SCOUTING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 460, 29 December 1930, Page 10

SCOUTING

(By “Lone Wolf.”) “Camp Number.” This week the Jamboree is engaging the attention of local scouts. Camp hints, therefore, will be timely. Fires. The 11 Hunter’s Fire” is an efficient and yet very simple form of lire. Obtain two logs and place them side by side, the distance between each being approximately eight to .12 inches. Take the ends of the logs and push them firmly together. Your fireplace now represents a “V.” Your billies arc stood near the apex. Should there be a very strong wind, the smaller ends can be blocked up by means of clumps of dirt and stones. Try this the next time you arc hiking. Scouts. The first, object that, should be foremost in the boys’ mind in camping out should be, not their own enjoyment, but what they can do for others. I do hope that Scouts going from towns to camp in the country will show that they are Scouts and not “townies”—that is, that for one thing they will close all gates after them to prevent stock from wandering. A common fault with “townies’’ is to pull fences to pieces to got firewood, or to steal the farmers’ best fuel. In any case, though it may he through ignorance, they get themselves disliked and win a bad name for the Scouts, when they ought to do all they can to do good turns to the farmers. In addition to the suggestion I have made above Scouts can go spudding weeds. This is more valuable work than many suppose. A fellow asked me one day to give him a few hints about camping, and said: “N >w what is the most important thing to think of when going into camp? ’ ’ The reply was: “The most import ant thing is when you are leaving the camp. You should remember to leave two things behind you:— 1. —NOTHING. That is nothing in the way of rubbish or damage to show that you have had a camp there. 2. YOUR THANKS. Too often fellows after enjoying a good day’s outing, forget to thank the owner of the property, through whose kindness they have been able to get their fun. One reason why these are most important items in camping is that if carried out they encourage the owners of property to invite the boys to come again. But another reason is that fellows who neglect to do them cannot be called Real Scouts. A Real Backwoodsman makes it a’point of honour to leave no “sign” where he has camped, and the law. “A Scout is courteous,” makes it necessary for a TRUE Scout to show or speak his thanks for any kindness done to him. A Wet Day At Camp. Alt a recent week-end camp, the patrols in their spare time were asked to make up a limerick on “ a wet day in camp.” The following effort was adjudged the best: — “The rain came down in a sheet, The fire it wouldn’t give heat; The bread was sodden, sat on, and trodden. Likewise me and the meat! ” Scouts are nothing if not resourceful. The next time you nre in camp make up a few limericks. Warmth and Coolness. Remember that to make a tent or hut cool in hot sun, put on more roof; put blankets over the top of your tents and bank up the sides near the ground, but if you want to make your hut warm, take care to thicken the walls at the foot to prevent draughts coming in along the floor. And above all, never forget to have your floor on raised ground, not in a hollow that will become a pool in wet- weather. One more word or warning: If you have had leave to make a hut or leanto, and to camp in that place, don’t forget when you go away to leave two things—and two things only—behind you. The first is—nothing. The second is—your thanks to the owner. A “Spider.” Many boys, upon going into camp, have a habit of drying their clothes over the kitchen fire, and in some cases they return to find them in a somewhat charred condition. In order to prevent, such accidents, a. “spider” is excellent for drying clothes. This is how a spider is made: — Got 12 to 14 saplings and plant them firmly in the ground so as to form a circle. The tops are then bent over and lashed together. Smaller saplings are then entwined round the circle, and upon the completion of this the structure can be taken out of the ground with safety. Place a kerosene tin with burning cones under the spider, and lay wet clothes on the framework. They will dry in no time.