"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