June, 1 9 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



213 



life which Nature gave them. 

 The versatile canoe, how- 

 ever, is not limited to such 

 homely and gentle pleasures. 

 I have, for instance, a 

 friend who now lives on a 

 rocky part of the Maine 

 coast, whose recreations 

 before he was married in- 

 cluded such feats as moun- 

 tain climbing, and an occas- 

 ional flurry with gendarmes 

 in the Latin Quarter, who 

 now finds a vent for his sur- 

 plus energy by taking a canoe 

 which he has especially 



New York town!" The 

 twentieth-century voice of 

 thechief'sbattered, butprized 

 graphaphone had spoken, 

 and the spell was shattered ! 



But these are exceptional 

 uses for the canoe. It is as 

 an every-day affair that it is 

 of the greatest value and 

 should be more appreciated. 

 Undoubtedly a great deal of 

 the prejudice which does to 

 some extent exist against 

 canoeing is due to the fact 

 that every season there are 

 some fools, not even know- 



b raced and strengthened An apparently frail canoe is trustworthy over a broad expanse of lake ing how to swim, who insist 



with steel rods so that it will stand the stress, a good dist- on going out and drowning themselves — and, incidentally, 



ance out to sea, in rough weather, and then riding in on the getting into the newspapers and being held up by good inten- 



waves — if he can without getting swamped or tipped over; tioned but illogical friends as warning against canoeing of 



and it is a royal frolic, I assure you. any kind and under any conditions. 



Another friend of mine spends all his vacations in inland It might not be amiss at this point to give a few words 

 streams and lakes. With two other kindred spirits, he of suggestions to those who are not absolutely familiar 

 leaves not onlv the cares of the city but all traces of civili- with the management of canoes. In the first place, the only 

 zation behind him for weeks at a time, and the adventures safe rule is that no one who does not know how to swim 

 which they have are both serious and amusing. At one should venture in a canoe, where the water is over his or 

 time last year, in a semi-cultivated part of Canada, their her head. While a canoe, when upset in the water, is cap- 

 tent was suddenly "struck" for them one night by a very able of supporting the weight of three or four persons, the 

 large and savage bull, in whose pasture they had inad- danger in the case of those who do not know how to swim 

 vertedly pitched camp, and nothing but their brilliant log lies in the fact that they are pretty certain to be panic 

 fire saved at least one of their party from a gory death, stricken in case of an accident, endangering not only their 

 And it was only because a large white birch log finally at- own lives but those of others around them. Even in shallow 

 tracted his majesty's attention that they were able to retreat water persons who do not know how to swim should be care- 

 to the canoe and push oft just in time to escape his bellowing ful not to get their legs under one of the cross pieces or 

 rush to the bank. to wrap themselves up in blankets or in any other way to 



Later on in the same trip, in an untraversed part of the put themselves in a position where they could not immedi- 



great forest, they came one afternoon, just at sundown, ately get up on their feet in case of a turn over. A canoe 



upon an Indian encampment, which looked for all the world is different from a rowboat in this, that when it does tip 



as though it might have been there since the days of the over it goes like lightning, and there is no time to adjust 



Hudson Bay Company. Groups of grim-faced warriors one's self to the situation in the slightest. One second you 



stood or squatted about, in a charactertistic indifference to are in the canoe and the next you are in the water, and it 



their approach. The squaws were busy with the preparation will have happened so quickly that you cannot tell how you 



of an original "American shore dinner," and the smoke of a got there. In case of an accident, or where it is likely to be 



dozen fires ascended upward to the roseate sky, and was some time before you are picked up, the best thing to do is to 



reflected in the limpid depths below. It was as though they turn the canoe exactly upside down, then by straddling one 



had been mysteriously transported back through two hun- end of it you can support your whole weight in that manner, 



dred years of time — when suddenly from some tent in the In case the water is very cold, however, and the shore is not 



background of the picture came a rasping, metallic voice, too far away for you to attempt the trip safely, the best 



"Take me back to ^scw York town — New York town — thing is to divest yourself of your surplus clothing as soon 



The canoe on reaching a shaded spot can be readily transformed into a cushioned couch 



