viNAL] COUNSEL FOR COUNCILLORS 161 



■ (4). Tree Cribbage. This may be played for a time when on a 

 long hike. Assign a nimierical value to certain trees. One group 

 may take one side of the road and the other the opposite or the 

 points may go to the side recognizing the tree first. In this case 

 it leads to a long range recognition by form. (Trees "en masse" 

 and silhouettes suggest interesting rainy day projects for the note- 

 book). 



Taking the Notebook on Special Trips. As an example of this 

 sort of use of the notebook we will describe our trip called, — "To 

 the Hermitage": Every bailiwick has its hermit. Ours is a 

 grizzly sea-dog who has taken to land some two miles from the 

 coast. He is a Thoreau-like individual reminding one considerably 

 of that famous naturalist who walked the length of the Cape 

 some three-quarters of a century ago. The present recluse has 

 squatted on the site of his great grandsire's claim and his tract 

 reaches unto the shores of the same pond. From the cedar swamp 

 in back he has lugged, dragged, and rolled in turn the logs for the 

 framework of his hut. The adz, an heirloom, has again plaved 

 its part and the timbers have been slowly hewn into shape for the 

 sills and rafters. A clump of lilacs, he will tell you all this, marks 

 the east bedroom of the old homestead — long since tumbled and 

 gone. Of the old days — naught remains to suggest ancestral 

 fortitude or thrift but scraggly apple trees, decrepit. g:narled. and 

 windblown, with a few belichened fence lails. 



Our equipment for this trip is the nDtebook with a map, two 

 pages of drawing paper, two pages for notes, colored crayons, 

 a reverence for the crudities of pioneer days, an eagerness to hear 

 and understand a backwoods language, — a woodsy speech which 

 has all but disappeared, and a desire to express the experience in 

 writing and in sketch with an understanding heart. Following a 

 preparation in spirit it was suggested that the campers might like 

 to make a list of the evidences of an early homestead, the methods 

 of a pioneer, the reasons for believing that he has a love for nature, 

 and quaint expressions. What greater wealth of material could 

 one wish for a future school essay (if one can forgive such trespass- 

 ing) or, if the spirit of the letter has not been killed, for the very 

 joy of writing Hterature (note spelling with a small 1). 



Note, then, that every camp region has its hermit. Hermits 

 vary. It ought not to be necessary to say "know your liermit". 

 Hermitages vary as also does the region there-abouts. Therefore, 



