THE PLAYGROUND OF THE EAST 



•By DAY ALLEN WILLEY 



Photographs by the writer 



bank in the little 

 town of Clayton, up 

 on the St. Lawrence 

 river, where the 

 cashier could stick 

 a fish pole out of 

 the back window, 

 and without neglecting his business, 

 catch his dinner or supper, for the 

 building stood directly on the shore of 

 the river. They tell some tall stories 

 about the fish which were caught out of 

 this back window, but there is another 

 reason why the little bank was famous. 

 If anybody wanted to make away with 

 some of the money, he could jump into 

 a boat and be in Canada in fifteen min- 

 utes, so near was it to the border. 



You hear of Clayton as soon as you 

 s-trike the Northern borderland, for the 

 reason that it marks the beginning of 

 the Thousand Islands. And speaking 

 of the Thousand Islands, this is merely 

 a poetic name, for somebody who is 

 fonder of figures than verse, has 

 actually counted the big and little bits 

 of land which stick out of the water be- 

 twen Clayton and Ogdensburg, and 

 there are far more than a thousand — 

 just 1692. But few care how many 

 can be counted, for after a day or two 

 of hunting, fishing, sailing or just loaf- 

 ing on this great playground of the 

 Northland, they are content with the 

 knowledge, that it is one of the corners 

 of the world which can never be 

 spoiled by the alleged comforts of the 



COMFORTABLE CAMPING OUT 

 477 



