| OCR Text |
Show 208 BY PATH AND TRAIL. Fahrenheit. There have been weeks here in the summer when the thermometer would register 98 degrees day and night. But remember there would be only 20 per cent moisture in the air. In the eastern states such heat would wear down men and animals. A canvas tent of fair size costs anywhere from $ 60 to $ 100 or a tent may be rented including site for from $ 15 to $ 30 a month, counting in a little cheap furniture. People soon learn to do their own cooking, and after a time begin to live with reasonable economy. There is an electric road run ning from the camp to the city, the fare for the return trip being 10 cents. In this tented village are men and women of all ages, but chiefly the young and the middle aged who, in the words of the Psalmist, are " suffering hard things and drinking the wine of sorrow/' It is very lonely here for many and wearisome, and this feel ing of loneliness engenders a sadness which is often more fatal than disease, for the splendid air cannot reach it. Away from home and friends, the human heart craves companionship and those who at home are natu rally reserved, and socially exclusive, here become com panionable and invite conversation. For some, life here is very trying indeed; it is so lonesome, so monotonous to live, day by day, this life of sameness and unchanging routine unredeemed by variety and unblessed by pleas ant association. This isolation bears in upon the soul; it tires of its own thoughts which, even if pleasant, carry a note of sadness. There are here and there in the camp human souls, imprisoned in their decomposing bodies, that are by nature melancholy and given to brooding. They become morose in their thoughts and drift into th? l pituul condition described by the Eoyal Prophet when the sorrowful soul communes with itself and in |
