422 
FOHEST AND STREAM. 
' tNov. 25, 1899. 
Around and About a New Adi- 
rondack Camp. 
Once more I am where I like to be — out in the woods, 
sitting at the door of -a new log cabin and writing upon 
a home-made table, upon an Indian summer day. The 
sun shines bright and warm without, and the balsam gum, 
oozing from the pores of the green logs, fills the cabin 
with a delicious perfume. Outside the autumn leaves are 
falling, and their colors, varying from bright carmine to 
a rusty brown, as they descend and blend with the bright 
green of the balsam and spruce in kaleidoscopic changes, 
make a picture that no scene paitner can imitate. 
Prostrate and decaying logs, once monarchs of the for- 
est, now lie covered with green moss beside and over the 
brook down below, and the brook and the birds vie with 
each other in exultation, and all nature is joyous this 
autumn day as though improving the opportunity before 
the winter storms and cold make bleak this cheerful spot. 
As I write I hear the boom of Guide Delmarsh's 
three-barrel gun away down the glen, and I believe that 
we will have broiled partridges for some late supper. 
The bird will be hot, but the cold bottle — Oh, well, a tin 
pail filled from the icy spring will answer. I also hear 
a slight knock on the window glass. A little bird — a sap- 
sucker we call them — has flown in and bumped his head 
in trying to escape. I pick him up and hear his peep of 
fear; but would I hurt him? Oh, no! I take him out to 
a bough on the tree, and his claws prick my fingers as 
though clinging to a friendly hand and loath to part. He 
went away after a while and possibly told his mates in 
bird talk that a man who writes once in a while to the 
Forest and Stream, because he likes to, gave him some 
assistance in time of troublc^ — ma3rbe so. 
Let us go back to the starting point. I left New York 
when thousands were going in, and I did so by agree- 
ment. The Deer Slayer made an appointment with 
Hurry Harry and agreed to meet him on a certain day in 
a certain place in this same forest, so Fenimore Cooper 
says, and I likewise agreed to meet a guide on a certain 
day, and inasmuch as Admiral Dewey would not change 
dates I could not stay to entertain him — but there were 
others. 
On the way to the station I heard the pulsating of 
drums and the tingle of the spirit of '76 went through 
my spine, and though there be not hair enough on my 
head to stand up to the thrill, as I turned the corner and 
met the troops my rifle involuntarily came to right shoul- 
der, and the words "Left, left, hay foot, straw foot, left" 
ran in my mind, and I marched along beside the soldiers 
with head up and stomach out as proud as the best until 
the spell was broken hy the shoiit of a gamin, who 
yelled: /'Hey, Mickey, see de ol' sport step out!" 
Arriving at the station I saw a little white casket 
passed gently into a child's hearse, and then move slowly 
away, followed by father, mother, sister and brother in 
a coach. . What a contrast of sadness and joy! Millions 
of people rejoicing at the coming of a great man, and a 
small family mourning the departure of a little child. So 
the occurrences of life weave in and out, and one has its 
effect upon the other, and the drift of the whole is to- 
ward the good in all things. 
The Empire State Express, usually crowded, carried 
but few, and it was a simple stretch of the imagination 
to think myself a prominent statesman booming along in 
the president's private car to keep an appointment at 
some agricultural horse trot to tell the people what to 
do to save the country. The barns and fences flew by, 
leaving the letters of the words Sarsaparilla, Castoria 
and Soap in my eyes, and I thought of "that tired feeling," 
and that I heard th.e children cry for castoria, while the 
tramps did not the same foj soap. 
In due time Old Forge was reached. The place takes 
its name from its former iron industry, and near the 
Forge House there stand as relics of bygone days the 
old triphammer and anvil. The guides and loggers are . 
still wont to test their strength in lifting the anvil during 
idle moments. I tried and failed. 
The steamboat's whistle sounded its warning, and the 
few passengers — guides and gunners — gathered around 
the boilers, spun lying yarns about their prowess and 
discussed the merits of various brands of whisky. 
Saturday was passed restlessly at Eagle Bay awaiting 
the arrival of Guide Delmarsh. The fitful sunshine came 
and went, and the intervals of disappearance were filled 
up with darkness, skurrying snowflakes and autumn 
leaves in a wild whirl of chilly wind. 
Once when the sun shone brightly I tried to target the 
sights of a new Savage rifle, and in a few_ moments was 
drenched with snow and rain and numb with cold. Sun- 
day morning I packed the garb of civilization in my 
trunk, and donning the hunting togs waited at the lake 
shore for my friend, and from over the sprayed whitecaps 
of the lake came a canoe propelled by a stroke that I 
knew so well. Then the broad blue-shirted back became 
plainer, until the prow of the canoe slid upon the sand at 
my feet. He asked me if I wjshed to wait until the lake 
quieted down before crossing, and I told him that I would 
start for Heaven in a hand-basket with him and bank 
upon a safe arrivel. True, it was rough, and at times it 
seems as if we would swamp, but with rare skill he car- 
ried me safely over the billows and through the troughs, 
and with packs and rifles we entered the forest and the 
cold wind was .shut out by a natural roof, and our feet 
trod the woodland carpet. It is a carpet that fades and 
renews its changing pattern and colors often. It is in- 
grain and velvet by turns, and often full of rents and 
soiled; but it wears well, and at times can be bought at 
bargain sales. 
Once more the cool fragrance of the woods is in my 
nostrils, and then suddenly I enter a flood of warm air, 
as though passing from a cool to a warm room, and 
look about in search of a camp-fire. There is none, and 
the cause of the warmth is one of the woodland's secrets. 
Anon the sun ccmes out to stay through the day, and 
the shadows of the falling leaves or of the wings of the 
birds in their flight overhead dart over the tree trunks 
and open glades, and the squirrels chase the shadows and 
themselves in wld frolic, and sputter at us with insulting 
g-rimace flirt Pf bushy tails. 
In descending the hillside the weight of my pack top- 
pled me over as I stooped tp pick a rare fern. I pitched 
my rifle toward my destination and, like Columbus when 
landing, kissed the earth; but there was no harm done 
beyond a wet stain on one knee and a pound of wet 
mould in my hand and up my sleeve. Whatever makes 
you laugh or causes others to do so adds to the pleas- 
ures of the trip, and then with reasonable success in 
securing game comes the good of it all. 
Three hours of hard tramping brought us to our old 
open camp of previous years, and we decided to spend 
the night there rather than push on to the log cabin in 
process of construction three miles further in. We cut 
the huge backlog and the smaller wood for the night fire 
and pulled balsam twigs from branches for our beds, and 
from the camp lantern took kerosene to remove the 
pitch from our hands, and from within the hollow trunk 
of a neighboring tree we unearthed the camp tinware, and 
the dear old combination coffee and tea pot that brewed 
so many decoctions that "cheer but not inebriate" came 
up smilingly. Sooty and black outside, with the lid 
bound on with wire, and the handle leaning at a de- 
crepit angle, it was ready for another heated argument 
with us. We scoured the cutlery by driving it into the 
ground, and we cooked our supper of eggs, potatoes 
and flapjacks, and condensed milk and maple syrup 
made rich coffee and cakes. We washed the dishes be- 
cause we found — ^about the only thing around a hunter's 
camp that the hedgehogs will not chew up — a piece of 
soap, and this with a last year's rag that looked suspi- 
ciously like a remnant of underwear did the work. 
Then we hit up the pipes. and talked around the fire 
until late. Either the smoke of the fire or the pipes, or 
both combined, overcame us, and we rolled up in our 
blankets and slept the sleep of the righteous. 
Before the first gray light of morning came we were 
up, and the fire snapped, and the odor of coffee and 
toasted bread blended with the aromatic smoke of burn- 
ing silver birch. Then we stepped out into the forest 
while it was till dark, in search of the bounding buck, 
and found him not. • When near camp upon our return 
a doe watched us calmly from a boulder on the hillside, 
but we do not shoot does, and in a desire to see the lithe 
beauty run I cracked the dead spruce near her with a shot, 
and over the hills and far away she sped, feeling better 
for the early exercise and probably wondering what those 
two things were and what they made that noise with. 
We left the camp like parting with an old friend, and 
after tramping over the mountains for three miles heard 
the sound of the saw and hammer, and I remembered 
the expression "Busy marts of trade," an expression 
that is tabooed from modern literature as a "chestnut," 
and even "chestnut" is now out at compound interest; 
but the sound did not indicate the growing village or 
commerce — just the erection of a hunter's camp of un- 
hewn logs, 12 X 14 feet inside and so low-ceiled that the 
silk hat of the minister would be crushed should he call 
upon us without uncovering. Overhead, under the steep 
pitched and spruce shingled roof, we can sleep when all 
is done, and we jump into the work with Father Del- 
marsh, Archie's brother Eri, and his cousin, whom I 
chose to call Longfellow for obvious reasons. We make 
the chips, fly, and if "the workman is known by his chips," 
as they say, you would be well acquainted with us were 
you here. Being more proficient at ground than lofty 
tumbling, I chose to lay the floor, and some of it was 
blind nail<»d, and the rest looked as though I were blind 
instead of the nailing, so the others told me. Overhead 
tlie others wax shingling and laying 7 inches to the 
weather,- and breaking joints, and as I went out for 
another board they broke the .staging as well. They came 
down like so many coons from a chopped tree, and felt 
themselves over for broken joints. 
The cook stove came in on a sled team in the after- 
noon, and the sash and other necessary things, and we 
got the stove into place, and had the usual experience in 
putting up the pipe, and heard the usual expletives ac- 
company the process. Each one knew more about the 
dampers than the others, and the word, or an abbrevia- 
tion of it, was often heard before the task was complete. 
Then we nailed boards on the tree trunk near the door, 
and from amid the camp duffle came the wash basin and 
a bar of yellow soap, and rolling ux> the sleeves and un- 
buttonnig the collars of the flannel shirts, Ave bathed in 
the icy water of the brook. Those with hair combed 
without a mirror, and the absence troubled me not, as 
the towel answered nicely. 
Then by the light of a ca.ndle stub came a supper of 
bean svvagen, hot johnny cake, broiled venison, baked 
potatoes, etc., then the pipes, and before the desire to 
smoke was gratified came the call of wornout bone and 
muscle for rest, and all were too tired to replenish the 
fire in the night, and there on the chilly floor, surround- 
ed by frosted logs, we passed the cold- night in restless 
sleep. But the next night found ns as "snug as a bug, 
in a rug." With door and sash in place, and table and 
isenches made, with floor and bunks complete overhead, 
and the walls frescoed with interior decorations, and 
chinked with moss from without, and plenty of wood, T 
passed the other nights in sound sleep, with no fear of 
fire or burglars, or of awakening' by cats on the back 
fence, or by the song of the belated clubman, "We 
won't go home till morning," as he paddles along the 
street. True, the owls met and hooted on the peaked 
roof above me, and in the midnight stillness, unbroken 
save by the moaning wind an dtheir owlish love cooing, 
"Soft eyes spake love to eyes that spake again." 
When the camp's construction was complete, the others 
left the guide and myself to enjoy it, and as they were 
about to start up the mountain side the boys said they 
heard partridges drumming off to the left, and touching 
the G. A. R. button of the gray-haired veteran. I said: 
"They are drumming you out of camp. Uncle." With 
fire in his eye he replied: "Birds can do it; man never 
did and never will." His answer was characteristic of 
the sturdy old man, and his boys are "chips of the old 
block." 
One morning a messenger came down" the hillside 
summoning the guide to county jury duty, and for once 
in my life I wanted to sav ''D—n the law and all 
disciples of Blackstone." There was no appeal, and the 
guide left me alone until at dusk his brother came back 
to camp as a substitute, and has been with me since, 
and on this later day I resume the process of writing, 
inasmuch as a knee, strained by long tramping, refuses 
longer to raise 210 pounds over the mountains without 
rest. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." and 
"a chain is as strong as the weakest link and the bridge 
as strong as its frailest support." 
Eri is away hunting alone, but before he went he fig- 
ured this way and said: "You carry 70 pounds more 
than I, on a lighter frame. There being 5,280 feet in a 
mile, and allowing at least 2,000 steps to the mile, you 
move in a ten-mile tramp 700 tons more than I do, and 
ought to rest." Perhaps the boy figures correctly — I do 
not know. I am only figuring upon a pleasant time. 
The statistics are more appalling than the actual process 
of moving so much. 
If the reader doesn't mind I will tell him (or her) what 
I have seen in this wild wood in the way of living things. 
One bright day, mellow with sunshine, and with air 
laden with woodland aroma, the guide with rifle went 
one way for deer, and I went opposite with a shotgun 
for birds. After a while we swung in together on the 
other side of the mountain, I had stopped the flight of 
one hurrying cock bird and he was still in my pocket, 
and I had missed another and was thinking of the cause 
when I heard the sharp crack of nitro powder off be- 
hind me. I stood for a few moments beside a large 
moss-covered boulder in silence and my ears and eyes 
did double work. This rock, as though cut by man's 
and decorated by woman's hands, stood up with 
clean sides,- while on top rich green and brown moss fur- 
nished nourishment for brake and fern. The trees around 
were evergreen, and no decaying leaves or twigs marred 
its cleanliness. While admiring its resemblance to a 
well-kept artificial fernery, there silently came up to me, 
almost within hand reach, the cleanest and most graceful 
animal that ever roamed through the wildwood or saw 
tlie forest opening — a doe with eyes like- large ripe pur- 
ple plums. She looked at me in astonishment, and T 
never even winked. The blue-brown ears, as long as the 
face, pointed toward me, and the glossy coat covering 
the supple form shone back clean to the white flag, and 
the white flag was white— "A Milk White Flag" indeed. 
The slight, graceful limbs, now rigid, would soon be in 
action, carrying the sleek brown body in bounding flight 
over logs and stones, over the beechwood ridge up yon- 
der, and my day-dream would end in a vacant stare at 
the hole in the bush where the last white shadow faded. 
How came she there? In the charge of the Light Brigade 
some one had blundered, and I think that she, startled 
at the shot fired at a male of her own kind — possibly a 
brother — rushed, she thought, to a place of safety. Was 
she safe? Sure! Oh, I coidd have picked her up and 
kissed her if she would let me, and I could no more 
have shot her than I could a schoolgirl playing at recess. 
The suspense was telling upon me, and I longed to see 
her run. I raised my hand as though in benediction, and 
said: "Well, you are a beauty!" With a look that might 
be considered as a reproach for undue familiarity, or as 
saying,"' Don't you suppose that I know it?" she skipped 
away like a waltzing belle and was gone from me for- 
ever. 
Then the bold Canada jays flew in and needed 
but little encouragement to alight upon the rifle barrel. 
At the base of a decaying stump the white-footed deer 
mice came out to see what jarred the earth. Their 
quaint little eyes blinked in the bright light, but ere lortg. 
Avhen the snows come and cover them 4 feet deep with a 
cold mantle, they will pass in and out of the subways 
beneath snow, roots, logs, dead moss and leaves, and 
their activity will contravene the thought that they are 
buried alive, and though they may be buried, they will be 
on top_ again gnawing at discarded antlers when the cover 
is off in the nascent springtime. 
Another time, while standing quietly, deep down in 
the mountain chasm, the dry leaves about my feet would 
turn over like the jumping beans from the tropics; and 
wondering at the cause and stooping to discover it a 
beechnut burr struck my hand, and then, looking up- 
ward in the leafy tree tops, I saw a number of red squir- 
rels. By some mutual understanding they send down 
showers of nuts, and coming down together gather them 
and cache them for the winter's supply. I did not move, 
and presently from different points they descended, and 
one more bold than the rest came to my feet, but quickly 
dodged away and sputtered in aiiger, and then ran part 
way up a tree to a limb close by. He stood on his nose 
and fore paws and scratched savagely with his hind feet 
and barked, and I think he said to me: "I'd like to take 
a fall out of you. I'd sink my teeth in your nose and 
clutch an ear with each fore paw, and scratch the collar 
button from you with my hind feet, and bang your 
bosom with my tail." And I laughed at that little imn — 
that Ishmael of the woods — and suddenly noticed that 
they were gathering from all directions, and fearing a 
repetition of the scene of Gulliver and the Lilliputians, I 
left to them what was their right by priority. 
Soon there was a swaying of the underbrush, and with 
as much crushing of twigs as a fawn would cause, a 
hedgehog — the fretful porcupine of Shakespeare — ap- 
peared, and in revenge for harm done me and my camps 
in years past I bowled the misclTievous thing over with a 
bullet. No, they don't throw quills; they will swat you 
with a prickly tail, and the barbed quills come easily from 
them and painfully from the victim. Often have I pulled 
thcrn from the face of an overzealous pup, while he sub- 
mitted to the painful operation like a stoic. 
In the brook called Red River the young trout were 
seen in masses, and I fed them with crumbs and said to 
them: "Uneeda biscuit." Although goldenrod and 
purple aster are rarely seen in these forests, T recall one 
spot, burned over in years past, that was bright with the 
blossoms of each, and there, gay in plumage, blue and 
white, flitted the bluejays great and small, and black- 
birds, woodpeckers and others with names unknown to 
me. flew about in uncurbed joy. and saying to each other 
in bird language, "Life is worth living." 
Passing under huge hemlocks, oaks and maples, where 
all undergrowth and vegetation save moss had given up 
the struggle for light and sunshine and died bewailing 
the greed of the powerful, the pillars of the canopy over- 
head could be seen for a great distance, and the cov- 
ering shut out from sight the sun and clouds. When 
nearly through this cavern-like place I startled a herd 
of deer in an adjacent thicket. The gloom nearly hid 
from sight the dark- coated portipn§ of the bodies, but the 
