CAMPING IN COLORADO. 



281 



you came to the camp? Bid it good-by. 

 You will have no further occasion for the 

 acquaintance while here. The man who 

 arises at 5, eats a good breakfast, rides 10 

 miles on horseback, walks 2 , kills a deer and 

 brings him to camp leading his horse, will 

 sleep that night if the bed is humpy, 

 and the covers awry. I remember one 



summer many years ago, when I was much 

 distressed with the heat, lost much sleep 

 because of my night work, and fell off a 

 dozen pounds in weight. I rode 40 miles 

 horseback from the station, the first day 

 out, toward the camp of my friends, and 

 got lost in the darkness, almost within 

 sight of it, but found a stream and slept 

 out on a saddle blanket and a slicker by a 

 big fire, while the pony crunched away at 

 the succulent grass near by. I remember 

 that glorious sleep yet! The man who re- 

 sorts to drugs for sleep when vigorous exer- 

 cise in the open air is attainable, is trying 

 to commit suicide. 



You are too tender for such camping out ? 

 If you are, and don't want to get over it, 

 stop here. The man who is so wedded to 

 the luxuries of civilized life that he can not 

 enjoy and thrive under the primeval con- 

 ditions of existence would better stay in 

 his hotel. But his posterity will not rule 

 the earth. I look with pity on the man 

 who does not realize that the conditions of 

 high civilization apply to but a fraction 

 of the human race. He who does not 

 know that the normal method of travel on 

 the earth's surface is not by a palace car, 

 but by walking or upon the back of a beast 

 of burden, will never have a broad com- 

 prehension of mankind. The boy who 

 learns Greek before he learns to ride a horse 

 may make a college professor, but he will 

 not ordinarily have such an insight into 

 life as to be a mover of men. He who 

 learns geometry before he learns to find 

 camp alone is a poor, ignorant individual. 



Most of our broadest men in business, 

 in politics, in the pulpit, in the professions, 

 have the fondness for out-of-door life 

 which goes with a vigorous constitution 

 and a strong mind. The hope for the 

 future of our race lies in encouraging 

 the modern tendency to get out of the ruts 

 of civilization for a time every year, and 

 live close to Nature for a season. 



Although such camping out is desirable 

 for almost everybody not actually ill, it is 

 especially to be recommended to certain 

 classes. He who, from his family history, 

 fears consumption in himself or his child- 

 ren, may do more than drive away his 

 chief enemy by such a vacation than by 

 buying a store full of drugs. The lungs, 

 insufficiently used, and possibly bound 

 down by adhesions from a previous 

 tuberculous pleurisy, expand under the 

 influences of the rarefied air and the vigor- 

 ous exercise, in 2 months i have seen 



narrow chested women discard good dresses 

 because they could no longer button them 

 about the chest, owing to its increasing 

 girth. The anemic girl, lacking in her 

 blood the oxygen-carrying iron, and ready 

 to fall an easy prey to tuberculosis or 

 other disease, increases the number of her 

 red blood corpuscles, and her percentage 

 of hemoglobin; and the pasty white face 

 glows again with the ruddy color of 

 health. She longs for good beef and 

 eggs and milk rather than for chalk, 

 pickles and slate pencils; and shows in 

 her high spirits and her elastic step the 

 change in her fee 1 ings. No drug can replace 

 open air life and good diet in the treat- 

 ment of anemia, and especially such life 

 at a considerable elevation. It is well 

 known among medical men that the blood 

 at 5,000 to 10,000 feet altitude contains 

 a greater number of red blood cells than 

 at sea level. To those who have lived in 

 the enervating heat of our Southern cities, 

 and especially those who have suffered there 

 from the great destroyer of the blood, 

 malaria, the mountains are a haven of 

 safety. A host of pilgrims from Texas 

 and other Southern and Southwestern 

 States seek this region yearly, and it is 

 yearly increasing. The tonic influence 

 of the altitude on the blood, the cool 

 nights, with their corollary, refreshing 

 sleep, and the increased appetite and power 

 of digestion, all tend to restore these 

 sufferers to perfect health. 



I have spoken of insomnia. A few 

 nervous invalids, not strong enough to 

 rough it, are not relieved. Those able to 

 ride, or hunt, or fish, however, sleep 

 wonderfully well as a rule. Altitude pre- 

 disposes to slumber in the normal in- 

 dividual, for a time at least, even in the 

 absence of severe exercise. 



Practically all lung diseases not ac- 

 companied with permanent shortness of 

 breath, do well in the mountains. Many 

 cases of asthma and other diseases where 

 this symptom does exist do well. Medi- 

 cal advice should be sought on this point. 



In general, advanced organic diseases 

 of the heart are made worse here, but 

 functional diseases of this organ are im- 

 proved. 



One will often be many miles from a 

 physician, and a supply of simple remedies 

 should be obtained on the advice of the 

 family physician before camping. In this 

 way many of the slighter affections may 

 be easily cared for, and serious disease in 

 camp is a rarity. It seems curious at first 

 sight, but even a severe cold is rare in camp, 

 for the constant exposure to the open air 

 renders one less susceptible to such 

 affections. The avoidance of sickness is 

 more in increased resistance than in avoid- 

 ing exposure to the cause. 



One should not fear too much the effect) 



