25§ 



RECREATION 



There were about fifteen men in the 

 camp. Some of them stretched them- 

 selves out on their bunks for a rest after 

 a hard day's work, some sat about a 

 smudge used to drive away the mos-. 

 quitoes and punkies, and there talked of 

 their work. Others ground their axes 

 for the next day's labor, while four 

 other men played quoits till it was dark, 

 when all crawled into their bunks. 



When it was dark our work began. 

 We had mixed up our solutions before 

 nightfall and had fixed a place in the 

 "blacksmith shop" where we could de- 

 velop. After fixing our plates and using 

 "neg dry," we dried it over the coals of 

 a mosquito smudge. Then we printed 

 on velox, guessing at the number the 

 men would want. We got to bed a lit- 

 tle after eleven o'clock. The next morn- 

 ing the boss paid us for the pictures the 

 men had ordered and we went on to the 

 next camp. It was a five-mile walk, with 

 the last half-mile almost straight up a 

 mountain. It was a thousand-foot climb, 

 nevertheless we had to hurry to catch 

 the men at their eleven o'clock dinner. 

 We got there in time, but we found that 

 the men worked so far from the camp 

 that the meal was carried to them. 

 Therefore we had to wait till six o'clock, 

 for we could not take a group picture 

 excepting at a meal hour. 



At this camp after supper the men did 

 much as they did at the other camp, ex- 

 cepting one of them got out a violin and 

 played such pieces as "The Monie 

 Musk," and the "Devil's Dream." The 

 fiddler made the boast that he could do 

 what a very few could, and that was to 

 talk and play at the same time. Then he 

 would go on playing and try to talk, but 

 some way or other he stumbled every 

 time. The men got the "greaser" to give 

 them a jig to the tune of the fiddle. The 

 fellow climbed upon the four by six foot 

 "front porch" and put up a fairly good 

 "dance." 



Here we developed our plates as we 

 did at the other camp. The young 

 "greaser" asked to watch us. While we 

 were manipulating the plates he said he 

 took pictures, too. I asked him what 

 kind of developer he used and he said 



"Hypo." I think he had heard us speak 

 of getting the hypo from the pack 

 baskets and was trying to sling a bluff. 

 When we had printed one of the plates 

 he pointed out two men who had a fierce 

 fight. According to his description they 

 fought till they were completely tired 

 out, then some of the men parted them. 

 It was a drawn battle. 



Life at a lumber camp is of course 

 peculiar. The men, fifteen or twenty, 

 and more in some camps, line together. 

 A woman, generally the wife of one of 

 the men, does the cooking for the whole 

 crew. The grub served is good for the 

 work. Nearly all varieties of salt meats, 

 such as pork, codfish, etc., are served. 

 Dried fruits, such as prunes, are placed 

 before the men. So, also, are potatoes, 

 bread, butter, milk, beans, cookies, and 

 many other things. Fresh meat, of 

 course, will not keep in the summer, so 

 they do not get much of that, but in the 

 winter, we were told, fresh meat is often 

 served. "We have to feed them well," 

 said the boss, "or they won't stay." The 

 food is certainly much better in variety 

 than the woodsman, or common laborer, 

 gets at home, and as for quantity each 

 man can help himself to all he wants of 

 anything. The work, to be sure, is hard 

 and the hours long, nevertheless as one 

 of the men said, "We have lots of fun 

 up here." 



We left the last lumber camp and 

 struck the backwoods road for twenty- 

 three miles. For the first six of these 

 miles we stopped at every house and 

 shack we came to. It was a cloudy but 

 a bright day, and we worked the shut- 

 ter, at every place we did business, at 

 stop "8" and 1-5 sec. exposure. At 

 some of the houses we found boarders 

 from New York and other cities, and 

 to such people we introduced ourselves 

 as "tramp photographers." In nearly 

 every case they suspected we were col- 

 lege men, and asked us what college we 

 attended. 



At one place we had an experience 

 which made us . forget our tired limbs 

 and backs for more than a mile of 

 travel. We always carried our camera 



