rt side of
the shanty for a bed. The pillow is placed at the head, and the old
Mackinac blanket-bag is spread neatly over all, as a token of ownership
and possession. If the youngsters want beds of fine, elastic browse,
let 'em make their own beds.

No campfire should be without poker and tongs. The poker is a beech
stick four feet long by two inches thick, flattened at one end, with a
notch cut in it for lifting kettles, etc. To make the tongs, take a
tough beech or hickory stick, one inch thick by two feet in length,
shave it down nearly one-half for a foot in the center, thrust this
part into hot embers until it bends freely, bring the ends together and
whittle them smoothly to a fit on the inside, cross checking them also
to give them a grip; finish off by chamfering the ends neatly from the
outside. They will be found exceedingly handy in rescuing a bit of
tinware, a slice of steak or ham, or any small article that happens to
get dropped in a hot fire.

And don't neglect the camp broom. It is made by laying bushy hemlock
twigs around a light handle, winding them firmly with strong twine or
moose wood bark, and chopping off the ends of the twigs evenly. It can
be made in ten minutes. Use it to brush any leaves, sticks, and any
litter from about the camp or fire. Neatness is quite as pleasant and
wholesome around the forest camp as in the home kitchen. These little
details may seem trivial to the reader. But remember, if there is a
spot on earth where trifles make up the sum of human enjoyment, it is
to be found in a woodland camp. All of which the O.W. fully
appreciates, as he finishes the above little jobs; after which he
proceeds to spread the fire to a broad level bed of glowing embers,
nearly covering the same with small pieces of hemlock bark, that the
boys may have a decent cooking fire on their return.

About sundown they come straggling in, not jubilant and hilarious,
footsore rather and a little cross. The effervescence is subsiding, and
the noise is pretty well knocked out of them. They have caught and
dressed some three score of small brook trout, which they deposit
beside the shanty, and proceed at once to move on the fire, with
evident intent of raising a conflagration, but are checked by the O.W.,
who calls their attention to the fact that for all culinary purposes,
the fire is about as near the right thing as they are likely to get it.
Better defer the bonfire until after supper. Listening to the v