She had cancer and came there to be cured of it by the nature
treatment. She brought with her an old-fashioned army tent, and rented
for its location the most desirable site on the lake shore.
She had a disagreement with Barton--and left to consult regular doctors.
She turned over all rights to her tent and to the site to me.
"And mind you, Mr. Gregory," she admonished, "this tent and the place it
stands on is as much yours as if you paid for it ... for it's paid for
till Christmas."
So, with my Shelley, my Keats, and my growing pile of manuscript, I took
possession. And with covering from the wet and weather over my head and
with plenty of mosquito netting, I felt established for the summer.
Every morning I rose to behold the beauty of the little, mist-wreathed
lake. Every morning I plunged, naked, into the water, and swam the
quarter of a mile out to the float, and there went through my system of
calisthenics.
I lived religiously on one meal a day--a mono-diet (mostly) of whole
wheat grains, soaked in water till they burst open to the white of the
inside kernel....
Everybody in our rapidly increasing tent-colony enjoyed a fad of his or
her own. There was a little brown woman like the shrivelled inside of
an old walnut, who believed that you should imbibe no fluid other than
that found in the eating of fruits ... when she wanted a drink she never
went to the pitcher, bucket, or well .
Pages:
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250