THE WELCOME CAMPER 



By Susan S. Alburtis 



lUf Y husband and I spent a month touring New Eng- 

 -''-' land last summer, pitching our tent at practically 

 a new place every night. It was the first camping ex- 

 perience of our firm, not young in years, but young in the 

 love of the out-doors and ever mindful of the fact that 



ROAD SCENE IN THE PINKHAM NOTCH 



The White Mountains are seen in the distance. One of the many beauty spots 

 on a New England Tour. 



there is an owner for every foot of land, whose rights 

 should be respected. Not the least that we learned on 

 the trip is that hospitality is universal in this land wher- 

 ever the Golden Rule is practiced. Does "Do unto others 

 as you would that they should do unto you" mean that 

 you and I, city dwellers, would be gra- 

 cious to strangers who spent a night 

 on our premises without permission ; 

 who built a fire of our wood, endan- 

 gering our home; who left litter of 

 all kinds for us to pick up, and who 

 drove off in the morning without ac- 

 knowledging a night's hospitality ex- 

 cept for a condescending wave of the 

 hand? Campers of this kind probably 

 went "gypsying" last summer, but I 

 doubt if they found in their Christ- 

 mas stocking a box of celery from 

 Pennsylvania ; a basket or apples from 

 an old sea salt in Maine; a sketch of 

 Woodbine from the farmer-artist in 

 New Hampshire, and good wishes for 

 the New Year from new acquaintances 

 in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecti- 

 cut and Massachusetts. I must con- 

 fess that I felt the Golden Rule some- 

 what strained when our host at 



Quonochontaug, near Westerly, Rhode Island, left 

 his key in the door when he went to work, so that we 

 could get running water from his kitchen. 



The senior partner of our firm is a healthy, optimistic 

 man with the habit of cheerfulness, excellent qualifica- 

 tions for a camper. There are but two 

 things he will not do, and recogniz- 

 ing them the junior member accepts 

 the conditions and tries to be cheer- 

 ful too. He will not drive the ma- 

 chine nor dress otherwise while on 

 the road than if he were on his way to 

 visit friends. In camp he wears the 

 serviceable khaki, but not on the 

 road. He does not believe that 

 clothes make the man, but he does 

 believe that first impressions count 

 for much when asking a stranger's 

 permission for the use of his land 

 over night. "The gypsy motorist 

 with the running boards of the old 

 bus groaning beneath their loads of 

 tenting, bedding, eatables and uten- 

 sils" has no appeal for him, so I ac- 

 cede to his whims, drive the machine, 

 and assist him to conceal all of our 

 equipment in the deck of our roadster 

 and in a neat box securely fastened to 

 one of the running boards. In preparation for our trip 

 we studied maps and information published by the 

 American Automobile Association. We wrote to State 

 foresters and to the Forest Service at Washington re- 

 garding camp sites in forest reservations. We read maga- 



MOUNT ADAMS AND MOUNT JEFFERSON FROM CLEN ROAD 



A meadow in New Hampshire where a camp was made so that the beautiful view 

 of the mountains could be enjoyed. 



