The Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft

Transcriber's Note: This cover has been created by the transcriber using the original plain cover and the title page. It is placed in the public domain.
CAMP-LORE AND WOODCRAFT
BY DAN BEARD FOUNDER OF THE FIRST BOY SCOUTS SOCIETY WITH 377 ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR
Garden City Publishing Co., Inc. Garden City New York
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY BEATRICE ALICE BEARD THE RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION ARE RESERVED PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO George Du Pont Pratt COMMISSIONER OF CONSERVATION, STATE OF NEW YORK SCOUT, SPORTSMAN AND OUTDOOR MAN

Boys, if this foreword is too highbrow for your taste, skip it, but the author don't believe you will, and even if he has used some dictionary words he feels that you will forgive him after he tells you that he did so only because of the lack of time to think up more simple terms. What he wants to say is that. . . .
Boyhood is a wonderful and invaluable asset to the nation, for in the breast of every boy there is a divine spark, materialists call it the urge of youth, others call it the Christ in man, the Quakers call it the inner light, but all view it with interest and anxiety, the ignorant with fear and the wise with understanding sympathy, but also with a feeling akin to awe.
Those of us who think we know boys, feel that this inner light illuminating their wonderful powers of imagination, is the compelling force culminating in the vigorous accomplishments of manhood. It is the force which sent Columbus voyaging over the unknown seas, which sent Captain Cook on his voyage around the world, the same force which carried Lindbergh in his frail airship across the Atlantic. Yes, it is the sublime force which has inspired physicians and laymen to cheerfully risk and sacrifice their lives in search of the cause of Yellow Fever, Anthrax, Hydrophobia and other communicable diseases . . . no, not for science but for
HUMANITY!