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Title: On the Trail
An Outdoor Book for Girls
Author: Lina Beard and Adelia Belle Beard
Release Date: June 7, 2006 [EBook #18525]
Language: English
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On the Trail
An Outdoor Book for Girls
By
LINA BEARD
AND
ADELIA BELLE BEARD
With Illustrations by the Authors
NEW YORK
Charles Scribner's Sons
1915
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Published June, 1915
TO ALL GIRLS
WHO LOVE THE LIFE OF THE OPEN
WE DEDICATE THIS BOOK
[Illustration: Over-night camp.
Fire notice is posted on tree.]
PRESENTATION
The joyous, exhilarating call of the wilderness and the forest camp is
surely and steadily penetrating through the barriers of brick, stone,
and concrete; through the more or less artificial life of town and city;
and the American girl is listening eagerly. It is awakening in her
longings for free, wholesome, and adventurous outdoor life, for the
innocent delights of nature-loving Thoreau and bird-loving Burroughs.
Sturdy, independent, self-reliant, she is now demanding outdoor books
that are genuine and filled with practical information; books that tell
how to do worth-while things, that teach real woodcraft and are not
adapted to the girl supposed to be afraid of a caterpillar or to shudder
at sight of a harmless snake.
In answer to the demand, "On the Trail" has been written. The authors'
deep desire is to help girls respond to this new, insistent call by
pointing out to them the open trail. It is their hope and wish that
their girl readers may seek the charm of the wild and may find the same
happiness in the life of the open that the American boy has enjoyed
since the first settler built his little cabin on the shores of the New
World. To forward this object, the why and how, the where and when of
things of camp and trail have been embodied in this book.
Thanks are due to Edward Cave, president and editor of _Recreation_, for
kindly allowing the use of some of his wild-life photographs.
LINA BEARD,
ADELIA BELLE BEARD.
FLUSHING, N. Y.,
March 16, 1915.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. TRAILING 3
II. WOODCRAFT 21
III. CAMPING 44
IV. WHAT TO WEAR ON THE TRAIL 84
V. OUTDOOR HANDICRAFT 106
VI. MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE OUTDOOR FOLK 119
VII. WILD FOOD ON THE TRAIL 138
VIII. LITTLE FOES OF THE TRAILER 165
IX. ON THE TRAIL WITH YOUR CAMERA 187
X. ON AND IN THE WATER 205
XI. USEFUL KNOTS AND HOW TO TIE THEM 233
XII. ACCIDENTS 244
XIII. CAMP FUN AND FROLICS 255
XIV. HAPPY AND SANE SUNDAY IN CAMP 269
ILLUSTRATIONS
Over-night camp _Frontispiece_
PAGE
One can generally pass around obstructions like this on the trail 5
Difficulties of the Adirondack trail 9
Blazing the trail by bending down and breaking branches 11
Returning to camp by the blazed trail 13
Footprints of animals 17
Footprints of animals 19
Ink impressions of leaves 23
Ink impressions of leaves 24
Ink impressions of leaves 25
Pitch-pine and cone 26
Sycamore leaf and fruit of sycamore 26
How to use the axe 29
The compass and the North Star 37
A permanent camp 49
Outdoor shelters 51
Dining-tent, handy racks, and log bedstead 53
A forest camp by the water 55
In camp 57
The bough-bed, the cook-fire, and the wall-tent 59
Soft wood 63
Hard wood 65
Bringing wood for the fire 69
Camp fires and camp sanitation 81
Trailers' outfits 87
The head-net and blanket-roll 91
Some things to carry and how to carry them 101
Handicraft in the woods 107
Outdoor dressing-table, camp-cupboard, hammock-frame, seat,
and pot-hook 109
Camp-chair, biscuit-stick, and blanket camp-bed 111
The birch-bark dish that will hold fluids. Details of making 115
A bear would rather be your friend than your enemy 118
Making friends with a ruffed grouse 120
Found on the trail 122
Timber wolves 124
Baby moose 126
Stalking wild birds 128
The fish-hawk will sometimes build near the ground 131
Antelopes of the western plains 135
Good food on the trail 143
Fruits found principally in the south and the middle west 147
Fruits found principally in the north and the middle west 151
Fruits common to most of the States 155
Hickory nuts, sweet and bitter 159
Nuts with soft shells. Beechnut and chestnut 161
Poisonous and non-poisonous snakes 173
Plants poison to the touch 181
Plants poison to the taste 185
The white birch-tree makes a fine background for the beaver 191
Blacktail deer snapped with a background of snow 193
The skunk 195
The porcupine stood in the shade but the background was light 197
Photographing a woodcock from ambush 199
The country through which you pass, with a trailer in the foreground 201
Method of protecting roots to keep plants fresh while you carry
them to camp for photographing 203
A rowboat is a safer craft than a canoe 206
Keep your body steady 208
Canoeing on placid waters 210
Bring your canoe up broadside to the shore 212
How to use the paddle and a flat-bottomed rowboat 215
The raft of logs 219
Primitive weaving in raft building 221
Learn to be at home in the water 225
For dinner 229
The veteran 231
Bends in knot tying 235
Figure eight knot 237
Overhand bow-line knot 237
Underhand bow-line knot 239
Sheepshank knot 239
Parcel slip-knot 241
Cross-tie parcel knot 241
Fisherman's knot 241
The halter, slip-knot, and hitching-tie 243
The fireman's lift 245
Aids in "first aid" 247
Restoring respiration 253
When darkness closes in 259
Wood-thrush 261
Yellow-throated vireo 262
Fire without matches 264
Fire without the bow 267
ON THE TRAIL
CHAPTER I
TRAILING
=What the Outdoor World Can Do for Girls. How to Find the Trail and How
to Keep It=
There is a something in you, as in every one, every man, woman, girl,
and boy, that requires the tonic life of the wild. You may not know it,
many do not, but there is a part of your nature that only the wild can
reach, satisfy, and develop. The much-housed, overheated, overdressed,
and over-entertained life of most girls is artificial, and if one does
not turn away from and leave it for a while, one also becomes greatly
artificial and must go through life not knowing the joy, the strength,
the poise that real outdoor life can give.
What is it about a true woodsman that instantly compels our respect,
that sets him apart from the men who might be of his class in village or
town and puts him in a class by himself, though he may be exteriorly
rough and have little or no book education? The real Adirondack or the
North Woods guide, alert, clean-limbed, clear-eyed, hard-muscled,
bearing his pack-basket or duffel-bag on his back, doing all the hard
work of the camp, never loses his poise or the simple dignity which he
shares with all the things of the wild. It is bred in him, is a part of
himself and the life he leads. He is as conscious of his superior
knowledge of the woods as an astronomer is of his knowledge of the
stars, and patiently tolerates the ignorance and awkwardness of the
"tenderfoot" from the city. Only a keen sense of humor can make this
toleration possible, for I have seen things done by a city-dweller at
camp that would enrage a woodsman, unless the irresistibly funny side of
it made him laugh his inward laugh that seldom reaches the surface.
To live for a while in the wild strengthens the muscles of your mind as
well as of your body. Flabby thoughts and flabby muscles depart together
and are replaced by enthusiasm and vigor of purpose, by strength of limb
and chest and back. To _have_ seems not so desirable as to _be_. When
you have once come into sympathy with this world of the wild--which
holds our cultivated, artificial world in the hollow of its hand and
gives it life--new joy, good, wholesome, heartfelt joy, will well up
within you. New and absorbing interests will claim your attention. You
will breathe deeper, stand straighter. The small, petty things of life
will lose their seeming importance and great things will look larger and
infinitely more worth while. You will know that the woods, the fields,
the streams and great waters bear wonderful messages for you, and,
little by little, you will learn to read them.
The majority of people who visit the up-to-date hotels of the
Adirondacks, which their wily proprietors call camps, may think they see
the wild and are living in it. But for them it is only a big
picnic-ground through which they rush with unseeing eyes and whose
cloisters they invade with unfeeling hearts, seemingly for the one
purpose of building a fire, cooking their lunch, eating it, and then
hurrying back to the comforts of the hotel and the gayety of hotel life.
[Illustration: One can generally pass around obstructions like this on
the trail.]
At their careless and noisy approach the forest suddenly withdraws
itself into its deep reserve and reveals no secrets. It is as if they
entered an empty house and passed through deserted rooms, but all the
time the intruders are stealthily watched by unseen, hostile, or
frightened eyes. Every form of moving life is stilled and magically
fades into its background. The tawny rabbit halts amid the dry leaves of
a fallen tree. No one sees it. The sinuous weasel slips silently under a
rock by the side of the trail and is unnoticed. The mother grouse
crouches low amid the underbrush and her little ones follow her example,
but the careless company has no time to observe and drifts quickly by.
Only the irrepressible red squirrel might be seen, but isn't, when he
loses his balance and drops to a lower branch in his efforts to miss
nothing of the excitement of the invasion.
This is not romance, it is truth. To think sentimentally about nature,
to sit by a babbling brook and try to put your supposed feelings into
verse, will not help you to know the wild. The only way to cultivate the
sympathy and understanding which will enable you to feel its
heart-beats, is to go to it humbly, ready to see the wonders it can
show; ready to appreciate and love its beauties and ready to meet on
friendly and cordial terms the animal life whose home it is. The wild
world is, indeed, a wonderful world; how wonderful and interesting we
learn only by degrees and actual experience. It is free, but not
lawless; to enter it fully we must obey these laws which are slowly and
silently impressed upon us. It is a wholesome, life-giving, inspiring
world, and when you have learned to conform to its rules you are met on
every hand by friendly messengers to guide you and teach you the ways of
the wild: wild birds, wild fruits and plants, and gentle, furtive, wild
animals. You cannot put their messages into words, but you can feel
them; and then, suddenly, you no longer care for soft cushions and rugs,
for shaded lamps, dainty fare and finery, for paved streets and concrete
walks. You want to plant your feet upon the earth in its natural state,
however rugged or boggy it may be. You want your cushions to be of the
soft moss-beds of the piny woods, and, with the unparalleled sauce of a
healthy, hearty appetite, you want to eat your dinner out of doors,
cooked over the outdoor fire, and to drink water from a birch-bark cup,
brought cool and dripping from the bubbling spring.
You want, oh! how you want to sleep on a springy bed of balsam boughs,
wrapped in soft, warm, woollen blankets with the sweet night air of all
outdoors to breathe while you sleep. You want your flower-garden, not
with great and gorgeous masses of bloom in evident, orderly beds, but
keeping always charming surprises for unexpected times and in
unsuspected places. You want the flowers that grow without your help in
ways you have not planned; that hold the enchantment of the wilderness.
Some people are born with this love for the wild, some attain it, but in
either case the joy is there, and to find it you must seek it. Your
chosen trail may lead through the primeval forests or into the great
western deserts or plains; or it may reach only left-over bits of the
wild which can be found at no great distance from home. Even a bit of
meadow or woodland, even an uncultivated field on the hilltop, will give
you a taste of the wild; and if you strike the trail in the right spirit
you will find upon arrival that these remnants of the wild world have
much to show and to teach you. There are the sky, the clouds, the
lungfuls of pure air, the growing things which send their roots where
they will and not in a man-ordered way. There is the wild life that
obeys no man's law: the insects, the birds, and small four-footed
animals. On all sides you will find evidences of wild life if you will
look for it. Here you may make camp for a day and enjoy that day as much
as if it were one of many in a several weeks' camping trip.
However, this is not to be a book of glittering generalities but, as far
as it can be made, one of practical helpfulness in outdoor life;
therefore when you are told to strike the trail you must also be told
how to do it.
=When You Strike the Trail=
For any journey, by rail or by boat, one has a general idea of the
direction to be taken, the character of the land or water to be crossed,
and of what one will find at the end. So it should be in striking the
trail. Learn all you can about the path you are to follow. Whether it is
plain or obscure, wet or dry; where it leads; and its length, measured
more by time than by actual miles. A smooth, even trail of five miles
will not consume the time and strength that must be expended upon a
trail of half that length which leads over uneven ground, varied by bogs
and obstructed by rocks and fallen trees, or a trail that is all up-hill
climbing. If you are a novice and accustomed to walking only over smooth
and level ground, you must allow more time for covering the distance
than an experienced person would require and must count upon the
expenditure of more strength, because your feet are not trained to the
wilderness paths with their pitfalls and traps for the unwary, and every
nerve and muscle will be strained to secure a safe foothold amid the
tangled roots, on the slippery, moss-covered logs, over precipitous
rocks that lie in your path. It will take time to pick your way over
boggy places where the water oozes up through the thin, loamy soil as
through a sponge; and experience alone will teach you which hummock of
grass or moss will make a safe stepping-place and will not sink beneath
your weight and soak your feet with hidden water. Do not scorn to learn
all you can about the trail you are to take, although your questions may
call forth superior smiles. It is not that you hesitate to encounter
difficulties, but that you may prepare for them. In unknown regions take
a responsible guide with you, unless the trail is short, easily
followed, and a frequented one. Do not go alone through lonely places;
and, being on the trail, keep it and try no explorations of your own, at
least not until you are quite familiar with the country and the ways of
the wild.
[Illustration: Difficulties of the Adirondack trail.
Facsimile of drawing made by a trailer (not the author) after a day in
the wilds of an Adirondack forest. Not a good drawing, perhaps, but a
good illustration.]
=Blazing the Trail=
A woodsman usually blazes his trail by chipping with his axe the trees
he passes, leaving white scars on their trunks, and to follow such a
trail you stand at your first tree until you see the blaze on the next,
then go to that and look for the one farther on; going in this way from
tree to tree you keep the trail though it may, underfoot, be overgrown
and indistinguishable.
If you must make a trail of your own, blaze it as you go by bending down
and breaking branches of trees, underbrush, and bushes. Let the broken
branches be on the side of bush or tree in the direction you are going,
but bent down away from that side, or toward the bush, so that the
lighter underside of the leaves will show and make a plain trail. Make
these signs conspicuous and close together, for in returning, a dozen
feet without the broken branch will sometimes confuse you, especially as
everything has a different look when seen from the opposite side. By
this same token it is a wise precaution to look back frequently as you
go and impress the homeward-bound landmarks on your memory. If in your
wanderings you have branched off and made ineffectual or blind trails
which lead nowhere, and, in returning to camp, you are led astray by one
of them, do not leave the false trail and strike out to make a new one,
but turn back and follow the false trail to its beginning, for it must
lead to the true trail again. _Don't lose sight of your broken
branches._
[Illustration: Blazing the trail by bending down and breaking branches.]
If you carry a hatchet or small axe you can make a permanent trail by
blazing the trees as the woodsmen do. Kephart advises blazing in this
way: make one blaze on the side of the tree away from the camp and two
blazes on the side toward the camp. Then when you return you look for
the _one_ blaze. In leaving camp again to follow the same trail, you
look for the _two_ blazes. If you should lose the trail and reach it
again you will know to a certainty which direction to take, for two
blazes mean _camp on this side_; one blaze, _away from camp on this
side_.
=To Know an Animal Trail=
To know an animal trail from one made by men is quite important. It is
easy to be led astray by animal trails, for they are often well defined
and, in some cases, well beaten. To the uninitiated the trails will
appear the same, but there is a difference which, in a recent number of
_Field and Stream_, Mr. Arthur Rice defines very clearly in this way:
"Men step _on_ things. Animals step _over_ or around things." Then again
an animal trail frequently passes under bushes and low branches of trees
where men would cut or break their way through. To follow an animal
trail is to be led sometimes to water, often to a bog or swamp, at times
to the animal's den, which in the case of a bear might not be exactly
pleasant.
[Illustration: Returning to camp by the blazed trail.
_Note the blazed trees._]
=Lost in the Woods=
We were in the wilderness of an Adirondack forest making camp for the
day and wanted to see the beaver-dam which, we were told, was on the
edge of a near-by lake. The guide was busy cooking dinner and we would
not wait for his leisure, but leaving the rest of the party, we started
off confidently, just two of us, down the perfectly plain trail. For a
short distance there was a beaten path, then, suddenly, the trail came
to an abrupt end. We looked this side and that. No trail, no appearance
of there ever having been one. With a careless wave of his arm, the
guide had said: "Keep in that direction." "That" being to the left, to
the left we therefore turned and stormed our way through thicket and
bramble, breaking branches as we went. Sliding down declivities,
scrambling over fallen trees, dipping beneath low-hung branches, we
finally came out upon the shore of the lake and found that we had struck
the exact spot where the beaver-dam was located.
It was only a short distance from camp and it had not taken us long to
make it, but when we turned back we warmly welcomed the sight of our
blazed trail, for all else was strange and unfamiliar. Going there had
been glimpses of the water now and then to guide us, returning we had no
landmarks. Even my sense of direction, usually to be relied on and upon
which I had been tempted to depend solely, seemed to play me false when
we reached a place where our blazing was lost sight of. The twilight
stillness of the great forest enveloped us; there was no sign of our
camp, no sound of voices. A few steps to our left the ground fell away
in a steep precipice which, in going, we had passed unnoticed and which,
for the moment, seemed to obstruct our way. Then turning to the right we
saw a streak of light through the trees that looked, at first, like
water where we felt sure no water could be if we were on the right path;
but we soon recognized this as smoke kept in a low cloud by the
trees--the smoke of our camp-fire. That was our beacon, and we were soon
on the trail again and back in camp. This is not told as an adventure,
but to illustrate the fact that without a well-blazed trail it is easier
to become lost in a strange forest than to find one's way.
You may strike the trail with the one object in view of reaching your
destination as quickly as possible. This will help you to become agile
and sure-footed, to cover long distances in a short time, but it will
not allow of much observation until your mind has become alert and your
eyes trained to see quickly the things of the forests and plains, and to
read their signs correctly. Unless there is necessity for haste, it is
better to take more time and look about you as you go. To hurry over the
trail is to lose much that is of interest and to pass by unseeingly
things of great beauty. When you are new to the trail and must hurry,
you are intent only on what is just before you--usually the feet of your
guide--or if you raise your eyes to glance ahead, you notice objects
simply as things to be reached and passed as quickly as possible.
Unhurried trailing will repay you by showing you what the world of the
wild contains.
Walking slowly you can realize the solemn stillness of the forest, can
take in the effect of the gray light which enfolds all things like a
veil of mystery. You can stop to examine the tiny-leafed, creeping vines
that cover the ground like moss and the structure of the soft mosses
with fronds like ferns. You can catch the jewel-like gleam of the wood
flowers. You can breathe deeply and rejoice in the perfume of the balsam
and pine. You can rest at intervals and wait quietly for evidences of
the animal life that you know is lurking, unseen, all around you; and
you can begin to perceive the protecting spirit of the wild that hovers
over all.
To walk securely, as the woodsmen walk, without tripping, stumbling, or
slipping, use the woodsmen's method of planting the entire foot on the
ground, with toes straight ahead, not turned out. If you put your heel
down first, while crossing on a slippery log as in ordinary walking, the
natural result will be a fall. With your entire foot as a base upon
which to rest, the body is more easily balanced and the foot less likely
to slip. When people slip and fall on the ice, it is because the edge of
the heel strikes the ice first and slides. The whole foot on the ice
would not slip in the same way, and very often not at all.
Trailing does not consist merely in walking along a path or in making
one for yourself. It has a larger meaning than that and embraces various
lines of outdoor life, while it always presupposes movement of some
kind. In one sense going on the trail means going on the hunt. You may
go on the trail for birds, for animals, for insects, plants, or flowers.
You may trail a party of friends ahead of you, or follow a deer to its
drinking-place; and in all these cases you must look for the signs of
that which you seek.
=Footprints or Tracks=
In trailing animals look for footprints in soft earth, sand, or snow.
The hind foot of the muskrat will leave a print in the mud like that of
a little hand, and with it will be the fore-foot print, showing but four
short fingers, and generally the streaks where the hard tail drags
behind. Fig. 4 shows what these look like. If you are familiar with the
dog track you will know something about the footprints of the fox, wolf,
and coyote, for they are much alike. Fig. 9 gives a clean track of the
fox, but often there is the imprint of hairs between and around the
toes. A wolf track is larger and is like Fig. 8. The footprint of a deer
shows the cloven hoof, with a difference between the buck's and the
doe's. The doe's toes are pointed and, when not spread, the track is
almost heart-shaped (Fig. 7), while the buck has blunter, more rounded
toes, like Fig. 10. The two round lobes are at the back of the foot,
the other end points in the direction the deer has taken. Sometimes you
will find deer tracks with the toes spread wide apart. That means the
animal has been running. All animals' toes spread more or less when they
run. A bear track is like Fig. 11, but a large bear often leaves other
evidences of his presence than his footprints. He will frequently turn a
big log over or tear one open in his search for ants. He will stand on
his hind legs and gnaw a hole in a dead tree or tall stump, and a
bee-tree will bear the marks of his climbing on its trunk. It is
interesting to find a tree with the scars of bruin's feet, made
prominent by small knobs where his claws have sunk into the bark. Each
scar swells and stands out like one of his toes. When you see bark
scraped off the trees some distance from the ground, you may be sure
that a horned animal has passed that way. Where the trees are not far
apart a wide-horned animal, like the bull moose, scrapes the bark with
his antlers as he passes.
[Illustration: Footprints of animals.
1 Caribou
2 Mink
3 Red Squirrel
4 Fore foot of Muskrat, Hind foot of Muskrat, Tail of Muskrat
5 Fisher
6 Canada Lynx]
The cat-like lynx leaves a cat-like track (Fig. 6), which shows no print
of the claws, and the mink's track is like Fig. 2. Rabbits' tracks are
two large oblongs, then two almost round marks. The oblongs are the
print of the large hind feet, which, with the peculiar gait of the
rabbit, always come first. The large, hind-feet tracks point the
direction the animal has taken. Fig. 1 is the track of the caribou, and
shows the print of the dew-claws, which are the two little toes up high
at the back of the foot. It is when the earth is soft and the foot sinks
in deeply that the dew-claws leave a print, or perhaps when the foot
spreads wide in running.
[Illustration: Footprints of animals.
7 Doe
8 Wolf
9 Fox
10 Buck
11 Bear
12 Sheep]
Fig. 3 is the print of the foot of a red squirrel. Fig. 5 is the
fisher's track, and Fig. 12 is that of a sheep. Pig tracks are much like
those of sheep, but wider. When you have learned to recognize the
varying freshness of tracks you will know how far ahead the animal
probably is. Other tracks you will learn as you become more familiar
with the animals, and you will also be able to identify the tracks of
the wild birds.
CHAPTER II
WOODCRAFT
=Trees. Practical Use of Compass. Direction of Wind. Star Guiding. What
to Do When Lost in the Woods. How to Chop Wood. How to Fell Trees.=
=Trees=
While on the trail you will find a knowledge of trees most useful, and
you should be able to recognize different species by their manner of
growth, their bark and foliage.
=Balsam-Fir=
One of the most important trees for the trailer to know is the
balsam-fir, for of this the best of outdoor beds are made. In shape the
tree is like our Christmas-trees--in fact, many Christmas-trees are
balsam-fir.
The sweet, aromatic perfume of the balsam needles is a great aid in
identifying it. The branches are flat and the needles appear to grow
from the sides of the stem. The little twist at the base of the needle
causes it to seem to grow merely in the straight, outstanding row on
each side of the stem; look closely and you will see the twist.
The needles are flat and short, hardly one inch in length; they are
grooved along the top and the ends are decidedly blunt; in color they
are dark bluish-green on the upper side and silvery-white underneath.
The bark is gray, and you will find little gummy blisters on the
tree-trunk. From these the healing Canada balsam is obtained. The short
cones, often not over two inches in length, the longest seldom more than
four inches, stand erect on top of the small branches, and when young
are of a purplish color.
From Maine to Minnesota the balsam-fir grows in damp woods and mountain
bogs, and you will find it southward along the Alleghany Mountains from
Pennsylvania to North Carolina.
=Spruce=
The spruce, red, black, and white, differs in many respects from the
balsam-fir: the needles are sharp-pointed, not blunt, and instead of
being flat like the balsam-fir, they are four-sided and cover the
branchlet on all sides, causing it to appear rounded or bushy and not
flat. The spruce-gum sought by many is found in the seams of the bark,
which, unlike the smooth balsam-fir, is scaly and of a brown color.
Early spring is the time to look for spruce-gum. Spruce is a soft wood,
splits readily and is good for the frames and ribs of boats, also for
paddles and oars, and the bark makes a covering for temporary shelters.
=Hemlock=
This tree is good for thatching a lean-to when balsam-fir is not to be
found, and its bark can be used in the way of shingles.
The cones are small and hang down from the branches; they do not stand
up alert like those of the balsam-fir, nor are they purple in color,
being rather of a bright red-brown, and when very young, tan color. The
wood is not easy to split--don't try it, or your hatchet will suffer in
consequence and the pieces will be twisted as a usual thing. The
southern variety, however, often splits straight.
[Illustration: Horse-chestnut.
Sugar-maple.
Alder.
Ink impressions of leaves.]
[Illustration: Balsam-Fir.
Spruce.
Hemlock.]
[Illustration: White oak.
Linden.
Ink impressions of leaves.]
[Illustration: Pitch-pine and cone.
Sycamore leaf and fruit of sycamore.
(The buttonball.)]
=Pine=
The pine-tree accommodates itself to almost any kind of soil, high, low,
moist, or dry, often growing along the edge of the water.
The gray pine is sometimes used for making the skeleton of a canoe or
other boats, and the white pine for the skin or covering of the skeleton
boat; but for you the pine will probably be most useful in furnishing
pine-knots, and its soft wood for kindling your outdoor fire.
The trees mentioned abound in our northern forests. The birch in its
different varieties is there also, but rarely ventures into the densest
woods, preferring to remain near and on its outskirts. However, none of
these trees confine themselves strictly to one locality.
Oaks, hickory, chestnut, maples, and sycamore are among the useful woods
for campers.
Learn the quality and nature of the different trees. Each variety is
distinct from the others: some woods are easy to split, such as spruce,
chestnut, balsam-fir, etc.; some very strong, as locust, oak, hickory,
sugar-maple, etc.; then there are the hard and soft woods mentioned in
fire-making.
When you once understand the characteristics of the different woods, and
their special qualifications, becoming familiar with only two or three
varieties at a time, the trees will be able to help you according to
their special powers. You would not go to a musician to have a portrait
painted, for while the musician might give you wonderful music he would
be helpless as far as painting a picture was concerned, and so it is
with trees. They cannot all give the same thing; if you want soft wood,
it is wasting your time to go to hardwood trees; they cannot give you
what they do not possess. Know the possibilities of trees and they will
not fail you.
=How to Chop Wood=
Trailing and camping both mean wood-chopping to some extent for
shelters, fires, etc., and the girl of to-day should understand, as did
the girls of our pioneer families, how to handle properly a hatchet, or
in this case we will make it a belt axe. There is a small hatchet
modelled after the Daniel Boone tomahawk, generally known as the "camp
axe." It is thicker, narrower, and has a sharper edge than an ordinary
hatchet. It comes of a size to wear on the belt and must be securely
protected by a well-fitted strong leather sheath; otherwise it will
endanger not only the life of the girl who carries it, but also the
lives of her companions. With the camp axe (hatchet) you can cut down
small trees, chop fire-wood, blaze trees, drive down pegs or stakes, and
chop kindling-wood. Every time you want to use the hatchet take the
precaution to examine it thoroughly and reassure yourself that the tool
is in good condition and that the _head_ is _on firm_ and _tight_; be
positive of this.
Great caution must be taken when chopping kindling-wood, as often
serious accidents occur through ignorance or carelessness. Do not raise
one end of a stick up on a log with the other end down on the ground and
then strike the centre of the stick a sharp blow with the sharp edge of
your hatchet; the stick will break, but one end usually flies up with
considerable force and very often strikes the eye of the worker, ruining
the sight forever. Take the blunt end of your hatchet and do not give a
very hard blow on the stick you wish to break; exert only force
sufficient to break it partially, merely enough to enable you to finish
the work with your hands and possibly one knee. It may require a little
more time, but your eyes will be unharmed, which makes it worth while.
Often children use a heavy stone to break kindling-wood, with no
disastrous results that I know of. The heavy stone does not seem to
cause the wood to fly upward.
[Illustration: Stand on the log when you chop it.
13 14 15 16
17 For safety.
The stump will be like this on top when the tree is down.
How to use the axe.]
=How to Chop Logs=
Practise on small, slender logs, chopping them in short lengths until
you understand something of the woodsman's art of "logging up a tree";
then and not until then should you attempt to cut heavier wood.
If you are sure-footed and absolutely certain that you can stand firmly
on the log without teetering or swaying when leaning over, do so. You
can then chop one side of the log half-way through and turn around and
chop the other side until the second notch or "kerf" is cut through to
the first one on the opposite side, and the two pieces fall apart. While
working stand on the log with feet wide apart and chop the _side_ of the
log (not the top) on the space in front between your feet. Make your
first chip quite long, and have it equal in length the diameter of the
log. If the chip is short, the opening of the kerf will be narrow and
your hatchet will become wedged, obliging you to double your labor by
enlarging the kerf. Greater progress will be made by chopping diagonally
across the grain of the wood, and the work will be easier. It is
difficult to cut squarely against the grain and this is always avoided
when possible. After you have cut the first chip in logging up a tree,
chop on the base of the chip, swinging your hatchet from the opposite
direction, and the chip will fall to the ground.
Having successfully chopped off one piece of the log, it will be a
simple matter to cut off more. Chop slowly, easily, and surely. Don't be
in a hurry and exhaust yourself; only a novice overexerts and tries to
make a deep cut with the hatchet.
Be careful of the blade of your hatchet; keep it free from the ground
when chopping, to avoid striking snags, stones, or other things liable
to nick or dull the edge.
=How to Fell a Tree=
Content yourself with chopping down only slender trees, mere saplings,
at first, and as you acquire skill, slightly heavier trees can be
felled. Begin in the right way with your very first efforts and follow
the woodsman's method.
Having selected the tree you desire to cut down, determine in which
direction you want it to fall and mark that side, but first make sure
that when falling, the tree will not lodge in another one near by or
drop on one of the camp shelters. See that the way is free of hindrance
before cutting the tree, also _clear the way_ for the swing of your
extended _hatchet_. If there are obstacles, such as vines, bushes, limbs
of other trees, or rocks, which your hatchet might strike as you raise
and lower it while at work, clear them all away, making a generous open
space on all sides, overhead, on the right and left side, and below the
swing of the hatchet. Take no chance of having an accident, as would
occur should the hatchet become entangled or broken.
You may have noticed that the top surface of most stumps has a
splintered ridge across its centre, and on one side of the ridge the
wood is lower than on the other; this is because of the manner in which
a woodsman fells a tree. If he wants the tree to fall toward the west he
marks the west side of the trunk; then he marks the top and bottom of
the space he intends chopping out for the first kerf or notch (Fig. 13,
_A_ and _B_), making the length of space a trifle longer than one-half
of the tree diameter. The kerf is chopped out by cutting first from the
top _A_, then from the bottom _B_ (Fig. 14). When the first kerf is
finished and cut half-way through the tree, space for the kerf on the
opposite side of the tree is marked a few inches higher than the first
one (Fig. 15, _C_ and _D_) and then it also is cut (Fig. 16).
After you have chopped the two kerfs in a tree, you will know when it is
about to fall by the creaking and the slight movement of its top. Step
to _one side_ of the falling tree, never behind or in front of it;
either of the last two ways would probably mean death: if in front, the
tree would fall on you, and if at the back, you would probably be
terribly injured if not killed, as trees often kick backward with
tremendous force as they go down; so be on your guard, keep cool, and
deliberately step to the side of the tree and watch it fall.
Choose a quiet day, when there is no wind, for tree-felling. You cannot
control the wind, and it may control your tree.
Never allow your hatchet to lie on the ground, a menace to every one at
camp, but have a particular log or stump and always strike the blade in
this wood. Leave your hatchet there, where it will not be injured, can
do no harm, and you will always know where to find it (Fig. 17).
=Etiquette of the Wild=
Translated this means "_hands off_." The unwritten law of the woods is
that personal property cached in trees, underbrush, beneath stones, or
hidden underground must never be _taken_, _borrowed_, _used_, or
_molested_.
Canoes and oars will often be discovered left by owners, sometimes
fastened at the water's edge, again suspended from trees, and the
temptation to borrow may be strong, but remember such an act would be
dishonorable and against the rules that govern the outdoor world.
Provisions, tools, or other articles found in the forests should be
respected and allowed to remain where they are. It is customary for
campers to cache their belongings with the assurance that forest
etiquette will be held inviolate and their goods remain unmolested.
Every one has the privilege of examining and enjoying the beauties of
mosses, berries, and wild flowers, but do not take these treasures from
their homes to die and be thrown aside. Love them well enough to let
them stay where they are for others also to enjoy, unless you need
specimens for some important special study.
A man who had always lived in the Adirondack forests, and at present is
proprietor of an Adirondack hotel, recently reforested many acres of his
wooded wild lands by planting through the forests little young trees,
some not over one foot high, and his indignation was great when he
discovered that many of his guests when off on tramps returned laden
with these baby trees, which were easily pulled up by the roots because
so lately planted.
=Finding Your Way by Natural Signs and the Compass=
An important phase of woodcraft is the ability to find your way in the
wilderness by means of natural signs as well as the compass. If,
however, you do not know at what point of the compass from you the camp
lies, the signs can be of no avail. Having this knowledge, the signs
will be invaluable.
_Get your bearings before leaving camp._ Do not depend upon any member
of the party, but know for yourself.
If you have a map giving the topography of land surrounding the
camping-grounds, consult it. Burn into your memory the direction _from_
camp of outlying landmarks, those near and those as far off as you can
see in all directions. The morning you leave camp, ascertain the
direction of the wind and notice particularly the sun and shadows. If
it is early morning, face the sun and you will be looking toward the
east. Stretch out both arms at your sides and point with your
index-fingers; your right finger will point to the south, your left to
the north, and your back will be toward the west. What landmarks do you
see east of the camp? South? North? West? And from what point of the
compass does the wind blow? If it comes from the west and you trail
eastward, the wind will strike your back going away from camp and should
strike your face returning, provided its direction does not change.
Again, if you go east, your camp will lie west of you, and your homeward
path must be westward. Consult your compass and know exactly which
direction you take when leaving camp, and blaze your trail as you go,
looking backward frequently to see how landmarks should appear as you
face them returning.
With all these friends to guide you, first, the map; second, sun; third,
shadows; fourth, wind; fifth, compass; sixth, your bent-twig blazing,
there will be little, if any, danger of being lost. But you must
constantly keep on the alert and refer frequently to these guides,
especially when deflecting from the course first taken after leaving
camp. At every turning, stop and take your bearings anew; you cannot be
too careful.
These signs are for daylight; at night the North Star will be your
guide.
=Sunlight and Shadow=
Bearing in mind that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, it
will be comparatively easy to keep your right course by consulting the
sun. A fair idea may also be gained of the time of day by the length of
shadows, if you remember that shadows are long in the morning and
continue to grow shorter until midday, when they again begin to
lengthen, growing longer and longer until night.
To find the direction of the sun on a cloudy day, hold a flat splinter
or your knife blade vertically, so that it is absolutely straight up and
down. Place the point of the blade on your thumb-nail, watch-case, or
other glossy surface; then turn the knife or splinter around until the
full shadow of the flat of blade or splinter falls on the bright
surface, telling the location of the sun.
An open spot where the sun can cast a clear shadow, and an hour when the
sun is not immediately overhead, will give best results.
=Wind=
The wind generally blows in the same direction all day, and if you learn
to understand its ways, the wind will help you keep the right trail.
Make a practise of testing the direction of the wind every morning.
Notice the leaves on bush and tree, in what direction they move. Place a
few bits of paper on your open hand and watch in which way the wind
carries them; if there is no paper, try the test with dry leaves, grass,
or anything light and easily carried by the breeze. Smoke will also show
the direction of the wind.
When the wind is very faint, put your finger in your mouth, wet it on
all sides, and hold it up; the side on which the wind blows will feel
cool and tell from what quarter the wind comes: if on the east side of
your finger, the wind blows from the east, and so on. Keep testing the
direction of the wind as you trail, and if at any time it cools a
different side of the finger, you will know that you are not walking in
the same direction as when you left camp and must turn until the wet
finger tells you which way to go. The wind is a good guide so long as
it keeps blowing in the same direction as when you left camp.
=Use of Compass=
Should you be on the trail and sudden storm-clouds appear, the sun
cannot help you find your way; the shadows have gone. Moss on
tree-trunks is not an infallible guide and you must turn to the compass
to show the way, but unless you understand its language you will not
know what it is telling you. Learn the language before going to camp; it
is not difficult.
Hold the compass out in a _level position_ directly in front of you; be
_sure_ it is level; then decide to go north. Consult the compass and
ascertain in which direction the north lies. The compass needle points
directly north with the north end of the needle; this end is usually
black, sometimes pearl. Let your eye follow straight along the line
pointed out by the needle; as you look ahead select a landmark--tree,
rock, pond, or whatever may lie in that direction. Choose an object
quite a distance off on the imaginary line, go directly toward it, and
when intervening objects obscure the landmark, refer to your compass. If
you have turned from the pathway north, face around and readjust your
steps in the right direction. Do not let over two minutes pass without
making sure by the compass that you are going on the right path, going
directly north.
[Illustration: Mariner's Compass.]
[Illustration: Common Compass.]
[Illustration: Big Dipper.
Little Dipper.
The compass and the North Star.]
Practise using the compass for a guide until you understand it; have
faith in it and you may fearlessly trust to its guidance. Try going
according to various points of the compass: suppose you wish to go
southeast, the compass tells you this as plainly as the north; try it.
Naturally, if you go to the southeast away from camp, returning will
be in exactly the opposite direction, and coming back to camp you must
walk northwest. After learning to go in a straight line, guided entirely
by the compass, try a zigzag path. A group of girls will find it good
sport to practise trailing with the compass, and they will at the same
time learn how to avoid being lost and how to help others find their
way. It is possible to
=Make a Compass of Your Watch=
Besides keeping you company with its friendly nearness, its ticking and
its ready answers to your questions regarding the time, a watch in the
woods and fields has another use, for it can be used as a compass. It
will show just where the south is, then by turning your back on the
south you face the north, and on your right is the east and on your left
the west. These are the rules:
With your watch in a horizontal position point the hour-hand to the sun,
and if before noon, half-way between the hour hand and 12 is due south.
If it is afternoon calculate the opposite way. For instance, if at 8 A.
M. you point the hour-hand to the sun, 10 will point to the south, for
that is half-way between 8 and 12. If at 2 P. M. you point the hour-hand
to the sun, look back to 12, and half the distance will be at 1,
therefore 1 points to the south.
An easy way to get the direction of the sun without looking directly at
it is by means of the shadow of a straight, slender stick or grass stem
thrown on the horizontal face of your watch. Hold the stick upright with
the lower end touching the watch at the _point_ of the hour-hand, then
turn the watch until the shadow of the stick falls along the hour-hand.
This will point the hand undeviatingly toward the sun.
=Mountain Climbing=
The campers should go together to climb the mountain, never one girl
alone.
Before starting, find a strong stick to use as a staff; stow away some
luncheon in one of your pockets; see that your camera is in perfect
order, ready to use at a moment's notice; that your water-proof
match-box is in your pocket filled with safety matches, your
pocket-knife safe with you, also watch and compass, and that the tin cup
is on your belt. Your whistle being always hung around your neck will,
of course, be there as usual.
When you are ready, stand still and look about you once more to make
sure of your bearings; close your eyes and tell yourself exactly what
you have seen. After leaving camp and arriving at the foot of the
mountain, take your bearings anew; then look up ahead and select a
certain spot which you wish to reach on the upward trail. Having this
definite object in view will help in making better progress and save
your walking around in a circle, which is always the tendency when in a
strange place and intervening trees or elevations obstruct the view, or
when not sure of the way and trying to find it.
Begin blazing the trail at your first step up the mountain side. Even
though there may be a trail already, you cannot be sure that it will
continue; it is much safer to depend upon your own blazing.
Often in trailing along the mountain you will find huge rocks and steep
depressions, or small lakes which you cannot cross over but must go
around, and in so doing change your direction, perhaps strike off at an
angle. Before making the detour, search out some large landmark, readily
recognized after reaching the other side of the obstruction, a tall,
peculiarly shaped tree or other natural feature. Now is the time to try
earnestly to keep the landmark in sight as long as possible and to be
able to recognize it when you see it again. Watch your compass and the
sun that you may continue in the right direction after circling the
obstruction. Go slow in climbing, take your time and don't get out of
breath.
On many mountains the possibility of unexpected fogs exists, and safety
requires that the party be linked together with a soft rope; the same
precaution should be taken when the trail is very rough, steep, and
rocky. The camper at the head of the line should tie the rope in a
bow-line around her waist, with knot on left side, and eight or ten feet
from her the next girl should link herself to the rope in the same
manner; then another girl, and another, until the entire party is on the
rope.
The leader starts on the trail and the others, holding fast to their
staffs, carefully follow, each one cautious to keep the rope stretching
out in front of her rather taut; then if one girl stumbles the others
brace themselves and keep her from falling.
When descending the mountain, be careful to get a firm footing. Instead
of facing the trail, it is safer to turn sideways, so that you can place
the entire foot down and not risk the toes only, or the heels. Often
coming down either a steep hill or a mountain is more difficult than
going up.
=Lost in the Woods=
It is not at all probable that you will lose your way while on the
trail, but if you should find yourself lost in the woods or in the open,
the first thing to do is to remember that a brave girl does not get into
a panic and so rob herself of judgment and the power to think clearly
and act quickly. Believe firmly that you are _safe_, then sit down
quietly and think out a plan of finding your way. Try to remember from
which direction you have come and to recall landmarks. If you cannot do
this, do not be frightened and do not allow any thought of possible harm
to get a foothold in your mind. If there is a hill near, from which you
can see any distance, climb that and get an outlook. You may be able to
see the smoke of your camp-fire, which, after all, cannot be so far
away. You may find a landmark that you do remember. If you see nothing
which you can recognize, make a signal flag of your handkerchief and put
it up high, as high as you can. Your friends will be looking for that.
Then give the lost signal, one long blast with your whistle, and after a
short pause follow with two more blasts in quick succession. If you have
no whistle shout, loud and long, then wait a while, keeping eyes and
ears open to see and hear answering signals. If there is none, again
shout the lost signal and continue the calls every little while for
quite a time. Another call for help is the ascending smoke of three
fires. This, of course, is for daylight. Build your fires some distance
apart, twenty-five feet or more, that the smoke from each may be clearly
seen alone, not mingled with the rest. Aim to create _smoke_ rather than
flame; a slender column of smoke can be seen a long distance, therefore
the fire need not be large. Choose for your fires as clear a space and
as high an elevation as can be found, and in the relief and excitement
of rescue _do not forget to extinguish every spark_ before leaving the
ground.
If you decide to keep moving, blaze your trail as you go, so that it may
be followed and also that you may know if you cross it again yourself.
You can blaze the trail by breaking or bending small branches on trees
and bushes, or by small strips torn from your handkerchief and tied
conspicuously on twigs. If you are where there are no trees or
undergrowth, build small piles of stones or little hills of earth at
intervals to mark your trail.
If night overtakes you, look for the _North Star_. That will help if you
know at what point of the compass your camp lies, and if you remember
whether your course in leaving camp was to the north, south, east, or
west, you can calculate pretty accurately whether the camp is to the
north, south, east, or west of you.
In case the night must be spent where you are, go about making a
shelter, prepare as comfortable a bed as possible, and do _not_ be
afraid. You will probably be found before morning, and you must be found
in good physical condition.
If you can kindle a fire, do it; that will help to guide your friends
and will ward off wild creatures that might startle you. Keep your fire
going all night and take care that it does not spread.
It is better to remain quietly in one spot all night than to wander
about in the dark and perhaps stumble upon dangerous places. If, when
you find the points of the compass by the _North Star_, you mark them
plainly on a stone or fallen log, they will be a ready guide for you as
soon as daylight breaks.
The last word on this subject is: _Do not be afraid_.
=To Find Your Way by the North Star=
At night you will have the same reliable guide that has ever been the
mariner's friend, and if you do not know this star guide, lose no time
in finding it.
Polaris or pole-star is known generally as North Star, and this star is
most important to the outdoor girl. At all times the North Star marks
the north, its position never changes, and seeing that star and _knowing
it_, you will always know the points of the compass. Face the North
Star and you face the north. At your right hand is the east, at your
left hand is the west, and at your back is the south.
The North Star does not look very important because it is not very
bright or very large, and were it not for the help of the Big Dipper,
which every one knows, the North Star would not be easy to find. The
diagram given on page 37 shows the relative position of the stars and
will help you to find the North Star. The two stars forming the front
side of the bowl of the Great Dipper point almost in a direct line to
the North Star, which is the last one in the handle of the Little
Dipper, or the tail of the Little Bear, which means the same thing.
CHAPTER III
CAMPING
=Camp Sites. Water. Wood. Tents. Shelters. Lean-Tos. Fires. Cooking.
Safety and Protection. Sanitation. Camp Spirit.=
=Information=
Whether your camp is to be for one day, one week, or a longer period of
time, the first question to be decided is: "Where shall we go?" If you
know of no suitable spot, inquire of friends, and even if they have not
personally enjoyed the delights of camping and sleeping in the open, one
or more of them will probably know of some acquaintance who will be glad
to give the information. Write to the various newspapers, magazines,
railroads, and outdoor societies for suggestions. The Geological Survey
of the United States at Washington, D. C., will furnish maps giving
location and extent of forests and water-ways, also location and
character of roads; you can obtain the maps for almost any part of every
State. Most public automobile houses supply maps of any desired region.
Send letters of inquiry to these sources of information, and in this way
you will probably learn of many "just the right place" localities.
Select a number of desirable addresses, investigate them, and make your
own choice of location, remembering that the first three essentials for
a camp are good ground, water, and wood; the rest is easy, for these
three form the foundation for camping.
=Location=
Wherever you go, choose a dry spot, preferably in an open space near
wooded land. Avoid hollows where the water will run into your shelters
in wet weather; let your camp be so located that in case of rain the
water will drain down away from it. Remember this or you may find your
camp afloat upon a temporary lake or swamp should a storm arise.
=Water=
Pure drinking water you _must_ have, it is of _vital_ importance, so be
sure to pitch your camp within near walking distance of a good spring, a
securely covered well, or other supply of pure water.
Henry David Thoreau's method of obtaining clear water from a pond whose
surface was covered with leaves, etc., was to push his pail, without
tipping it in the least, straight down under the water until the top
edge was below the surface several inches, then quickly lift it out; in
doing this the overflow would carry off all leaves and twigs, leaving
the remaining water in the pail clear and good. But you must first be
sure that the pond contains pure water under the floating débris.
Always be cautious about drinking water from rivers, streams, ponds, and
lakes though they may appear ever so clear and tempting, for the purity
is by no means assured, and to drink from these sources may cause
serious illness. Unless you are absolutely sure that water is free from
impurities, _boil it_; then it will be safe to use for drinking and
cooking.
Next in importance to good water is good fire-wood and woodsy material
for shelters and beds. Bear this in mind when deciding upon the site for
your camp.
=Companions=
Because your companions can make or mar the happiness in camp, it is
safer to have in your party only those girls who will take kindly to the
camp spirit of friendly helpfulness, those always ready to laugh and
treat discomforts as jokes. This means that though fun-loving and full
of buoyancy and life, each girl will willingly do her part and assume
her share of responsibilities.
=Safeguarding=
You should also count among your companions two or more camp
directors--possibly mothers of the girls, teachers, or older friends of
whom the parents approve--who will enter heartily into all phases of
outdoor life and while really being one with you in sport and work, will
at the same time keep careful oversight and assure protection.
Avoid localities where there is a possibility of tramps or undesirable
characters of any description, and do not wander from camp alone or
unaccompanied by one of the directors. If your camp is in the forest it
will be the part of wisdom to secure also a reliable guide who knows the
forest ways.
=The Start=
The day before you leave for your camping-ground, have everything in
readiness that there may be no delay when it is time to go. Be prompt,
for you want to play fair and not keep the other girls waiting, causing
them to lose valuable time.
The stimulating exhilaration which comes with trailing through the
forests to camp, the keen delight of adventure, the charm of the
wilderness, the freedom and wonder of living in the woods, all make for
the health and happiness of the girl camper, and once experienced, ever
after with the advent of spring comes the call of the untrammelled life
in the big outdoors.
=The One-Day Camp=
Even a one-day camp fills the hours with more genuine lasting enjoyment
than girls can find in other ways; there is a charm about it which
clings in your memory, making a joy, later, of the mere thought and
telling of the event.
That every moment of the day may be filled full of enjoyment for all,
have a good programme, some definite, well-thought-out plan of
activities and sports previously prepared, and if possible let every
girl know beforehand just what she is to do when all arrive at camp.
With an older person in charge, the party could be divided, according to
its size, into different groups, and as soon as the grounds are reached
the groups should begin the fun of preparing for the camp dinner.
If the party consists of eight, two can gather fire-wood, two build the
fireplace, two unpack the outfits, placing the provisions and cooking
utensils in order conveniently near the fire, and two can bring the
drinking water and cooking water.
Provisions and cooking utensils should be divided into as many packs as
there are campers, and every camper carry a pack. Count in the outfit
for each one a tin cup, preferably with open handle for wearing over
belt.
In the one-day camp very few cooking utensils are needed; they may
consist of two tin pails, one for drinking water, the other for boiling
water, one coffee-pot for cocoa, one frying-pan for flapjacks or eggs,
one large kitchen knife for general use, and one large spoon for
stirring batter and cocoa.
=Camp Dinner=
Counting on a keen outdoor appetite for wholesome substantials, the
provision list includes only plain fare, such as: Lamb chops, or thinly
sliced bacon packed in oil-paper. Dry cocoa to which sugar has been
added, carried in can or stout paper bag. One can of condensed milk,
unsweetened, to be diluted with water according to directions on can.
Butter in baking-powder can. Dry flour mixed with salt and baking-powder
in required proportions for flapjacks, packed in strong paper bag and
carried in one of the tin pails. Bread in loaf wrapped in wax-paper.
Potatoes washed and dried ready to cook, packed in paper bag or carried
in second tin pail. Pepper and salt each sealed in separate marked
envelopes; when needed, perforate paper with big pin and use envelopes
as shakers. One egg for batter, buried in the flour to prevent breaking,
and one small can of creamy maple sugar, soft enough to spread on hot
cakes, or a can of ordinary maple syrup.
=The Clean-Up=
While resting after dinner is the time for story-telling; then, before
taking part in sports of any kind, every particle of débris, even small
bits of egg-shell and paper, should be gathered up and burned until not
a vestige remains. To be "good sports," thought must be taken for the
next comers and the camping-ground left in perfect order, absolutely
free from litter or débris of any kind.
When breaking camp be _sure_ to soak the fire with water again and
again. It is criminal to leave any coals or even a spark of the fire
smouldering.
Be _positive_ that the _fire is out_.
[Illustration: A permanent camp.]
=Shelters and Tents. Lean-To=
For a fixed camp of longer or shorter duration your home will be under
the shelter of boughs, logs, or canvas. The home of green boughs is
considered by many the ideal of camp shelters. This you can make for
yourself. It is a simple little two-sided, slanting roof and back and
open-front shed, made of the material of the woods and generally known
as a lean-to, sometimes as Baker tent when of canvas.
There are three ways of erecting the front framework.
The first is to find two trees standing about seven feet apart with
convenient branches down low enough to support the horizontal top cross
pole when laid in the crotches. Lacking the proper trees, the second
method is to get two strong, straight, forked poles of green wood and
drive them down into the ground deep enough to make them stand firm and
upright by themselves the required distance apart. The third way is to
reinforce the uprights by shorter forked stakes driven firmly into the
ground and braced against the uprights, but this is not often necessary.
Having your uprights in place, extending above ground five feet or more,
lay a top pole across, fitting its ends into the forked tops of the
uprights. Against this top pole rest five or six slender poles at
regular distances apart, one end of each against the top pole and the
other end on the ground slanting outward and backward sufficiently to
give a good slope and allow sleeping space beneath. At right angles to
the slanting poles, lay across them other poles, using the natural pegs
or stumps left on the slanting poles by lopped-off branches, as braces
to hold the cross poles in place (Fig. 18).
[Illustration: 18
21 19
20
Outdoor shelters.]
When building the frame be sure to place the slanting poles so that
the little stumps left on them will turn _up_ and not down, that they
may hold the cross poles. Try to have spaces between cross poles as
regular as possible. A log may be rolled up against the ground ends of
the slanting poles to prevent their slipping, though this is rarely
necessary, for they stand firm as a rule.
You can cover the frame with bark and then thatch it, which will render
the shelter better able to withstand a storm, or you may omit the bark,
using only the thatch as a covering. Put on very thick, this should make
the lean-to rain-proof.
With small tips of branches from trees, preferably balsam, hemlock, or
other evergreens, begin thatching your shelter. Commence at the bottom
of the lean-to, and hook on the thatch branches close together all the
way across the lowest cross pole, using the stumps of these thatch
branches as hooks to hold the thatch in place on the cross pole (Fig.
19). Overlap the lower thatches as you work along the next higher cross
pole, like shingles on a house, and continue in this way, overlapping
each succeeding cross pole with an upper row of thatch until the top is
reached. Fill in the sides thick with branches, boughs, or even small,
thick trees.
The lean-to frame can be covered with your poncho in case of necessity,
but boughs are much better.
=Permanent Camp. Lean-To. Open Camp=
Another kind of lean-to intended for a permanent camp is in general use
throughout the Adirondacks. It is built of substantial good-sized logs
put together log-cabin fashion, with open front, slanting roof, and low
back (Fig. 20). This shelter has usually a board floor raised a few
inches above the ground and covered thick, at least a foot deep, with
balsam. Overspread with blankets, the soft floor forms a comfortable
bed. A log across the front of the floor keeps the balsam in place and
forms a seat for the campers in the evenings when gathered for a social
time before the fire. The roof of the log lean-to can be either of
boards or well-thatched poles which have first been overlaid with bark.
[Illustration: 23 24
22
Dining-tent, handy racks, and log bedstead.]
One of the most comfortable and delightful of real forest camps which I
have ever been in, was a permanent camp in the Adirondacks owned and run
by one of the best of Adirondack guides. The camp consisted of several
shelters and two big permanent fireplaces.
Over the ground space for the large tent outlined with logs was a strong
substantial rustic frame, built of material at hand in the forest and
intended to last many seasons (Fig. 21). The shelter boasted of two
springy, woodsy beds, made of slender logs laid crosswise and raised
some inches from the ground. These slender logs slanted down slightly
from head to foot of the bed, and the edges of the bed were built high
enough to hold the deep thick filling of balsam tips, so generously deep
as to do away with all consciousness of the underlying slender-log
foundation (Fig. 22). Each bed was wide enough for two girls and the
shelter ample to accommodate comfortably four campers. There could have
been one more bed, when the tent would have sheltered six girls.
In the late fall, the guide removed the water-proof tent covering and
kept it in a safe, dry place until needed, leaving the beds and bare
tent frame standing.
There was a smaller tent and also a lean-to in this camp.
[Illustration: A forest camp by the water.]
The dining-table, contrived of logs and boards, was sheltered by a
square of canvas on a rustic frame (Fig. 23). The camp dishes of white
enamel ware were kept in a wooden box, nailed to a close-by tree; in
this box the guide had put shelves, resting them on wooden cleats. The
cupboard had a door that shut tight and fastened securely to keep out
the little wild creatures of the woods. Pots, kettles, frying-pan, etc.,
hung on the stubs of a slender tree where branches and top had been
lopped off (Fig. 24). The sealed foods were stowed away in a box
cupboard, and canned goods were cached in a cave-like spot under a huge
rock, with opening secured by stones.
The walls of the substantial fireplace, fully two feet high, were of big
stones, the centre filled in part-way with earth, and the cook-fire was
made on top of the earth, so there was not the slightest danger of the
fire spreading.
The soft, warm, cheerful-colored camp blankets when not in use were
stored carefully under cover of a water-proof tent-like storehouse, with
the canvas sides dropped from the ridge-pole, both sides and flaps
securely fastened and the entire storehouse made proof against
intrusion.
This camp was located near a lake in the mountain forest and its charm
was indescribably delightful.
=Tents=
Tents in almost endless variety of shapes and sizes are manufactured and
sold by camp-outfitters and sporting-goods shops. The tents range from
small canoe-tents, accommodating one person only, to the large
wall-tents for four or more people. When using tents, difficulties of
transportation and extra weight can be overcome by having tent poles and
pegs cut in the forest.
If you purchase tents, full instructions for erection go with them.
Write for illustrated catalogues to various outfitters and look the
books over carefully before buying. Your choice will depend upon your
party, length of stay, and location of camp.
You may be able to secure a discarded army-tent that has never been
used, is in good condition, and has been condemned merely for some
unimportant blemish. Such tents are very serviceable and can be
purchased at Government auctions, or from dealers who themselves have
bought them from the Government.
[Illustration: In camp.]
A large square seven by seven feet, or more, of balloon silk,
water-proof cloth, or even heavy unbleached sheeting, will be found most
useful in camp. Sew strong tape strings at the four corners and at
intervals along the sides for tying to shelters, etc. The water-proof
cloth will serve as a drop-curtain in front of the lean-to during a hard
storm, or as carpet cloth over ground of shelter, also as an extra
shelter, either lean-to or tent style; any of the three materials can do
duty as windbreak, fly to shelter, or dining canopy, and may be used in
other ways.
=Camp-Beds=
To derive joy and strength from your outing it is of serious importance
that you sleep well every night while at camp, and your camp-bed must be
comfortable to insure a good night's rest.
A bough-bed is one of the joys of the forest when it is _well made_, and
to put it together properly will require about half an hour's time, but
the delight of sleeping on a soft balsam bed perfumed with the pungent
odors of the balsam will well repay for the time expended.
[Illustration: 25 26
The bough-bed, the cook-fire, and the wall-tent.]
=Bough-Bed=
Tips of balsam broken off with your fingers about fourteen inches long
make the best of beds, but hemlock, spruce, and other evergreens can be
used; if they are not obtainable, the fan-like branches from other trees
may take their place. Of these you will need a large quantity, in
order to have the bed springy and soft. Always place the outdoor bed
with the head well under cover and foot toward the opening of shelter,
or if without shelter, toward the fire. Make the bed by arranging the
branches shingle-like in _very_ thick overlapping rows, convex side up,
directly on the ground with _thick end_ of stems _toward_ the _foot_.
Push these ends into the ground so that the tips will be raised
slantingly up from the earth; make the rows which will come under the
hips extra thick and springy. Continue placing the layers in this manner
until the space for single or double bed, as the case may be, is covered
with the first layer of your green mattress. Over it make another layer
of branches, reversing the ends of these tips from those underneath by
pushing the _thick ends_ of branches of this top layer slantingly into
the under layer _toward_ the _head_ of the bed with tips toward the
foot. Make more layers, until the bed is about two feet thick (Fig. 25);
then cover the mattress thus made with your poncho, rubber side down,
and on top spread one of the sleeping blankets, using the other one as a
cover. Be sure to allow plenty of time for this work and have the bed
dry and soft.
=Bag-Bed=
When the camp is located where there is no material for a bough-bed,
each girl can carry with her a bag three feet wide and six and one-half
feet long, made of strong cloth, ticking, soft khaki, or like material,
to be filled with leaves, grass, or other browse found on or near the
camp-grounds. Such a mattress made up with poncho and blankets is very
satisfactory, but it must be well filled, so that when you lie on the
mattress it will not mash flat and hard.
=Cot-Bed=
For an entire summer camp army cots which fold for packing are good and
very comfortable with a doubled, thick quilt placed on top for a
mattress.
The sporting-goods stores show a great variety of other beds, cots, and
sleeping-bags, and a line to them will bring illustrated catalogues, or,
if in the city, you can call and see the goods.
Any of the beds I have described, however, can be used to advantage, and
I heartily endorse the _well-made_ bough-bed, especially if of balsam.
=Pillows=
Make a bag one-half yard square of brown linen or cotton cloth, and when
you reach camp, gather the best browse you can find for filling, but be
careful about having the pillow too full; keep it soft and comfortable.
If there is no browse, use clean underwear in its place. Fasten the open
end of the bag together with large-sized patent dress snappers.
One of the pleasantest phases of a season's camping are the little side
trips for overnight. You hit the trail that leads to the chosen spot
located some two or three, perhaps six or seven, miles distant; a place
absolutely dry, where you can enjoy the fun of sleeping on the ground
without shelter, having merely the starry sky for a canopy. Each girl
can select the spot where she is to sleep and free it from all twigs,
stones, etc., as the smallest and most insignificant of these will rob
her of sleep and make the night most uncomfortable. When the space is
smooth mark the spot where the shoulders rest when lying down and
another spot immediately under the hips, then dig a hollow for each to
fit in easily; cover the sleeping space with poncho, rubber side down,
and over this lay a folded blanket for a mattress, using the second
blanket as a cover. Your sleep will then probably be sound and
refreshing.
=Guards=
Establish watchers, for this temporary camp, in relays to keep guard
through the night and care for the fire, not allowing it to spread, grow
too hot, or die down and go out.
If there are eight in the party, the first two, starting in at 10 P. M.,
will keep vigil until 12 midnight. These may chance to see a porcupine
or other small wild animal, but the little creatures will not come too
near as long as your camp-fire is burning. The next two watchers will be
on duty until 2 A. M., and will doubtless hear, if not see, some of the
wild life of the forest. The third couple's turn lasts until 4 A. M.;
then the last two will be awakened in time to see the sun rise, listen
to the twittering and singing of the wild birds, and possibly catch a
glimpse of wild deer. With 6 A. M. comes broad daylight, and the
ever-to-be-remembered night in the open is past and gone.
These side trips bring you into closer touch with nature, quicken your
love for, and a desire to know more of, the wild; and, much to the
delight of the campers keeping guard through the hours of the night,
there comes a keen sense of the unusual, of novel experience, of
strangeness and adventure.
[Illustration: Soft wood.]
=Exercise=
While wholesome camping calls for sufficient physical exercise to cause
a girl to be blissfully tired at night, and yet awaken refreshed and
full of energy the next morning with a good appetite for breakfast,
until you become accustomed to the outdoor life, it is best to curb your
ambition to outdo the other girls in strength and endurance. It is best
not to overtax yourself by travelling too far on a long trail at one
stretch, or by lifting too heavy a log, stone, or other weight.
=The Camp-Fire=
The outdoor fire in camp bespeaks cheer, comfort, and possibilities for
a hot dinner, all of which the camper appreciates.
=How to Build a Fire=
Choose an open space, if possible, for your fire. Beware of having it
under tree branches, too near a tent, or in any other place that might
prove dangerous. Start your fire with the tinder nearest at hand, dry
leaves, ferns, twigs, cones, birch bark, or pine-knot slivers. As the
tinder begins to burn, add kindling-wood of larger size, always
remembering that the air must circulate under and upward through the
kindling; no fire can live without air any more than you can live
without breathing. Smother a person and he will die, smother a fire and
it will die.
[Illustration: Hard wood.]
Soft woods are best to use after lighting the tinder; they ignite easily
and burn quickly, such as pine, spruce, alder, birch, soft maple,
balsam-fir, and others. When the kindling is blazing put on still
heavier wood, until you have a good, steady fire. Hard wood is better
than soft when the fire is well going; it burns longer and can usually
be depended upon for a reliable fire, not sending out sparks or
sputtering, as do many of the soft woods, but burning well and giving a
fine bed of hot coals. The tree belonging exclusively to America, and
which is the best of the hardwoods, comes first on the hardwood list.
This is _hickory_. Pecan, chestnut-oak, black birch, basket-oaks, white
birch, maple, dogwood, beech, red and yellow birch, ash, and apple wood
when obtainable are excellent.
=Cook-Fire=
Make the cook-fire _small_ and _hot_; then you can work over it in
comfort and not scorch both hands and face when trying to get near
enough to cook, as would be the case if the fire were large.
When in a hurry use dry bark as wood for the cook-fire. Hemlock, pine,
hickory, and other bark make a hot fire in a short time, and water will
boil quickly over a bark fire.
=Log-Cabin Fire=
Start this fire with two good-sized short sticks or logs. Place them
about one foot apart parallel to each other. At each end across these
lay two smaller sticks, and in the hollow square formed by the four
sticks, put the tinder of cones, birch bark, or dry leaves.
Across the two upper sticks and over the tinder, make a grate by laying
slender kindling sticks across from and resting on top of the two upper
large sticks. Over the grate, at right angles to the sticks forming it,
place more sticks of larger size. Continue in this way, building the
log-cabin fire until the structure is one foot or so high, each layer
being placed at right angles to the one beneath it. The fire must be
lighted from beneath in the pile of tinder. I learned this method when
on the Pacific slope. The fire burns quickly, and the log-cabin plan is
a good one to follow when heating the bean hole, as the fire can be
built over the hole, and in burning the red-hot coals will fall down
into it, or the fire can be built directly in the hole; both ways are
used by campers.
=Fire in the Rain=
To build a fire in the rain with no dry wood in sight seems a difficult
problem, but keep cheerful, hum your favorite tune, and look for a
pine-knot or birch bark and an old dead stump or log. In the centre of
the dead wood you will find dry wood; dig it out and, after starting the
fire with either birch bark or pine-knot, use the dry wood as kindling.
When it begins to burn, add larger pieces of wood, and soon the fire
will grow strong enough to burn wet wood. If there happens to be a big
rock in your camp, build your fire on the sheltered side and directly
against the stone, which will act as a windbreak and keep the driving
rain from extinguishing the fire. A slightly shelving bank would also
form a shelter for it. A pine-knot is always a good friend to the girl
camper, both in dry and wet weather, but is especially friendly when it
rains and everything is dripping wet.
You will find pine-knots in wooded sections where pine-trees grow; or,
if you are located near water where there are no trees, look for
pine-knots in driftwood washed ashore. When secured cut thin slices down
part way all around the elongated knot and circle it with many layers of
shavings until the knot somewhat resembles a toy tree. The inside will
be absolutely dry, and this branching knot will prove reliable and start
your fire without fail. Birch bark will start a fire even when the bark
is damp, and it is one of the best things you can have as a starter for
an outdoor, rainy-day fire.
Take your cue from the forest guides, and while in the woods always
carry some dry birch bark in your pocket for a fire in case of rain.
=Camp Fireplace=
One way to make the outdoor fireplace is to lay two _green_ logs side by
side on the ground in a narrow V shape, but open at both ends; only a
few inches at one end, a foot or more at the other. The fire is built
between the logs, and the frying-pan and pail of water, resting on both
logs, bridge across the fire. Should the widest space between the logs
be needed, place two slender green logs at right angles across the V
logs, and have these short top cross logs near enough together to hold
the frying-pans set on them (Fig. 26).
When there are no green logs, build the fireplace with three rectangular
sides of stone, open front, and make the fire in the centre; the pots
and pans rest across the fire on the stones.
If neither stones nor logs are available, dig a circle of fresh earth as
a safeguard and have the fire in its centre. Here you will need two
strong, forked-top stakes driven down into the ground directly opposite
each other, one on each side of the circle. Rest the end of a stout
green stick in the forked tops of the stakes, and use it to hang pots
and pails from when cooking. A fire can also be safeguarded with a
circle of stones placed close together. Another method of outdoor
cooking may be seen on page 81, where leaning stakes are used from which
to hang cooking utensils over the fire.
One more caution about possibilities of causing forest fire. Terrible
wide-spread fires have resulted from what was supposed to be an
extinguished outdoor fire. Do not trust it, but when you are sure the
camp-fire is out, pour on more water over the fire and all around the
unburned edge of surrounding ground; then throw on fresh earth until the
fire space is covered. Be always on the safe side. Tack up on a tree
in the camp, where all must see it, a copy of the state laws regarding
forest fires, as shown in photograph frontispiece.
[Illustration: Bringing wood for the fire.]
On forest lands much of the ground is deep with tangled rootlets and
fibres mixed in with the mould, and a fire may be smouldering down
underneath, where you cannot see it. _Have a care._
The permanent-camp fireplace, built to do service for several seasons,
is usually of big, heavy, _green_ logs, stones, and earth. The logs,
about three and one-half feet long, are built log-cabin fashion, some
twenty-eight inches high, with all crevices filled in and firmly padded
with earth and stones. Big stones are anchored securely along the top of
the earth-covered log sides and back of the fireplace, raising these
higher than the front. The space inside the walled fireplace is very
nearly filled up with earth, and the fire is built on this earth.
Surfaces of logs which may have been left exposed where the fire is to
be made are safeguarded with earth (Fig. 27).
Such a fireplace is big, substantial, firm, and lasting. Many of them
may be seen in the Adirondacks. They usually face the camp shelter, but
are located at a safe distance, fully two yards, from it. Fires built in
these are generally used as social cheer-fires, but you can have the
cheer-fire even though the substantial fireplace be _non est_, if in the
evening you pile more wood on the cook-fire, making it large enough for
all to gather around and have a good time, telling stories, laughing,
talking, and singing.
An excellent rule in camp is to have always on hand _plenty_ of
_fire-wood_. Replenish the reserve stock every day as inroads are made
upon it, and have some sort of shelter or covering where the wood will
be kept dry and ready for immediate use.
=Camp Cooking. Provisions=
In the woods one is generally hungry except immediately after a good
meal, and provisions and cooking are of vital interest to the camper.
The list of essentials is not very long and, when the camp is a
permanent one, non-essentials may be added to the larder with advantage.
Bread of some kind will form part of every meal, and a few loaves
freshly baked can be taken to camp to start with while you are getting
settled.
The quickest bread to cook is the delectable flapjack, and it is quite
exciting to toss it in the air, see it turn over and catch it again--if
you can.
=Flapjacks=
Mix dry flour, baking-powder, and salt together, 1 good teaspoonful of
Royal baking-powder to every 2 cups of flour, and 1 level teaspoonful of
salt to 1 quart (4 cups) of flour. To make the batter, beat 1 egg and
add 1-1/2 cups of milk, or 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of water;
unsweetened condensed milk diluted according to directions on can may be
used. Carefully and gradually stir in enough of the flour you have
prepared to make a creamy batter, be sure it is smooth and without
lumps; then stir in 1 heaping teaspoonful of sugar, better still
molasses, to make the cakes brown. Grease the frying-pan with a piece of
fat pork or bacon, have the pan hot, and, with a large spoon or a cup,
ladle out the batter into the pan, forming three small cakes to be
turned by a knife, or one large cake to be turned by tossing. Use the
knife to lift the edges of the cakes as they cook, and when you see them
a golden brown, turn quickly. Or, if the cake is large, loosen it; then
lift the pan and quickly toss the cake up into the air in such a way
that it will turn over and land safely, brown side up, on the pan.
Unless you are skilled in tossing flapjacks, don't risk wasting the cake
by having it fall on the ground or in the fire, but confine your efforts
to the small, knife-turned cakes. Serve them "piping hot," and if there
are no plates, each camper can deftly and quickly roll her flapjack into
cylinder form of many layers and daintily and comfortably eat it while
holding the roll between forefinger and thumb.
Keep the frying-pan well greased while cooking the cakes, rubbing the
pan with grease each time before pouring in fresh batter.
Flapjacks are good with butter, delicious with creamy maple-sugar soft
enough to spread smoothly over the butter. The sugar comes in cans.
Ordinary maple-syrup can be used, but is apt to drip over the edges if
the cake is held in the hand.
Well-cooked cold rice mixed with the batter will give a delicate
griddle-cake and make a change from the regular flapjack.
=Biscuits=
Biscuits are more easily made than raised bread and so are used largely
in its place while in camp. The proportions of flour and baking-powder
are the same as for flapjacks. To 4 cups of flour mix 2 teaspoonfuls of
Royal baking-powder and 1 level teaspoonful of salt; add shortening
about the size of an egg, either lard or drippings. Divide the
shortening into small bits and, using the tips of your fingers, rub it
well into the dry flour just prepared; then gradually stir in cold water
to make a soft dough, barely stiff enough to be rolled out 3/4 inch
thick on bread-board, clean flat stone, or large, smooth piece of
flattened bark. Whichever is used must be well floured, as must also
the rolling-pin and biscuit cutter. A clean glass bottle or smooth round
stick may be used as rolling-pin, and the cutter can be a baking-powder
can, or the biscuits may be cut square, or 4 inches long and 2 inches
wide with a knife. The dough may also be shaped into a loaf 3/4 inch
thick and baked in a pan by planting the pan in a bed of hot coals,
covering it with another pan or some substitute, and placing a deep
layer of hot coals all over the cover. The biscuits should bake in about
fifteen minutes. For a hurry meal each camper can take a strip of dough,
wind it spirally around a peeled thick stick, which has first been
heated, and cook her own spiral biscuit by holding it over the fire and
constantly turning the stick. Biscuits, in common with everything cooked
over a hot wood-fire, need constant watching that they may not burn.
Test them with a clean splinter of wood; thrust it into the biscuit and
if no dough clings to the wood the biscuits are done.
=Johnny-Cake=
Served hot, split open and buttered, these Kentucky johnny-cakes with a
cup of good coffee make a fine, hearty breakfast, very satisfying and
good.
Allow 1/2 cup of corn-meal for each person, and to every 4 cups of meal
add 1 teaspoonful of salt, mix well; then pour water, which is _boiling
hard_, gradually into the meal, stirring constantly to avoid having any
lumps. When the consistency is like soft mush, have ready a frying-pan
almost full of _hot_ drippings or lard, dip your hands into cold water
to enable you to handle the hot dough, and, taking up enough corn-meal
dough to make a _large_-sized biscuit, pat it in your hands into a
3/4-inch-thick cake and gently drop it into the hot fat; immediately
make another cake, drop it into the fat, and continue until the
frying-pan is full. As soon as one johnny-cake browns on the lower side
turn it over, remove each cake from the fat as soon as done, and serve
as they cook.
Corn-meal must be thoroughly scalded with boiling water when making any
kind of corn bread in order to have the bread soft and not dry and
"chaffy."
For baked corn bread add 2 full teaspoons of baking-powder and stir in 2
eggs, after 4 cups of meal and 1 teaspoonful of salt have been
thoroughly scalded and allowed to cool a little. Pour this corn-meal
dough into a pan which has been generously greased, and bake.
Corn-meal needs a hot oven and takes longer to bake than wheat-flour
biscuits.
=Corn-Meal Mush=
Corn-meal mush does not absolutely require fresh cream or milk when
served. It is good eaten with butter and very nourishing. Many like it
with maple-syrup or common molasses.
Time is required to make well-cooked mush; at least one hour will be
necessary. To 2 quarts of boiling, bubbling water add 1 teaspoonful of
salt, and very slowly, little by little, add 2 cups of corn-meal,
stirring constantly and not allowing the water to cease boiling. Do not
stop stirring until the mush has cooked about ten minutes. It may then
be placed higher up from the fire, where it will not scorch, and
_boiling_ water added from time to time as needed to keep the mush of
right consistency. The cold mush may be made into a tempting dish, if
sliced 1/2-inch thick and fried brown in pork fat. Many cold cooked
cereals can be treated in the same way; sprinkled with flour these will
brown better.
=Kentucky Bread=
Kentucky bread is made of flour, salt, and water. It is generally known
as beaten biscuit. Mix 2 scant teaspoonfuls of salt with 1 quart of
flour, add enough cold water to make a _stiff_, smooth dough and knead,
pull, and pound the dough until it blisters; the longer it is worked and
beaten the better. Roll out very thin, cut round or into squares and
bake. These biscuits may be quickly made, are simple and wholesome.
=Cocoa=
Good cocoa may be made by substituting cold milk and cold water for hot.
Follow directions on the can as to proportion, and add the cold liquids
after the cocoa is mixed to a smooth paste; then boil. Either
unsweetened condensed milk or milk powder can take the place of fresh
milk.
=Coffee=
For every camper allow 1 tablespoonful of ground coffee, then 1 extra
spoonful for the pot. Put the dry coffee into the coffee-pot, and to
settle it add a crumbled egg-shell; then pour in a little cold water and
stir all together; when there are no egg-shells use merely cold water.
Add 1 cupful of cold water for each camper, and 2 for the pot, set the
coffee-pot over the fire and let it boil for a few moments, take it from
the fire and pour into the spout a little cold water, then place the
coffee where it will keep hot--not cook, but settle.
=Tea=
Allow 1 scant teaspoonful of tea for each person, scald the teapot,
measure the tea into the pot, and pour in as many cups of _boiling_
water as there are spoonfuls of tea, adding an extra cupful for the pot.
_Never_ let _tea boil_.
=Boiled Potatoes=
Wash potatoes, cut out any blemish, and put them on to cook in cold
water over the fire. They are much better boiled while wearing their
jackets. Allow from one-half to three-quarters of an hour for boiling,
test them with a sliver of wood that will pierce through the centre when
the potato is done. When cooked pour off the boiling water, set off the
fire to one side where they will keep hot, and raise one edge of the lid
to allow the steam to escape. Serve while _very_ hot.
=Baked Potatoes=
Wrap each potato in wet leaves and place them all on hot ashes that lie
over hot coals, put more hot ashes on top of the potatoes, and over the
ashes place a deep bed of red-hot coals. It will require about forty
minutes or more for potatoes to bake. Take one out when you think they
should be done; if soft enough to yield to the pressure when squeezed
between thumb and finger, the potato is cooked. Choose potatoes as near
of a size as possible; then all will be baked to a turn at the same
time.
=Bean Soup and Baked Beans=
Look over one quart of dried beans, take out all bits of foreign matter
and injured beans; then wash the beans in several waters and put them to
soak overnight in fresh water. Next morning scald 1-1/2 pounds salt
pork, scrape it well, rinse, and with 1 teaspoonful of dried onion or
half of a fresh one, put on to boil with the beans in cold water. Cook
slowly for several hours. When the water boils low, add more boiling
water and boil until the beans are soft.
To make soup, dip out a heaping cupful of the boiled beans, mash them to
a paste, then pour the liquid from the boiled beans over the paste and
stir until well mixed; if too thin add more beans; if too thick add hot
water until of the right consistency, place the soup over the fire to
reheat, and serve very hot. To bake beans, remove the pork from the
drained, partially cooked beans, score it across the top and replace it
in the pot in midst of and extending a trifle above the surface of the
beans, add 1 cup of hot water and securely cover the top of the pot with
a lid or some substitute. Sink the pot well into the glowing coals and
shovel hot coals over all. Add more hot water from time to time if
necessary.
Beans cooked in a bean hole rival those baked in other ways. Dig the
hole about 1-1/2 feet deep and wide, build a fire in it, and keep it
burning briskly for hours; the oven hole must be _hot_. When the beans
are ready, rake the fire out of the hole; then sink the pot down into
the hole and cover well with hot coals and ashes, placing them all over
the sides and top of the pot. Over these shovel a thick layer of earth,
protecting the top with grass sod or thick blanket of leaves and bark,
that rain may not penetrate to the oven. Let the beans bake all night.
=Bacon=
Sliced bacon freshly cut is best; do not bring it to camp in jars or
cans, but cut it as needed. Each girl may have the fun of cooking her
own bacon.
Cut long, slender sticks with pronged ends, sharpen the prongs and they
will hold the bacon; or use sticks with split ends and wedge in the
bacon between the two sides of the split, then toast it over the fire.
Other small pieces of meat can be cooked in the same way. Bacon boiled
with greens gives the vegetable a fine flavor, as it also does
string-beans when cooked with them. It may, however, be boiled alone for
dinner, and is good fried for breakfast.
=Game Birds=
Game birds can be baked in the embers. Have ready a bed of red-hot coals
covered with a thin layer of ashes, and after drawing the bird, dip it
in water to wet the feathers; then place it on the ash-covered red
coals, cover the bird with more ashes, and heap on quantities of red
coals. If the bird is small it should be baked in about one-half hour.
When done strip off the skin, carrying feathers with it, and the bird
will be clean and appetizing. Birds can also be roasted in the bean-pot
hole, but in this way, they must first be picked, drawn, and rinsed
clean; then cut into good-sized pieces and placed in the pot with fat
pork, size of an egg, for seasoning; after pouring in enough water to
cover the meat, fasten the pot lid on securely and bury the pot in the
glowing hot hole under a heap of red-hot coals. Cover with earth, the
same as when baking beans.
=Fish=
Fish cooked in the embers is very good, and you need not first remove
scales or fins, but clean the fish, season it with salt and pepper, wrap
it in fresh, wet, green leaves or wet blank paper, not printed paper,
and bury in the coals the same as a bird. When done the skin, scales,
and fins can all be pulled off together, leaving the delicious hot fish
ready to serve.
To boil a fish: First scale and clean it; then cut off head and tail.
If you have a piece of new cheesecloth to wrap the fish in, it can be
stuffed with dressing made of dry crumbs of bread or biscuits well
seasoned with butter, or bits of pork, pepper, and a very small piece of
onion. The cloth covering must be wrapped around and tied with white
string. When the fish is ready, put it into boiling water to which has
been added 1 tablespoonful of vinegar and a little salt. The vinegar
tends to keep the meat firm, and the dressing makes the fish more of a
dinner dish; both, however, can be omitted. Allow about twenty minutes
for boiling a three-pound fish.
The sooner a fish is cooked after being caught the better. To scale a
fish, lay it on a flat stone or log, hold it by the head and with a
knife scrape off the scales. Scale each side and, with a quick stroke,
cut off the head and lower fins. The back fin must have incisions on
each side in order to remove it. Trout are merely scraped and cleaned by
drawing out the inside with head and gills. Do this by forcing your hand
in and grasping tight hold of the gullet.
To clean most fish it is necessary to slit open the under side, take out
the inside, wash the fish, and wipe it dry with a clean cloth.
If the camping party is fond of fish, and fish frequently forms part of
a meal, have a special clean cloth to use exclusively for drying the
fish.
_Provisions for One Person for Two Weeks. To be
Multiplied by Number of Campers, and Length of
Time if Stay is over Two Weeks_
=Essential Foods=
Outdoor life seems to require certain kinds of foods; these we call
essentials; others in addition to them are in the nature of luxuries or
non-essentials.
=List=
_Essentials_
Wheat flour 6 lbs.
Corn-meal 2-1/2 lbs.
Baking-powder 1/2 lb.
Coffee 1/2 lb.
Tea 1/8 lb.
Cocoa 1/2 lb.
Pork 1 lb.
Bacon 2-1/2 lbs.
Salt 1/2 lb.
Pepper 1 oz.
Sugar 3 lbs.
Butter 1-1/2 lbs.
Milk, dried 1/2 lb.
Lard 3/4 lb.
Egg powder 1/4 lb.
Fruit, dried 1 lb.
Potatoes, dried 1-1/2 lbs.
Beans 1-1/2 lbs.
Maple-syrup 1 pt.
Vinegar 1/4 pt.
=List=
_Non-Essentials_
Rice 2-1/2 lbs.
Lemons 1/2 doz.
Erbswurst 1/4 lb.
Soup tablets 1/4 lb.
Baker's chocolate (slightly sweetened) 1/2 lb.
Maple-sugar 1/2 lb.
Ham 5 lbs.
Nuts 2 lbs.
Marmalade 1/2 jar
Preserves 1 can
Citric acid 1/8 lb.
Onions, dried 1 oz.
Cheese 1 lb.
Potatoes, fresh 14
Codfish 1 lb.
Vegetables, dried 1/2 lb.
=Sanitation=
_Keep your camp scrupulously clean._ Do not litter up the place, your
health and happiness greatly depend upon observing the laws of hygiene.
Make sure after each meal that all kitchen refuse is collected and
deposited in the big garbage hole, previously dug for that purpose, and
well covered with a layer of fresh earth.
[Illustration: 27
ANOTHER WAY OF HANGING THE CRANE OUT OF DOORS
28 29
Camp fires and camp sanitation.]
_Impress upon your mind that fresh earth is a disinfectant and keeps
down all odors._
Erect a framework with partially open side entrance for a retiring-room.
Use six strong forked-topped poles planted in an irregular square as
uprights (Fig. 28), and across these lay slender poles, fitting the ends
well into the forked tops of the uprights (Fig. 28). Half-way down from
the top, place more cross poles, resting them on the crotches left on
the uprights. Have these last cross poles as nearly the same distance
from the ground as possible and over them hang thick branches, hooking
the branches on by the stubs on their heavy ends. Also hang thickly
foliaged branches on the top cross poles, using the stubs where smaller
branches have been lopped off as hooks, as on the lower row (Fig. 29);
then peg down the bottom ends of the hanging branches to the ground with
sharpened two-pronged crotches cut from branches. The upper row of
branches should overlap the under row one foot or more. Make the seat by
driving three stout stakes firmly into the ground; two at the back, one
in front, and on these nail three crosspieces.
Never throw dish water or any refuse near your tent or on the camp
grounds.
_Burn_ or _bury_ all trash, remembering that earth and fire are your
good servants, and with their assistance you can have perfect camp
cleanliness, which will go a long way toward keeping away a variety of
troublesome flies and make camp attractive and wholesome.
=Camp Spirit=
Thoughtfulness for others; kindliness; the willingness to do your share
of the work, and more, too; the habit of making light of all
discomforts; cheerfulness under all circumstances; and the determination
never to sulk, imagine you are slighted, or find fault with people,
conditions, or things. To radiate good-will, take things as they come
and _enjoy them_, and to do your full share of entertainment and
fun-making--this is the true camp spirit.
CHAPTER IV
WHAT TO WEAR ON THE TRAIL
=Camp Outfits. Clothing. Personal Outfits. Camp Packs. Duffel-Bags and
What to Put in Them=
To prepare your own camping outfit for the coming summer, to plan, to
work out your lists, to select materials, and make many of the things
just as you want them or even to hunt up the articles and purchase them,
while all the time delightful visions of trailing and camp life dance
before you, is to know the true joy of anticipation, and is great fun.
=Clothing=
Make your dress for the trail absolutely comfortable, not too heavy, too
tight, too hot, or too cool. No part of the clothing should bind or
draw.
Brown or dark gray are the best colors for the forest; avoid wearing
those which frighten the timid wild life, for you want to make friends
with the birds and animals, so do not wear metal buttons, buckles, or
anything that shines or sparkles.
=Underwear=
For girl campers the light-weight, pure-woollen underwear is best,
especially if you locate in the mountains, or the Canadian or Maine
forests. On cold days two light-weight union garments are warmer than
one of heavy weight. Wool is never clammy and cold, it absorbs
perspiration and when on the trail prevents the chilly feeling often
experienced when halting for a rest in the forest.
Union garments may be obtained in a variety of weights, and a one-piece
suit is the only garment necessary to wear under bloomers and middy when
at camp.
Leave corsets at home, they have no place in the outdoor life, and you
will be freer if you discard the dress skirt when at camp and on the
trail. Have your muscles free, be able to take in long, deep breaths, to
move readily all portions of your body, and not be hampered in any way
by ill-fitting, uncomfortable clothing. There must be unrestricted
freedom of arms and limbs for a girl to be able to use them easily in
climbing mountains or hills, scrambling over fallen trees, sliding over
rocks, jumping from stone to stone, or from root to half-sunken log on
wet trails of the forest.
=Stockings=
Select your stockings with care. Let them be of wool, strong, soft, and
absolutely satisfactory when the shoe is on. The aim of the entire camp
dress is to have it so comfortable and well adapted to outdoor life that
you will forget it; think no more of it than a bird does of its
feathers. When woollen stockings are worn, wet feet are not apt to give
one cold, for the feet do not become chilled even when it is necessary
to stand in the reedy edge of a mountain lake or stream. If, however,
you cannot wear wool, use cotton stockings. Remember that wool often
shrinks in the wash. Allow for this when purchasing goods, though it is
said, on reliable authority, that if laundered with care the garments
will not shrink.
When washing woollen underwear use very soapy, cool water (not icy) with
addition of a little borax, or ammonia, if you have either, and do not
rub soap directly on wool; it mats the little fibres and this causes
the wool to shrink. For the same reason avoid rubbing the garments if
possible during the cleansing process. All that is usually necessary is
to squeeze and souse them well, then rinse in water of the same
temperature; do not wring the things; squeeze them and hang them up to
dry. Changes of temperature in the water when washing wool will cause
the wool to shrink. To alternate between cold and warm, hot and lukewarm
water will surely cause the clothing to grow much smaller and stiffer;
keep both wash and rinse water either cold or lukewarm; cold is safer.
Allow no one to persuade you to take old clothes to camp; they will soon
need mending and prove a torment.
=Shoes=
Wear low-heeled, high-laced shoes of stout leather and easy fit. Make
them water-proof by giving the leather a good coat of hot, melted mutton
tallow, completely covering the shoes and working the tallow into all
crevices. Be sure to do this, as it is worse than useless to depend upon
rubber overshoes when trailing; sharp stones cut, and roots, twigs, and
underbrush tear the rubber, with the result that the overshoes soon fill
with water and your feet swim in little lakes. Test your shoes well
before taking them to camp, be perfectly satisfied that they are
comfortable and well-fitting, wear them steadily for one week or more.
It is very unwise to risk new shoes on the trail, and it is of the
utmost importance that the feet be kept in good condition. Be kind to
your feet.
=Camping Dress=
The most serviceable and practical dress for camping is a three-piece
suit, made of a fadeless, soft quality of gray or brown material.
[Illustration: DUFFEL-BAGS
LEGGIN
PONCHO
TRAILER'S BOOT
Trailers' outfits.]
The middy-blouse while loose can be well-fitting, with long sleeves
roomy enough to allow of pushing up above the elbow when desired. Sew
two small patch pockets high on the left breast--one for your watch, the
other for your compass; protect the pockets with flaps which fasten down
over the open top with dress snaps. On the right breast sew one
good-sized pocket.
In addition to these you will need one large pocket on both right and
left side of middy, below belt line, making in all three large and two
small pockets. The belt is held in place by sliding it through loops
sewed on the middy, one at the back and one on each side.
Make the skirt of this suit short enough for ease and of generous width,
not to draw at front, but give perfect freedom of the limbs. Have a seam
pocket in each side of the front breadth, and fasten the skirt down one
side from belt to hem. It can then be quickly removed and used as a cape
or a wind break when occasion requires. The bloomers, well-fitting and
comfortable, gathered below the knee with best quality of elastic, that
it may last, can have a deep pocket sewed across the front of each leg,
several inches conveniently below waist-line.
=Hat=
A soft, light-weight felt hat with brim sufficiently wide to shade the
eyes will prove the best head covering for the trail. Don't use hatpins;
your hat will cling to the head if you substitute a strip of woollen
cloth in place of the inside leather band. The clinging wool prevents
the hat from being readily knocked off by overhanging branches or blown
off on windy days.
=Check List of Apparel=
Go light when off for the woods, take with you only those things which
seem to be absolutely necessary; remember that you will carry your own
pack and be your own laundress, so hesitate about including too many
washable garments. Make out your list, then consider the matter
carefully and realize that every one of the articles, even the very
smallest, has a way of growing heavier and heavier and adding to the
ever-increasing weight of your pack the longer you walk, so be wise,
read over your list and cut it down, decide that you _can_ do without a
number of things thought at first to be indispensable.
In addition to your camp dress described, the following list forms a
basis to work upon, to be added to, taken from, or substitution made
according to location, climate, and nature of the country where you will
pitch camp:
One extra suit of wool underwear. Wash suit as
soon as changed.
One extra pair of stockings. Every morning put on
a fresh pair, washing the discarded ones the same
day.
One high-necked, long-sleeved, soft, woven
undershirt for cold days.
One extra thin middy-blouse for hot days.
Three pocket handkerchiefs, each laundered as soon
as discarded.
One kimono, soft, warm wool, buttoned down front,
not eider-down (it is too bulky), color brown or
dark gray.
One bathing-suit without skirt, made in one-piece,
loose, belted waist with bloomers; suit opened on
shoulders with strong button and buttonhole
fastenings.
One warm sweater with high turned-over collar and
sleeves good and long. On the trail carry your
sweater by tying the sleeves around your waist,
allowing the sweater to hang down at the back.
One pair of gloves, strong, pliable, easy-fitting
chamois, if you feel that you need them. The bare,
free hands are better.
One pair of strong, snug, well-fitting leggins
matching camp dress in color, with no buttons or
buckles to tangle on underbrush. The fastening can
be covered by smooth outer flap.
One pair of felt slippers or thick-soled moccasins
for tent.
Four extra strips of elastic for renewing those in
knees of bloomers.
One large, strong, soft silk or cotton
neckerchief, for protecting neck from sun, rain,
and cold, also good to fold diagonally and use for
arm sling or tie over hat in a hard wind; silk is
best.
Two head-nets if your stay is long, one if short,
to be worn in case of swarms of pestiferous flies
and mosquitoes. Especially needed for protection
from the midge, black-fly, etc., found in northern
forests and elsewhere during the spring and
through to the middle or last of July. Your net
can be of fine mesh bobbinet; if you have only
white, dye it black; all other colors are apt to
dazzle the eyes. The best material to use is black
Brussels net. Cut a strip of net long enough to
fit easily around your shoulders and allow of some
fulness. Take the measurement smoothly around the
shoulders with a piece of tape and add to this
about three-eighths of the entire length you have
just measured, which will give you the length
required. The width should be sufficient to allow
of the net reaching from base of hat crown across
over brim and down over top of shoulders, about
twenty-two inches or more in all. Cut the net
according to size needed; then fold the strip at
centre across the width, fold again, making four
even folds. Once more fold and you will have
divided the net into eight equal parts. Mark the
net at each fold and open it out (Fig. 30). Cut
armholes in the divisions marked 2 (Fig. 30) to
fit over the shoulders, sew together the two ends,
bind the shoulder armholes holding the net loosely
that it may not pull and strain. Sew an elastic to
back corner of each armhole, hem the top of net
strip and run an elastic through hem to fit snugly
on base of hat crown. Gather lower edges of net;
then try the net on, adjusting lower and upper
gathers so that the veil will blouse a little,
remembering not to let the net touch your face; if
it should, the little tormentors will bite through
and torture you. Sew a piece of black tape across
lower edge of the front and another across lower
edge of the back, fitting the tape to lie smoothly
over chest and back; then bring forward the
hanging pieces of elastic, adjust them comfortably
under the arms, and mark length of elastic to
reach around under arm and fasten with dress snaps
at front corner of armhole. Cut elastic and finish
net (Fig. 31).
_Ornaments_--Never take rings, bracelets,
necklaces, or jewelry of any kind to camp; leave
all such things at home, and with them ribbons,
beads, and ornaments of all descriptions.
[Illustration: 30
31
The head-net and blanket-roll.]
=Check List of Toilet Articles=
One comb, not silver-backed.
One hand-mirror to hang or stand up.
One tooth-brush in case.
One tube of tooth-paste, or its equivalent.
One nail-brush.
One cake of unscented toilet-soap.
Two cakes of laundry-soap.
One package of borax or securely corked bottle of
ammonia.
One tube of cold-cream.
One baking-powder can of pure, freshly "tried out"
mutton tallow, made so by boiling in pure water
until melted, then allowed to cool and harden.
When taken from the water, again melted and, while
hot, strained through a clean cloth into the can.
Good to remove pitch and balsam-gum from the
hands, to use as cold-cream to soften the hands,
and excellent to water-proof the shoes.
One wash-cloth, washed, aired, and sunned every
day. In rainy weather, washed and dried.
Two hand towels, each washed as soon as soiled.
One bath towel, washed as soon as used.
One manicure-scissors.
One package sandpaper nail-files.
Two papers of hair-pins.
One paper of common pins, also little flat pocket
pincushion well filled around edge with pins.
Two papers of large-sized safety-pins.
=Check List of Personal Camp Property=
One note-book and pencil for taking notes on wild
birds, animals, trees, etc.
One needle-case, compact with needles and strong
white and black thread, wound on cardboard reels
(spools are too bulky). Scissors, thimble, and
large-eyed tape-needle for running elastic through
hem in bloomers and head-net, when needed.
Two papers of very large sized safety-pins of
horse-blanket kind.
One roll of tape, most useful in many ways.
One whistle, the loudest and shrillest to be
found, worn on cord around the neck, for calling
help when lost or in case of need. A short, simple
system of signalling calls should be adopted.
One compass, durable and absolutely true.
One watch, inexpensive but trustworthy. Do not
take your gold watch.
One package of common post-cards, with lead pencil
attached. The postals to take the place of
letters.
One package writing-paper and stamped envelopes,
if post-cards do not meet the needs.
One pocket-knife, a big, strong one, with
substantial, sharp, strong blades, for outdoor
work and to use at meals.
One loaded camera, in case which has secure
leather loops through which your belt can be
slipped to carry camera and hold it steady,
leaving the hands free and precluding danger of
smashing the instrument should a misstep on mossy
stone or a trip over unseen vine or root suddenly
throw you down and send the camera sailing on a
distance ahead. Such an accident befell a girl
camper who was too sure that her precious camera
would be safest if carried in her hand. Wear the
camera well back that you may not fall on it
should you stumble, or the camera can be carried
on strap slung from the right shoulder.
Three or more rolls of extra films, the quantity
depending upon your length of stay at camp and the
possibilities for interesting subjects.
One fishing-rod and fishing-tackle outfit. Choose
the simple and useful rather than the fancy and
expensive. Select your outfit according to the
particular kind of fishing you will find near
camp. There is a certain different style of rod
and tackle for almost every variety of fish. If
fishing is not to be a prominent feature of the
camp, you might take line and hooks, and wait
until you reach camp to cut your fishing-pole.
One tin cup, with open handle to slide over belt.
The cup will serve you with cool sparkling water,
with cocoa, coffee, or tea as the case may be, and
it will also be your soup bowl. Keep the inside of
the cup bright and shiny. While aluminum is much
lighter than other metal, it is not advisable to
take to camp either cup, teaspoon, or fork of
aluminum because it is such a good conductor of
heat that those articles would be very apt to burn
your lips if used with hot foods.
One dinner knife, if you object to using your
pocket-knife.
One dinner fork, not silver.
One teaspoon, not silver.
One plate, may be of aluminum or tin, can be kept
bright by scouring with soap and earth.
Two warm wool double blankets, closely woven and
of good size. The U.S. Army blankets are of the
best. With safety-pins blankets can be turned into
sleeping-bags and hammocks.
One poncho, light in weight to wear over
shoulders, spread on ground rubber side down to
protect from dampness, can be used in various
ways.
One pillow-bag.
One mattress-bag.
One water-proof match-safe.
One belt hatchet in case, or belt sheath small
axe, for chopping wood and felling small trees,
but, be very careful when using either of these
tools. Before going to camp find some one who can
give you proper instructions in handling one or
both, and practise carefully following directions.
Be very _cautious_ and go slow until you become an
expert. Outdoor books and magazines should be
consulted for information, and if you do not feel
absolutely confident of your ability to use the
hatchet or axe after practising, _do not take them
with you_. For the sake of others as well as
yourself, you have not the right to take chances
of injuring either others or yourself through
inability to use safely any tool. Do not attempt
to use a regular-sized axe, it is very dangerous.
One guide told me that after a tenderfoot chopped
a cruel gash nearly through his foot when using
the guide's axe, that axe was never again loaned,
but kept in a safe place and not allowed to be
touched by any one except the owner.
=Check List for First Aid=
One hot-water bag, good for all pains and aches,
and a comfort when one is chilly.
One package pure ginger pulverized or ground, to
make hot ginger tea in case of chill, pains in the
bowels, or when you have met with an accidental
ducking or are wet through to the skin by rain.
Never mind if the tea does burn, ginger always
stings when helping one. Be a good sport, take
your medicine.
One box of charcoal tablets for dyspepsia or
indigestion.
One package bicarbonate of soda (baking-soda);
good for burns, sprinkle well with soda, see that
the burn is completely covered, then cover lightly
with cloth, and do not disturb it for a long time.
One bottle of ammonia well corked. Tie the cork
down firmly in the bottle (Fig. 32); a flannel
case or raffia covering will protect the glass
from breakage. Good to smell in case of faintness,
but care must be taken _not_ to hold it _too near_
the _nose_, as the ammonia might injure the
delicate membranes, as would also smelling-salts.
Safer to move the bottle or cloth wet with ammonia
slowly back and forth near the nose. Good also for
insect bites.
One roll of adhesive plaster. Cut into lengths for
holding covered ointment or poultice in place, the
strips criss-cross over the poultice, but are not
attached, the ends only are pressed on the bare
skin to which they firmly adhere.
Two rolls of 2-1/2 or 3 inch wide surgeon bandages
(not gauze) for general use where bandages are
needed.
One small package of absorbent cotton.
Two mustard plasters, purchased at drug store;
good for stomachache.
One package of powdered licorice to use as a
laxative. Dissolve a little licorice in water and
drink it. To keep the bowels open means to ward
off a host of evils. It is even more essential
that the inside of the body be kept clean than it
is to have the outside clean. To this end make a
practise of drinking a great deal of pure water;
drink it before breakfast, between meals (not at
meals), and before retiring. If you do this, you
will probably not need other laxative, especially
if you eat fruit either fresh or stewed. Fruit
should form part of every day's fare. _Keep your
bowels open._
One tube of Carron oil, to use for burns or
scalds.
One small bottle of camphor, for headaches.
One small bag of salt--good dissolved in water, 1
teaspoonful to 1 pint of water, for bathing tired
or inflamed eyes, often effects a cure. Good for
bathing affected spots of ivy poison, good for
sore-throat gargle, also for nosebleed; snuff,
then plug nose. Good for brushing teeth. For all
these dissolve salt in water in proportion as
given above.
One white muslin 24-inch triangular bandage, for
arm sling or chest, jaw, and head bandage. A man's
large-sized white handkerchief can be used; never
bind broken skin with colored cloth.
One bottle of fly dope, warranted to keep off
pestiferous flies and mosquitoes. All these may be
kept in one-half of a linen case of pockets, your
toilet articles in the other half, and the case
can be opened out and hung to the side of your
tent or shelter.
=Check List for General Camp=
Two basins, of light metal, paper or collapsible
rubber. The last is easy to pack and light to
carry. One basin will serve for several girls. If
you camp near a body of fresh water let that be
your basin; it will always be ready filled. No
need then to bring water to your shelter, for a
delightful dip in the river or lake every morning
before breakfast will obviate all necessity, and
do away with the otherwise needful hand-basin.
One reliable map of location and surrounding
country for constant reference.
One water-pail, light weight, for every two or
three girls. Can be canvas, aluminum, paper,
rubber, or your own selection in other materials.
Six toilet-paper packages or more.
One or more tents of water-proof material.
One or more sod cloths for tent flooring.
One or more inner tents of cheesecloth for
protection from mosquitoes, etc. These can be made
at home or purchased with the tents at the regular
camp-outfitters'. There is on the market a spray,
claimed to be absolutely effective against
mosquitoes, etc., and to keep both tent and camp
free from pests. One quart is said to last two
weeks with daily use. Cost, fifty cents per quart.
One carborundum stone for sharpening all cutting
tools.
One or more lanterns. Folding candle lanterns may
be purchased, but the simple ten-cent kind with
lamp-chimney for protection of candle are good.
They can be had at country stores in Cresco, Pa.
May possibly be found at camp-outfitters'. If a
glass chimney is to be used, pack most carefully.
Fill the inside of the chimney with stockings,
handkerchiefs, etc.; then wrap the chimney all
over with other soft clothing and tie securely.
Have this outside wrap very thick.
One package of one-half length candles to use in
lantern.
One _tin_ box of one or two dozen safety-matches.
_Tin_ will not catch fire from the matches.
One strong tool-bag with separate labelled pockets
for different tools; each pocket with flap to
fasten securely with dress snaps. In this tool-bag
put assorted nails, mostly big, strong ones,
screws, awl, well-sealed bottle of strong glue,
ball of stout twine, a few rawhide thongs, three
or four yards of soft strong rope, a pair of
scissors, two spools of wire, and several yards of
cheesecloth.
One rope--long for mountain-climbing.
=Check List of Kitchen Utensils=
Two dish-pans, one for piping-hot sudsy water for
washing dishes, the other for scalding-hot rinsing
water. The last pan can also be used for mixing
and bread-making. Select pans strong and of light
weight--canvas, aluminum, or tin--and be sure they
nest or fold.
Two water-pails, fitted one within the other, both
light weight.
One coffee-pot, size to fit in pails, must not be
too high. Cocoa can be made in the coffee-pot.
One frying-pan, for corn-dodgers, flapjacks, fried
mush, eggs, etc.
One folding camp-oven, for hot biscuits, bread
puddings, and many other good things relished by
hungry campers.
One wash-basin, to be kept strictly for washing
hands, when cooking.
One large spoon, for stirring and general use.
One kitchen-knife, suitable for cutting bread,
carving meat, turning pancakes, etc.
One kitchen-fork, strong and big, but not a
toasting-fork.
One Dutch oven pot, a strong seamless pot with
cover, to use for baking, boiling, and stewing.
Three dish-towels, washed after every meal.
One dish mop or cloth, washed and dried after each
meal; dry in sun when possible.
Four large cakes of soap.
One thick holder, for lifting pots. Hang this up
in a certain place where it may always be found
when needed.
One pepper and one salt shaker, small and light in
weight.
One net air-bag, for meat, fish, and anything that
must be kept fresh (Fig. 33) and protected from
the flies. Use strong net and two or more hoops
for the air-bag. With pincers you can twist the
two ends of strong wire together and make the
hoops of size large enough to hold the net out
away from a large piece of meat. Cut the net long
enough to stand above and hang below the meat.
Gather the top edge tightly together and sew it
fast; then sew the hoop near the top of the bag.
Other hoops on either side of centre of bag and a
hoop near bottom of bag, or sew only one hoop at
the top and one at the bottom. Have strong
draw-strings in the bottom of the bag, and fasten
a pendent hook at the top to hold the meat hanging
free inside of the bag. With copper wire attach a
good-sized ring on top of the bag, wire it through
the handle of the pendent hook and weld them
together. When in use, the bag should be suspended
high from the ground by means of a rope pulley run
through the top ring and over the limb of a
near-by tree. Similar air-bags can be obtained, if
desired, from camp-outfitters.
When selecting cooking utensils for the camp, you will find those with
detachable handles pack better and for that reason are desirable.
Do not forget that every check-list given may be reduced; don't think
you must include all the items. For these lists give outfits for
permanent as well as temporary camps. If you can manage with _one towel_
by washing it every day, or evening, allowing it to dry during the
night, one towel will be sufficient; leave the others at home. Drop
from the various lists every article you can possibly dispense with and
still be comfortable in camp.
If you wear the camp suit travelling from home to camp, its weight and
bulk will be omitted from your camp pack, and be so much to your gain,
and you will maintain a good appearance notwithstanding, for if well
made and of proper fit the dress will be a suitable travelling costume.
=Camp Packs=
When you intend carrying your belongings and striking the trail either
part or all the way to camp, the easiest method for portage is to stow
the things in a regular pack and fasten the pack on your back by means
of strong, long straps attached to the pack, and passed over your
shoulders and under your arms.
A square of water-proof canvas makes a simple and good camp pack. Get a
nine-by-nine-feet (more or less) square of cloth, and it will be found
useful as shelter, fly, ground-cloth, windbreak, and in other ways after
reaching camp.
=What to Put in Your Pack=
Open out your pack-cloth flat on the floor, and place your folded
mattress-bag in the centre.
Fill the pillow-bag with your first-aid case and case of toilet
articles, and if there is space for other things pack them in. Lay the
pillow-bag on top of the mattress-bag, place clothing by the side and on
top of the pillow-bag, being careful to keep the contents of your pack
rectangular in shape and of size to fit well over your back.
[Illustration: 32
CAMP PACK
BLANKET PACK
33
PACK-HARNESS
MEAT SAFE
Some things to carry and how to carry them.]
If not adding too much to the weight, include many things from your
personal-belonging list; of these articles you can carry some in the
pockets of your camp suit. Everything being in the pack, fold over the
sides and ends, making a neat, compact bundle; tie it securely with a
piece of soft rope and across its top place the blankets with poncho
inside, which you have previously made into a roll to fit. Bind pack and
blankets together, attach the pack shoulder-strap and swing the pack on
your back.
Pack straps or harness can be obtained at any camp-outfitter's.
A different style of pack may be a bag with square corners, all seams
strongly stitched, then bound with strong tape. Cut two pieces of the
water-proof cloth, one about sixteen inches wide, and the other eighteen
inches; this last is for the front and allows more space. Let each piece
be twenty-one inches long or longer, unite them with a strip of the
cloth six inches wide and sufficiently long to allow of flaps extending
free at the top to fold over from both sides across the opening; you
will then have a box-like bag. Make one large flap of width to fit the
top of the back, and length to cross over on front, covering the smaller
flaps and fastening down on the outside of the front of the pack. All
three flaps may have pockets to hold small articles.
The shoulder-straps may be either of strong government webbing which
comes for the purpose, tube lamp-wick, or leather.
With this pack the blanket and poncho could be made into a thin roll and
fitted around the edges of the pack, or made into a short roll and
attached to top of pack.
When feasible it is a good plan to pack your smaller belongings in
wall-pockets with divisions protected by flaps securely fastened over
the open ends, the wall-pockets rolled, tied, and carried in the camp
pack. These pockets are useful at camp; they help to keep your things
where you can find them. Next best is to use small separate labelled
bags for different variety of duffel, and pack them in one or two duffel
tube-shaped bags, which may be bound together, constituting one pack.
From eighteen to twenty-four pounds is average weight for a girl to
carry; it all depends upon strength and endurance; some girls can carry
even heavier packs, while others must have lighter ones. Beware about
loading yourself down too heavily. Packs grow heavier and heavier, never
lighter on the trail.
=Blanket-Roll Pack=
Side-trips from camp for only one night's bivouac will not need a back
pack; the few articles required can be carried in your blanket-roll.
Spread the poncho out flat, rubber side down, then your blankets on top,
and group the things you intend to take into two separate oblong groups,
one on each side of the central space at one end of the blankets; push
the articles in each division closely together, leaving the space
between the divisions empty. Kneel in front of your blankets and begin
to roll all together tightly, taking care not to allow any of the duffel
to fall out. When the roll is complete, tie the centre with strong, soft
string, and also each end, and make a hoop of the roll by tying together
the hanging strings on the two ends. Wear the blanket-roll over left
shoulder, diagonally across back and chest to rest over right hip. If
you have forgotten a few items, tie the things to the bottom of the
blanket-roll and let them hang like tassels.
=Duffel-Bag=
Articles for general use while at camp can be packed together in one or
more duffel-bags; if but one bag is needed, provisions might go in the
same receptacle when space and weight permit. It is much better,
however, to have a separate bag for provisions.
=Packing Provisions=
You can make or buy separate tube bags of different heights, but all of
the same diameter, and pack flour in one, corn-meal in another, and so
on, having each bag labelled and all, when filled, fitted in one
duffel-bag; you will find these bags a great comfort. They should be of
water-proof canvas with draw-string at the top. You can purchase
friction-top cans for butter, etc., of varying depth to accommodate
different quantities which will fit well in the large provision bag.
A duffel-bag is usually made cylindrical in form with a disk of the
cloth sewed in tight at one end, and the other end closed with
draw-strings. It is well to have another cloth disk attached to one spot
at the top of the bag, to cover the contents before the draw-strings are
fastened.
A great variety of desirable camp packs, including duffel-bags,
pack-straps, harness, and tump-lines, may be purchased at the
camp-outfitter's; investigate before deciding upon home-made camp packs.
Pack-baskets can also be obtained, but all the good-sized pack-baskets I
have seen, while attractive in appearance, are too rigid, bulky,
sharp-edged, and heavy to be of use to girl campers.
Having decided that the wilderness is the place to locate, unless you
can manage to camp with very little in the way of extra packs, you will
be obliged to employ a guide to assist in the carry, possibly two
guides, as wilderness trails do not permit of a vehicle, or even a mule
or horse, being used to help in the portage.
Should your camp be on a more accessible site, the easy portage can be
taken advantage of and the problem readily solved; but the charm of the
real forest camp with all its possibilities for genuine life in the
wilderness more, far more, than compensates for the extra difficulties
in reaching camp. Really, though, the very difficulties are but part of
the sport; they give zest and add to the fun of the trail.
CHAPTER V
OUTDOOR HANDICRAFT
=Camp Furnishings--Dressing-Table, Seats, Dining-Table, Cupboard, Broom,
Chair, Racks, Birch-Bark Dishes, etc.=
Camp is the place where girls enjoy most proving their powers of
resourcefulness.
It is fun to supply a want with the mere natural raw materials found in
the open, and when you succeed in making a useful article of outdoor
things, the entire camp takes a pride in your work and the simple but
practical and usable production gives a hundred per cent more pleasure
than could a store article manufactured for the same purpose.
Be comfortable at camp. While it is good to live simply in the open, it
is also good to be comfortable in the open, and with experience you will
be surprised to find what a delightful life can be lived at camp with
but few belongings and the simplest of camp furnishings. These last can,
in a great measure, be made of tree branches and the various stuffs
found in the woods.
[Illustration: Handicraft in the woods.
Details of the outdoor dressing-table. Comb-racks of forked sticks and
of split sticks.]
=Dressing-Table=
A near-by tree will furnish the substantial foundation for your
dressing-table and wash-stand combined. If you can find a side-piece of
a wooden box, use it for the shelf and fasten this shelf on the trunk of
a tree about two and one-half feet or more above the ground. Cut two
rustic braces and nail the front of the shelf on the top ends of these
supports; then nail a strip of wood across the tree as a cleat on which
to rest the back of the shelf; fit the shelf on the cleat and nail the
lower ends of the braces to the tree; strengthen the work still more by
driving a strong, long nail on each side of the top centre of the back
of shelf, diagonally down through the shelf, cleat, and into the tree.
It is not essential that the straight shelf edge fit perfectly to the
rounded tree, but if you desire to have it so, mark a semicircle on the
wood of size to fit the tree and whittle it out.
Should there be no piece of box for your shelf, make the shelf of
strong, slender sticks lashed securely close together on two side
sticks. For cleats and braces use similar sticks described for board
shelf.
When the shelf is made in this way, cover the top with birch bark or
other bark to give a flat surface.
Hang your mirror on a nail in the tree at convenient distance above the
shelf, and your tooth-brush on another nail. The towel may hang over the
extending end of the cleat, and you can make a small bark dish for the
soap. Your comb can rest on two forked-stick supports tacked on the
tree, or two split-end sticks.
=Camp-Seats=
Stones, logs, stumps, raised outstanding roots of trees, and boxes, when
obtainable, must be your outdoor chairs, stools, and seats until others
can be made.
[Illustration: Outdoor dressing-table, camp-cupboard, hammock-frame,
seat, and pot-hook.]
Two trees standing near together may be used to advantage as uprights
for a camp seat. Cut a small horizontal kerf or notch at the same height
on opposite sides of both trees, get two strong poles (green wood), fit
them in the wedges and nail them to the trees; then lash them firmly in
place. Be absolutely certain that these poles are of strong wood,
firmly attached to the trees and not liable to slide or break.
Make the seat by lashing sticks across from pole to pole, placing them
close together. Two more long poles, fastened to the trees at a proper
distance above the seat, would give a straight back, if a back is
desired, but it is not essential; with a folded blanket spread over it,
the seat alone is a luxury.
=Camp-Table=
A table can be built in much the same way as the seat and will answer
the purpose well if one of boards is not to be had. For the table make
your crosspieces about twenty-two inches long, nail them ladder-like but
close together on two poles, and make this table top flat on the surface
by covering it with birch bark tacked on smoothly. Having previously
fastened two other poles across from tree to tree, as you did when
making the seat, you can lift the table top and lay it on the two
foundation poles; then bind it in place and the table will be finished.
Another way of using the table top is to drive four strong, stout,
forked sticks into the ground for the four table legs and place the
table top across, resting the long side poles in the crotches of the
stakes, where they may be lashed in place.
Benches for the table can be made in like manner, only have the
forked-stick legs shorter, raising the seat about eighteen inches above
the ground.
[Illustration: Camp-chair, biscuit-stick, and blanket camp-bed.]
=Camp-Cupboard=
A cupboard made of a wooden box by inserting shelves, held up by means
of cleats, will be found very convenient when nailed to a tree near the
cook-fire. Hang a door on the cupboard which will close tight and
fasten securely. Have this in mind when making out your check list, and
add hinges, with screws to fit, to your camp tools.
=Camp-Broom=
With a slender pole as a handle, hickory shoots, or twisted fibre of
inner bark of slippery-elm, for twine, and a thick bunch of the top
branchlets of balsam, spruce, hemlock, or pine for the brush part, you
can make a broom by binding the heavy ends of the branches tight to an
encircling groove cut on the handle some three inches from the end. Cut
the bottom of the brush even and straight.
=Camp-Chair=
If you have a good-size length of canvas or other strong cloth, make a
camp-chair. For the back use two strong, forked stakes standing upright,
and use two long poles with branching stubs at equal distance from the
bottom, for the sides and front legs of the chair; in the crotches of
these stubs the bottom stick on which the canvas strip is fastened will
rest.
Each side pole must be fitted into one of the forked high-back stakes,
and then the top stick on the canvas strip must be placed in the same
crotches, but in front of and resting against the side poles, thus
locking the side poles firmly in place.
To fasten the canvas on the two sticks, cut one stick to fit across the
chair-back and the other to fit across the lower front stubs. Fold one
end of the canvas strip over one stick and nail the canvas on it, so
arranging the cloth that the row of nails will come on the under side of
the stick. Turn in the edge first that the nails may go through the
double thickness of cloth. Adjust this canvas-covered stick to the top
of the chair, allowing the cloth to form a loose hanging seat; measure
the length needed for back and seat, cut it off and nail the loose end
of the canvas strip to the other stick; then fit one stick in the top of
the upright back stakes and the other stick in the bottom stubs.
=Camp Clothes-Press=
If you are in a tent tie a hanging pole from the tent ridge-pole, and
use it as a clothes-press.
=Blanket Bed=
Two short logs will be required for your blanket bed, the thicker the
better, one for the head and one for the foot, also two long, strong,
green-wood poles, one for each side of the bed; your blanket will be the
mattress.
Fold the blanket, making the seam, formed by bringing the two ends
together, run on the under-side along the centre of the doubled blanket,
not on the edge. Lap and fasten the blanket ends together with large
horse-blanket safety-pins, and with the same kind of pins make a case on
each side of the blanket fold; then run one of the poles through each
case. Chop a notch near each end of the two short logs; in these notches
place the ends of the poles and nail them securely. Have the short logs
thick enough to raise the bed up a few inches from the ground, and make
the notches sufficiently far apart to stretch the mattress out smooth,
not have it sag. A strip of canvas or khaki may be used in place of the
blanket if preferred.
=Camp Hammock=
By lashing short crosspieces to the head and foot of the side poles the
blanket mattress can be a hammock and swing between two trees, having
been attached to them with rope or straps of slippery-elm, beech, or
black birch.
=Birch-Bark Dishes=
It will be easy for girls to make their birch-bark dinner plates,
vegetable dishes, baskets, dippers, etc. Soften the thick bark by
soaking it in water; when it is pliable cut one plate the size you wish,
lay it on a flat stone or other hard substance and scrape off the
outside bark around the edges, allowing the outer bark to remain on the
bottom of the plate to give greater strength; use this plate as a guide
in cutting each of the others.
With your fingers shape the edges of the plates in an upward turn while
the bark is wet, using the smoothest side for the inside of the plate.
A large bark cornucopia with bark strap-handle can be made and carried
on the arm in place of a basket when off berrying.
Variations of circular, oblong, and rectangular bark dishes may be
worked out from strips and rectangular pieces of birch bark, and all
dishes can be turned into baskets by adding handles. When necessary to
sew the edges of bark together, always have the bark wet and soft; then
lap the edges and use a very coarse darning-needle with twine of
inner-bark fibre or rootlets; have ready hot melted grease mixed with
spruce gum to coat over the stitching and edges of the article, or you
can use white-birch resin for the same purpose.
The bark utensils will wear longer if a slender rootlet or branchlet of
pliable wood is sewed, with the "over-and-over" stitch, to the edge of
the article.
For round and oblong dishes or baskets, sew together the two ends of
your strip of wet bark; then sew the round or oblong bottom on the lower
edge of the bark circle. In this case it is not easy to lap the edges,
simply bring them together and finish the seam with the addition of the
slender rootlet binding.
Rectangular dishes are made by folding the wet bark according to the
diagrams and fastening the folds near the top of both ends of the
receptacle. These will hold liquids.
[Illustration: The birch-bark dish that will hold fluids. Details of
making.]
=Cooking Utensils=
A forked stick with points sharpened makes a fine toasting-fork or
broiling-stick for bacon or other small pieces of meat. The meat is
stuck on the two prongs and held over the fire.
A split-end stick may be used for the same purpose by wedging the bacon
in between the two sides of the split.
Your rolling-pin can be a peeled, straight, smooth, round stick, and a
similar stick, not necessarily straight but longer, may do duty as a
biscuit baker when a strip of dough is wound spirally around it and held
over the fire.
A hot flat stone can also be used for baking biscuits, and a large
flat-topped rock makes a substitute for table and bread-board combined.
If you have canned goods, save every tin can when empty, melt off the
top, and with nail and hammer puncture a hole on two opposite sides near
the top, and fasten in a rootlet handle. These cans make very
serviceable and useful cooking-pails.
Whittle out a long-handled cake-turner from a piece of thin split wood,
and also whittle out a large flat fork.
Make a number of pot-hooks of different lengths, they are constantly
needed at camp; select strong green sticks with a crotch on one end and
drive a nail slantingly into the wood near the bottom of the stick on
which to hang kettles, pots, etc. Be sure to have the nail turn up and
the short side of the crotch turn down as in diagram.
Campers employ various methods of making candlesticks. One method is to
lash a candle to the side of the top of a stake driven into the ground,
or the stake can have a split across the centre of the top, and the
candle held upright by a strip of bark wedged in the split with a loop
on one side holding the candle and the two ends of the bark extending
out beyond the other side of the stake. Again the candle is stuck into a
little mound of clay, mud, or wet sand. If you have an old glass bottle,
crack off the bottom by pouring a little water in the bottle and placing
it for a short while on the fire embers; then plant your candle in the
ground and slide the neck of the bottle over the candle. Steady it by
planting the neck of the bottle a little way in the ground and the glass
bottle will act as a windbreak for your candle.
Never leave a candle burning even for a moment unless some one is
present; it is a dangerous experiment. Fire cannot be trifled with. _Put
out_ your candle before leaving it.
A good idea before going away from camp when vacation is over is to
photograph all the different pieces of your outdoor handicraft, and when
the prints are made label each one with the month, date, and year and
state material used, time required in the making, and comments on the
work by other camp members.
Be sure to take photographs of different views of the camp as a whole,
also of each separate shelter, both the outside and the inside, and have
pictures of all camp belongings.
The authors will be greatly interested in seeing these.
[Illustration: A bear would rather be your friend than your enemy.]
CHAPTER VI
MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE OUTDOOR FOLK
=In the Woods, the Fields, on the Shore. Stalking Animals and Birds=
There is but one way to make friends with the folk of the wild, and that
is by gentleness, kindness, and quietness. Also one must learn to be
fearless. It is said that while animals may not understand our language
they do understand, or feel, our attitude toward them; and if it is that
of fear or dislike we stand little chance of really knowing them, to say
nothing of establishing any kind of friendly relations with them. By
quiet watchfulness, keenness of sight and hearing, you may obtain a
certain amount of knowledge of their ways, but when you add real
sympathy and kindly feeling you gain their confidence and friendship.
Make them understand that you will not interfere with or harm them, and
they will go about their own affairs unafraid in your presence. Then you
may silently watch their manner of living, their often amusing habits,
and their frank portrayal of character. As a guest in the wild,
conducting yourself as a courteous guest should, you will be well
treated by your wild hosts, some of whom, in time, may even permit you
to feed and stroke them. They do not dislike but fear you; they would
rather be your friends than your enemies. The baby animal which has not
yet learned to fear a human being will sometimes, when in danger, run to
you for protection. This must win your heart if nothing else can.
[Illustration: Making friends with a ruffed grouse.]
=Stalking=
You may stalk an animal by remaining quiet as well as by following its
trail. To even see some of the inhabitants of woods, fields, and shore
you must be willing to exercise great patience and conform to their
method of hiding by remaining absolutely still. It is the thing that
moves that they fear. Some of the animals appear not even to see a
person who remains motionless. At any rate, they ignore him as they do a
stump or stone.
For this quiet stalking, find as comfortable a seat as you can where you
have reason to think some kind of animal or animals will pass and resign
yourself to immovable waiting. If the rock beneath you grows
unreasonably hard or the tree roots develop sharp edges, or the ground
sends up unnoticed stones of torment; if your foot "goes to sleep" or
your nose itches, bear the annoyances bravely and your reward will be
sure and ample. If the wait is unduly long and movement of some kind
becomes imperative, let such movement be made so slowly as to be almost
imperceptible. Remember that unseen, suspicious eyes will be attracted
by any sudden action and the faintest sound will be heard, for these
spell danger to the wilderness folk and if frightened away they are not
apt to return.
Keep your ears open to detect the first sound of approaching life. There
is a thrill in this experience, and another when the animal you have
heard comes boldly out before you. Then it is you will find that, in
some mysterious way, all bodily discomfort has vanished. Your whole
being is absorbed in the movements of the creature who is unconscious of
your presence, and there is no room for other sensations. More animals
may appear and perhaps a little drama may be enacted as if for your
benefit.
[Illustration: Found on the trail.
Chipmunk and white-footed mouse, panther, kangaroo rat, raccoon, and
weasel.]
It may be a tragedy, it may be a comedy, or it may be only a bit of
every-day family life; but you do not know the plot nor how many actors
will take part, and your very uncertainty adds zest to the situation.
=Animals Found on the Trail=
The animals most frequently seen in the woods where there is no longer
any large game are the chipmunk, the red, the gray, and the black
squirrel, the rabbit and hare, the fox, weasel, pine-marten, woodchuck,
raccoon, opossum, and skunk, also the pack-rat (of the west), the
white-footed and field mouse. In deeper and wilder forests there are
deer and porcupine, though deer are found quite near habitations at
times. In more remote places there are the moose and caribou; the bear,
mountain-lion, lynx or wildcat, and the timber-wolf. The wolf is,
however, equally at home in the open and at this day is most plentiful
on the wide plains of the west. Unless your trail leads through the
remote wilderness, you will hardly come across the more savage animals,
and when you do invade their territory it will give you greater courage
to call to mind the fact that they, as well as the smaller wild things,
are afraid of man. Our most experienced hunters and our best writers on
the subject of animal life agree that a wild animal's first emotion upon
seeing a human being is undoubtedly _fear_. When you come upon one
suddenly you may feel sure that he is as much frightened as you are and
will probably turn aside to avoid you unless he thinks you are going to
attack him. All wild creatures are afraid of fire, therefore the
camp-fire is a barrier they will not pass, and a blazing firebrand will
drive any of them away.
[Illustration: Timber wolves.]
=Birds=
Among the feathered tribes of the woods you will find the owl, the
woodcock, and the grouse. Of the smaller birds, the nuthatch, the wood
and hermit thrush, whippoorwill, woodpeckers, wood-pewee, and others.
Most of the birds prefer the edge of the woods, where they can dip into
the sunshine and take long flights through the free air of the open; but
the hermit-thrush, shyest and sweetest of singers, makes his home deep
in the silent, shadowy forest. In these depths, and oftenest near a bog
or marsh, you may also hear the call of the partridge, or more properly,
the ruffed grouse. As given by the writer William J. Long, the call is
like this:
"Prut, prut, pr-r-r-rt! Whit-kwit? Pr-r-r-rt, pr-r-r-rt! Ooo-it, ooo-it?
Pr-r-reeee!"
Or perhaps you will be startled by the rolling drum-call. This begins
slowly, increases rapidly, and ends something like this: "Dum! dum! dum!
dum-dum-dum-dumdumdum!" The drum-call is made by the male bird who,
beating the air with his wings, produces the sound. It is said to be a
mating-call, but is heard at other times as well, long after the
mating-season is over.
[Illustration: Baby moose.]
=Stalking the Ruffed Grouse=
If you want to see the birds, stalk them when you hear their call. Wait
until you locate the direction of the sound, then walk silently and
follow it. As soon as the birds are sighted slip from one tree to
another, stopping instantly when you think they may see you, until you
can conceal yourself behind a bush, tree, or stump near enough for you
to peer around and have a good view of your game. It may sometimes be
necessary to drop to your knees in order to keep out of sight. If you
have heard the drum it is the cock that you have stalked and, if early
in the season, you will soon see his demure little mate steal through
the underbrush to meet her lordly master as he stands proudly on an old
log awaiting her. The "whit-kwit" call may lead you to the hen grouse
with her brood of little chicks which are so much the color of the brown
leaves you will not see them until they move. If the call comes later in
the year you may come upon a flock of well-grown young birds who have
left their mother and are now following a leader.
The ruffed grouse is a beautiful bird. He is yellowish-brown or rusty,
splashed with black or dark brown, and white, with under-parts of a
light buff. His beak is short and on his small, dainty head he carries
his crest proudly. His shoulders bear epaulets of dark feathers, called
the ruff, and his fan-like tail is banded and cross-barred. The nest of
the grouse is on the ground, usually against a fallen log, at the foot
of a tree, or in a hollow made by the roots; or it may be hidden amid
underbrush. It is easily overlooked, being made of dry leaves with,
perhaps, some feathers. In the season it contains from eight to fourteen
eggs.
=Woodcock=
The woodcock, another forest bird, seldom shows himself in broad
daylight except when hunted; then he will rise a few feet, fly a short
distance, drop and run, hiding again as quickly as he can. You will know
the woodcock from the ruffed grouse by his _long bill_, his short legs,
and his very short tail. He frequents the banks of wooded streams or the
bogs of the forests and, like the grouse, nests on the ground; but the
woodcock's nest seldom contains more than four eggs.
[Illustration: Stalking wild birds.]
=Beaver=
Along the shores of sluggish streams, of lonely lakes and ponds, you may
see the beaver, the muskrat, very rarely the otter, and sometimes an
ugly little, long-bodied animal belonging to the marten family called
the fisher. These are all interesting, each in its own way, and well
worth hours of quiet observation. The beaver, otter, and fisher choose
wild, secluded places for their homes, but the muskrat may be found also
in the marshes of farm lands. On the edges of our Long Island meadows
the boys trap muskrats for their skins.
You will find the beaver house in the water close to the shore and
overlapping it. Though strongly and carefully built, it looks very much
like a jumble of small driftwood, with bleached sticks well packed
together, and the ends standing out at all angles. The sticks are
stripped of their bark and the house gleams whitely against the dark
water. The houses vary in size, some being built as high as five feet.
The beaver is rarely seen early in the day, most of his work is done at
night, so the best time to watch for him is just before dusk or perhaps
an hour before sundown. It is not well to wait to see the beaver if your
trail back to camp is a long one, leading through dense forests. You
would far better postpone making its acquaintance than to risk going
over the, perhaps, treacherous paths after dark. Night comes early in
the woods and darkness shuts down closely while it is still light in the
open. If your camp is near the beaver house or beaver dam, or if your
trip can be made by water, then, with no anxiety about your return, you
can sit down and calmly await the coming of this most skilful of all
building animals, and may see him add material to his house, or go on
with his work of cutting down a tree, as a reward for your patience.
=Fish-Hawk, Osprey=
On the shore you will also find the fish-hawk, or osprey; a
well-mannered bird he is said to be, who fishes diligently and attends
strictly to his own business. The fish-hawk's nest will generally be at
the top of a dead tree where no one may disturb or look into it, though,
as the accompanying photograph shows, it is sometimes found on rocks
near the ground. The young hawks have a way of their own of defending
themselves from any climbing creature, and to investigators of the nest
the results are disastrously disagreeable as well as laughable. As the
intruder climbs near, the baby birds put their heads over the sides of
the nest and empty their stomachs upon him. This is vouched for by a
well-known writer who claims to have gone through the experience.
The female osprey is larger and stronger than the male. On slowly moving
wings she sails over the water, dropping suddenly to clutch in her
strong talons the fish her keen eyes have detected near the surface of
the water. Fish are fish to the osprey and salt waters or fresh are the
same to her. I have watched the bird plunge into the waves of the ocean,
on the coast of Maine, to bring out a cunner almost too large for her to
carry, and I have seen her drop into the placid waters of an Adirondack
lake for lake-trout in the same manner.
=Blue Heron=
The great blue heron is one of the shore folk and his metallic blue-gray
body gleams in the sunlight, as you sight him from your canoe, standing
tall and slim, a lonely figure on the bank. He flies slowly and
majestically, with his long legs streaming out behind. When out in a
small boat on Puget Sound a large heron escorted us some distance. As
we rowed near the shore he would fly ahead and then wait for us,
standing solemnly on a stone in the water or a partially submerged log,
to fly again as we approached.
[Illustration: The fish-hawk will sometimes build near the ground.]
This escort business seems to be a habit of the heron family, for the
same thing occurred on the Tomoca River, Fla., the home of the
alligator, when a small, brilliantly blue heron flew ahead of our boat
for several miles, always stopping to wait for us, and then going on
again.
The heron is a fisher and when you see him standing close to the water,
on one foot perhaps, he is awaiting his game. It matters not how long he
must remain immovable, there he will stand until the fish comes within
striking distance, when the long, curved neck will shoot out like a
snake and the strong beak grasp its unwary prey.
=Loon, Great Northern Diver=
Another interesting bird, which you may both hear and see on secluded
lakes, is the loon or great northern diver. I first heard the wild cry
of the loon, a lonesome and eerie sound, on Pine River Pond, a small
lake in the foot-hills of the White Mountains. There I saw the great
bird dive and disappear beneath the water to remain an alarmingly long
time, and then come up several hundred yards away, and rising, fly
slowly to the shore. It is always a matter for guessing when the loon
dives, for you can never tell where she will come up. This great diver
is a large black-and-white bird, about the size of a goose. The breast
is white, head black, and a white ring encircles its black neck. Its
beak is long, its legs very short and placed far back on the body. It is
essentially a water-bird, and on shore is both slow and awkward. I do
not think it possible to become very intimate with the loon, for it is
one of the wildest of our birds, and so suspicious it will allow no
close approach, but quiet watching will reveal many of its interesting
characteristics. Some one once found the nest of a loon and brought me a
little, downy, young one that I might try to tame it; but it lived only
a day or two in spite of all the devotion expended upon it, and its
wild, frightened cry was too pathetic to allow of another experiment of
the kind.
=Animals and Birds of the Open=
You will find that the wild life of the open differs in some respects
from that of the woods, though there will be the woodchuck, the rabbit,
the fox, and the hare in the fields and farm lands as well as in the
woods. The weasel, too, makes unwelcome visits to the farm, but besides
these there are other animals that are seldom or never found in the
woods.
=Field-Mouse=
There is the little field-mouse, a short-eared and short-tailed little
creature with a thick neck and of a red-brown color. It feeds on grain
and seeds, and when hard pressed for food will also eat the bark of
trees.
=Kangaroo-Rat, Jumping Mouse=
In the underbrush near a meadow and at the edges of thickets you may
possibly see, though they are not common, a diminutive animal, beautiful
in form and color and of most interesting habits. In the Southwest it is
called the kangaroo-rat, but North and East it is known as the jumping
mouse. The name kangaroo-rat is given because of its short fore legs,
strong hind legs, and the kangaroo-like leaps it makes. In temper it is
very unlike the ordinary rat; it does not bite and can be safely
handled, but will not live if kept in captivity.
=Pocket-Gopher=
The pocket-gopher lives and burrows in the fields. It is a mole-like
animal but much larger than the common mole. Its legs are short and its
front feet strong, with long nails for digging. The fur is soft and
silky and dark brown in color. Where the gopher is there may be found
the weasel, his greatest enemy. It should be an even fight between them,
for they are equally matched in ill-temper and savageness, and are near
of a size though the gopher is the heavier.
=Antelope=
On the great plains of the west you may still see the beautiful and
gentle antelope, though that animal is fast disappearing, while the
thieving coyote thrives and multiplies in the same region.
=Coyote, Prairie-Wolf=
The coyote, or prairie-wolf, is about the size of a large dog and
resembles one. Its color is gray, made by a mixture of black and white
hairs. It is a cowardly animal and not dangerous, but its contemptible
character could not prevent a wave of compassion that came over me when
I saw one poor creature caged in a wooden box and holding up the bloody
stump where its fore foot had been torn off by the cruel and barbarous
steel trap.
=Spermophile=
In the Middle West, especially in Indiana, the little spermophile,
sometimes called the ground-squirrel, is common and not afraid to
venture into the outskirts of a village. One variety wears spotted brown
and yellow stripes down its back, another is gray, but all are about
the size of a gray squirrel. On the western prairies are the comical
little prairie-dogs. You can see them sitting up on their haunches
watching the train as it carries you over the great plains.
[Illustration: Antelopes of the western plains.]
=Bobolink=
The birds of the open are varied and many. Most of the forest birds are
seen occasionally in the fields, but some birds make their homes in the
open. You will find the bobolink's nest in a hay-field or down among the
red clover. The bobolink of the north is a sweet singer and is pretty in
his black and white feathers with a touch of yellow at the back of his
head. There are creamy-yellow feathers down his back, too, but they are
not noticeable. When he goes south the male loses his pretty coat and,
clad like his mate in yellowish-brown, is known as the rice-bird because
he feeds on the rice crops. Here he is killed because he is considered a
robber, and eaten because he is considered a delicacy.
=Meadow-Lark=
Early spring trailing through the meadows will bring you the cheery song
of the meadow-lark: "Spring-o-the-year!" Stalk him carefully and you
will find a large brown bird with yellow breast and a black crescent on
his throat. The meadow-lark is about the size of a quail. He stands
erect when he sings, and he has a rather long beak. The nest can be
found, if you look for it, but is generally out of sight under a
loosened clod of earth or tuft of grass.
=Red-Winged Blackbird=
The red-winged blackbird with his sweet call of "O-ka-lie," or
"Ouchee-la-ree-e!" you will also find on the meadows and marshes. He
builds his nest among the reeds and is one of the first of our spring
birds in the north.
=Song Sparrow=
The little song sparrow loves the open and the hot summer sunshine.
Trailing along a country road at midday, when most of the other birds
are still, you will find the song sparrow sitting on a rail fence
singing with undiminished enthusiasm.
To make friends with the birds provide food and water for them, then sit
down and wait quietly until they appear. Let them become accustomed to
seeing you sitting still every day for a while, then begin slow, careful
movements, gradually becoming more natural, and in time the birds will
allow you to walk among them as you please, if you are careful never to
frighten them. You can do this in camp; you can do it at home if you are
not living in a city. The trustful friendship of animals and birds opens
a new path of happiness and one that all girls should be able, in some
measure, to enjoy.
CHAPTER VII
WILD FOOD ON THE TRAIL
=Edible Fruits, Nuts, Roots, and Plants=
While wild foods gathered on the trail give a delightful variety to camp
fare, be advised and do not gather, still less eat, them unless you are
absolutely sure you know what they are and that they are not poisonous.
You must be able to identify a thing with certainty before tasting in
order to enjoy it in safety. It is well worth while to make a study of
the wild-growing foods, but in the meantime this chapter will help you
to know some of them. _The italicized names are of the things I know to
be edible from personal experience._ You are probably well acquainted
with the common wild fruits such as the raspberry, strawberry,
blackberry, blueberry, and huckleberry, but there are varieties of these
and all will bear description.
=Red Raspberry=
The wild berry often has a more delicious flavor and perfume than the
cultivated one of the same species. Nothing can approach the wonderful
and delicate flavor of the little wild strawberry, unless it is the wild
red raspberry; and the fully ripe wild blackberry holds a spicy
sweetness that makes the garden blackberry taste tame and flat in
comparison.
The _wild red raspberry_ is found in open fields and growing along
fences and the sides of the road. The flowers are white and grow in
loose clusters, while the berry, when fully ripe, is a deep, translucent
red. The bush is shrubby, is generally about waist-high, and the stems
bear small, hooked prickles. The leaves are what is called compound,
being composed of three or five leaflets, usually three, which branch
out from the main stem like the leaves of the rose-bush. The edges of
the leaves are irregularly toothed.
The berry is cup-shaped and fits over a core which is called the
receptacle, and from which it loosens when ripe to drop easily into your
hand, leaving the receptacle and calyx on the stem. The sweet,
far-carrying perfume of the gathered wild red raspberry will always
identify it. The season for fruit is July and August.
=Black Raspberry=
The growth and leaves of the _wild black raspberry_ are like those of
the red raspberry, and it is found in the same localities. The fruit,
like the other, is cup or thimble shaped and grows on a receptacle from
which it loosens when fully ripe. Blackcaps, these berries are often
called. They ripen in July. The berry is sometimes a little dry, but the
flavor is sweet and fine.
=Purple-Flowering Raspberry=
The purple-flowering raspberry is acid and insipid; it can hardly be
called edible, though it is not poisonous. You will find it clambering
among the rocks on the mountainside and in rocky soil. The leaves are
large and resemble grape leaves, while the flower is large, purplish-red
in color, and grows in loose clusters.
=Mountain Raspberry, Cloudberry=
The usual home of the mountain raspberry, or cloudberry, is on the
mountain-tops among the clouds. You will find it in the White Mountains
and on the coast of Maine, and it has recently been discovered at
Montauk Point, L. I. The fruit has a pleasant flavor of a honey-like
sweetness. The receptacle of the berry is broad and flat, the color is
yellow touched with red where exposed to the sun. It does not grow in
clusters like the other raspberries, but is solitary. The leaves are
roundish with from five to nine lobes, something like the leaves of the
geranium. The plant grows low, is without prickles, and the solitary
flowers are white. In the far north, where it is found in great
profusion, the cloudberry is made into delicious jam.
=Wild Strawberry=
When crossing sandy knolls or open, uncultivated fields and pastures,
the alluring perfume of the _wild strawberry_ will sometimes lead you to
the patch which shows the bright-red little berry on its low-growing
plant. It is common everywhere, though it bears the name of wild
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