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WW4BSA > SCOUTS 29.02.24 18:34l 79 Lines 4521 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 7427_WW4BSA
Read: GAST
Subj: B.-P.'S OUTLOOK (PART 12)
Path: DB0FFL<OE2XZR<OE6XPE<UA6ADV<LU4ECL<JE7YGF<JH4XSY<N3HYM<WW4BSA
Sent: 240229/1621Z @:WW4BSA.NEFL.FL.USA.NOAM #:7427 BPQ6.0.24
In Camp
I WRITE my notes this month from camp. I hope that many a Scoutmaster will
have been able, like me, to take his holiday this year in camp. If he has
enjoyed it half as much as I am enjoying mine, he will have done well.
I am certain that a week or two of such life is the best rest-cure and the
best tonic for both mind and body that exists for a man, whether he be boy
or old 'un. And for both it is a great educator. By camp I mean a woodland
camp, not the military camp for barracking a large number at one time under
canvas. That is no more like the kind of camp I advocate than a cockchafer
is like a goose.
A Boy Scouts' camp should be the woodland kind of camp, if it is going to be
any real good as an educator. Many, nay most, military camps are liable to
do more harm than good to boys, unless exceptionally well-managed and closely
supervised. Whereas a woodsman's camp, if properly carried out, gives the
lads occupation and individual resourcefulness all the time.
A large camp has of necessity to be carried on with a considerable amount of
routine discipline. Parades have to be held to give the boys instruction and
occupation, fatigue parties, tent inspections, roll-calls, bathing parades,
and so on. Were it not for the fresh, open-air life this kind of camp might
almost as well be carried on in town barracks; it teaches the boys nothing of
individuality, resourcefulness, responsibility, nature lore, and many little
(though really great) bits of character education for which the woodsman's
camp is the best, if not the only, school.
But such a camp can only be carried out with a small number of boys; from
thirty to forty being the full number with which it is possible. And then
only if the Patrol system is really and entirely made use of.
Of course, it is easy for one to write from an ideal camp of the kind and
imagine that everybody has the same advantages, but I don't altogether mean
to do that. I know the difficulties that one has to contend with as a
Scoutmaster in England, but I want to put the ideal before those who have
not perhaps thought out the question very carefully, and who, by custom or
example, are inclined to take the military form of camp as being the usual
and right one for boys. The ideal can then be followed as nearly as local
circumstances will allow.
Here I am camped by a rushing river between forest-clad hills. It is close
on ten in the morning. I turned out at five, and yet those five hours have
been full of work for me, albeit it was no more than little camp jobs.
The fire had to be lit, coffee and scones to be made. Then followed boiling
and sand-scrubbing the cooking utensils; collecting of firewood for the day
(both kindling and ember-forming wood); a new crossbar and pot-hooks had to
be cut and trimmed; a pair of tongs for the fire, and a besom for cleaning
the camp ground had to be cut and made. Bedding had to be aired and stowed;
moccasins to be greased; the camp ground swept up and rubbish burned; the
trout had to be gutted and washed. Finally, I had a shave and a bathe; and
here I am ready for the day's work whatever it may be. But this took five
hours to do.
My comrade went in yesterday to the nearest hamlet, and will be back to-day
with our letters and supplies. He will find me away fishing or sketching, and
gathering berries for our "sweet" of stewed fruit at dinner; but he will find
the camp swept and garnished, fire laid ready to be lit, cooking pots, cups,
and plates all ready and clean for his use, and food handy.
We may probably "up-stick" and travel on later in the day, and see some more
of the beauties of the land, as we "hump our packs" to the next nice-looking
site for camp. Then comes all the business of pitching camp, getting water
and firewood, cooking food, and making oneself comfortable. All a succession
of very little jobs, but which in their sum are important. They all give
enjoyment and satisfaction to the older man, while to the boy they bring
delight, experience, resourcefulness, self-reliance, thought for others, and
that excellent discipline of camp-tradition and of being expected to do the
right thing for himself.
They have no time for idleness, and give no room for a shirker. But that is
a very different thing from the streets of canvas town where the supplies
are sent in by a contractor and cooked and served by paid servants, the boys
in a herd, merely doing what they are ordered to do.
September, 1911.
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