The Purpose

This is the real purpose of camping—­“something to do, something to think about, something to enjoy in the woods, with a view always to character-building”—­this is the way Ernest Thompson-Seton, that master wood-craftsman, puts it.  Character building!  What a great objective!  It challenges the best that is in a man or boy.  Camping is an experience, not an institution.  It is an experience which every live, full-blooded, growing boy longs for, and happy the day of his realization.  At the first sign of spring, back yards blossom forth with tents of endless variety.  To sleep out, to cook food, to search for nature’s fascinating secrets, to make things—­all are but the expression of that instinct for freedom of living in the great out-of-doors which God created within him.

Too Much House

“Too much house,” says Jacob Riis; “Civilization has been making of the world a hothouse.  Man’s instinct of self-preservation rebels; hence the appeal for the return to the simple life that is growing loud.”  Boys need to get away from the schoolroom and books, and may I say the martyrdom of examinations, high marks, promotions and exhibitions!  Medical examinations of school children reveal some startling facts.  Why should boys suffer from nerves?  Are we sacrificing bodily vigor for abnormal intellectual growth?  Have we been fighting against instead of cooperating with nature?

The tide is turning, however, and the people are living more and more in the open.  Apostles of outdoor life like Henry D. Thoreau, John Burroughs, William Hamilton Gibson, Howard Henderson, Ernest Thompson-Seton, Frank Beard, Horace Kephart, Edward Breck, Charles Stedman Hanks, Stewart Edward White, “Nessmuck,” W. C. Gray, and a host of others, have, through their writings, arrested the thought of busy people long enough to have them see the error of their ways and are bringing them to repentance.

Camps for boys are springing up like mushrooms.  Literally thousands of boys who have heretofore wasted the glorious summer time loafing on the city streets, or as disastrously at summer hotels or amusement places, are now living during the vacation time under nature’s canopy of blue with only enough covering for protection from rain and wind, and absorbing through the pores of their body that vitality which only pure air, sunshine, long hours of sleep, wholesome food, and reasonable discipline can supply.

Character Building

In reading over scores of booklets and prospectuses of camps for boys, one is impressed with their unanimity of purpose—­that of character building.  These are a few quotations taken from a variety of camp booklets: 

“The object of the camp is healthful recreation without temptation.”

“A camp where boys live close to nature, give themselves up to play, acquire skill in sports, eat plenty of wholesome food, and sleep long hours ... and are taught high ideals for their own lives.”