Camping For Boys Part 19

Griddle cakes with Karo Syrup or brown sugar and b.u.t.ter; Fried bacon and potatoes; Bread, coffee, preserves.

Dinner

Creamed salmon on toast; Baked potatoes; Bread; Pickles; Fruit.

Supper

Fried eggs; Creamed or chipped beef; Cheese; Bread; Cocoa

These recipes have been tried out. Biscuit and bread-making have been purposely omitted. Take bread and crackers with you from the camp.

"Amateur" biscuits are not conducive to good digestion or happiness. Pack b.u.t.ter in small jar. Cocoa, sugar and coffee in small cans or heavy paper, also salt and pepper. Wrap bread in a moist cloth to prevent drying up.

Bacon and dried or chipped beef in wax paper. Pickles can be purchased put up in small bottles. Use the empty bottle as a candlestick.

Ration List for six boys, three meals

2 lbs. bacon (sliced thin), 1 lb. b.u.t.ter, 1 doz. eggs, 1/2 lb. cocoa, 1/2 lb. coffee, 1 lb. sugar, 3 cans salmon, 24 potatoes, 2 cans condensed milk, 1 small package self-raising flour, Salt and pepper.

Utensils

Small griddle or tin "pie plate" (5 cents each), Small stew pan, Small coffee pot, Small cake turner, Large spoon, Teaspoons, Knives and forks, Plates and cups, Matches and candles.

Dish Was.h.i.+ng

First fill the frying pan with water, place over fire and let it boil.

Pour out water and you will find that it has practically cleaned itself.

Clean the griddle with sand and water. Greasy knives and forks may be cleaned by jabbing a couple of times into the ground. After all grease is gotten rid of, wash in hot water and dry with cloth. Don't use the cloth first and get it greasy.

Be sure to purchase Horace Kephart's excellent book on "Camp Cookery,"

$1.00, Outing Publis.h.i.+ng Co., or a.s.sociation Press. It is filled with practical suggestions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Camp and Trail"--Stewart Edward White. Doubleday, Page & Company, $1.25 net. Full of common sense and of special value to those contemplating long tramps and wilderness travel. Several chapters on "Horseback Travel"

"Out-of-Doors"--M. Ellsworth Olsen, Ph.D. Pacific Press Publis.h.i.+ng Co., 60 cents. A book permeated with a wholesome outdoor spirit.

The Field and Forest Book--Dan Beard. Charles Scribner's Sons, $2.00.

Written in "Beardesque" style, filled with his inimitable ill.u.s.trations and crammed with ideas.

The Way of the Woods-Edward Breck. G. P. Putnam's Sons, $1.75 net. Simple, terse, free from technical terms, and calculated to give the novice a ma.s.s of information. Written for Northeastern United States and Canada, but of interest for every camper.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Morning Dip]

CHAPTER XIII--HEALTH AND HYGIENE

PHYSICAL EXAMINATION HOSPITAL TENT AND EQUIPMENT PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTS PULSE RATE THE TONGUE TEMPERATURE PAIN SURGICAL SUPPLIES MEDICAL STORES SIMPLE REMEDIES FIRST AID TO THE INJURED DRILLS HEALTH TALKS RED CROSS SOCIETY PREVENTION FROM DROWNING PERSONAL HYGIENE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Better to hunt on fields for health unbought Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught.

The wise, for cure, on exercise depend; G.o.d never made his work for man to mend.

--Dryden

Examination

A boy should be examined by his family physician before going to camp in order that he may receive the greatest good from the camp life and be safeguarded from physical excess. An examination blank like that shown on the next page is used in many of the large camps. When the boy arrives in camp the physician or physical director examines the boy. Take his height, weight, lung capacity, condition of heart, lungs, condition of muscles, whether hard, medium or soft, and state of digestion. For this purpose you will need a wet spirometer, measuring rod, stethoscope and platform scales. A second blank with carbon duplicate, is kept of every boy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wisconsin Boys' Camp Physical Examination Record]

Give dates of first examination on arrival and final examination before departure from camp. The original is given to the boy to take home and the carbon copy is retained by the camp, filed in alphabetical order. Most remarkable gains have been made by boys, particularly in lung capacity, height, and hardening of muscles. The active life of the camp is not conducive as a rule to great gain in weight.

Each tent leader should be given the important facts of the examinations of the boys in his tent, so that there may be intelligent cooperation between the physician, or physical director, the tent leader, and the boy in securing health efficiency.

AVERAGE PHYSICAL TYPES FOR BOYS OF 5 TO 16 YEARS (Compiled from the measurements of 5,476 school children.)

---Lengths (Inches)--- Age Weight Height Height Span of Breadth Breadth Breadth Sitting Arms Head Chest Waist 16 116.38 64.45 33.55 66.25 5.95 9.85 9.15 15 103.29 62.25 32.15 63.15 5.90 9.30 8.65 14 87.41 59.45 30.70 60.00 5.85 8.95 8.25 13 78.32 57.10 29.60 57.50 5.80 8.70 7.95 12 72.55 55.25 28.95 55.30 5.80 8.50 7.70 11 64.89 53.10 28.20 53.40 5.75 8.25 7.45 10 61.28 51.55 27.60 51.20 5.75 8.00 7.20 9 55.15 49.55 26.80 49.10 5.70 7.80 7.10 8 50.90 47.75 26.00 47.00 5.65 7.65 6.95 7 46.85 45.55 25.20 45.00 5.65 7.45 6.75 6 42.62 43.55 24.20 42.60 5.60 7.25 6.55 5 39.29 41.60 23.30 40.35 5.60 7.15 6.50

Girth Strength Age Chest Girth of Chest Lung Right Left Vitality Depth Head Expansion Capacity Forearm Forearm Coefficient (cu in) Strength Strength 16 6.60 21.55 3.45 191.40 73.28 65.22 35.58 15 6.30 21.45 3.30 161.00 63.47 54.30 26.09 14 5.95 21.30 3.35 140.12 55.81 50.70 21.97 13 5.65 21.10 3.25 123.58 49.69 45.07 18.28 12 5.60 21.00 3.05 111.33 43.29 40.56 15.55 11 5.45 20.85 2.90 100.74 39.09 36.30 13.33 10 5.25 20.60 2.75 90.02 32.42 30.94 10.84 9 5.20 20.65 2.55 81.03 28.91 25.90 9.34 8 5.10 20.55 2.35 70.43 23.38 20.96 7.34 7 5.10 20.45 1.80 60.48 20.19 18.78 5.05 6 5.05 20.25 1.65 50.89 15.36 12.53 4.02 5 4.90 20.15 1.35 40.60 10.76 10.38 2.61 Copyright by Wm. W. Hastings, Ph.D.

Hospital Tent

If a boy is ill (minor aches and pains which are frequently only growing pains, excepted), isolate him from the camp, so that he may have quiet and receive careful attention.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hospital Tent at Camp Couchiching]

A tent, with fly and board floor, known as the "Hospital Tent" or "Red Cross Tent," should be a part of the camp equipment. There may be no occasion for its use, but it should be ready for any emergency. The physician may have his office in this tent. Boys should not be "coddled;"

at the same time it must not be forgotten that good, sympathetic attention and nursing are two-thirds responsible for speedy recovery from most ills.

Equipment

A spring cot, mattress, pillow, blankets, a good medicine cabinet, alcohol stove for boiling water, cooking food, and sterilizing instruments; pans, white enameled slop jar, pitcher, cup, pail; a table, a folding camp reclining chair (Gold Medal Camp Furniture Company), and a combination camp cot and litter (Gold Medal Brand) will make up the equipment of the tent.

The information and suggestions given in this chapter are the acc.u.mulation of many years' experience in boys' camps. The technical information is vouched for by competent physicians who have examined the ma.n.u.script.[1]

[Transcriber's Footnote 1: This chapter was written in 1911. Many observations and suggestions are obsolete, if not dangerous or illegal.]

Pulse Rate

Every man in charge of a boys' camp should have a knowledge of certain physiological facts, so as to be able to make a fair diagnosis of pain and disease. The pulse, taken at the wrist, is a fair index of the condition of the body. In taking the pulse-beat, do so with the fingers, and not with the thumb, as the beating of the artery in the thumb may confuse.

Pulse rate is modified with age, rest, exercise, position, excitements, and elevation. High elevation produces a more rapid pulse. The normal rate of boys in their teens is about 80 to 84 beats per minute. An increase not accounted for by one of the above reasons usually means fever, a rise of 6 beats in pulse usually being equivalent to a rise of 1 degree. Often more important than the rate, however, is the quality of the pulse. Roughly, the feebler the pulse, the more serious the condition of the individual.

Irregularity in the rate may be a serious sign, and when it is noticed a doctor should be immediately called. Failure to find the artery should not necessarily cause uneasiness, as by trying on himself, the director may see that the taking of the pulse is often a difficult undertaking.

The Tongue

The tongue is a very misleading guide to the patient's condition, and no definite rule about its appearance can be laid down. Other signs, such as temperature, general conditions, localization of pain, etc., are more accurate, and to the total result of such observations the appearance of the tongue adds little.

Thermometer

The normal temperature of the human body by mouth is about 98.4 degrees.