Camping For Boys | Page 2

Mifflin Company, $1.50.
SUGGESTIVE ARTICLES ON "CAMPING" IN "ASSOCIATION
BOYS";
A Course in Camping--Edgar M. Robinson. Feb., 1902. The Sanitary
Care of a Boys' Camp--Elias G. Brown, M.D. April and June, 1902.
Seventeen 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.
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