Credit is due Miss Emily McClure for her article on Activities, and Miss Catherine Wilkeson for her account of A Deschutes River Fishing Trip.
We are glad to have permission to reprint "Water Front Protection for Summer Camps" by Captain Fred C. Mills of the Red Cross Life Saving Corps. The Life Saving Corps is giving the Girl Scouts the most active sort of cooperation throughout the country.
Sincere appreciation and thanks are given to Dr. Louise Stevens Bryant, Educational Secretary of the National Girl Scouts, for making the charts and editing the manuscript.
Foreword 7 I Planning for Camp 9 II Camp Directors and Counsellors 15 III The Camper 22 IV The Camp House 28 V General Routine from Opening to Closing Camp 40 VI Camp Records and Accounts 50 VII Equipment 64 VIII The Camp Program 93 IX General Camp Activities 98 X Hikes 127 XI Camp Health and Camp Safety 140 XII Feeding the Multitude 152 XIII A Day in Camp 174 Some Books on Camps and Camping 178 Index 183
_There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes By the deep Sea, and music in its roar: I love not Man the less, but Nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be or have been before, To mingle with the Universe, and feel What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal_ --_Lord Byron_
Planning for a camp is a matter of hours of thought and pipe dreaming, every item receiving its due amount of consideration, first in general terms, then in detail, until the whole scheme is so well formulated and all needs so well recognized and provided for that the actual camp comes into existence quite easily and successfully.
It is much more economical and satisfactory to change an idea than a building, and it behooves us all to learn the trick as soon as possible. Start to think in the winter; the fall is even better. Begin at the beginning and let no step of the way be slighted.
Shall we have a camp, and where shall it be, are the first questions that come to mind. Of course have it, even though it be for a small group only, and very simple as to equipment. The benefits derived by body, mind and soul cannot be over-estimated. The joy of finding and seeing for the first time the things that can only be found and seen in the open, living away from stilted civilization, flings open a door which rarely closes again for any length of time. Most people, and especially children, are not so far away from nature but that love and appreciation of it can be easily awakened by its beauty of color, form and sound, or its prodigality which cannot be rivalled. Then to realize that all humanity is a part of this great system is to love all living things, to know they are good, and that it is fear which calls forth their antagonism, as has been proved time and time again. If such things as these can be learned by living in the open, have we not sufficient reason for providing the means to the end? Someone has said that "cutting the camp out of the Scout year is like leaving the yeast out of the bread."