How to Camp Out | Page 8

at a walk.
HARNESS.
If your load is heavy, and the roads very hard, or the daily distance long,
you had better have a collar for the horse: otherwise a
breastplate-harness will do. In your kit of tools it is well to have a few
straps, an awl, and waxed ends, against the time that something breaks.
Oil the harness before you start, and carry about a pint of neat's-foot oil,
which you can also use upon the men's boots. At night look out that the
harness and all of your baggage are sheltered from dew and rain, rats
and mice.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THIS MODE OF
TRAVEL.
This way of travelling is peculiarly adapted to a party of different ages,
rather than for one exclusively of young men. It is especially suitable
where there are ladies who wish to walk and camp, or for an entire
family, or for a school with its teachers. The necessity of a head to a
party will hardly be recognized by young men; and, even if it is, they
are still unwilling, as a general rule, to submit to unaccustomed
restraint.
The way out of this difficulty is for one man to invite his comrades to
join his party, and to make all the others understand, from first to last,
that they are indebted to him for the privilege of going. It is then
somewhat natural for the invited guests to look to their leader, and to be
content with his decisions.

The best of men get into foolish dissensions when off on a jaunt, unless
there is one, whose voice has authority in it, to direct the movements.
I knew a party of twenty or more that travelled in this way, and were
directed by a trio composed of two gentlemen and one lady. This
arrangement proved satisfactory to all concerned.[5]
It has been assumed in all cases that some one will lead the horse,--not
ride in the loaded wagon,--and that two others will go behind and not
far off, to help the horse over the very difficult places, as well as to
have an eye on the load, that none of it is lost off, or scrapes against the
wheels. Whoever leads must be careful not to fall under the horse or
wagon, nor to fall under the horse's feet, should he stumble. These are
daily and hourly risks: hence no small boy should take this duty.[6]
FOOTNOTES:
[5] I never heard of a party exclusively of young men going on a tour of
this kind, and consequently I cannot write their experiences; but I can
easily imagine their troubles, quarrels, and separation into cliques. I
once went as captain of a party of ten, composed of ladies, gentlemen,
and schoolboys. We walked around the White Mountains from North
Conway to Jefferson and back, by way of Jackson. It cost each of us a
dollar and thirty-two cents a day for sixteen days, including railroad
fares to and from Portland, but excluding the cost of clothes, tents, and
cooking-utensils. Another time a similar party of twelve walked from
Centre Harbor, N.H., to Bethel, Me., in seventeen days, at a daily cost
of a dollar and two cents, reckoning as before. In both cases, "my right
there was none to dispute;" and by borrowing a horse the first time, and
selling at a loss of only five dollars the second, our expenses for the
horse were small.
[6] In one of my tours around the mountains, a lad of sixteen, in
attempting to hold up the horse's head as they were running down hill,
was hit by the horse's fore-leg, knocked down, and run over by both
wheels.
CHAPTER IV.

CLOTHING.
If your means allow it, have a suit especially for the summer tour, and
sufficiently in fashion to indicate that you are a traveller or camper.
SHIRTS.
Loose woollen shirts, of dark colors and with flowing collars, will
probably always be the proper thing. Avoid gaudiness and too much
trimming. Large pockets, one over each breast, are "handy;" but they
spoil the fit of the shirt, and are always wet from perspiration. I advise
you to have the collar-binding of silesia, and fitted the same as on a
cotton shirt, only looser; then have a number of woollen collars (of
different styles if you choose), to button on in the same manner as a
linen collar. You can thus keep your neck cool or warm, and can wash
the collars, which soil so easily, without washing the whole shirt. The
shirt should reach nearly to the knees, to prevent disorders in the
stomach and bowels. There are many who will prefer cotton-and-wool
goods to all-wool for shirts. The former do not shrink as much, nor are
they as expensive, as the latter.