Campward Ho! Part 12

Cla.s.s I. a. Handle a canoe singly in all weathers and make 3 out of 5 perfect landings, b. Climb into a canoe with another swimmer's help from the water in three consecutive trials.

In your own camp when grouping sports for cla.s.sification although you may get good suggestions from other methods, it is best to work out a way which meets your own particular need.

Remember that the swimming and boating should be in charge of competent and responsible people or instructors and that every precaution should be taken against accident.

Remember it is better to emphasize good form rather than speed or long distance swimming and the ability to meet emergencies in the water rather than stunts.

Honors or recognition should be given for skill, form and improvement rather than for endurance.

The interest in Water Sports is further stimulated by weekly contests or a day set apart at the end of the season called the Water Sports Day.

In weekly contests enough compet.i.tion takes place to keep the girls'

interest in improvement constantly keen.

For Water Sports Day here is a typical and comprehensive program:

Canoe race 25-yard dash 50-yard dash Dives; an option of 2 out of 3 Boating race Relay swimming race Obstacle race Practical demonstration such as taught by the Women's Life Saving Corps of the American Red Cross.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOOD CUTTERS]

If you do not wish to have too strenuous a time for Water Sports Day a carnival is suggested which is more festive and makes for a very gay and picturesque time. The carnival can be worked out in a variety of ways, but the main feature is the decking of boats and costuming of the partic.i.p.ants, prizes being given for originality. A short program of water sports can be added.

Games

If there is adequate equipment Basket-ball, Baseball and Tennis become the outstanding or major games in a camp. These games should never be indulged in for the idea of winning at all costs, but for the fun that one gets out of them.

Of course there will be compet.i.tive games with qualified teams and high standards of playing, but there will also be the impromptu and unexpected challenge games played in fantastic costumes, accompanied by many antics and songs composed on the inspiration of the moment, games apt to be remembered long after the other kind of compet.i.tion has been forgotten.

Baseball for girls or children who cannot get used to the paraphernalia of hard b.a.l.l.s, bats and mitts, can be played with a softer ball such as a playground ball, a light bat and if necessary the simpler rules of Indoor Baseball can be adopted for out-door playing. In most camps, however, enthusiasm for real Baseball generally outweighs every handicap.

Tennis does not take in the same number of players at one time as does Baseball or Basket-ball, therefore in order that everyone may get a try at it a schedule may be made out so that the courts will not be monopolized by one set of players to the exclusion of beginners or other enthusiasts.

Ladder tournaments, both for singles and doubles, solve this problem somewhat and create interest, especially when the final try-outs are on.

There are any number of group games, Volley Ball, Captain Ball, Relay Races and Ball Games, which are played in camps when there is adequate equipment for Basket-ball and Tennis, but more especially where there is a lack of it.

Individual games, such as Archery, and Quoits make the time pa.s.s pleasantly and profitably for a few who like to go off by themselves.

Dancing

Dancing is an interesting pastime for camp and fills in many gaps.

It is a help in entertainments and if you are to have an end of the season pageant, it is well to hold dancing cla.s.ses regularly so that there will not be endless rehearsing for the last days.

There are three types of dancing which can be presented. The Aesthetic or Cla.s.sic, the Folk Dancing and the Social Dancing. For the most part, the Folk Dancing is freer, easy to learn and more suited to the community as a whole than the Aesthetic work.

It is better not to attempt much dancing in your schedule if you have no piano or stringed pieces, for although there are phonograph records to be had, the supply is too limited to be entirely satisfactory.

A collection of English Country Dances by Cecil Sharpe are dances that everyone can do and enjoy.

Horseback Riding

The joy of horseback riding does not find its way into every camp, mainly because of the expense and responsibility entailed, but if it does there are many facts to know and master in horsemans.h.i.+p. For instance, one should know how to take care of a horse, which means feeding, watering, saddling, grooming, shoeing, tying and general care necessary under different conditions.

The requirements for riding are to know:

1. How to mount and dismount correctly

2. To be able to demonstrate riding at a walk, trot or gallop

3. To be able to jump a low hurdle

The requirements for driving are:

1. To learn how to harness correctly in a single and double harness; and

2. How to manage a horse on the road

2. CRAFTS AND OCCUPATIONS

But sports are not the only side to the camper's program. Another very large and absorbing part is the Crafts, inclusive of Handcrafts, Woodcraft, Campcraft, and the distinct Scout occupations, such as First Aid, Home Nursing, Gardening, Signalling, and Homemaking, treated in the Girl Scout Handbook.

Handcrafts

The handcrafts are more numerous than your fingers and can be defined as anything that is done with the hands. It is possible to have almost any branch of the Fine Arts and the Applied Arts as dyeing, batik, stenciling, woodblock printing, pottery. Then there is basketry, weaving, rug-making, leather work, and metal work in copper, or jewelry in silver, woodcarving and carpentry. The first problem is: "Who will teach it?" The choice of what handcrafts you will have then, depends somewhat on whom you can secure to present them properly.

But closely allied is your second problem, "What can we afford?"

Jewelry, metal work and leather are the most expensive. Pottery is fascinating, but you must have a kiln to finish the product.

Try to choose the crafts which will suit the capacities. It is better not to attempt jewelry at the outset.

Relating your craft work to the camp makes it doubly interesting. So much can be done in this way with carpentry which produces anything from docks and canoe paddles to furniture and toothbrush holders.

Delightful problems in the interior decoration of a camp living room can be worked out by combining the efforts of all the craft workers. The carpenters build the furniture; the weavers make rugs and materials; the dyers dip the materials and carry out the color scheme and other workers supply the accessories.

It is well to have an exhibition to look forward to for the end of the season when appointed judges decide upon the merit of the work.

Woodcraft

_Night is a dead monotonous period under a roof; but in the open world it pa.s.ses lightly with its stars and dews and perfumes, and the hours are marked by changes in the face of Nature. What seems a kind of death to people choked between walls and curtains, is only a light and living slumber to the man who sleeps a-field. All night long he can hear Nature breathing deeply and freely; even as she takes her rest, she turns and smiles; and there is one stirring hour unknown to those who dwell in houses, when a wakeful influence goes abroad over the sleeping hemisphere, and all the outdoor world are on their feet. It is then that the c.o.c.k first crows, not this time to announce the dawn, but like a cheerful watchman speeding the course of night.

Cattle awake on the meadows; sheep break their fast on dewy hillsides, and change to a new lair among the ferns; and houseless men, who have lain down with the fowls, open their dim eyes and behold the beauty of the night._

_At what inaudible summons, at what gentle touch of Nature, are all these sleepers thus recalled in the the same hour to life? Do the stars rain down an influence, or do we share some thrill of mother earth below our resting bodies?... Towards two in the morning ... the thing takes place._