the valley like the chancel in a Gothic church, appeared to invite the erection of some great organ whose strains might be heard by all mankind.

To dwell here day after day, visiting the wonders on all hands, filling the mind with memories as enduring as itself, and returning night by night to a tent life. under the shadow of eternal hills, seemed better to comport with the appeal of the whole panorama than a temporary home in the thronged hotel.

Granite does not make the best mattress in the world, and the floor of the valley will endure (without exposing a religiously-minded traveler to the rebuke of the Buddhistic priesthood) more liberal padding than we had on hand; but days so spent, the enervation of the heat removed by a douche-bath under the 1,800foot head of the Yosemite Fall, the muscles called into play by the trying ascents and more trying descents, the lungs enlarged and ozonized by the quickened breath of the high elevation, the sensations of open-eyed diving in the crystal-clear pool at the head of Silhouette Fall-all these make one sympathize with and anew embody the delight of Browning's "David :”

Oh, our manhood's prime vigor! No spirit feels waste;

Not a muscle is stopped in its playing, nor sinew unbraced.

Oh, the wild joys of living! the leaping from

rock up to rock,

The strong rending of boughs from the firtree, the cool, silver shock

Of the plunge in a pool's living water, . . How good is man's life, the mere living! How fit to employ

All the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy!

We submitted ourselves to more rigors, possibly, than would be relished by some people. It is possible, however, for a large party, chartering their wagons, and enlisting drivers and a Chinese cook, to eliminate all hardship and be luxurious. Californians are adepts at this co-operative camping, and vend their experience without money and without price. And they will testify that a tent trip to the Yosemite, besides costing no more for every item than the railroad fare of ordinary travelers, possesses the greater advantage of liberty of lingering in scenes worth a transcontinental journey, and treated with desecrated indignity if subjected, when actually visited, to the schedule of a stage coach.

W

HEN, any time from the middle of May to the middle of October, an insurrection against work and worry, or the gift of a vacation, comes to Ingersollville, the unanimous cry is, "Let's go camping!" Twentyfour hours later, very likely, we are all in the bush, perfectly content to sit on the ground and eat from a tin plate rejoicing deeply, sometimes, that we have anything to eat at all.

66

I am inclined to think that, for moderately poor people at least, who cannot afford yachting trips and the like, and whose ideas of summer recreation are not attuned to the string band of a summer hotel," there is nothing that returns so much for the expenditure of strength and money as plain American camping, It's a very simple matter.

The first requisite, of course, is a place. Almost every one knows enough about. the country of his neighborhood to decide upon a desirable locality without much hesitation; lacking this, a short investigation will give you the information. The vicinity of New York, northern New Jersey, the west bank of the Hudson, Westchester County, and northern Long Island offer any number of good places. Permission ought always to be obtained of the owner or lessee of the land, of course, but any objection is rare, where the farmer has no reason to suppose you will damage his property by stealing firewood from his fences or carelessly setting fire to his woods. As for the site itself, apart from a pleasant, shady situation, one should be chosen near good water, where firewood is handy, and where the

ground will be firm and dry.

The drainage is important; don't fix your tent where water will come in or settle whenever it rains; and put a ditch close around it to carry off the dripping of the eaves and to prevent the runlets formed by a heavy shower from gliding under the canvas walls. Pitch your tent, if you can, so that it will be shaded in the afternoon by a big tree; but do not place it beneath the branches, because, for one reason, the dripping from the leaves after a shower and on dewy nights will annoy you by the noise and keep the canvas damp and unwholesome.

Tents may be hired; but it is better to buy them, if more than one is needed. The sizes 10 feet by 12, and 8 by 10, are good-two of the latter, costing about $5 apiece, being better than one large one. A carpet of canvas, such as an old sail, pegged down, increases the comfort, as otherwise the floor of a tent soon gets dusty. Care should be taken to loosen the guy-ropes during a rain-storm and tighten them again when dry; otherwise the contraction may tear the Never touch the inside of your tent roof when it is wet with rain, unless you want a stream of water there. Properly managed, even a poor tent will keep you warm and dry.

canvas.

In the matter of beds, the oldest camper is the most thoughtful, for he knows that any hardship is to be preferred to uncomfortable or half-sleep'ess nights. Where hemlocks grow you will undoubtedly try a bed of boughs, cu'ting off the small, flat-foliaged, curving branches, and laying them compactly in a low crib of logs to the depth of eighteen inches or so. Mr. John Burroughs has given this sylvan couch a literary eminence, but it is not always so satisfactory in practice as one could wish. The needles speedily dry and fall off, leaving you to lie upon a heap of brush; and these needles are likely to get into your blankets by the hundred. A bed of boughs is beautiful for a night or two, but for steady sleeping on the ground I prefer hay, or a merely smooth place, having a hollow dug for my hips. There is no reason, however, why you should not take with you canvas cotsthe cross-legged, folding kind that cost about $1.25 each, since the expressage on a bundle of them is only a trifle. We

sometimes add a little mattress for the head of the family, who has announced that, as all the work and most of the government falls upon her, she is entitled to extra comfort. Don't be sparing of bedding-blankets mostly, of course; some nights are pretty cold, and you do not want to feel obliged to sleep in any of your day-clothes for the sake of warmth.

Madame leaves to me the setting up of the tents, etc., but she hasn't been in camp five minutes before she has an apronful of dry twigs and has command ed some of her slaves to collect larger wood for the fire, which she builds anywhere, temporarily. Another slave is commanded to open the box or trunk, which has never been out of her reach since leaving home, and extract therefrom the essentials of the kitchen service and the materials for at least one meal. These she never, nowadays, intrusts to the accidents of express delivery, but takes with her. How she arrived at that decision would make a fine story for atother day. But this fire is to serve only the immediate purpose of staving off the starvation which seems to await you at the edge of the woods. Later, better arrangements are advisable, among the best of which is the building of two parallel stone walls, perhaps 18 inches high and a foot apart, loosely capped by flat stones, giving a secure resting-place for the saucepans, etc. Another good plan is to take with you two short iron bars, and lay them across a trench in the ground wherein the fire is built. Cooking requires plenty of hot coa's rather than a big flame; and the cook's fire should usually be made separate from the big camp-fire. It is not a bad idea to build a shelter or bower of leafy branches, or bark, over the kitchen; it shades the cook, and looks picturesque. If you are content with a simple fire on the ground, make it in a semicircle edged with flat stones, between which you draw out the hot coals, and which support the skillets and saucepans without danger of an upset. No theatrical derrick of poles from which a big pot hangs is ever accepted in real camping. The wise will keep a supply of kindling under cover, for in wet weather it is often difficult for the most skillful to make a successful fire.

The following is what much experience has taught us to take for a party of four,