Camping, an Education and 
An Inspiration. 
I once knew a marked example of 
the educational inspiration that a camp 
gives to a girl. She was about fifteen 
years of age, bright, vivacious, witty, 
popular with her friends and the ad- 
miration of every adult that met her. 
I was one day expressing my admira- 
tion to some friends who had long 
known her in her western home. They 
expressed surprise at her wonderful 
popularity in the camp and made this 
sententious remark. “Yes, she has de- 
veloped into a wonderful type of popu- 
lar girl, but it was camping that did it. 
She was not so in her own home before 
she went to camp. Camping seems to 
have emphasized every good quality 
that she had and developed some 
others that even her parents had not 
suspected.” 
Parents that have had no personal 
experience in high grade camps can- 
not realize what a wonderful developer 
camp life is. Ralph W aldo Emerson 
said the best part of a boy’s education 
is that which he gets on his way to 
and from school. If Emerson had lived 
to see the modern camp, the thought 
that he has buried in that laconic sen- 
tence he could have paraphrased into 
another like this: “Two months in a 
good summer camp are worth more 
than a year in a boarding school.” 
That is, the best education is obtain- 
able from outdoor life and enthusiasm. 
It is neither sentimental nor bookish. 
It is the actual thing, a kind of per- 
sonal reality. I have in my possession 
many photographs and lantern slides 
of girls that have developed in camps 
into what one might call royal good 
girls. It is a satisfaction to gaze on such 
whole-souled, hearty, natural girls. 
They show a brightness and a vivacity 
far superior to that that can be devel- 
oped by books. I do not say this to the 
discredit of thorough scholarship. Far 
from it. But you know that old say- 
ing, “A good mind in a sound body,” is 
not asserting that the one is better’ than 
the other but that they are a partner- 
ship. The school develops the mind, 
the body is incidental ; the camp re- 
verses the condition. Both are needed 
for complete development. 
But you ask, “How does the camp do 
this? How does the camp differ 
from any other picnic?” The camp is 
not a picnic, and the question is diffi- 
cult. One may observe the fact yet 
not be able to explain the fact. Al- 
though I have had extended dealings 
with girls in camps, I do not profess, 
I do not assert my ability to propound 
a complete theory, but I should say 
that there is something about all young 
people that is gangish. I do not know 
that the word is in the dictionary but 
you see it exemplified every day in a 
camp. W e older ones have resources 
in ourselves. We can get along fairly 
well even in solitude but even we fre- 
quently feel the need of other human 
beings to whom we may speak. 
Healthy, happy girl or boy is usually 
contented only with others of the same 
age. 
Sometimes it is a painful blow to 
parents to learn that we are not so 
much to our children as we supposed. 
The real inspirations to young people 
come from those with whom they as- 
sociate. and the more intimate and per- 
sonal the association the greater the 
