A happy young couple paddled a birchbark canoe while others dived off a barge about a hundred feet out from a beachfront. A colorful totem pole was superimposed along the right of the full page glossy colorized photo with the name "Camp Sagamore"There's lots to do on the Twin Lakes!!, Twenty-nine year old Marge had torn out the page and saved it. A city girl, raised in a crowded Brooklyn tennement, had never ridden a horse nature trail or canoed on a pristine lake surrounded by an unbroken backdrop of pines. The best she'd done so far was a rooftop garden or a park within range of honking horns and roaring engines. but on a bigger scale, "It's in Pennylvania in the Pocono Mountains. You know> Fresh air, wildflowers and nature trails. It's practically undiscovered," she told John. At the time New Jersey was considered to be "out in the country", so it was easy to understand why she'd say that. The ad made it sound like the trip would be a short one but John knew differently. "I haven't made the trip, but we might be traveling all day to get up there," he said,. The travel time was actually about five hours, up and down big mountain roads.. "But you might come with me?" she asked John scanned down the list of activities. Softball, sailing, basketball, tennis, archery, hiking, swimming, canoeing, horses, ping-pong, singing and storytelling at the totem pole, dancing at the Showboat, croquet, horseshoes and a great eating hall with a trading post. He liked eating bar-b-que and playing horseshoes at picnics. Other than that he was a regular at Belmont Park, where he "played the ponies." "Yes, I'd consider it," he said. She'd known John since they were teenagers.. He was a card playing, cigar smokiing, wisecracking clown who had never been anything more than her boyfriend. They both knew why too. It was the depression era and they hadn't any money. Marriage was never talked about until Marge went to California for a telephone operator job during World War Two. By that time he was in his forties. "Then, as soon as we can afford it, let's do it," she said. "Okay, sure honey," he said, not knowing that it would be sooner than he would think. In most camps, the adult supervisors were called counselors and children spent several weeks under their supervision. But no children were allowed at Sagamore so in order to lower costs, campers helped out by taking jobs that they would have had to pay someone to do: jobs like: camp-master, league organizer, music coordinator, head storyteller, oarmaster, and bathhouse chief and even dishwasher in chief. It was up to these people to rotate the other campers through a schedule of work. That allowed the costs of attending Camp Sagamore to be affordable to the likes of John Wilson who usually said they couldnt afford a vacation from the city, but actually could. The camp provided someone an activities director and a clerk to check sporting equipment in and out, cooks to make the food.and a stable manager look after the horses, but the campers were expected to spend a little of their time helping out.. .Marge Habick stayed in a quaint little cabin that were not much more than a porch and a place to sleep. Each of the tiny cabins had a split room with two single cot sized beds. Each also had a vanity table and a mirror, with one bathhouse for each two rows of cabins, so that ten cabins shared each bathhouse. After she'd unpacked, she went over to see John for men on one side of the road, women on the other. John Wilson had collapsed onto his bed and sunk his head into the soft feather pillow. His valise was on the floor beside the bed. He was worn out. He'd watched the city thin out, to the occasional house, to the mountainous roads and he should have been able to sleep as the trip went on for hour after hour with nothing but wilderness. But there was something about the roar of the bus engine, the smell of the deisel exhuast and the grinding of gears that had kept him awake. Now he had a headache. He opened his eyes just enough, when the screendoor slammed closed behind Marge. "Here. Here is a Gary Cooper movie we haven't seen. Outdoors too. Why don't you take me to it hon?", she asked, scanning downward on the page to see what else was planned. "We'll have to bring a lot of mosquito repellant," John said sleepily. There was also a get acqainted dance at the "Showboat". Five flavors of soda-pop would be served at the "bar". Scanning down the page, she read aloud some of the other activities. There was a ping-pong finals match that overlapped the movie, a basketball game and the poker club. "Huh, what was that?" John said, suddenly more wide awake than he thought he could ever be. She paused a moment, letting the music from a distant radio sink in. "We'll sing in the sunshine," went the singers. That could have lulled him back to sleep, but he was suddenly awake. "Poker? Did you say poker! Let me see that!" He said and reached for the schedule, saw where it said poker and where the game was to be held. Then he was suddenly active again and picked up his grey suit and looked for cigars, a good indication that he was planning on going somewhere. He held the single cigar up for Marge to see. "This won't be enough. Did you say the gift shop was still open?" he asked. "Yes, " she said, scanning the page in her hand again. "Okay, I hope they have White Owls. Why don't I go down there and see. The club meets in the same building. I won't be long." John said, gave her a ceremonial kiss and went out for the rest of the night.