Going camping is the best fun in the world if we know how to do it.
Every healthy boy and girl if given an opportunity should enjoy living
outdoors for a week or two and playing at being an Indian. There is
more to camping however than "roughing it" or seeing how much hardship
we can bear. A good camper always makes himself just as comfortable as
he can under the circumstances. The saying that "an army travels on
its stomach" means that a soldier can not make long marches or fight
hard unless he has good food. The surest sign of a "tenderfoot" is the
boy who makes fun of you because you try to have a soft dry bed while
he prefers to sleep on the ground under the mistaken idea that it is
manly or brave. He will usually spoil a trip in the woods for every
one in the party.

Another poor kind of a camper pitches his tent so that his bed gets
wet and his food spoiled on the first rainy day, and then sits around
cold and hungry trying hard to think that he is having fun, to keep
from getting homesick. This kind of a boy "locks the door after the
horse is stolen." If we go camping we must know how to prevent the
unpleasant things from happening. We must always be ready for wind and
rain, heat and cold. A camping party should make their plans a long
time ahead in order to get their equipment ready. Careful lists should
be made of what we think we shall need. After we are out in the woods,
there will be no chance to run around the corner to the grocer's to
supply what we have forgotten. If it is forgotten, we must simply make
the best of it and not allow it to spoil our trip.

It is surprising how many things that we think are almost necessary to
life we can get along without if we are obliged to. The true woodsman
knows how to turn to his use a thousand of nature's gifts and to make
himself comfortable, while you and I might stand terrified and