RECREATION 



VOL. XXII. 



APRIL, 1905 



No. 4 



SUMMER CAMPS AND CAMPERS 



WITH PRACTICAL HINTS FOR THE 

 TENDERFOOT AND HIS WIFE IN 

 THE WOODS AND ON THE WATERS 



<By ARNOLD BARTLETT PARKER, LL.D. 



Illustrated with Photographs by Recreation Readers 



Practically all of the readers of Recreation are experienced out-of-door peo- 

 ple. Nevertheless, there is a vast and grozvmg number of Americans, of both 

 sexes, many of whom have not experienced the joys of living upon their own re- 

 sources azvuy from the acres of tinned and slated roofs. It is for these novices, 

 the tenderfeet amongst Recreation readers, that I am going to review the camp- 

 ing methods pursued by all classes of out-door people. 



F you are camping 

 on the trail, in a new 

 and wild country, you 

 must, of course, be 

 prepared to forego 

 many of the small ac- 

 cessories which have 

 made a modern outfit 

 so complete that no necessity remains 

 uncared for. But, in this age, even 

 under the ordinary conditions of travel 

 throughout the country you may now 

 take many luxuries into camp which 

 were unknown to our parched, corn- 

 fed, buckskin-clad ancestors. 



However, these very ancestors were 

 the pioneers of our woods and plains. 

 and their camping sites, their trails and 

 their- methods have been handed down 

 to us until to-day we find that in the 

 search for the choicest camping ground, 

 the best trails and the handiest method 

 of doing things we are following the 

 foot-steps of those who have gone be- 

 fore. We may strike new country, we 

 may reach old country through a new 



trail, we may work out our own way of 

 saving labor in the woods, but it is safe 

 to say that the wise men of the forest 

 and the field who made America what 

 it is to-day, have preceded us. 



In many sections of the country we 

 may come upon that weird production 

 of the wheelwright's art known as the 

 camping wagon. A look inside and 

 you are convinced that some room on 

 the second floor front of a modern 

 apartment house has been set upon 

 wheels, to be trundled off on the na- 

 tion's highways. Compare this modern 

 creation with the old prairie schooner 

 and, although one-half of the parapher- 

 nalia in the latter dangled continually 

 from the axles and poles of the vehicle 

 and the balance npstrung from the 

 hoops, you will find the inmates of the 

 prairie schooner far better prepared to 

 face the hardships of the trail than the 

 occupants of the new-fangled wonder- 

 box. 



In all well-regulated camping expe- 

 ditions, the first thought, of course, 



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