Camping For Boys Part 2

Camp Council

Meetings of the leaders will be held at the call of the superintendent.

Matters talked over at the council meeting should not be talked over with the boys. All matters of discipline or anything that deals with the welfare of the camp should be brought up at this meeting. Printed report blanks will be given to each leader to be filled out and handed to the a.s.sistant superintendent each Thursday morning. Do not show these reports to the boys.

Bible Study

Each leader will be expected to read to the boys in his tent a chapter from the Bible and have prayers before "taps" each night, also to take his turn in leading the morning devotions at breakfast table. Groups of boys will meet for occasional Bible study at sunset under various leaders. Each session will continue twenty minutes--no longer. Sunday morning service will be somewhat formal in character, with an address. The sunset vesper service will be informal.

Praying that the camp may prove a place where leaders and boys may grow in the best things of life and antic.i.p.ating an outing of pleasure and profit to you, I am Your friend, (signature)

Opportunities

In securing men for leaders.h.i.+p, impress upon them the many opportunities for the investment of their lives in the kind of work that builds character. In reading over a small folder, written by George H. Hogeman of Orange, N .J., I was so impressed with his excellent presentation of this theme of opportunities of leaders.h.i.+p that the following is quoted in preference to anything I could write upon the subject:

"The opportunity of the boys' camp leader is, first, to engage in the service that counts most largely in securing the future welfare of those who will soon be called upon to carry on the work that we are now engaged in. Most people are so busy with their own present enjoyment and future success that they pay little heed to the future of others. They may give some thought to the present need of those around them because it more or less directly affects themselves, but the work of character building in boys' camps is one that shows its best results in the years to come rather than in the immediate present.

"In the second place, the opportunity comes to the camp leader to know boys as few other people know them, sometimes even better than their own parents know them. When you live, eat, sleep with a boy in the open, free life of camp for a month or so, you come in contact with him at vastly more points than you do in the more restrained home life, and you see sides of his nature that are seldom seen at other times.

"Finally, the opportunity is given to the man who spends his vacation in camp to make the time really count for something in his own life and in the lives of others. To how many does vacation really mean a relaxation, a letting down of effort along one line, without the subst.i.tution of anything definite in its place! But he must be a dull soul, indeed, who can come to the right kind of boys' camp and not go away with his muscles harder, his eye brighter, his digestion better, and his spirit more awake to the things that pertain to the Kingdom of G.o.d.

"Then again the camp leader must have the ability to forget himself in others. Nowhere can the real play spirit be entered into more completely than in camp life. A watchman is the last thing he must be. That spirit of unselfishness which forgets its own personal pleasure in doing the most for the general good, is the ideal camp spirit. As Lowell puts it in the Vision of Sir Launfal, it is:

Not what we give, but what we share, For the gift without the giver is bare.

"The results of all these points which I have mentioned are some very positive things. One is the very best kind of a vacation that it is possible to have. How frequently we hear in response to the question about enjoying a vacation, 'Oh, yes, I had a good enough time, but I'll never go back there again.' To my mind that indicates either that the person does not know what a really good time is, or that his surroundings made a good time impossible.

"Another result of camp is the real friends.h.i.+ps that last long after camping days are over. Of these I need not speak. You and I know of many such and what they mean in the development of Christian character in the lives of our men and boys. And, after all, there is the greatest result of all, the sense of confidence in the ultimate outcome that comes with having a share in the work of bringing others to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

"The ideal life for a boy is not in the city. He should know of animals, rivers, plants, and that great out-of-door life that lays for him the foundation of his later years."

--G. Stanley.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Camp Becket]

CHAPTER III--LOCATION AND SANITATION

DIRTY DIRT VS. CLEAN DIRT AVOID SWAMPS SELECTING A SITE LAYING OUT THE CAMP GROUND THE LATRINES GARBAGE DISH WATER WASTE BARRELS WATER SUPPLY AN INDIAN METHOD INDIVIDUAL DRINKING CUPBOARD OF HEALTH MAXIMS

Dirt

Clean camps are most easily kept by not allowing them to become dirty.

"Cleanliness is next to G.o.dliness. G.o.dliness means a right relation to things spiritual, cleanliness a right relation to things material. An old definition says that 'Dirt is merely misplaced matter.' Of all the vehicles of disease, the most important perhaps is dirt. The word dirt in its strict sense comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'drit,' or excrement. 'Dirt,'

then, is not earth or clean sand--not clean dirt, but dirty dirt, that is, matter soiled by some of the excreta of the human or animal body.

Cleanliness must be insisted upon in a boys' Camp--not the cleanliness that makes a boy squeamish about working with his hands upon some necessary job, but cleanliness that makes him afraid of sharing his tooth brush or table utensils or his clothes.

Cleanliness is not the shunning of good, clean dirt, but a recognition of the fact that to pa.s.s anything from one mouth to another is a possible source of death and destruction." [1] "Death to dirt" should be the watchword of the camp. The camp should be a model of cleanliness. Every boy should be taught the value of good sanitation and encouraged to cooperate in making proper sanitation effective.

[Footnote 1: Dr. Chas. E. A. Winslow--"Camp Conference," p. 58.]

Avoid Swamps

The location chosen for a camp should be away from swamps. Avoid swampy and low places as you would a plague. Damp places where there are mosquitoes, should be well drained, and open to an abundance of suns.h.i.+ne.

Mosquitoes breed only in water, but a very little water is sufficient if it is dirty and stagnant. Two inches of water standing in an old tin can will breed an innumerable horde. These "diminutive musicians" are not only a nuisance, but dangerous, as malaria and typhoid spreaders by their poisonous stings.

The Site

In selecting a camp site bear in mind these things: (1) A sandy sub-soil, with good drainage. Avoid very sandy soil; sand provides but little hold for tent pegs, and there is grave risk of damage should there come a gale.

(2) An open campus surrounded by hills or sheltering trees, and facing the water. (3) Plenty of good drinking water and water for swimming. (4) Base from which supplies and provisions are to be drawn should be within convenient distance, not more than four miles away. (5) Camp should be away from civilization, far enough to be free from visitors and the temptation to "go to town" on the part of the boys. Nothing demoralizes a boys' camp so quickly as proximity to a summer resort.

Arrangement

Before opening the camp much thought and care should be given to its sanitary arrangement. First of all, the dryest section of the camp ground should be selected for the erection of the sleeping tents. Locate them where they will have the full benefit of the suns.h.i.+ne. Tents erected under trees are liable to mildew, for the want of suns.h.i.+ne, and the contents of the tent will soon get musty. Next in importance to the location of "quarters" is the location of the kitchen. This should be near the dining tent, so that the serving of food may be quick, and yet far enough away to insure that disagreeable odors will not destroy the pleasure of eating. If it is very near the sleeping tents the campers will be awakened too early by the chopping of wood and the necessary noises made in preparation of the morning meal. It should be near water. This is very essential for cooking and cleaning. In some of the large camps water is carried to the kitchen in pipes from near-by springs or pumped from wells of pure water.

The dining quarters naturally should be located near the kitchen so that food may be served warm. Provision should be made for the protection of the boys from cold, wind, rain, and dampness while eating. The toilet should be located rather far away from the camp, and not in the direction from which the prevailing wind comes toward the camp. Make sure that it is on the line of opposite drainage from the water used by the camp. The details of laying out a camp, erection of tents, etc., are given in another chapter.

Latrines

Particular precaution should be exercised in location and care of the toilets or latrines, even in a one-night camp. Neglect of this will mean disease. When on a one-night camp, dig a small pit which can be filled in again after use. If the camp is to be continued for a week or longer, dig a pit or trench about two or three feet deep and about eighteen inches wide, plant posts on each side of the trench, and eighteen inches above the ground level. Nail shaped seating on these posts. The number of seats will be determined by the size of the camping party. It is desirable to erect a six-foot canvas screen with an opening around the toilet. Dry earth should be sprinkled freely in the trench each time it is used. Also each morning sprinkle plenty of chloride of lime or some good, reliable disinfectant in the trench. Do not permit the throwing of paper about the toilet. Have a box in which paper is to be kept. Flies should be excluded by boxing up the sides of the seats and fastening a hinged lid upon the seats (see ill.u.s.tration). It is an advantage to admit the direct sunlight about the middle of the day because of its bactericidal action on disease germs. In a permanent camp regular wooden closets should be built, with covered roof for protection from rain and wind. The back of the closet should be arranged either by a hinged door or some other method so that the contents may be removed as often as once a week. A wooden box on rollers placed beneath the seats will facilitate removal. The seats should be scrubbed with hot water, sulpho-naphthol, or soap, daily. "Springfield Oval" type of toilet paper prevents unnecessary waste. In one camp the water from a near-by brook is dammed and thus by gravity made to flow by a system of modern plumbing through the urinals and flush closets. This is ideal. Insist upon cleanliness. The cutting of initials and names upon the seats and woodwork should be considered a disgrace as well as a misdemeanor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pit Toilet; seat, hinged cover, hinged door at back.]

Taboo the taking of books and papers to the toilet to read. It should be an imperative rule that no other place be used. A little carelessness will cause disagreeable as well as dangerous results. By way of reiteration: First, rigid prohibition of the pollution of the surface of the ground by the strictest rules, diligently enforced. Second, the provision of toilets or latrines of adequate size with proper precaution to prevent the dispersal of excreta by wind, flies, or other agencies. The latrines should be located a distance from camp but not so far as to offer temptation to pollution of the ground. Third, boys should be educated when on hikes or tramps in the old Mosaic Rule laid down in Deuteronomy 23: 12-14. [1]

[Transcriber's Footnote 1: "Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: For the LORD thy G.o.d walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee."]

Garbage

Garbage, consisting chiefly of tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of meat and vegetables and the waste from the table, if stored in open buckets soon becomes offensive and is an ideal breeding place in warm weather for flies "that drink of cesspools, dine at privy vaults, eat sputum and are likely to be the most familiar guests at the dinner table, sampling every article of food upon which they walk, leaving in their tracks disease-producing germs which have adhered to their sticky feet where they have previously dined."

Declare war upon the "fly who won't wipe his feet" by keeping the garbage in a covered galvanized-iron pail and dispose of it before decomposition takes place. Wash and dry the pail after emptying. If the camp is located near a farm, give the garbage to the farmer. It is the natural food of swine or poultry. Where this is not possible, the garbage should be buried every day in the earth and covered with three or four inches of dirt.

Another and better plan, especially in a large camp, is the burning of the garbage and human excreta in an incinerator, such as the McCall. This is the method of the United States Army.

Exercise caution in throwing aside tin cans. The vegetable matter remaining in the cans soon decays and attracts flies. Have a place where these cans may be buried or burned with other refuse each day. Keep the ground surrounding the kitchen free from all kinds of garbage or refuse.

Do not throw dirty dish water promiscuously upon the ground. Dig a trench and put the water in this trench. Sprinkle chloride of lime or a disinfectant upon it each day. In a permanent camp a waste water well should be dug and lined with stone. The drain pipe should be laid from the kitchen to the well. This water soon disappears in the soil and does not become a nuisance. Make sure that the well is not in line with the water supply of the camp. A little potash or some was.h.i.+ng soda dissolved in the sink will help to keep the drain clean.

Place barrels in different parts of the camp for refuse and sc.r.a.ps. A coat of whitewash or white paint will make them conspicuous. In one camp the following suggestive bit of verse was painted on the waste barrels:

Ravenous Barrel

I am all mouth and vacuum I never get enough, So cram me full of fruit peels, Old papers, trash and stuff.

Epicurean Barrel

O, how sorry I feel for a boy Who litters clean places with trash, Who throws away papers and fruit peels Which form my favorite hash.

Waste Barrels