Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

26 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTers do this as regularly as the birds come back in^h^/^^^^"d has been doing it sincewnrll'l.'the^^ orld began It is good for us. If some misguidedgemus should invent a camping equipment thatbody no-could find fault with, half our pleasure inwould lifebe swept away.This is not saying that outfitters' catalogues shoulabe Ignored. Get them, by all means, and studythem with care. Do this at home, comparing onecatalogue with another, that you may knowwhat justyou want and what you don't want, beforeyou go out to make purchases. Then you will notbe such easy prey to the plausible clerk, and yourselection will bear the stamp of your individuality.Ihe joys and sorrows of camp life, and the proportionof each to the other, depend very much uponhow one chooses his companions — granting that hehas_ any ^choice in the matter at all. It may benoticed that old-timers are apt to be a bit distantwhen a novice betrays any eagerness to share in theirpilgrimages. There is no churlishness in this"rather it is commendable caution. Not every goodtellow in town makes a pleasant comrade in thevvoods. So It IS that experienced campers are charyot admitting new members to their lodges To beone of them you must be of the right stuff, ready toendure trial and privation without a murmur, and— what IS harder for most men — to put up withpetty inconveniences without grumbling.For there is a seamy side to camp life, as to everythingelse. Even in the best of camps things dohappen sometimes that are enough to make a saintswear silently through his teeth. But no one is fitfor such life who cannot turn ordinarv ill-luck intoa joke, and bear downright calamity like a gentlemanYet there are other qualities in a good camp-matethat are rarer than fortitude and endurance. Chiefof these isa love of Nature for her own sake — notthe "put on" kind that expresses itself in gushy