556 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Nov. 2, 1912 
equally reminiscent of the Canadian woods, for 
we get as many human points of view and literary 
allusions with our camp cooking as city dwellers 
get with their sermons. Or it may be a clam 
chowder from Duxbury, or a chicken stew a la 
Missouri, or the frying-pan may smoke with fish 
and bacon or a batch of home-made sausage, but 
whatever it is, a fragrant whiff of it is blown 
through the woods and presently brings to the 
long bench under the trees a dozen most admir¬ 
able appetites. 
There are those who suppose that cooking 
over a camp-fire is a poor makeshifty method. 
The Inexperienced Person in our company in¬ 
sisted on bringing an oil stove to the camp, but 
after a week’s initiation she has allowed it to 
rust in the cook tent while she joins the rest 
of us round the alder wood crane. It is a fact 
that a fair experience in making up the camp¬ 
fire and managing the frying-pan will enable any 
cooking-wise person to finish his favorite dishes 
quite as nicely as over the gas range in a town 
flat. It is an error to suppose that the super¬ 
iority of camp cookery is wholly in the woods 
appetites. 
But the greatest glory of housekeeping is to 
provide a home where the different family units 
meet and fuse easily into a larger whole. The 
warmth of that fusion, too, should be enough to 
melt into the same circle the transient guest. 
That is genuine home life and genuine hospitality. 
Measured by these, the highest standards of 
domestic art, our houseless housekeeping still 
earns our praise. The free family intercourse 
about the cook tent or the camp-fire is rather 
better than can be provided for in houses. Here 
we have as much room as we could have in the 
biggest palace, and as much intimacy as though 
we all lived, ate and slept in the kitchen. We 
meet at a common point with common interests. 
Yet there is ample space for the expansion of 
each personality. Everyone can do as he pleases. 
Then when company comes the household 
has something to offer. Awhile ago I said that 
the kitchen department shines to special advan¬ 
tage when compared with a kitchen in a house, 
but I might as well say that houseless hospitality 
also has its indisputable advantages. Into that 
house, which we call home, we admit guests with 
trepidation. There may not be room to spare for 
them, or the carpet on the hall is worn and un¬ 
presentable, or the furniture is not so good as 
they are used to, or we have not time to spare 
from pressing duties to entertain them. Oh, 
dear! But out here in camp there is room for 
everybody, and the furniture is good enough for 
anybody. While as for entertainment we can 
please the stupidest soul, satisfy the most fasti¬ 
dious taste or call out the flashingest social wit. 
The place is expansive—something very different 
from expensive. People are natural and at their 
best. This describes both host and guest. If 
the visitor wishes to loaf, here are all the facili¬ 
ties. Will he be nervously doing something all 
the while? We can fully occupy him with moun¬ 
tain climbing, blueberrying, fishing, playing quoits, 
target shooting, botanizing, bird ogling, story 
telling, and if he is yet restless and unsatisfied 
we can put him to the wood pile and the buck¬ 
saw. To “entertain” such a guest at home id est 
to be shut up in a house with him, is a terrible 
experience. We can take him one turn about the 
garden and then it is all shown; we can give 
him a look at the chickens, but he despises them; 
we can play him a game of pinochle, only he 
probably doesn't know that game and wants to 
make it bridge, but what we finally do is to shut 
him up in the library and think of an impera¬ 
tive errand down town. 
So we pull together the embers of the camp¬ 
fire, our guest tells his last and best story, we 
join in a jolly song, and we separate for the 
night. Each one takes a long quiet look at the 
deep blue star-sprinkled dome overhead and goes 
to bed to the faint far calls of the whippoorwill, 
glad in his heart that he belongs to a household 
without a house. 
Effective Game Freezer. 
Waterville, Minn., Oct. 25. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: The accompanying photograph 
shows a home made game freezer that a friend 
of mine designed for himself. The capacity of 
those on the market was not sufficient for him. 
The galvanized tank in the center of the ice 
chest is about twenty by twenty by forty inches. 
The sliding partition in the center of the chest 
is shown raised. The center tank is for the stor¬ 
ing of the game. It is made of the heaviest 
iron. The top of the game container rests on 
cleats at the ends of the chest, and is so ar¬ 
ranged that it will not shake about. It lacks 
four inches of reaching to the bottom of the chest. 
The lining of the chest is of heavy galva¬ 
nized iron also. It is of the best, and in its 
making none of the galvanizing was broken off. 
This is essential owing to the salt water that 
keeps the game chilled. Ice and salt are packed 
about the side of the container, and the birds 
or other game put in the chest will not spoil 
and have been kept over a week. There is a 
plug at one end of the bottom of the chest from 
which to draw off the water if it gets too high 
on the sides of the container. When the ice and 
salt are kept in the chest in the right proportions 
and the cover securely kept down, the container 
can be placed in a baggage car and will not have 
to be looked at for forty-eight hours. 
Note that the top is made to fit snugly. 
Handles are strong to prevent it falling from 
the hands of railroad employes. If desired, the 
plug can be withdrawn from the chest and un¬ 
salted ice packed about the container for a short 
trip. The chest may then be placed on a fish 
rack and drain as the ice melts. 
The wood work is of oak, though lighter 
materials may be used to advantage. A “This 
Side Up” sign should be placed on the cover of 
the chest. Amos Burhans. 
AN EFFECTIVE GAME FREEZER.. 
