Packing

“ But the great paradox of packing is that a trunk is always full when you close it and always three-quarters empty when you open it. The trunk that nothing but violent stamping will shut is the very trunk that, a few hours later, bounces your possessions about like beans in a rattle ”

“ PACKING AND THE OUTFIT Ordinarily the verb to pack means to stow articles snugly into receptacles, but in the parlance of the trail it often means to carry or transport the articles from place to place. The pack in the language of the trail is the load a man or horse carries.
Likewise, a portage on a canoe route is a break between navigable waters, over which canoe and outfit must be carried ”

“ The packing-houses are also a blot on the landscape, sometimes great unsightly sheds tacked on to what has once been the summer residence of an old Spanish family, and here crowds of men, women and girls are wrapping up the bunches, which are shipped in wooden crates by the thousand, and tens or even hundreds of thousands, I should imagine, judging by the endless procession of carts drawn by immense bullocks which wend their way down to the mole, when a steamer comes in to take a whole cargo of the fruit to England. ”

“ Travel away from the railway, as has already been indicated, means travelling with a camp outfit and a pack-train. The business of ‘packing’ is a highly organized one, and it is a vocation which, in untrodden country at least, makes as severe demands as that of a guide, and more varied in character, on the courage and resourcefulness of those who follow it. The packers, indeed, hold a position which presents many analogies to that of guides in the Alps, and a first-rate packer, like a first-rate guide, is a treasure beyond all price. ”

“ A nuisance to have, in the company street, a line of stacks through which we may not pass. Then, dismissed, we return to our packing, always with an eye to the forming of a line at the cook tent. For no one wants to be late in that line, yet all wish to get forward with the packing. There is, on these cold mornings, another consideration: it is pleasantest to eat breakfast in sweaters, which we know must be discarded for the march. If the officers or sergeants come with “Hurry up those blanket-rolls!” off the sweaters must come, and the rolls are made. ”

“ If one is going on a real camping excursion where one will need pack horses, one should, by all means, familiarize oneself with the proper method of packing a pack horse. This can be done in one's own cellar, attic or woodshed and without hiring a horse or keeping one for the purpose. ”

“ Chapter Thirty Two.
En route, August, 1837.
There is a great art in packing property, and in it our profession are fortunately adepts. A midshipman, for instance, contrives to put every thing at the bottom of his chest. No very easy matter to pack up and arrange a carriage full of children, two birds, and a spaniel puppy—in all, twelve living beings with all their appendages, down to the birds and dogs’ tails. As for packing up a dog, that is impossible; the best way is to pack it off. Canary birds travel very well in the carriage lamps, in the summer time, when they are not lighted ”

“ We had only one definite idea when we decided to go somewhere, and that was, not to go to the seashore, because it was hot there last year; we believe in having a reason, however senseless it may be.
During the small hours of the morning of July 13th we found ourselves packing. Packing for a carriage journey means looking over once more the “must haves” which have been carefully selected, to see how many can be dispensed with in order to reduce the quantity to the amount of “baggage allowed” in a phaeton. ”

“ Pack′et-day, the day of the departure or arrival of a mail-ship; Pack′et-note (see Note-paper) ; Pack′-horse, a horse used to carry goods in panniers: a drudge; Pack′-ice, a collection of large pieces of floating ice; Pack′ing, the act of putting into packs or of tying up for carriage: material for packing: anything used to fill an empty space, or to make a joint close, as the elastic ring round a moving rod or piston to make it a tight fit ”

“ In packing household furniture for moving, have each box numbered, and then have a book, in which, as each box is packed, note down the number of the box, and the order in which its contents are packed, as this will save much labor and perplexity when unpacking. ”

“ There is, indeed, no reason for him to deny himself a variety and a plenty, unless his trip is to extend into months. Weight on the portage trail is always the consideration that cuts down the ration. Packing on one's back a ration to be used two or three months hence is discouraging. ”

“ Traverse under the cliffs of the Northeast Ridge to enter the Grand Basin.
The Labor of Packing
Something has already been said about the fatigue of packing, and one would not weary the reader with continual reference thereto; yet it is certain that those who have carried a pack only on the lower levels cannot conceive how [Pg 83] enormously greater the labor is at these heights. As one rises and the density of the air is diminished, so, it would seem, the weight of the pack or the effect of the weight of the pack is in the same ratio increased. ”

“ Careful packing of goods, a matter of the greatest importance, has for years been continually urged, without avail or with but slight improvement. It is as true now as seven or eight years ago that packages from the United States on the dock in South American ports may be picked out on account of their disreputable appearance. Boxes splitting open, bags and bales ripping apart, many goods lost or ruined, is the continual complaint. ”

“ In a description, then, of the methods of packing and transporting outfits the tenderfoot and even the man whose feet are becoming calloused may welcome some hints as to the selection of compact, light, but, at the same time, efficient outfits. ”

“ When all these things are taken out for use on arrival, the space is very convenient for soiled clothing, it being quite separate and distinct from any other compartment. Do your own packing if you do not keep a maid. Have a place for everything, so that when you want anything in a hurry, or you feel tired, you will not have that interminable bug-bear of "having to unpack everything to find it." Many a good manager or housekeeper seems perfectly lost when she contemplates the possibility of "living in a trunk," as it is vulgarly called. ”

“ A man whose duty it is to place and adjust the loads of pack-animals and to take charge of them upon the march. As packing requires long training and experience, packers are usually hired when needed. ”

“ Few industries in the United States have shown such rapid growth as has the packing house business. The modern packing house, as it exists today, may be said to be less than forty years old since its inception. ”

“ They have also that other misery of packing and unpacking trunks—of running the distressing gauntlet of custom-houses—of the anxieties attendant upon getting a mass of baggage from point to point on land in safety. ”

“ Being placed at one side of the hold, for the purpose of packing the bags close to the ship's timbers, I so managed, as to leave a space between two of the bags, large enough for a man to creep in, and conceal himself. ”

“ The main supply you will pack in some sort of waterproof receptacle. I read a story recently in which a man was recognized as a true woodsman because he carried his matches in a bottle. He must have had good luck. The cardinal principle of packing is never to carry any glassware. Ninety and nine days it may pass safely, but the hundredth will smash it as sure as some people's shooting. And then you have jam, or chili powder, or syrup, or whiskey, all over the place—or else no matches. Any good screw top can—or better still, two telescoping tubes—is infinitely better. ”

“ Horses and horned cattle are taken at half a farthing per head per verst, and small domestic animals at a quarter of a farthing per head per verst. Fowls and [145] small animals in cages or baskets are charged by weight as if they were ordinary baggage.
3. Baggage is divided into three categories.
First category.—Domestic goods and furniture in packing cases; more than eight poods per person of either sex cannot be taken at this rate. ”

“ Packing the basket was not quite such pleasant work as unpacking’ the basket. It never is. ”

“ The great packing machine ground on remorselessly, without thinking of green fields; and the men and women and children who were part of it never saw any green thing, not even a flower. Four or five miles to the east of them lay the blue waters of Lake Michigan; but for all the good it did them it might have been as far away as the Pacific Ocean. They had only Sundays, and then they were too tired to walk. They were tied to the great packing machine, and tied to it for life. ”

“ In addition to each man's private luggage, each mess, generally composed of from five to ten men who were drawn together by similar tastes and associations, had its outfit, consisting of a large camp chest containing skillet, frying pan, coffee boiler, bucket for lard, coffee box, salt box, sugar box, meal box, flour box, knives, forks, spoons, plates, cups, &c., &c. These chests were so large that 8 or 10 of them filled up an army wagon, and were so heavy that two strong men had all they could do to get one of them into the wagon. ”

“ Some of us are carrying portage packs which we can dump off our shoulders at the end of the "carry," some of us are carrying hiking packs which we must carry through life and can never dump from our shoulders until we cross the Grand Portage from which no voyagers ever return. All our packs vary in weight, but none of them is easy to carry if we fret and fume and complain under the load.
We outdoor folks call our load "pack," but our Sunday School teachers sometimes speak of the pack they bear as a "cross." ”

“ THE SOLDIER'S OUTFIT—THE KIT BAG
When you go on a journey you carry a suitcase, or you take a trunk, in which you place your belongings that you will need while away from home.
When the soldier goes off to the war he has a bag in which he puts some of the things he cannot do without—things that are absolutely necessary.
First. It is wonderful when you come down to bed rock, how few things we need, after all. Most of us are overburdened.
There is hardly a girl or boy that has not a whole lot of unused baggage lying around—old toys and books, old ribbons and hats. ”

“ Any uncomfortable pack is an abomination; too heavy a pack is an unhappy burden, no pack at all is fine—until you reach camp and hunt around for something to answer for a toothbrush, comb and brush, something on which to sit and sleep, something overhead to protect you from the rains and dews of heaven, something to eat and something to eat with besides your fingers, something from which to drink which holds water better than the hollow of your hand or the brim of your hat, and, in fact, all those necessary little comforts that a fellow wants on an overnight hike. ”

“ One thing all my guides inveighed against, a superfluity of baggage; with them I utterly agreed. A trunk was an expensive luxury on foreign railways: there stood ready always an army of porters to escort one’s handbags. A lady could travel gayly with a single change of raiment; after a day’s dust and soil, merely the transformation of a blouse, and behold a toilet fit for any table d’hôte. ”

“ Of course, you can’t shove an aquarium into the old portmanteau—nor a pair of rabbits, nor a hedgehog—but anything in reason you can.
The luggage that goes in the van is not much trouble—of course, it has to be packed and to be strapped, and labeled and looked after at the junction, but apart from that the big luggage behaves itself, keeps itself to itself, and like your elder brothers at college never occasions its friends a moment’s anxiety. ”

“ Even if you have your baggage in a wagon, it is best to wear one, or some sort of a small bag furnished with shoulder straps, so that you can carry a lunch, writing materials, guide-book, and such other small articles as you constantly need. You can buy a haversack at the stores where sportsmen's outfits are sold; or you can make one of enamel-cloth or rubber drilling, say eleven inches deep by nine wide, with a strap of the same material neatly doubled and sewed together, forty to forty-five inches long, and one and three-quarters inches wide. ”

“ Bag′-wig, an 18th-cent. wig, the back-hair of which was enclosed in an ornamental bag.—Bag and baggage, originally a military expression, hence the phrase, 'to march out with bag and baggage,' i.e. with all belongings saved: to make an honourable retreat: now used in the sense of 'to clear out completely.'—Bag of bones, an emaciated living being.—In the bottom of the bag, remaining as a last resource; The whole bag of tricks, every expedient; To give one the bag to hold, to engage any one and meanwhile disappear; To let the cat out of the bag, to disclose the secret. ”

“ He had also borrowed some necessary furniture from his good friend the pastor, until he could get some of his own from the neighbouring town. When the cart arrived with his boxes and portmanteaus in it, the curiosity of the villagers received a fresh impetus. "What can he have in that strong-looking box?" said one. "If it were money, two men could could never carry it. And look what a number of packages besides! I can't think what a single man can want with so much luggage." ”

“ Feeling instinctively that Cousin Egbert would not now be dressing for dinner, I omitted evening clothes from my box, including only a morning-suit and one of form-fitting tweeds which I fancied would do me well enough. But no sooner was my box packed than the Tuttle person informed me that I could take no box whatever. It appeared that all luggage would be strapped to the backs of animals and thus transported. Even so, when I had reduced myself to one park riding-suit and a small bundle of necessary adjuncts, I was told that the golf-sticks must be left behind. ”