422 
FOREST AND STREAM 
chat at such a stage of the game it is good—that 
is, it is much better than at the beginning of the 
trip. I have seen lumber-camp cooks do won¬ 
derful things with grease and the lowly but sub¬ 
stantial bean. The big iron pot full of the latter, 
after a night’s baking in the hot sand, throws an 
aroma on the air so enticing as not to be resisted, 
and the shanty bread, baked in corpulent loaves 
after the self-same style of a night’s burying in 
the sand, sticks by you for a long time.' Men get 
fat on it, and probably the sentiment of the real 
shanty man is as he expresses it through the 
magic of Drummond’s verse: 
“Some folk say she’s bad for leever, but for man 
work hard on reever, 
Dat’s de bes’ t’ing I can tole you, dat was never 
yet be seen, 
Course dere’s oder t’ing ah tak me, fancy dish 
also I lak me, 
But w’en I want somet’ing solid, please pass me 
de pork an’ bean.” 
1 am not going to tell you what to eat, for as 
some wise man has said “One man’s bed is an¬ 
other man’s breakfast food,” and as long as 1 
do not tell you what to eat there is no sense in 
my trying to tell you how to cook it. There are 
several golden maxims, however, that will apply 
to the case of any city man going into the woods. 
One is, to eschew the pork for a day or two, at 
least, or until broken into the harness, and an¬ 
other is to chew well and long everything one 
does eat. 
It is better to vary the dietary as much as 
possible, although some people do not like what 
is known as mixed cooking. Well do I remem¬ 
ber the pride with which I once originated what 
to me seemed a perfectly balanced ration, con¬ 
sisting of vegetables, a little meat and one or 
two other odds and ends that chemically and 
mathematically figured out as ideal for any man 
who was undergoing hard physical labor. The 
friends to whom I presented this result of much 
deep thinking, not a few bad burns and a sleep¬ 
less night or two spent in keeping the fire going 
and stirring the pot, ungratefully bestowed on my 
proud solution of the camper’s food necessity the 
title of “Three in One.” I never succeeded in 
realizing that record numerically, but I recall that 
I did get the proportions reversed; that is, I got 
one—the first one—into three, and those three 
time-tested friends persuaded me that if I lug¬ 
ged in the fish and game they would attend to 
the cooking. So I have had lots of time while 
attending to other things to study camp cooking 
problems, for no man who spends time steaming 
his anatomy over a boiling open-fire kettle has 
the opportunity to think of anything, let alone 
the subject in hand. I know that, for I myself 
bear the scars and wounds of past culinary camp 
experience. 
Having thus successfully dodged the main is¬ 
sue, we will close the subject and proceed to teli 
about a man who is not afraid to set down his 
own views in detailed form. 
Camp Craft”~The Best Craft of All 
Latest of the Big Family of Outdoor Literature 
T HE author who is bold enough and con¬ 
fident enough in these days of portly 
sporting goods catalogues and the vol¬ 
uminous literature already on the market, to 
write a new book on camp outfitting and living, 
deserves more than passing notice. Not dis¬ 
couraged by any of the factors mentioned, War¬ 
ren Miller in “Camp Craft” (Scribners'), has 
proven the right to immortality among the elect 
who have within the past quarter of a century 
or more, given us so much good advice on out¬ 
door living. Probably old codgers will snort as 
they go through different chapter and chuckle 
The Canoeist in Camp. 
that “I knew that thirty years ago,” or pass 
remarks of similar tenor, but what is the differ¬ 
ence? The old codgers will read the book just 
the same, with as much interest as anybody else, 
and they will all buy it, too, for they as a class 
follow sporting literature closer than the younger 
generation. We can say, and we are rather old 
codgerish, too, that Mr. Miller has brought out 
a splendid volume, and even though, perforce, his 
illustrations of necessity do contain a reminder 
here and there of the sporting goods catalogue, 
the old story is as good as ever, and what is 
more surprising, every once in a while the reader 
runs to something new, which shows that Mr. 
Miller not only is acquainted with all that the 
veteran of the woods claims as his particular 
knowledge, but a lot of things that the old 
codger has been too lazy to acquire. Perhaps 
the old-timer will smile at some of the author’s 
descriptions of his improvements and will cry 
them down, but Mr. Miller is writing for the 
new generation more than the old, and he does 
tell a lot about things that the new generation# 
will be wise to adopt in toto, or in a corollary 
sense as showing the way to more healthful liv¬ 
ing. Mr. Miller’s book is a good one; it 
is practical, and even though his readers may 
not experience the boy-like enthusiasm of the- 
author in doing things in a particular way, they 
will realize at least that Mr. Miller has not at¬ 
tempted to tell them anything that he has not 
first tried on himself with success and seeming 
benefit. 
What an array of books outdoor literature has- 
given us! There is the first—and best of all— 
Nessmuk’s Woodcraft, still a classic. There is 
Kephart’s volume, now split into several parts 
and still as popular as ever; there is Dr. Breck’s 
vade mecum, than which there is nothing better 
in recent years; Stewart Edward White’s “The 
Forest,” with its charming language, its almost 
poetic beauty, and yet practical in every line—in 
fact, volume after volume might be mentioned, 
but space will not permit, even though the feel¬ 
ings of authors not included may be injured. 
They are all good, and in the multiplicity of ex¬ 
pert advice tendered the man or the woman who- 
would fare forth into the woods for enjoyment 
or health, Mr. Miller’s latest production deserves 
highest consideration. If he has overlooked 1 
anything—and a rather careful reading of the 
volume does not indicate that—let us not worry. 
Someone else will supply it soon. In fact, the 
writer himself has been cogitating something of 
the kind for a long time past, but Brother Miller 
seems, through his greater industry and more- 
expert knowledge, to have gotten there first. 
Olp Camper. 
A Few Pictures That Anybody Can Arrange. 
