SUMMER CAMPS AND CAMPERS 



251 



according to your own circumstances. 

 A small wall tent 7x7 or 7x9 is amply 

 sufficient for one person. And one man 

 to each tent is the best rule. Here is a 

 place where each one can be as orderly 

 or disorderly as he pleases. In tenting* 

 with another person one loses somewhat 

 of the pleasant solitude and indepen- 

 dence of camp life, and even with the 

 best of companions is liable to some of 

 that social friction from which we flee 

 to the woods. Sometimes I hinge my 

 top pole in the middle and cut my side 

 poles in the center, joining by a sheet 

 iron tube, which works freely. Thus 

 the whole tent outfit can be folded to- 

 gether into small compass and put in a 

 trunk strap, and checked to destination. 

 A very convenient form of small tent 

 which is worth trying does away en- 

 tirely with guy ropes, which are always 

 tripping one up. You fasten the tent 

 by an overhead rope as shown in the 

 illustration. A fly is sure to be noisy 

 in a wind, but is very useful during a 

 rain storm. Try to live wholly outside 

 the tent in the open air, except when 

 weather or night drives you in. 



CONVENIENT ARRANGEMENT OF TENT FURNITURE 



INTERIOR OF TENT, WESTERN. 



A good tent range, or home made 



oven, can be constructed of a biscuit tin 

 covered with asbestos felt and thin 

 boards. A hole in the bottom admits 

 the chimney of a double wick lamp. 

 The cost of the whole lamp and all is 

 about $2, and can be made to fit into a 

 compartment in the provision chest. 



On awaking, light the lamp, put your 

 breakfast in the oven, and inside of half 

 an hour it will be ready. This oven will 

 warm the tent in cold and rainy weather 

 and you can camp with it in places 

 where open fires are not allowed, as in 

 the Park at Mackinac Island and the 

 Maine woods, when no one but a 

 licensed guard can light a fire. Some 

 campers regard the oven as quite in- 

 dispensable, and think that every tent 

 in a party should have one. But the 

 open fire is the thing for broiling. This 

 open fire may be built on a heap of 

 earth, turf, or sods about three feet 

 high, so that by hanging your imple- 

 ments around this altar, you can sit in 

 your chair, read a paper and broil a 

 steak or fish in great comfort. Sink a 

 pail of the best butter in the earth in a 

 cool corner of the tent, and cover with 

 a box, and it will keep in the hottest 

 weather. 



Some campers think a wire mattress 

 folding cot is indispensable. The mat- 

 tress should be in two sections, and fold 



