Chapter III (1)

CAMPCRAFT (In treating of camping there has been an intentional omission of the long-term camp. This is treated extensively in the books of reference given at the close of this chapter.)

Hiking and Over-night Camp
_By H. W. Gibson, Boys' Work Secretary,
Young Men's Christian Association
Massachusetts and Rhode Island_

Several things should be remembered when going on a hike: First, avoid long distances. A foot-weary, muscle-tired and temper-tried, hungry group of boys is surely not desirable. There are a lot of false notions about courage and bravery and grit that read well in print, but fail miserably in practice, and long hikes for boys is one of the most glaring of these notions. Second, have a leader who will set a good easy pace, say two or three miles an hour, prevent the boys from excessive water drinking, and assign the duties of pitching camp, etc. Third, observe these two rules given by an old woodsman: (1) Never walk over anything you can walk around; (2) never step on anything that you can step over. Every time you step on anything you lift the weight of your body. Why lift extra weight when tramping? Fourth, carry with you only the things absolutely needed, rolled in blankets, poncho army style.

Before starting on a hike, study carefully the road maps, and take them with you on the walk for frequent reference. The best maps are those of the United States Geological Survey, costing five cents each. The map is published in atlas sheets, each sheet representing a small, quadrangular district. Send to the superintendent of documents at Washington, D. C., for a list.

For tramping the boy needs the right kind of a shoe, or the trip will be a miserable failure. A light-soled or a light-built shoe is not suited for mountain work or even for an ordinary hike. The feet will blister and become "road weary." The shoe must be neither too big, too small, nor too heavy, and be amply broad to give the toes plenty of room. The shoe should be water-tight. A medium weight, high-topped lace shoe is about right. Bathing the feet at the springs and streams along the road will be refreshing, if not indulged in too frequently. {146} See Chapter on "Health and Endurance" for care of the feet and proper way of walking.

It is well to carry a spare shirt hanging down the back with the sleeves tied around the neck. Change when the shirt you are wearing becomes too wet with perspiration.

The most practical and inexpensive pack is the one made for the Boy Scouts of America. (Price 60 cents.) It is about 14 x 20 inches square, and 6 inches thick, made of water-proof canvas with shoulder-straps, and will easily hold everything needed for a tramping trip.

A few simple remedies for bruises, cuts, etc., should be taken along by the leader. You may not need them and some may poke fun at them, but, as the old lady said, "You can't always sometimes tell." The amount and kind of provisions must be determined by the locality and habitation.

The Lean-to

Reach the place where you are going to spend the night in plenty of time to build your lean-to, and make your bed for {147} the night. Select your camping spot with reference to water, wood, drainage, and material for your lean-to. Choose a dry, level place, the ground just sloping enough to insure the water running away from your lean-to in case of rain. In building your lean-to look for a couple of good trees standing from eight to ten feet apart with branches from six to eight feet above the ground. By studying the illustration (No. 1) you will be able to build a very serviceable shack, affording protection from the dews and rain. While two or more boys are building the shack, another should be gathering firewood and preparing the meal, while another should be cutting and bringing in as many soft, thick tips of trees as possible, for the roof of the shack and the beds.

How to thatch the lean-to is shown in illustration No. 2. If the camp site is to be used for several days, two lean-tos may be built facing each other, about six feet apart. This will make a very comfortable camp, as a small fire can be built between the two thus giving warmth and light.

The Bed

On the floor of your lean-to lay a thick layer of the fans or branches of a balsam or hemlock, with the convex side up, and the butts of the stems toward the foot of the bed. Now thatch this over with more fans by thrusting the butt ends through the first layer at a slight angle toward the head of the bed, so that the soft tips will curve toward the foot of the bed, and be sure to make the head of your bed away from the opening of the lean-to and the foot toward the opening. Over this bed spread your rubber blankets or ponchos with rubber side down, your sleeping blanket on top, and you will be surprised how soft, springy, and fragrant a bed you have, upon which to rest your "weary frame" and sing with the poet:

"Then the pine boughs croon me a lullaby,
And trickle the white moonbeams
To my face on the balsam where I lie
While the owl hoots at my dreams."
--_J. George Frederick_.

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Hot-Stone Wrinkle

If the night bids fair to be cold, place a number of stones about six or eight inches in diameter near the fire, so that they will get hot. These can then be placed at the feet, back, etc., as needed, and will be found good "bed warmers." When a stone loses its heat, it is replaced near the fire and a hot one taken. If too hot, wrap the stone in a shirt or sweater or wait for it to cool off.

Boys desire adventure. This desire may be gratified by the establishment of night watchers in relays of two boys each, every two hours. Their imaginations will be stirred by the resistless attraction of the camp-fire and the sound of the creatures that creep at night.

Observation Practice

Many boys have excellent eyes, but see not, and good ears but hear not, all because they have not been trained to observe or to hear quickly. A good method of teaching observation while on a hike or tramp is to have each boy jot down in a small note-book or diary of the trip, the different kinds of trees, birds, animals, tracks, nature of roads, fences, peculiar rock formation, smells of plants, etc., and thus be able to tell what he saw or heard to the boys upon his return to the permanent camp or to his home.

Camera Snap Shots

One of the party should take a small folding camera. Photographs of the trip are always of great pleasure and memory revivers. A practical and convenient method of carrying small folding cameras represents an ordinary belt to which a strap with a buckle has been attached, which is run through the loops at the back of the camera case. The camera may be pushed around the belt to the point where it will be least in the way.

Camp Lamp

A very convenient lamp to use on a hike is the Baldwin Camp Lamp made by John Simmons Co., 13 Franklin Street, New York City. It weighs only five ounces when full; is charged with carbide and is but 4-3/4 inches high. It projects a strong light 150 feet through the woods. A stiff wind will not blow it out. It can be worn comfortably in your hat or belt.

Handy Articles

A boy of ingenuity can make a number of convenient things. A good drinking cup may be made from a piece of bark cut {149} in parallelogram shape twisted into pyramid form and fastened with a split stick. A flat piece of bark may serve as a plate. A pot lifter may be made from a green stick about 18 inches long, allowing a few inches of a stout branch to remain. By reversing the same kind of stick and driving a small nail near the other end or cutting a notch in it, it may be used to suspend a kettle over a fire. A novel candlestick is made by opening the blade of a knife and jabbing it into a tree; upon the other upturned blade put a candle. A green stick having a split which will hold a piece of bread or meat makes an excellent broiler. Don't pierce the bread or meat. Driving a good-sized stake into the ground at an angle of 45 degrees and cutting a notch on which may be suspended a kettle over a fire will provide a way of boiling water quickly.

Building the Fireplace

Take two or three stones and build a fireplace, a stick first shaved and then whittled for shavings, a lighted match, a little blaze, some bark and dry twigs added, a few small sticks, place the griddle over the fire and you are ready to cook the most appetizing griddle-cakes. After the cakes are cooked, fry slices of bacon upon the griddle; in the surplus fat fry slices of bread, then some thinly sliced raw potatoes done to a delicious brown. Here is a breakfast capable of making the mouth of a camper water.

Another way: Place the green logs side by side, closer together at one end than the other. Build the fire between. On the logs over the fire you can rest a frying-pan, kettle, etc. To start the fire have some light, dry wood split up fine. When sticks begin to blaze, add a few more of larger size and continue until you have a good fire. To prevent the re-kindling of the fire after it is apparently out, pour water over it and soak the earth for the space of two or three feet around it. This is very important, for many forest fires have started through failure to observe this caution.

COOKING RECEIPTS Cooking for Hikes and Over-night Camps

The following tested receipts are given for those who go on hikes and over-night camps:

Griddle-cakes

Beat one egg, tablespoonful of sugar, one cup diluted condensed milk or new milk. Mix enough self-raising flour to {150} make a thick cream batter. Grease the griddle with rind or slices of bacon for each batch of cakes. Be sure to have the griddle hot.

Bacon

Slice bacon quite thin; remove the rind, which makes slices curl up. Fry on griddle or put on a sharp end of a stick and hold over the hot coals, or better yet remove the griddle, and put on a clean, flat rock in its place. When hot lay the slices of bacon on the rock and broil. Keep turning so as to brown on both sides.

Canned Salmon on Toast

Dip slices of stale bread into smoking hot lard. They will brown at once. Drain them. Heat a pint of salmon, picked into flakes, season with salt and pepper and turn in a tablespoonful of melted butter. Heat in a pan. Stir in one egg, beaten light, with three tablespoonfuls evaporated milk not thinned. Pour the mixture on the fried bread.

Roast Potatoes

Wash and dry potatoes thoroughly, bury them deep in a good bed of coals, cover them with hot coals until well done. It will take about forty minutes for them to bake. Then pass a sharpened hard-wood sliver through them from end to end, and let the steam escape and use immediately as a roast potato soon becomes soggy and bitter.

Baked Fresh Fish

Clean well. Small fish should be fried whole with the back bone severed to prevent curling up; large fish should be cut into pieces, and ribs loosened from back bone so as to lie flat in pan. Rub the pieces in corn meal or powdered crumbs, thinly and evenly (that browns them), fry in plenty of hot fat to a golden brown, sprinkling lightly with salt just as the color turns. If fish has not been wiped dry it will absorb too much grease. If the frying fat is not very hot when fish are put in, they will be soggy with it.

Frogs' Legs

First, after skinning, soak them an hour in cold water to which vinegar has been added, or put them for two minutes into scalding water that has vinegar in it. Drain, wipe dry, and cook. {151} To fry: roll in flour, season with salt and pepper, and fry not too rapidly, preferably in butter or oil. Water-cress is a good relish with them. To griddle: Prepare three tablespoonsful melted butter, one half tablespoonful salt, and a pinch or two of pepper, into which dip the frogs' legs, then roll in fresh bread crumbs and broil for three minutes on each side.

Eggs

Boiled: Have water to boiling point. Place eggs in carefully. Boil steadily for three minutes if you wish them soft. If wanted hard boiled, put them in cold water, bring to a boil, and keep it up for twenty minutes. The yolk will then be mealy and wholesome.

Fried: Melt some butter or fat in frying-pan; when it hisses drop in eggs carefully. Fry them three minutes.

Scrambled: First stir the eggs up and after putting some butter in the frying-pan, stir the eggs in it after adding a little condensed milk.

Poached: First put in the frying-pan sufficient diluted condensed milk which has been thinned with enough water to float the eggs in, and let them simmer three or four minutes. Serve the eggs on slices of buttered toast, pouring on enough of the milk to moisten the toast.

Coffee

For every cup of water allow a tablespoonful of ground coffee, then add one extra. Have water come to boiling point first, add coffee, hold it just below boiling point for five minutes, and settle with one fourth of a cup of cold water. Serve. Some prefer to put the coffee in a small muslin bag loosely tied.

Cocoa

Allow a teaspoonful of cocoa for every cup of boiling water. Mix the powdered cocoa with water or boiled milk, with sugar to taste. Boil two or three minutes.

These receipts have been tried out. Biscuit and bread making have been purposely omitted. Take bread and crackers with you from camp. "Amateur" biscuits are not conducive to good digestion or happiness. Pack butter in small jar: cocoa, sugar, and coffee in small cans or heavy paper; also salt and pepper. Wrap bread in a moist cloth to prevent drying up; {152} bacon and dried or chipped beef in wax paper. Pickles can be purchased put up in small bottles. Use the empty bottle as candle-stick.

Sample Menu for an Over-night Camp and a Day Hike or Tramp

Breakfast Griddle-Cakes, Fried Bacon and Potatoes, Bread, Coffee, Preserves

Dinner Creamed Salmon on Toast, Baked Potatoes, Bread, Pickles, Fruit

Supper Fried Eggs, Creamed or Chipped Beef, Cheese, Bread, Cocoa

Ration List for Six Boys, Three Meals

2 pounds bacon (sliced thin) 1 pound butter 1 dozen eggs 1/2 pound cocoa 1/2 pound coffee 1 pound sugar 3 cans salmon 24 potatoes 2 cans condensed milk 1 small package of self-raising flour Salt and pepper

_Utensils_

Small griddle Small stew pan Small coffee-pot Large spoon Plate and cup Matches and candle.

Dish Washing

First fill the frying-pan with water, place over the fire, and let it boil. Pour out water and you will find the pan has practically cleaned itself. Clean the griddle with sand and water. Greasy knives and forks may be cleaned by jabbing {153} them into the ground. After all grease is gotten rid of, wash in hot water and dry with cloth. Don't use the cloth first and get it greasy.

Leadership

The most important thing about a camping party is that it should always have the best of leadership. No group of boys should go camping by themselves. The first thing a patrol of scouts should do when it has determined to camp is to insist upon the scout master accompanying the members of the patrol. The reason for this is that there is less likely to be accidents of the kind that will break up your camp and drive you home to the town or city. When the scout master is one of the party, all of the boys can go in swimming when the proper time comes for such exercise, and the scout master can stay upon the bank or sit in the boat for the purpose of preventing accidents by drowning. There are also a hundred and one things which will occur in camp when the need of a man's help will show itself. A scout ought to insist on his scout master going to camp. The scout master and patrol leader should be present, in order to settle the many questions which must of necessity arise, so that there may be no need of differences or quarrels over disputed points, which would be sure to spoil the outing.

Scout Camp Program

In a scout camp there will be a regular daily program, something similar to the following:

6:30 A.M. Turn out, bathe, etc. 7:00 A.M. Breakfast 8:00 A.M. Air bedding in sun, if possible, and clean camp ground 9:00 A.M. Scouting games and practice 11:00 A.M. Swimming 12:00 P.M. Dinner 1:00 P.M. Talk by leader 2:00 P.M. Water games, etc. 6:00 P.M. Supper 7:30 P.M. Evening council around camp fire.

_Order of Business_

1. Opening Council 2. Roll-call 3. Record of last council 4. Reports of scouts 5. Left over business 6. Complaints 7. Honors 8. New scouts 9. New business 10. Challenges 11. Social doings, songs, dances, stories 12. Closing Council (devotional services when desired) 8:45 lights out

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Water Supply

Dr. Charles E. A. Winslow, the noted biologist, is authority for the following statement: "The source of danger in water is always human or animal pollution. Occasionally we find water which is bad to drink on account of passage through the ground or on account of passage through lead pipes, but the danger is never from ordinary decomposing vegetable matter. If you have to choose between a bright clear stream which may be polluted at some point above and a pond full of dead leaves and peaty matter, but which you can inspect all around and find free from contamination, choose the pond. Even in the woods it is not easy to find surface waters that are surely protected and streams particularly are dangerous sources of water supply. We have not got rid of the idea that running water purifies itself. It is standing water which purifies itself, if anything does, for in stagnation there is much more chance for the disease germs to die out. Better than either a pond or stream, unless you can carry out a rather careful exploration of their surroundings, is ground water from a well or spring; though that again is not necessarily safe. If the well is in good, sandy soil, with no cracks or fissures, even water that has been polluted may be well purified and safe to drink. In a clayey or rocky region, on the other hand, contaminating material may travel for a considerable distance under the ground. Even if the well is protected below, a very important point to look after is the pollution from the surface. I believe more cases of typhoid fever from wells are due to surface pollution than to the character of the water itself. There is danger which can, of course, be done away with by protection of the well from surface drainage, by seeing that the surface wash is not allowed to drain toward it, and that it is protected by a tight covering from the entrance of its own waste water. If good water cannot be secured in any of these ways, it must in some way be purified. ... Boiling will surely destroy all disease germs."

The Indians had a way of purifying water from a pond or swamp by digging a hole about one foot across and down about six inches below the water level, a few feet from the pond. After it was filled with water, they bailed it out quickly, repeating the bailing process about three times. After the third bailing the hole would fill with filtered water. Try it.

Sanitation

A most important matter when in camp, and away from modern conveniences is that of sanitation. This includes not {155} only care as to personal cleanliness, but also as to the water supply and the proper disposal of all refuse through burial or burning. Carelessness in these matters has been the cause of serious illness to entire camps and brought about many deaths. In many instances the loss of life in the armies has been greater through disease in the camp than on the battlefields.

Typhoid fever is one of the greatest dangers in camping and is caused by unclean habits, polluted water, and contaminated milk, and food. The armies of the world have given this disease the most careful study with the result that flies have been found to be its greatest spreaders. Not only should all sources of water supply be carefully examined, an analysis obtained if possible before use, but great care should also be taken when in the vicinity of such a supply, not to pollute it in any way. In districts where typhoid is at all prevalent it is advisable for each scout to be immunized before going to camp.

A scout's honor will not permit him to disobey in the slightest particular the sanitary rules of his camp. He will do his part well. He will do everything in his power to make his camp clean, sanitary, and healthful from every standpoint.

General Hints

Two flannel shirts are better than two overcoats.

Don't wring out flannels or woolens.

Wash in cold water, very soapy, hang them up dripping wet, and they will not shrink.

If you keep your head from getting hot and your feet dry there will be little danger of sickness.

If your head gets too hot put green leaves inside of your hat.

If your throat is parched, and you cannot get water, put a pebble in your mouth. This will start the saliva and quench the thirst.

Water Hints

If you work your hands like paddles and kick your feet, you can stay above water for some time even with your clothes on. It requires a little courage and enough strength not to lose your head.

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Many boy swimmers make the mistake of going into the water too soon after eating. The stomach and digestive organs are busy preparing the food for the blood and body. Suddenly they are called upon to care for the work of the swimmer. The change is too quick for the organs, the process of digestion stops, congestion is apt to follow, and then paralyzing cramps.

Indian Bathing Precaution

The Indians have a method of protecting themselves from cramps. Coming to a bathing pool, an Indian swimmer, after stripping off, and before entering the water, vigorously rubs the pit of the stomach with the dry palm of his hands. This rubbing probably takes a minute, then he dashes cold water all over his stomach and continues the rubbing for another minute, and after that he is ready for his plunge. If the water in which you are going to swim is cold, try this method before plunging into the water.

Good Bathing Rule

The rule in most camps regarding entering the water is as follows: "No one of the party shall enter the water for swimming or bathing except at the time and place designated, and in the presence of a leader." Laxity in the observance of this rule will result disastrously.

Clouds

Every cloud is a weather sign: Low clouds, swiftly moving, indicate coolness and rain; hard-edged clouds, wind; rolled or jagged clouds, strong wind; "mackerel" sky, twelve hours day.

Look out for rain when
A slack rope tightens.
Smoke beats downward.
Sun is red in the morning.
There is a pale yellow or greenish sunset.

Rains

Rain with east wind is lengthy.

A sudden shower is soon over.

A slow rain lasts long.

Rain before seven, clear before eleven.

A circle round the moon means "storm."

"The evening red, the morning gray
Sets the traveler on his way;
The evening gray, the morning red
Brings down showers upon his head."

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"When the grass is dry at night
Look for rain before the light."

"When the grass is dry at morning light
Look for rain before the night."

Clear

"When the dew is on the grass
Rain will never come to pass."

A heavy morning fog generally indicates a clear day.

East wind brings rain.

West wind brings clear, bright, and cool weather.

North wind brings cold.

South wind brings heat.

Direction of the Wind

The way to find which way the wind is blowing is to throw up little bits of dry grass, or to hold up a handful of light dust and let it fall, or to suck your thumb, wet it all around and let the wind blow over it, and the cold side of it will then tell you which way the wind is blowing.

Weather Flags

The United States Weather Bureau publishes a "Classification of Clouds" in colors, which may be had for the asking. If you are near one of the weather signal stations, daily bulletins will be sent to camp upon request; also the weather map.

A set of flag signals run up each day will create interest. The flags are easily made or may be purchased.

Keep a daily record of temperature. A boy in charge of the "weather bureau" will find it to be full of interest as well as offering an opportunity to render the camp a real service. He will make a weather vane, post a daily bulletin, keep a record of temperature, measure velocity of wind, and rainfall.

How to Get Your Bearings

If you have lost your bearings, and it is a cloudy day, put the point of your knife blade on your thumb nail, and turn the blade around until the full shadow of the blade is on the nail. This will tell you where the sun is, and decide in which direction the camp is.

Face the sun in the morning, spread out your arms straight {158} from body. Before you is the east; behind you is the west; to your right is the south; the left hand is the north. Grass turns with the sun. Remember this when finding your way at night.

Building a Camp Fire

There are ways and ways of building a camp fire. An old Indian saying runs, "White man heap fool, make um big fire--can't git near! Injun make um little fire--git close! Ugh! good!"

Make it a service privilege for a tent of boys to gather wood and build the fire. This should be done during the afternoon. Two things are essential in the building of a fire--kindling and air. A fire must be built systematically. First, get dry, small, dead branches, twigs, fir branches, and other inflammable material. Place these on the ground. Be sure that air can draw under it and upward through it. Next place some heavier sticks and so on until you have built the camp fire the required size. An interesting account of "How to Build a Fire by Rubbing Sticks," by Ernest Thompson Seton, will be found in Chapter 11. In many camps it is considered an honor to light the fire.

Never build a large camp fire too near the tent or inflammable pine trees. Better build it in the open.

Be sure and use every precaution to prevent the spreading of fire. This may be done by building a circle of stones around the fire, or by digging up the earth, or by wetting a space around the fire. Always have the buckets of water near at hand. To prevent the re-kindling of the fire after it is apparently out, pour water over it and soak the earth for a space of two or three feet around it. This is very important, for many forest fires have started through failure to observe this caution.

Things to remember: First, it is criminal to leave a burning fire; second, always put out the fire with water or earth.

"A fire is never out," says Chief Forester H. S. Graves, "until the last spark is extinguished. Often a log or snag will smolder unnoticed after the flames have apparently been conquered only to break out afresh with a rising wind."

Be sure to get a copy of the laws of your state regarding forest fires, and if a permit is necessary to build a fire, secure it, before building the fire.

Kephart, in his book on "Camping and Woodcraft" (p. 28), says: "When there is nothing dry to strike it on, jerk the head {160} of the match forward through the teeth. Or, face the wind. Cup your hands back toward the wind, remove the right hand just long enough to strike the match on something very close by, then instantly resume former position. Flame of match will run up stick instead of blowing away from it."

---------------------------------------------------------------- {159} FOREST FIRES!

The great annual destruction of forests by fire is an injury to all persons and industries. The welfare of every community is dependent upon a cheap and plentiful supply of timber, and a forest cover is the most effective means of preventing floods and maintaining a regular flow of streams used for irrigation and other useful purposes.

To prevent forest fires Congress passed the law approved May 5, 1900, which--

Forbids setting fire to the woods, and

Forbids leaving any fires unextinguished.

This law, for offenses against which officers of the FOREST SERVICE can arrest without warrant, provides as maximum punishment--

A fine of $5000, or imprisonment for two years, or both, if a fire
is set maliciously, and

A fine of $1000, or imprisonment for one years, or both, if a fire
is set carelessly,

It also provides that the money from such fines shall be paid to the school fund of the county in which the offense is committed.

THE EXERCISE OF CARE WITH SMALL FIRES IS THE BEST PREVENTIVE OF LARGE ONES. Therefore all persons are requested--

1. Not to drop matches or burning tobacco where there is inflammable material.

2. Not to build larger camp fires than are necessary.

3. Not to build fires in leaves, rotten wood, or other places where they are likely to spread.

4. In windy weather and in dangerous places, to dig holes or clear the ground to confine camp fires.

5. To extinguish all fires completely before leaving them, even for a short absence.

6. Not to build fires against large or hollow logs, where it is difficult to extinguish them.

7. Not to build fires to clear land without informing the nearest officer of the FOREST SERVICE, so that he may assist in controlling them.

This notice is posted for your benefit and the good of every resident of the region. You are requested to cooperate in preventing the removal or defacement, which acts are punishable by law.

JAMES WILSON, Secretary of Agriculture ----------------------------------------------------------------

_The above is a copy of one of a series of notices posted in forests
by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, directing attention to U.
S. laws on this important subject_.

{160 continued}

The Camp Fire

"I cannot conceive of a camp that does not have a big fire. Our city houses do not have it, not even a fireplace. The fireplace is one of the greatest schools the imagination has ever had or can ever have. It is moral, and it always has a tremendous stimulus to the imagination, and that is why stories and fire go together. You cannot tell a good story unless you tell it before a fire. You cannot have a complete fire unless you have a good story-teller along!

"There is an impalpable, invisible, softly stepping delight in the camp fire which escapes analysis. Enumerate all its charms and still there is something missing in your catalogue.

"Anyone who has witnessed a real camp fire and participated in its fun as well as seriousness will never forget it. The huge fire shooting up its tongue of flame into the darkness of the night, the perfect shower of golden rain, the company of happy {161} boys, and the great dark background of piny woods, the weird light over all, the singing, the yells, the stories, the fun, and then the serious word at the close, is a happy experience long to be remembered."

Camp-fire Stunts

The camp fire is a golden opportunity for the telling of stories--good stories told well. Indian legends, war stories, ghost stories, detective stories, stories of heroism, the history of life, a talk about the stars. Don't draw out the telling of a story. Make the story life-like.

College songs always appeal to boys. Let some leader start up a song in a natural way, and soon you will have a chorus of unexpected melody and harmony. As the fire dies down, let the songs be of a more quiet type like "My Old Kentucky Home," and ballads of similar nature.

When the embers are glowing is the time for toasting marshmallows. Get a long stick sharpened to a point, fasten a marshmallow on the end, hold it over the embers, not in the blaze, until the marsh-mallow expands. Oh, the deliciousness of it! Ever tasted one? Before roasting corn on the cob, tie the end of the husk firmly with string or cord; soak in water for about an hour; then put into the hot embers. The water prevents the corn from burning and the firmly tied husks enable the corn to be steamed and the real corn flavor is thus retained. In about twenty minutes the corn may be taken from the fire and eaten. Have a bowl of melted butter and salt at hand. Also a pastry brush to spread the melted butter upon the corn. Try it.

Story Telling

For an example of a good story to be told around the camp fire this excellent tale by Prof. F. M. Burr is printed by permission:

How Men Found the Great Spirit

In the olden time, when the woods covered all the earth except the deserts and the river bottoms, and men lived on the fruits and berries they found and the wild animals which they could shoot or snare, when they dressed in skins and lived in caves, there was little time for thought. But as men grew stronger and more cunning and learned how to live together, they had more time to think and more mind to think with.

Men had learned many things. They had learned that cold weather followed hot; and spring, winter; and that the sun got up in the morning and went to bed at night. They said that the great water was kindly when the sun shone, but when the sun hid its face and the wind blew upon it, it grew black and angry and upset their canoes. They found that knocking flints together or rubbing dry sticks would light the dry moss and that the {162} flames which would bring back summer in the midst of winter and day in the midst of night were hungry and must be fed, and when they escaped devoured the woods and only the water could stop them.

These and many other things men learned, but no one knew why it all was or how it came to be. Man began to wonder, and that was the beginning of the path which led to the Great Spirit.

In the ages when men began to wonder there was born a boy whose name was Wo, which meant in the language of his time, "Whence." As he lay in his mother's arms she loved him and wondered: "His body is of my body, but from whence comes the life--the spirit which is like mine and yet not like it?" And his father seeing the wonder in the mother's eyes, said, "Whence came he from?" And there was no one to answer, and so they called him Wo to remind them that they knew not from whence he came.

As Wo grew up, he was stronger and swifter of foot than any of his tribe. He became a mighty hunter. He knew the ways of all the wild things and could read the signs of the seasons. As he grew older they made him a chief and listened while he spoke at the council board, but Wo was not satisfied. His name was a question and questioning filled his mind.

"Whence did he come? Whither was he going? Why did the sun rise and set? Why did life burst into leaf and flower with the coming of spring? Why did the child become a man and the man grow old and die?"

The mystery grew upon him as he pondered. In the morning he stood on a mountain top and stretching out his hands cried, "Whence?" At night he cried to the moon "Whither?" He listened to the soughing of the trees and the song of the brook and tried to learn their language. He peered eagerly into the eyes of little children and tried to read the mystery of life. He listened at the still lips of the dead, waiting for them to tell him whither they had gone.

He went out among his fellows silent and absorbed, always looking for the unseen and listening for the unspoken. He sat so long silent at the council board that the elders questioned him. To their questioning he replied like one awakening from a dream:

"Our fathers since the beginning have trailed the beasts of the woods. There is none so cunning as the fox, but we can trail him to his lair. Though we are weaker than the great bear and buffalo, yet by our wisdom we overcome them. The deer is more swift of foot, but by craft we overtake him. We cannot fly like a bird, but we snare the winged one with a hair. We have made ourselves many cunning inventions by which the beasts, the trees, the wind, the water and the fire become our servants.

"Then we speak great swelling words: 'How great and wise we are! There is none like us in the air, in the wood, or in the water!'

"But the words are false. Our pride is like that of a partridge drumming on his log in the wood before the fox leaps upon him. Our sight is like that of the mole burrowing under the ground. Our wisdom is like a drop of dew upon the grass. Our ignorance is like the great water which no eye can measure.

"Our life is like a bird coming out of the dark, fluttering for a heart-beat in the tepee and then going forth into the dark again. No one can tell whence it comes or whither it goes. I have asked the wise men and they cannot answer. I have listened to the voice of the trees and wind and water, but I do not know their tongue; I have questioned the sun and the moon and the stars, but they are silent.

"But to-day in the silence before the darkness gives place to light, I seemed to hear a still small voice within my breast, saying to me, 'Wo, the {163} questioner, rise up like the stag from his lair; away, alone, to the mountain of the sun. There thou shalt find that which thou seekest.' I go, but if I fail by the trail another will take it up. If I find the answer I will return."

Waiting for none, Wo left the council of his tribe and went his way toward the mountain of the sun. For six days he made his way through the trackless woods, guided by the sun by day and the stars by night. On the seventh day he came to the great mountain--the mountain of the sun, on whose top, according to the tradition of his tribe, the sun rested each night. All day long he climbed saying to himself, "I will sleep tonight in the teepee of the sun, and he will tell me whence I come and whither I go."

But as he climbed the sun seemed to climb higher and higher; and, as he neared the top, a cold cloud settled like a night bird on the mountain. Chilled and faint with hunger and fatigue, Wo struggled on. Just at sunset he reached the top of the mountain, but it was not the mountain of the sun, for many days' journey to the west the sun was sinking in the Great Water.

A bitter cry broke from Wo's parched lips. His long trail was useless. There was no answer to his questions. The sun journeyed farther and faster than men dreamed, and of wood and waste and water there was no end. Overcome with misery and weakness he fell upon a bed of moss with his back toward the sunset and the unknown.

And Wo slept, although it was unlike any sleep he had ever known before, and as he slept he dreamed. He was alone upon the mountain waiting for the answer. A cloud covered the mountain but all was silent. A mighty wind rent the cloud and rushed roaring through the crags, but there was no voice in the wind. Thunder pealed, lightning flashed, but he whom Wo sought was not there.

In the hush that followed up the storm Wo heard a voice, low and quiet, but in it all the sounds of earth and sky seemed to mingle--the song of the bird, the whispering of the trees, and the murmuring of the brook.

"Wo, I am he whom thou seekest, I am the Great Spirit. I am the All Father. Ever since I made man of the dust of the earth, and so child of the earth and brother to all living, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, thus making him my son, I have waited for a seeker who should find me. In the fullness of time thou hast come, Wo the questioner, to the answerer.

"Thy body is of the earth and to earth returns; thy spirit is mine; it is given thee for a space to make according to thy will; then it returns to me better or worse for thy making.

"Thou hast found me because thy heart was pure, and thy search for me tireless. Go back to thy tribe and be to them the voice of the Great Spirit. From henceforth I will speak to thee, and the seekers that come after thee in a thousand voices and appear in a thousand shapes. I will speak in the voices of the woods and streams and of those you love. I will appear to you in the sun by day and the stars by night. When thy people and mine are in need and wish for the will of the Great Spirit, then shall my spirit brood over thine and the words that thou shalt speak shall be my words."

And Wo awoke, facing the east and the rising sun. His body was warmed by its rays. A great gladness filled his soul. He had sought and found and prayer came to him like the song to the bird.

"O Great Spirit, father of my spirit, the sun is thy messenger, but thou art brighter than the sun. Drive thou the darkness before me. Be thou the light of my spirit." As Wo went down the mountain and took the journey back to the home of his people, his face shone, and the light never seemed to leave it, so that men called him "He of the shining face."

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When Wo came back to his tribe, all who saw his face knew that he had found the answer, and they gathered again about the council fire to hear. As Wo stood up and looked into the eager faces in the circle of the fire, he remembered that the Great Spirit had given him no message and for a moment he was dumb. Then the words of the Great Spirit came to him again. "When thy people and mine shall need to know my will, my spirit shall brood over thine and the words that thou shalt speak shall be my words." Looking into the eager faces of longing and questioning, his Spirit moved within him and he spoke:

"I went, I sought, I found the Great Spirit who dwells in the earth as your spirits dwell in your bodies. It is from Him the spirit comes. We are His children. He cares for us more than a mother for the child on her breast, or the father for the son that is his pride. His love is like the air we breathe: it is about us; it is within us.

"The sun is the sign of His brightness, the sky of His greatness and mother-love and father-love, and the love of man and woman are the signs of His love. We are but His children; we cannot enter into the council of the Great Chief until we have been proved, but this is His will, that we love one another as He loves us; that we bury forever the hatchet of hate, that no man shall take what is not his own and the strong shall help the weak."

The chiefs did not wholly understand the words of Wo, but they took a hatchet and buried it by the fire saying, "Thus bury we hate between man and his brother," and they took an acorn and put it in the earth saying, "Thus plant we the love of the strong for the weak." And it became the custom of the tribe that the great council in the spring should bury the hatchet and plant the acorn. Every morning the tribe gathered to greet the rising sun, and with right hand raised and left upon their hearts prayed: "Great Spirit hear us; guide us to-day; make our wills Thy will, our ways Thy way."

And the tribe grew stronger and greater and wiser than all the other tribes--but that is another story.

Tent Making Made Easy

_By H. J. Holden_

(Reprinted from Recreation. Apr. 1, 1911. by permission of the Editor.)

The accompanying sketches show a few of the many different tents which may be made from any available piece of cloth or canvas. The material need not be cut, nor its usefulness for other purposes impaired, except that rings or tapes are attached at various points as indicated. For each tent the sketches show a front elevation, with a ground plan, or a side view; also a view of the material laid flat, with dotted lines to indicate where creases or folds will occur. Models may be made from stiff paper and will prove as interesting to the kindergartner in geometry as to the old campaigner in camping. In most of the tents a ring for suspension is fastened at the centre of one side. This may be supported by a pole or hung by means {165} of a rope from any convenient fastening; both methods are shown in the sketches. Guy ropes are required for a few of the different models, but most of them are pegged down to the ground.

After making paper models, find a stack cover, a tarpaulin, a tent fly, an awning, or buy some wide cotton cloth, say 90-inch. All the shapes may be repeatedly made from the same piece of material, if the rings for changes are left attached. In Nos. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, a portion of the canvas is not used and may be turned under to serve as sod-cloth, or rolled up out of the way. If your material is a large piece, more pegs and guy lines will be required than is indicated in the sketches. The suspension ring, 1-1/2 inches or 2 inches in diameter, should be well fastened, with sufficient reinforcement to prevent tearing out; 1-inch rings fastened with liberal lengths of tape are large enough for the pegs and guy lines. Also reinforce along the lines of the strain from peg to pole.

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Fig. 1.--A square of material hung by one corner, from any convenient support, in a manner to make a comfortable shelter; it will shed rain and reflect heat. This square makes a good fly or a good ground cloth for any of the tents.

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Fig. 2.--A rectangle equal to two squares. A shelter roomy and warm, with part of one side open toward the fire.

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Fig. 3.--Here the rectangle is folded to make a "lean-to" shelter, with the roof front suspended from a rope or from a horizontal pole by means of cords. The two corners not in use are folded under, making a partial ground cloth. A square open front is presented toward the camp fire.

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Fig. 4.--Same in plan as No.3, but has a triangular front and only one point of suspension.

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Fig 5.--Uses all the cloth, has a triangular ground plan, a square front opening, plenty of head room at the back and requires two or more guy lines. This shelter resembles a "toque."

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Fig. 6.--Square or "miner's" tent. Two corners are turned under. This tent is enclosed on all sides, with a door in front.

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Fig. 7.--Conical tent or "wigwam," entirely enclosed, with door in front. Two corners of the canvas are turned under.

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Fig. 8.--Has a wall on one side and is called a "canoe tent" in some catalogues. It requires two or more guy lines and is shown with a pole support. The front has a triangular opening.

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Fig. 9.--A combination of No. 8, with No. 1 in use as an awning or fly. This sketch shows both tent and fly suspended by means of a rope. The "awning" may be swung around to any angle.

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Fig. 10.--Combination of Nos. 1 and 2; they may be fastened together by a coarse seam or tied with tapes. The ground plan is an equal-sided triangle, with a door opening on one side, as shown. There is no waste cloth.

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Fig. 11.--No. 10 changed to a conical shape and suspended as a canopy. The circular shape is secured by the use of small-size gas pipe or limber poles bent into a large hoop. Of course guy lines may be used, but would probably be in the way. Notice that a little more material for making a wall would transform the canopy into a "Sibley" tent.

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There are other shapes and combinations, but perhaps these sketches are enough in the line of suggestion.

The diagram Fig. 12 shows a method for laying out, on your cloth, the location of all the rings to make the tents and shelters. No dimensions are given and none is required. The diagram is good for any size. Most of the fastenings are found on radial lines, which are spaced to divide a semi-circle into eight equal {169} angles, 22-1/2 degrees each; these intersect other construction lines and locate the necessary loops and rings. Figures are given at each ring which refer back to the sketch numbers.

Suppose the material at hand is the widest unbleached cotton cloth, 90 inches wide, 5 yards long, or 7-1/2 feet by 15 feet. The accompanying table will give the dimensions for the various shapes from Fig. 1 to Fig. 11.

If in doubt about the location of rings on your canvas, suspend the tent by the centre ring and fasten the loops temporarily by means of safety pins, draw the tent into shape and shift the fastenings as required. The guy lines should have hooks or snaps at one end for ready attachment and removal; the other end should be provided with the usual slides for "take up." The edge of the cloth where the large ring for suspension is fastened should be bound with tape or have a double hem, for it is the edge of the door in most of the tents shown.

TABLE OF DIMENSIONS, 90 IN. MATERIAL

Size Area, Height Remarks Sq. Ft. Ft. 1 7-1/2 ft. triangle 25 6-1/4 One side open 2 6-1/2 X 15 ft. 65 6-1/4 One side open 3 6 x 7-1/2 ft. 45 4-1/2 One side open 4 7-1/2 x 8 ft. 60 5-1/2 One side open 5 7-1/2 ft. triangle 25 7-1/2 One side open 6 6-1/4 x 6-1/4 ft. 39 7 Enclosed 7 7-1/2 ft. diam. 44 6-1/2 Enclosed 8 5 x 7-1/2 ft. 37-1/2 6-1/2 2-1/2 ft. wall 9 7-1/2 x 8 ft. 60 6-1/2 No.8, with fly 10 15 ft. triangle 97 6-1/4 Enclosed 11 11-1/4 ft. circle 108 5 Canopy, no sides

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Waterproofing a Tent