202 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:5— May, 1919 



untamed nature, as did your grandmother, to stride through the 

 rough forest and to quench your thirst from clear pools. This is a 

 natural feeling. It is a call that may be satisfied by the summer 

 camp. It is a positive necessity to go. Then look into a directory 

 for girls' camps and take your pick. Mountain or plain, sea-shore 

 or lake, boating or horse-back riding, it is all there to satisfy your 

 craving for the great out-of-doors. 



The opportunities at a girls' camp are manifold. In the first 

 place there is contact with congenial councilors who are true and 

 tried in character. They are usually college graduates who have 

 had experience dealing with girls. The girls and their sympathetic 

 leaders store up energy together for the coming year. 



In a camp one slepps in a tent or cabin with three or four other 

 girls and a councilor. In the days of large families the girls had to 

 learn to consider the happiness of others. One gets the same sort 

 of training at camp for there the elbows touch and they cannot be 

 too sharp. The out-door air makes red blood and healthy appe- 

 tites, and in camp one not only eats but sleeps in the open. 



The first order of the day is reveille which means to get ready for 

 setting-up drill. Indisposition is not a feminine grace in a girls' 

 camp, and every one hustles out for morning exercise. The work- 

 ing of the big muscles — the trunk and leg muscles — builds up 

 health. It gives arterial tone and prevents kidney or heart 

 disease which are increasing so rapidly under the nerve racking 

 pace of today. 



The morning air whets the appetite. There is a rush for the 

 table where Miss Camper finds eggs, milk, and johnny cake. As 

 time goes on her mania for candy diminishes. She begins to eat to 

 live, instead of live to eat. The response in her digestion and 

 general health are good omens of right eating. 



The morning activities may consist of athletics. In a baseball 

 game a girl is able to acquire that general sturdiness so characteris- 

 tic of boys. She learns to sacrifice her own wishes for the best 

 interest of the team and besides, it takes courage to slide bases. 

 This spirit of self-sacrifice and courage will help greatly in after life. 



The greatest fun of the day is swimming time. As everyone 

 should learn swimming before stepping into a canoe there is a big 

 incentive to acquire this important art. In Japan every boy and 

 girl is taught how to swim but the American girl is just beginning 

 to inherit her right to aquatic sports. 



