Seeking Thoughts in Nature. 
In those charmingly girlish articles 
by Opal Whitely that attracted the 
world’s attention when originally pub- 
lished in “The Atlantic Monthly,” Miss 
Whitely said that she was looking for 
thoughts in nature. That is a charming 
idea and one that is more commonly 
held by both boys and girls than we 
older persons are likely to realize. The 
child always wants a story or to make 
one. Those who are familiar with the 
astonishing popularity of “The St. 
Nicholas League” for the past quarter 
century have been more and more im- 
pressed by tbe fact that children, girls 
especially, like to be literary producers. 
We have perhaps been too active in 
entertaining the child with reading 
stories and too little in having the child 
produce her own stories. 
Then too. among older people, those 
who have gone to nature for thoughts 
have gotten at the real heart of things, 
and some of them have so thoroughly 
thought out matters that they have 
made themselves immortal We are 
familiar with the classic statement by 
Thoreau that he went out to \\ alden 
Pond and built a hut in which to think. 
His fame would not have extended 
bevoml his own day and neighborhood 
if he had gone there only to swim and 
fish. It is his thought, his ideals, even 
if we do not always agree with him. 
that have made him beloved for all 
time. 
Who cares how many fish Dr. Van 
Dvke caught, the size of any one of 
them? He might have certified to the 
physical size and quantity of his fish 
before all tbe notary publics and he 
would not have endeared himself to 
fishermen everywhere as he has by his 
“Little Rivers.” 
It was not fish that Izaak Walton 
caught. It is what he thought while he 
was catching them that has for all time 
made his name a synonym for a good 
fisherman. It is thought that gives joy 
as well as pain. Mind is superior to 
matter. 
What caused the modern high grade 
camp to spring into its present well 
deserved popularity? Not merely a con- 
tinuation of the old-time sportsman’s 
or family camp where it was only a 
matter of a gun, a rod. a frying pan 
and a bed of hemlock boughs. It was 
the interpolation of the literary ele- 
ment. Writers not fishermen have made 
fishing popular, and magazines and 
books dealing with rod and gun have 
spread abroad the present day en- 
thusiasm. When we look for thoughts 
we are seeking something more endur- 
ing than material things as well as 
more inspiring. 
Prominent among all the camps that 
place thinking among the chief joys is 
Kineowatha. On the hills, in bunga- 
lows. in country roads and mountain 
climbing, in groups on the haymow and 
on the big rock at the top of the hill, 
have been evolved by these enthusias- 
tic girls poems and songs and descrip- 
t ; ve articles that would do credit to a 
citv’s literary workshop. 
L T naided but not uninspired by en- 
thusiastic, cultured councilors they 
have in joy produced a'ticlss that have 
made the “Kineowatha Kamper” a fa- 
mous camping magazine. The man- 
agers appreciate the possible literary 
value of a good vacation for July and 
August, and print the magazine in fine 
form. Its contents are not forgotten as 
in many camps. The literature pro- 
duced by these girls is one of the 
charming inspirations of the camp 
At the end of the year the weeklv 
issues of the “Kamper” are bound with 
