



While I was packing for Indian river, a 

 call to Mackinac came from friends we did 

 not wish to offend, so we were compelled 

 to go. The trip to Mackinac was a de- 

 light. From the minute I stepped on deck 

 the Illinois was mine. The captain took 

 me into partnership, the pilot shared his 

 box, the first mate lifted the ropes and let 

 me and the cameras have full sway. 



At supper I found myself beside a wom- 

 an who had made herself conspicuous all 

 day. She was portly, overdressed and be- 

 jewelled. She ordered planked white fish, 

 and* then she tackled the plank. She 

 speared it with her fork, but it was hard. 

 She planted the fork firmly on it and 

 sawed with her knife, but it would neither 

 bend, cut, nor break. As a last resort she 

 slipped her knife blade between the plank 

 and the plate on which it was served and 

 attempted to lift it to her dining plate ; 

 but it promptly turned on edge, spilled the 

 fish and rolled away, describing graceful 

 curves among the table decorations. When 

 the waiter caught it and returned it to its 

 plate, and she realized she had been trying 

 to eat the board on which the fish had been 

 cooked, I thought for a moment she would 

 faint. She seemed to lose her appetite, 

 whereat I was glad, for I had heard her say 

 earlier in the day that people who carried 

 one camera were nuisance enough, but peo- 

 ple who carried 3 should have a keeper to 

 detain them at home. 



At Mackinac our friends carried us to a 

 palatial hotel, where fountains dripped and 

 orchestras played. Flowers bloomed, cut 

 glass and silver shone, the meals were ban- 

 quets, the guests diamond spangled. Prices 

 were $10 to $25 a day, and there was 

 neither rest nor peace. Instead there was a 

 round of tennis, golf, riding, sailing, balls 

 and receptions. It soon developed that we 

 had been delayed on our way to Indian 

 river in order that I might assist my host- 

 ess at a reception of her dear 400 friends 

 Shades of the Pottawottomies ! To think 

 that people who might go to the woods and 



