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Side 103 av 112
But before you put these on, you must be ready to light up. A few
splinters of dry spruce or pine or balsam, stood endwise against the
backlog, or, better still, piled up in a pyramid between the hand-
chunks; a few strips of birch-bark; and one good match,--these are
all that you want. But be sure that your match is a good one. It
is better to see to this before you go into the brush. Your
comfort, even your life, may depend on it.
"AVEC CES ALLUMETTES-LA," said my guide at LAC ST. JEAN one day, as
he vainly tried to light his pipe with a box of parlour matches from
the hotel,--AVEC CES GNOGNOTTES D'ALLUMETTES ON POURRA MOURIR AU
BOIS!"
In the woods, the old-fashioned brimstone match of our grandfathers--
the match with a brown head and a stout stick and a dreadful smell--
is the best. But if you have only one, do not trust even that to
light your fire directly. Use it first to touch off a roll of
birch-bark which you hold in your hand. Then, when the bark is well
alight, crinkling and curling, push it under the heap of kindlings,
give the flame time to take a good hold, and lay your wood over it,
a stick at a time, until the whole pile is blazing. Now your fire
is started. Your friendly little red-haired gnome is ready to serve
you through the night.
He will dry your clothes if you are wet. He will cheer you up if
you are despondent. He will diffuse an air of sociability through
the camp, and draw the men together in a half circle for
storytelling and jokes and singing. He will hold a flambeau for you
while you spread your blankets on the boughs and dress for bed. He
will keep you warm while you sleep,--at least till about three
o'clock in the morning, when you dream that you are out sleighing in
your pajamas, and wake up with a shiver.
"HOLA, FERDINAND, FRANCOIS!" you call out from your bed, pulling the
blankets over your ears; "RAMANCHEZ LE FEU, S'IL VOUS PLAIT. C'EST
UN FREITE DE CHIEN."
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