r her too. Old John, the man who occasionally
worked for us, would come up sometimes and see after things. With her
customary dexterity Euphemia swept away every obstacle to the plan, and
all was settled before we went to bed.

As my wife had presumed, Pomona made no objections to remaining in
charge of the house. The scheme pleased her greatly. So far, so good. I
called that day on a friend who was in the habit of camping out to talk
to him about getting a tent and the necessary "traps" for a life in the
woods. He proved perfectly competent to furnish advice and everything
else. He offered to lend me all I needed. He had a complete outfit; had
done with them for the year, and I was perfectly welcome. Here was rare
luck. He gave me a tent, camp-stove, dishes, pots, gun, fishing-tackle,
a big canvas coat with dozens of pockets riveted on it, a canvas hat,
rods, reels, boots that came up to my hips, and about a wagon-load of
things in all. He was a real good fellow.

We laid in a stock of canned and condensed provisions, and I bought
a book on camping out so as to be well posted on the subject. On
the Saturday before the first Monday in September we would have been
entirely ready to start had we decided on the place where we were to go.

We found it very difficult to make this decision. There were thousands
of places where people went to camp out, but none of them seemed to be
the place for us. Most of them were too far away. We figured up the cost
of taking ourselves and our camp equipage to the Adirondacks, the lakes,
the trout-streams of Maine, or any of those well-known resorts, and we
found that we could not afford such trips, especially for a vacation of
but fourteen days.

On Sunday afternoon we took a little walk. Our minds were still troubled
about the spot toward which we ought to journey next day, and we needed
the soothing influences of Nature. The country to the north and west of
our little farm was very beautiful. About half a mile from the house
a modest river ran; on each side of it were grass-covered fields and
hills, and in some places there were extensive tracks of woodlands.

"Look here!" exclaimed Euphemia, stopping short in the little path that
wound along by the river bank. "Do you see this river, those woods,
those beautiful fields, with not a soul in them or anywhere near them;
and those lovely blue mountains over there?"--as she spoke she waved
her parasol in the direction of the objects indi