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



After the mid-day meal comes a period of rest and quietness. 

 This may be the time of arts and crafts. It was the spinning and 

 weaving industries of the home that developed the real artistic 

 sense of our grandmothers . These industries have been taken from 

 the homes and put in the factories. In camp, however, this work 

 is lifted from the plane of necessity to that of opportunity. 



After the rest hour the campers may take a hike. They learn 

 hiking rules by experience, such as, never walk over anything that 

 you can walk around, or never step on anything that you can step 

 over. The hike may be in the form of a scouting party. The 

 scouts must learn how to find their way and be able to interpret all 

 signs and tracks. There is nothing more fascinating than to sit 

 around the camp-fire after a long ramble, you are tired but it is a 

 ' good feeling" fatigue. 



The camp-fire is started, not "tim big fire" but "um little fire" 

 as the Injun did, — a fire over which one could cook a supper. The 

 girls are bubbling over with good health and appetites. The fish, 

 just landed from the lake, are baked in a hole in the ground and the 

 baked potatoes are poked out of the hot embers. The ends of the 

 corn husks are tied over the cob, soaked in water, and placed in 

 the hot coals for twenty minutes. Melted butter is then put on 

 with a brush. And then the feast comes and it will be remembered 

 longer than any banquet in a marbled hall hotel. Such occasions 

 form a sunny spot in ones' memory and are pleasant to look back 

 upon as the years roll along. 



In the evening the camp community gathers around the fire place 

 (not gas logs) and makes merry in song and story. It was the 

 same in colonial days when the neighbors met and made their own 

 fun. More people should learn to play rather than hire others. 

 There are those who have become so fixed in mind and character 

 that they are not able to learn to play. It is claimed that all the 

 virtues of the human race are brought out in play and if this is true, 

 the play element is an important element in the camp activities. 



And so the days go — all too quickly — for the girl who is enjoying 

 the fascination of living with Nature all sxmimer long, hiking 

 through quiet woods and paddling along clear streams. She 

 should have learned the natural pleasures of the great out-of-doors. 

 Let us hope that she is more tom-boyish and in the best sense of the 

 word. She should have red blood, sound nerves, a quick ear, keen 

 sight, a quick step, and many other of the good characteristics of 

 our grandmother — that good old lady who lived so long ago. 



