Camping Part 7

On board ship it looks quite easy to throw the ring over the stick, but what with the motion of the vessel and poor calculation, it more often rolls to one side than makes a ringer.

On sh.o.r.e it is not so easy, either. The ground, from being pounded so often by the iron quoits, becomes powdery, the stake is harder to find as the player finds out. One ringer, out of a dozen throws, would be called very fine playing.

It is lots of sport; good to train the eye for measuring distances, the arms to curb their strength, just as the least little bit too much muscle sends the quoits 'way off, and last, teaches one to have infinite patience.

Shuffle Board.

Like quoits, we play this game at Camp as well as at sea. Compare our dandy big table at Camp with firm floor to stand on with the deck of a ship. You cannot begin to make the scores at sea that you can on land.

With the best of intentions you send your board along, thinking it will send your opponents off while giving you an added score. Does it do that for you? Well, not always. Most of the time yours goes off or stays on the wrong square, deducting your score while adding to theirs.

On our table at Camp the chances are better for both sides. We play many a spirited game for fun during the season. When the final contests take place this indoor game, as well as any other one, has its turn. Sides are chosen, the losers dropping out while the winners play each other.

When the contestants get down to two men the final game is played. As usual, the winner receives a prize.

For the smaller fry the games of checkers, dominoes, etc., etc., offer a chance to even the littlest Camper to compete and win a prize.

Most of the boys would engage in these pastimes for fun, even if there was not any reward offered, but the promise of some prize always stirs up the indolent and timid boy.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XIII.

Visitors.

After the boys are settled at Camp for a few weeks they begin to look forward to a visit from some of their folks. They plan what they are going to do and what points of interest they will take them to, and hope with all their heart, soul and mind that a large box of good things may be sent up for the tent.

What does it matter if they are forbidden to receive such articles?

Either by begging, pleading or some other excuse they let the Director know that this is their first offence. They will only eat a little at a time, and divide it with a lot of boys, thus lessening the danger of overeating, and getting the credit of being generous at one and the same time.

Some parents take long trips themselves while their children are with us. Other parents plan to come as a surprise.

When they drive or auto in the first feeling that most mothers have is amazement at the undressed condition of their offspring. As quickly as they can get out of carriage or automobile they hasten to b.u.t.ton up the shirt, if the boy has one on, or to plead with him to put one on if his is off. They feel the breezes blow and shiver at the thought of the boys sleeping in such open tents; advise that the tent flaps be tightly closed at night for fear of the boys taking cold.

They seem to think we are a hardened, cruel crowd because we laugh at their fears. It is not one bit of use trying to convince mother because she won't be convinced. So we save our breath for father. Here we have some ground upon which to sow our seed. We invite him to stay a day or two; "Peel off," we tell him, and "be a boy again. Go in swimming. Go out in a boat. Try a game of ball. Play a set of tennis. Do a little sprint around the running track. We can offer you a lot more sports if you will stay and visit us," we tell him.

In the evenings we can play shuffle board, have some good music, some singing that will make the cats on the back fence green with envy; then last, but not least, we can have a camp-fire. Have you ever been out in the country and helped build a real camp-fire?

After supper every one is pressed into service to help gather the wood.

Little chaps stagger along under heavier loads than they can carry, dropping two pieces for every one they pick up, but never saying die. I just love those little gritty kids.

The bigger boys and instructors carry regular old trees, reminding one of an army of ants struggling along manfully to move their quarters.

One or two capable men, who have the art of building bonfires down to a fine point, stay on the field to receive the wood, pile it up and start the fire going.

That is the preliminary only. Are we going to have a corn roast? Then the juicy ears of corn, two for every boy, are brought up to the field.

Plenty of good b.u.t.ter and salt in a large bowl is at hand. The boys, visitors and all, form in line, march past the table, where the supplies are heaped up, receive their portion, and hurry along.

By this time the fire has died down to a bright red glow. The smoke and blazes have stopped, the embers being just right to cook the corn; it is stripped of its silk, then the leaves are carefully put back in place and laid down where it will cook through without burning.

Song, laughter and sport pa.s.s the time until a fragrant smell a.s.sures us that something is doing. Gee whiz! Strip the leaves off. b.u.t.ter it generously. Never mind if the b.u.t.ter does run down your arm. Close your eyes and sink your teeth into it.

In polite homes they have corn holders, and dainty little knives for splitting it open so that the b.u.t.ter can soak in, and all manner of helps to make corn eating a dainty pleasure. They can have them in their homes all they like, but out here, under this beautiful sky, dotted with stars like tiny lanterns to show us what to do, give me my ear of sweet corn and let me eat it this way.

Sometimes we have a marshmallow roast, generally a treat from one of our kind visitors, who may not have even stayed to enjoy it with us.

After our fire is just right we serve out the marshmallows to the boys.

This time they have a very sharp-pointed stick, on which they gently fasten one at a time, holding them close enough to the fire to roast them. They say they are delicious, and, judging from the fact that frequently they eat between them all, about 2,000 marshmallows, they must be very palatable. Personally, I cannot vouch for them, as, somehow or other, I don't like them, either cooked or raw, though my friends persist in treating me to them.

Another treat is a clambake and watermelon feast. That we have on the sh.o.r.e. When packed in sea weed, all manner of good things are roasted, including the faces and hands of the good-natured helpers.

Sweet potatoes roasted this way are delicious, and chicken has an entirely different taste than that cooked in the oven. There is something for every kind of taste and appet.i.te, and plenty to go around.

The modest boy is helped to his share, the independent chap is allowed to help himself, while the greedy fellow is held back for fear he will overload and capsize. At last even the boy who is hard to please declares he has had enough. So with a rousing cheer for the kind visitor whose guests we have been, the bugler sounds "Quarters," a welcome sound to us all. Sometimes the visitor asks if he can become a Camper for a few days or a week. He will gladly pay for the great privilege, for such it is, to be a boy again among boys.

It is granted to him; not one extra for him, mind you. He must take what the Campers have, the same fare, the same tents, the same beds. If he wishes to join us on these conditions, well and good. Then he can come in and welcome.

From a responsible man of business in the city, in one short night he turns Time back in his flight and becomes again a merry, happy boy, a boy with a capacity for enjoying the simple pleasures of Camp life more than any growing boy can understand.

Hasn't he seen both sides of the picture? Doesn't he know that the plain, clean way of living we have out there is the only true way to exist? What kind of food can give him the satisfaction that this rough fare does? When, with appet.i.te sharpened by sleeping in the open air, enough physical exercise to make his blood flow with renewed purity through his system, he sits at table, he not idly wonders whether there will be anything worth eating, but only hopes there will be two helpings of everything. Like poor, little Oliver Twist, he asks for more.

Such a Visitor will turn to and help the little chaps, will go down to the beach with them, show them how to wash and take care of their clothes, go in the water with them, and take them out in the boats. He acts for all the world like a big, good-hearted brother.

In return there isn't a Camper, from the Director down to the dog, that doesn't adore him, and will at every and any time do anything in his power to make his stay enjoyable.

Our keenest regret is when the day comes for him to leave us. Not alone does he carry back to the city renewed health, strength and spirits, but the happiness of knowing that while he was taking a vacation for himself he was endearing himself to every one at Camp.

Of course, every visitor is not an angel in disguise. We could not expect that. Some come; keep to themselves, and depart, without having caused one ripple on our surface. Yet we are glad to see them, to do all we can for their comfort, and then to wish them G.o.dspeed at their going.

A few come who are ripe with suggestions for the better way to run our affairs. If it makes them happier to suggest, let them go ahead. It won't hurt us any. When one is sure they are doing the right thing it matters little what other people think. We keep on doing the right.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XIV.

Last Days.

To some of the boys last days at Camp bring sadness. They are the ones who, having neither brother nor sister, begin to realize how lonely it will be at home compared to the bustle out here. They love their parents, are anxious to see them, glad to get back to their orderly bedroom and to the daintily set table. All that kind of thing is good to look forward to, yet how lonesome it will be. Of course, they will meet at school and at each other's homes, but not be together all day and night like this.

They plan to be at each other's houses as often as possible; to never, never forget each other, and be sure to share the same tent next season.

All the season long the untidy boy has opened his trunk, reached around any old way for anything he might need at that particular moment, found it, slammed the lid down without regard to hinges or lock. Day after day he has done this, never once looking at his list so carefully pasted on the inside of the cover.