How to Camp Out | Page 2

see that the

work of preparation is going on properly. It is a good plan to collect all
of your baggage into one place as fast as it is ready; for if it is scattered
you are apt to lose sight of some of it, and start without it.
As fast as you get your things ready, mark your name on them: mark
every thing. You can easily cut a stencil-plate out of an old postal card,
and mark with a common shoe-blacking brush such articles as tents,
poles, boxes, firkins, barrels, coverings, and bags.
Some railroads will not check barrels, bags, or bundles, nor take them
on passenger trains. Inquire beforehand, and send your baggage ahead
if the road will not take it on your train.
Estimate the expenses of your trip, and take more money than your
estimate. Carry also an abundance of small change.
Do not be in a hurry to spend money on new inventions. Every year
there is put upon the market some patent knapsack, folding stove,
cooking-utensil, or camp trunk and cot combined; and there are always
for sale patent knives, forks, and spoons all in one, drinking-cups,
folding portfolios, and marvels of tools. Let them all alone: carry your
pocket-knife, and if you can take more let it be a sheath or butcher
knife and a common case-knife.
Take iron or cheap metal spoons.
Do not attempt to carry crockery or glassware upon a march.
A common tin cup is as good as any thing you can take to drink from;
and you will find it best to carry it so that it can be used easily.[1]
Take nothing nice into camp, expecting to keep it so: it is almost
impossible to keep things out of the dirt, dew, rain, dust, or sweat, and
from being broken or bruised.
Many young men, before starting on their summer vacation, think that
the barber must give their hair a "fighting-cut;" but it is not best to
shave the head so closely, as it is then too much exposed to the sun,

flies, and mosquitoes. A moderately short cut to the hair, however, is
advisable for comfort and cleanliness.
If you are going to travel where you have never been before, begin
early to study your map. It is of great importance, you will find, to
learn all you can of the neighborhood where you are going, and to fix it
in your mind.
So many things must be done at the last moment, that it is best to do
what you can beforehand; but try to do nothing that may have to be
undone.
Wear what you please if it be comfortable and durable: do not mind
what people say. When you are camping you have a right to be
independent.
If you are going on a walking-party, one of the best things you can do
is to "train" a week or more before starting, by taking long walks in the
open air.
Finally, leave your business in such shape that it will not call you back;
and do not carry off keys, &c., which others must have; nor neglect to
see the dentist about the tooth that usually aches when you most want it
to keep quiet.
For convenience the following list is inserted here. It is condensed from
a number of notes made for trips of all sorts, except boating and
horseback-riding. It is by no means exhaustive, yet there are very many
more things named than you can possibly use to advantage upon any
one tour. Be careful not to be led astray by it into overloading yourself,
or filling your camp with useless luggage. Be sure to remember this.
Ammon'd opodeldoc. Axe (in cover). Axle-grease. Bacon. Barometer
(pocket). Bean-pot. Beans (in bag). Beef (dried). Beeswax. Bible.
Blacking and brush. Blankets. Boxes. Bread for lunch. Brogans (oiled).
Broom. Butter-dish and cover. Canned goods. Chalk. Cheese.
Clothes-brush. Cod-line. Coffee and pot. Comb. Compass. Condensed
milk. Cups. Currycomb. Dates. Dippers. Dishes. Dish-towels. Drawers.

Dried fruits. Dutch oven. Envelopes. Figs. Firkin (see p. 48).
Fishing-tackle. Flour (prepared). Frying-pan. Guide-book. Half-barrel.
Halter. Hammer. Hard-bread. Harness (examine!). Hatchet. Haversack.
Ink (portable bottle). Knives (sheath, table, pocket and butcher.)
Lemons. Liniment. Lunch for day or two. Maps. Matches and safe.
Marline. Meal (in bag). Meal-bag (see p. 32). Medicines. Milk-can.
Molasses. Money ("change"). Monkey-wrench. Mosquito-bar. Mustard
and pot. Nails. Neat's-foot oil. Night-shirt. Oatmeal. Oil-can.
Opera-glass. Overcoat. Padlock and key. Pails. Paper. " collars. Pens.
Pepper. Pickles. Pins. Portfolio. Postage stamps. Postal cards. Rope.
Rubber blanket. " coat. " boots. Sail-needle. Salt. " fish. " pork. Salve.
Saw. Shingles (for plates). Shirts. Shoes and strings. Slippers. Soap.
Song-book. Spade. Spoons. Stove (utensils in bags). Sugar. Tea. Tents.
" poles. " pins. Tooth-brush. Towels. Twine. Vinegar. Watch and key.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] If your