102 



SUMMER 



of my small boys will take you on his " birds' nest 



round." 



IV 



You should camp out even if you have to pitch 

 your tent in the back yard or up on the roof ! You 

 should go to sleep on a bed of boughs, pine, or 

 spruce, or hickory, if possible, or swing your ham- 

 mock between the trunks of sweet-smelling forest 

 trees, and turn your face up to the stars ! You will f 

 never want to sleep in a room with closed windows \.\l 

 after that. To see the stars looking down upon you; j 

 to see the tree-tops swaying over you ; to feel the fresh 

 night wind stealing across your face and breathing 

 into your very soul yes, you must sleep at least 

 one night this summer right out on a bed of boughs ; 

 but with a blanket of wool and a piece of sail-cloth 

 or rubber coat over you and under you, and perhaps 

 some mosquito-netting. 



i 



But you must not build a fire in the woods, unless 

 you have a guide or older people with a permit 

 along. Fires are terrible masters, and it is almost as 

 dangerous to build a fire in the woods as to build 

 one in the waste-paper basket in the basement of 

 some large store. Along the seashore or by the mar- 

 gin of a river or lake, if you take every precaution, 

 it might be safe enough ; but in the woods, if camp- 

 ing out, make all preparations by clearing a wide 



