THE UNWELCOME GUEST 



641 



Two years ago the valley where, in many streams and 

 pools lurked the rainbow, welcomed tourist visitors and 

 the ranches were not posted. Today there is not a farm 

 left where the fisherman is welcome. Not all committed 

 depredations. The percent is very small. And yet the 

 farmer posts his land to protect himself from those few 

 who become rowdies when in the open, although they 

 may be very models of precise social practice in their 

 own homes and homes of friends. 



There seems to be no element of pride in being a good 

 picnicker so far as some people are concerned. If they can 

 get away with it they will leave camp sites filthy beyond 

 description. Even the most refined people do this and 

 are often the worst violators. The question naturally 

 comes sometimes, is culture only a veneer or does the 



wilds for the first time that leaves his camp in filthy 

 condition. It is the townsman going afield in his flivver 

 who tramps the hay in the meadow and leaves gates 

 open where valuable stock may be lost and time spent 

 in hunting strayed cattle follows. 



And hundreds of thousands and millions of these peo- 

 ple who until recently have never visited a place out of 

 the sound of a trolley are now annually taking entire va- 

 vations on the road gypsie fashion but with a car in- 

 stead of a horse-drawn wagon. If these people ^re to be 

 welcome they must learn the etiquette of the camp and 

 the road. If the fields are to be open to people coming 

 to fish for trout every member of the tourist class, of 

 every station of the brotherhood of the highway, must 

 observe simple customs established as the social law of 



^^^tiMi 



PIKE 



A GOOD EXAMPLE OF AN ALMOST IRREPRESSIBLE DESIRE OF THE AVERAGE TOURIST 



One petty vandal with which the Forest Service has to deal is the fellow who insists that the world know he has passed that 

 way. He will scribble his name and often his place of abode on any sign large enough to take it. 



refinement of the drawing room not fit the picnic places? 

 Is there the same basic reason for good manners in the 

 field there is in the club or home or does the out of doors 

 lack some refining influence that is possessed by man- 

 made institutions? 



No, because there exists today a code of conduct in the 

 woods. To those who have lived there it is an open book. 

 It is as exact as any social usage of the society groups 

 found in towns and cities. Fundamentally the golden rule 

 is the basis of all social law of the hills. Inherent gentle 

 breeding will take one far in the company of the woods 

 people and of those who ride the high range or with the 

 companions who may be in the party. It is the person 

 new to the outdoors who violates the simple rules of good 

 conduct in the open. It is the city man invading the 

 the plains and hills. 



The sorriest feature is not in the righteous ire of the 

 one sinned against towards thoughtless novice who over- 

 steps due bounds but the reaction of the man of the 

 hills against the whole class of tourists. Self protection 

 dictates that this newcomer to the family of the outdoor 

 people be taught the code of the fraternity. 



The code exists. It is simple but it is strict. Simple 

 inherent graciousness will carry one in the respect of all 

 outdoor people until the code is learned and the golden 

 rule is a safe test to apply to any act that may be done 

 or not done which will affect those people with whom you 

 come in contact on the highway, in the field or in camp. 



All users of the outdoors are today on trial. They 

 have been wholly condemned by many who have suffered 



(Cont'd on page 659) 



