36 
SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
HOW CAMPING TEACHES THE GUIDE LAW 
Last year a man went out into the woods in America to try 
and see if he could live like the prehistoric men used to do ; that 
is to say, he took nothing with him in the way of food or equip- 
ment or even clothing — he went just as he was, and started out 
to make his own living as best he could. Of course the first 
thing he had to do was to make some sort of tool or weapon 
by which he could kill some animals, cut his wood and make his 
fire and so on. So he made a stone axe, and with that was able 
to cut out branches of trees so that he could make a trap in which 
he eventually caught a bear and killed it. He then cut up the bear 
and used the skin for blankets and the flesh for food. He also 
cut sticks and made a little instrument by which he was able to 
ignite bits of wood and so start his fire. He also searched out 
various roots and berries and leaves, which he was able to cook 
and make into good food, and he even went so far as to make 
charcoal and to cut slips of bark from the trees and draw pictures 
of the scenery and animals around him. In this way he lived for 
over a month in the wild, and came out in the end very much 
better in health and spirits and with a great experience of life. 
For he had learned to shift entirely for himself and to be in- 
dependent of the different things we get in civilization to keep 
us going in comfort. 
That is why we go into camp a good deal in the Boy Scout 
and in the Girl Guide movement, because in camp life we learn 
to do without so many things which while we are in houses we 
think are necessary, and find that we can do for ourselves many 
things where we used to think ourselves helpless. And before 
going into camp it is just as well to learn some of the things 
that will be most useful to you when you get get there. And that 
is what we teach in the Headquarters of the Girl Guide Com- 
panies before they go out and take the field. For instance, you 
must know how to light your own fire ; how to collect dry 
enough wood to make it burn; because you will not find gas 
stoves out in the wild. Then you have to learn how to find your 
own water, and good water that will not make you ill. You have 
not a whole cooking range or a kitchen full of cooking pots, 
and so you have to learn to cook your food in the simplest way 
with the means at your hand, such as a simple cooking pot or a 
roasting stick or an oven made with your own hands out of an 
old tin box or something of that kind. 
NATURE STUDY 
It is only while in camp that one can really learn to study 
Nature in the proper way and not as you merely do it inside the 
school; because here you are face to face with Nature at all 
hours of the day and night. For the first time you live under 
