Camping For Boys | Page 2

Seasons in One Boys' Camp--G. G. Peck. April. 1902. Association Boys' Camps--Edgar M. Robinson. June, 1902. Following Up Camp--Editorial. October, 1902. What Men Think of Camp--Edgar M. Robinson. June, 1903. Fun Making at Camp--C.B. Harton. June. 1903. Educational Possibilities at Camp--F. P. Speare. June, 1903. Bible Study at Camp--Raymond P. Kaighn. June, 1903. Simple Remedies at Camp--Elias G. Brown, M.D. June, 1903. Tuxis System--H.L. Smith. April, 1904. Life at Camp Dudley--Raymond P. Kaighn. June, 1905. Life-Saving Crew--F.H.T. Ritchie. June. 1905. Summer Camps--Frank Streightoff. June, 1905. Wawayanda Camp--Chas. R. Scott. June. 1907. Objectives in Camps for Boys--Walter M. Wood. June, 1907.
CHAPTER I
THE PURPOSE OF CAMPING
VACATION TIME NEED OF OUTDOOR LIFE PURPOSE OF CAMPING "TOO MUCH HOUSE" A QUERY APOSTLES OF OUTDOOR LIFE HEEDING NATURE'S CALL CHARACTER BUILDING CAMP MOTTOES "ROUGH-HOUSE" CAMPS BOY SCOUTS INFLUENCE OF CAMP LIFE
It is great fun to live in the glorious open air, fragrant with the smell of the woods and flowers; it is fun to swim and fish and hike it over the hills; it is fun to sit about the open fire and spin yarns, or watch in silence the glowing embers; but the greatest fun of all is to win the love and confidence of some boy who has been a trouble to himself and everybody else, and help him to become a man.--H. M. Burr.
The summer time is a period of moral deterioration with most boys. Free from restraint of school and many times of home, boys wander during the vacation time into paths of wrongdoing largely because of a lack of directed play life and a natural outlet for the expenditure of their surplus energy. The vacation problem therefore becomes a serious one for both the boy and his parent. Camping offers a solution.
The Need
"A boy in the process of growing needs the outdoors. He needs room and range. He needs the tonic of the hills, the woods and streams. He needs to walk under the great sky, and commune with the stars. He needs to place himself where nature can speak to him. He ought to get close to the soil. He ought to be toughened by sun and wind, rain and cold. Nothing can take the place, for the boy, of stout physique, robust health, good blood, firm muscles, sound nerves, for these are the conditions of character and efficiency. The early teens are the most important years for the boy physically... Through the ages of thirteen and fifteen the more he can be in the open, free from social engagements and from continuous labor or study, the better. He should fish, swim, row and sail, roam the woods and the waters, get plenty of vigorous action, have interesting, healthful things to think about."--Prof. C. W. Votaw.
The Purpose
This is the real purpose of camping--"something to do, something to think about, something to enjoy in the woods, with a view always to character-building"--this is the way Ernest Thompson-Seton, that master wood-craftsman, puts it. Character building! What a great objective! It challenges the best that is in a man or boy. Camping is an experience, not an institution. It is an experience which every live, full-blooded, growing boy longs for, and happy the day of his realization. At the first sign of spring, back yards blossom forth with tents of endless variety. To sleep out, to cook food, to search for nature's fascinating secrets, to make things--all are but the expression of that instinct for freedom of living in the great out-of-doors which God created within him.
Too Much House
"Too much house," says Jacob Riis; "Civilization has been making of the world a hothouse. Man's instinct of self-preservation rebels; hence the appeal for the return to the simple life that is growing loud." Boys need to get away from the schoolroom and books, and may I say the martyrdom of examinations, high marks, promotions and exhibitions! Medical examinations of school children reveal some startling facts. Why should boys suffer from nerves? Are we sacrificing bodily vigor for abnormal intellectual growth? Have we been fighting against instead of cooperating with nature?
The tide is turning, however, and the people are living more and more in the open. Apostles of outdoor life like Henry D. Thoreau, John Burroughs, William Hamilton Gibson, Howard Henderson, Ernest Thompson-Seton, Frank Beard, Horace Kephart, Edward Breck, Charles Stedman Hanks, Stewart Edward White, "Nessmuck," W. C. Gray, and a host of others, have, through their writings, arrested the thought of busy people long enough to have them see the error of their ways and are bringing them to repentance.
Camps for boys are springing up like mushrooms. Literally thousands of boys who have heretofore wasted the glorious summer time loafing on the city streets, or as disastrously at summer hotels or amusement places, are now living during the vacation time under nature's canopy