Humor Paine, Albert Bigelow: The Tent Dwellers (illus). v1. 27 Jun 2016

[GrannyGrump]

The Tent Dwellers By Albert Bigelow Paine (1861–1935)
Illustrated by Henry Sumner Watson (1868–1933)

First published in 1908. This book is in the public domain in countries where copyright is “Life+70” or less, and in the USA.

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Albert Bigelow Paine was an American author and biographer best known for his work with Mark Twain. He wrote in several genres, including fiction, humor, and verse, for children and adults. His most notable work was a three-volume biography of Mark Twain.

This book chronicles a three-week fishing trip through central Nova Scotia in the early 1900’s. It is an excellent account of the unspoiled Nova Scotia wilderness that existed at the time, which has been largely diminished since. The group encounters moose (which Eddie tries to capture and bring back alive), beaver, and numerous trout, the first of which is now very scarce in the region; and legions of mosquitos, moose flies, black flies, no-see-ums, and midges, all of which are regrettably abundant to this day.<br />
(—Adapted from Wikipedia.)

Even (or perhaps especially) persons who care for the outdoor life in only the most miniscule of doses will find much entertainment herein (we probably have the most compassion for the travails of the often overwhelmed narrator).

EXCERPT:

Spoiler:

I will dwell for a moment on this matter of washing. Fishing and camping, though fairly clean recreations, will be found not altogether free from soiling and grimy tendencies, and when one does not or cannot thoroughly remove the evidences several times a day, they begin to tell on his general appearance. Gradually our hands lost everything original except their shape. Then I found that to shave took off a good deal of valuable ointment each time, and I approved of Eddie’s ideas in this direction to the extent of following his example. I believe, though, that I washed myself longer than he did – that is, at stated intervals. Of course we never gave up the habit altogether. It would break out sporadically and at unexpected moments, but I do not recall that these lapses ever became dangerous or offensive. My recollection is that Eddie gave up washing as a mania, that morning at the foot of Irving Lake and that I held out until the next sunrise. Or it may have been only until that evening – it does not matter. Washing is a good deal a question of pride, anyway, and pride did not count any more. Even self-respect had lost its charm.

In the matter of clothing, however, I wish to record that I never did put on my nightdress for an undergarment. I was tempted to do so, daily, but down within me a still small voice urged the rashness of such a deed and each night I was thankful for that caution. If one’s things are well smoked and scorched and scalded and put on hot in the morning, he can forget presently that they are not also dry, and there is a chance that they may become so before night; but to face the prospect of getting into a wet garment to sleep, that would have a tendency to destroy the rare charm and flavor of camp life. In time I clung to my dry nightshirt as to a life-belt. I wrapped it up mornings as a jewel, buried it deep in the bottom of my bag, and I locked the bag. Not that Eddie did not have one of his own – it may be that he had a variety of such things – and as for the guides, I have a notion that they prefer wet clothes. But though this was a wild country, where it was unlikely that we should meet any living soul, there was always the possibility of a stray prospector or a hunter, and a dry garment in a wet time is a temptation which should not be put in any man’s way. Neither that nor the liquor supply. When we left our camp – as we did, often – our guns, our tackle, even our purses and watches, were likely to be scattered about in plain view; but we never failed to hide the whisky. Whisky is fair loot, and the woodsman who would scorn to steal even a dry shirt would carry off whisky and revel in his shame.

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Text and illustrations were obtained from archive.org. OCR errors were corrected; punctuation, italics and diacritics formatted; text Americanized, some punctuation modernized. AZW3 version has drop-caps.

EDIT: Uploaded azw3 file with re-formatted TOC, as I have been reminded nested TOC won't work in Kindle e-ink readers. Previous downloads: 25

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[GrannyGrump]

Uploading azw3 file with re-formatted TOC, as I have been reminded nested TOC won't work in Kindle e-ink readers.