Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

—148 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFT—terms. You cook what you like, and nothing else;you prepare what you need, and not one dumplingmore. It is done precisely to your own tastethere is a world of gustatory satisfaction in that.You bake a corn pone,y let us say, leaving the fryingpanclean of grease. You cut your venison (theflesh of all game is venison) into cubes and broilthese on a sharpened stick, one at a time, just asyou eat them, which is the best and daintiest cookingprocess in the world. Your coffee, settled bya dash of cold water, is drunk from the same cupyou brewed it in.Then comes the cleaning up. No more bugabooof dishwashing, which all men so cordially despise.You give pan and pannikin a rinse and a wipe, jabyour knife into the ground and draw it through somefresh leaves, chuck the broiling-stick into the fire,and voila, the thing is done, thoroughly andneatly done, without rising from your seat!So with other camp chores, from pitching theminiature tent to packing up for the march: everythingis simplified, and time and effort are saved,From a selfish standpoint, the solitary camperrevels m absolute freedom. Any time, anywhere,he can do as he pleases. There is no anxiety as towhether his mates are having a good time, no obligationof deference to their wishes. Selfish? Yes;but, per contra, when one is alone he is boring nobody,elbowing nobody, treading on nobody's toes.He is neither chiding nor giving unasked advice.Undeniably he is minding his own business—a virtueto cover multitudes of sins.A companion, however light-footed he may be>adds fourfold to the risk of disturbing the shy nativesof the wild. By yourself you can sit motionlessand mutely watchful, but where two are sideby side it is neither polite nor endurable to passan hour without saying a word. Lonesome? Nayindeed. Whoever has an eye for Nature is neverless alone than when he is by himself. Should astrain of poetic temperament be wedded to one*s