COLLEGE MEN AS "TRAMP" PI 'lOTOGRAI'l I ERS 



257 



guides use to "tote" camping utensils 

 and other things for the sportsman 

 when he goes into the woods. We were 

 quite proud of our woodsy appearance. 



We started out on the country road 

 on one of those cool, bright days for 

 which the Adirondack^ are famous 

 There was a constant chorus of bird 

 song which would have made an orni- 

 thologist feel he was in paradise. The 

 Maryland Yellow Throat, the song- 

 sparrow, the white throated sparow, 

 and other song birds common to the re- 

 gion, fairly overflowed with melody. 

 We were soon lost to the attractions of 

 the country, however, for our feet began 

 to trouble us. Blisters began to form on 

 the soles and toes of our feet, and after 

 four miles of travel, as we made out on 

 our topographic map, we sat down and 

 took off our footgear. There were two 

 or three blisters on each foot. We were 

 eleven miles from our camping place. 

 "Hard luck," said Dolph, and I picked 

 some leaves from a rasoberry bush. 

 Since they were soft and thick we 

 thought to apply them as a padding to 

 the blisters, and upon putting on our 

 shoes again we could scarcely feel the 

 sores. It was one lesson learned. From 

 now on everything went well. At one 

 place we went in swimming in a creek, 

 which refreshed us wonderfully. After 

 thirteen miles of walking we were to 

 put up a little tent for the night, but we 

 found a deserted icehouse belonging to 

 an old cottage. The sawdust on the floor 

 looked soft and just the thing to sleep 

 on, but before morning we both agreed 

 that sawdust does not make a soft bed. 



The next morning after a five-mile 

 walk we came to our first logging camp, 

 which was an ordinary house beside the 

 road. The "greaser," the boy who wipes 

 dishes and does other work about the 

 camp for the cook, was sitting on the 

 front door step peeling potatoes. When 

 we inquired where the men were, he 

 nodded over across the lot in the woods, 

 and he said they would be over to din- 

 ner at eleven o'clock. While we were 

 waiting a little girl, four or five years 

 old, the daughter of the cook, enter- 

 tained us by her uncommon wit. Look- 



ing at Dolph, who has a few freckles 

 spread over his nose, she: said, "You 

 never had the smallpox, did you, oil, 

 no." Then she laughed. 



The crew soon came stringing across 

 the field from the woods. We told the 

 boss we wanted to take a group picture. 

 The men washed up and we waited till 

 after the meal before we took the pho- 

 tograph. It made the men quite excited, 

 for it isn't often that they have a picture 

 taken. Such remarks were fired at us 

 as : 4 Ts the gun warranted?" and "Look 

 out, there, George, he will break the 

 glass." 



The boss asked us to have something 

 to eat. He expected no pay, neither 

 would he take any, so we were careful 

 to give him a photo with our compli- 

 ments. As luck would have it, there was 

 a "clothes press" in the building, which 

 we could use as a dark room. Within 

 two hours we had the plate developed, 

 dried and a velox picture printed. When 

 the woodsmen saw it, they were much 

 surprised, for they supposed several 

 weeks were required to finish a picture. 

 They considered the photograph "D — d 

 good, eh, Bill?" Afterward, we took 

 another picture with the horses, for the 

 men are always proud of their teams. 

 We took a picture also of the cook and 

 her two children. At this camp of eleven 

 men we sold $5 worth of photographs. 



On the way to the next camp we 

 caught a short ride with a middle-aged 

 woodsman. He was pretty drunk and 

 very talkative. Without any suspicion 

 that we were college fellows he began 

 telling that he had attended Columbia 

 University and had played baseball on 

 the "All-Syracuse" team, but whisky 

 had knocked him out. He swung from 

 telling his history to telling what a great 

 man Charles A. Dana was. We pricked 

 up our ears at this conversation, for he 

 was no ordinary woodsman. 



At the next camp we took the picture 

 of the men after they had finished sup- 

 per. We lined them up against the "din- 

 ing-room" and exposed the plate at stop 

 8 1-5 of a second. Here we had to 

 wait till night before we could finish the 

 pictures. 



