V
GENERAL ROUTINE FROM OPENING TO CLOSING CAMP
After the site is obtained, necessary buildings finished, grounds cleaned, stove in place, water tested and connections made if there is to be plumbing, the equipment and provisions should be sent in to camp. A week is none too long a time to allow, even if there are many hands to unpack, put the camp in running order, make out the program, camp regulations, etc., and select sites for classes.
If possible have the counsellors spend this week in camp with the Director and help in doing this work. Being together for work and some play will prepare them to take up the duties of the summer and if any of them are not Scouts then is the time to tell them of the Scout work, its aims and so forth. Without this information it is difficult to have true cooperation.
When opening a large camp be sure, when the campers arrive, to have it in the condition in which it is to be kept. First impressions are deep impressions as a rule, even though unfair many times.
Pitching Tents
Perhaps the most difficult work to be done, especially for one who knows little about it is the pitching of the tents, yet when simple rules are followed the task is not beyond a group of young women even when the tents are large. Remember that the beauty of a tent lies in its trimness. It should look smart. The canvas must have no wrinkles, poles must be straight, ropes taut and properly fastened.
First of all see that the tent floors and frame work are as they should be, or lacking a frame work, that pegs are at hand. Examine poles and make sure they are of the right height and length for the tent. If a wall tent is to be pitched lay it on floor, inside down, the fly on top of it. Run the ridge pole under the center of the tent from end to end curved side next to the canvas; at either end of the tent at right angles to the ridge pole and parallel to each other place a tent pole which is the right length for the height of the tent. Put the spindle in the end of each pole through the holes in the ridge pole, and the eyelets in the tent and tent fly ridge.
Serving Table
Two people, one at each pole, on signal, raise the tent into position by lifting the poles and carrying them into place. They should stand opposite each other, at the center of either end of the tent floor. While the poles are held in place, two other people should fasten temporarily the corner ropes of the tent and fly. Tie the flaps into position, fasten the corner rope loops in the bottom edge of the tent to nails in the edge of the floor, and proceed to adjust the guy ropes. Do not pull the tent out of line or have one rope tighter than another. Use a clove hitch for tying the ropes to the strips. The ropes of the tent should go under the strip for the first turn, the fly ropes over. By so doing the roof of the tent and the fly will be kept apart, a most important point; in fact they should never touch except at the ridge.
Fasten the tent to the floor by putting the rope loops in the bottom of the tent over long nails driven into the edge of the tent floor at the proper places. When all ropes are fastened and the tent looks as it should, loosen the bottom at each end, untie the flaps, and hold them back by fastening one of the ropes in the bottom of the flap into the loop at the top corner of the tent wall.
Put the tent number on each pole. Cots can now be opened and placed, blankets shaken, sunned, folded and put on the foot of the cots with a pillow inside of each blanket. Basins go under the cots toward the head.
While four or five people are attending to the sleeping quarters others should be washing, wiping and putting away all table ware, and the cook arranging the kitchen, store room and ice house. All small equipment must be put in place; a tent or room provided for the nurse's quarters and First Aid supplies unpacked, an office equipped with all necessities, counsellors' tents put in order, firewood stacked, lanterns cleaned and filled, wash houses, latrines, bath house, boats in readiness, program and camp regulations posted, in short, everything in order, for when one hundred or more Scouts descend upon a camp, everyone is kept busy helping them and there is no time to be given to equipment.
Special mention must be made of two things: first, the precautionary need of fire extinguishers to be hung in the kitchen, mess hall, and other wooden buildings, (buckets of water not being advised unless chemical extinguishers are not obtainable); second, the importance of the Director's office being equipped with record books, files, stationery, and a money box; all very simple, but there.
Sorting the Vegetables
A small group of Scouts can make ready their own camp in many cases, but it does not seem feasible for a large group to do so.
Housekeeping Outdoors
Because in camp we live in the open, and away from the conventional surroundings of city life, is no reason why we should feel that anything is good enough, as concerns the table and the serving of meals. The way the table is set, the food brought to it, served, dishes removed, washed and wiped, does make a difference to everyone of us whether we are conscious of it or not. Certain work has to be done and it is far better to do it in an efficient way and in a way which will help us, than it is to do it in an easy way, and perhaps get into very bad habits. It makes no difference of what material dishes are made, or what the tablecloth is, there is no excuse for not having everything clean and orderly and attractive in its very simplicity. The camp table should be as well set and according to the same rules, in as far as possible, as those a Second Class Scout follows in her test. Those who act as waitresses should do so with as much care and understanding of the right way to do the work as do those Scouts who work for the Hostess Badge.
Team Work in Potato Paring
Dishes should be washed and wiped and dish towels washed according to the rules laid down by the best authorities. ([p. 61].)
A good housewife throws away nothing that can be utilized. Therefore, what is left in the serving dishes after a meal is over should be taken to the kitchen, all of one kind put into a dish and kept for future use. If quantities are well gauged and each Scout eats all that she takes on her plates, there should be very little waste from the table.
There are two ways of clearing a table, washing the dishes, and so forth, which are used in camps. One is considered easier than the other because it divides the work among the entire group, but there is a question as to whether it is as sanitary a way as the other, or as helpful to the Scout. It is the method of having eight campers scrape their dishes, stack them, fall in line, dishes in hand, and in succession wash, rinse and wipe them in pans and with towels common to that one group. As can readily be seen this methods breaks the rules being taught to Scouts as to the proper way of washing dishes: namely, to wash glass, first, silver next, change the water and wash saucers, cups, plates and so forth. No mother would think of having each member of the family stack her dishes, take them to the sink, wash and wipe them and put them away. This method would be considered most inefficient and confusing.
A better way is to have two girls from every table of sixteen, responsible for the dining room work, this work to be done under supervision and according to the most approved standards. Of course, this work is relayed so that each girl has a chance to learn it.
There are many young women with homes of their own whose houses are badly run because they have no idea how the daily housework should be done. They cannot do it themselves and they cannot direct another. The camp is the one place where the Scout can learn what to do and how to do it, and use for the benefit of a large group the training which she receives. There is not a mother who is not anxious to have her child know how to do these homely tasks in the right way.
The Town Pump
With a counsellor presiding at each table to help in serving and maintaining order, there is no reason why each girl should not learn if she has not already done so, the simple table manners which add so much to her attractiveness. People are not born with good table manners; they acquire them by being taught and by watching others, and sometimes a good appetite and being hungry makes them unmindful of others and of what they do, even if they have been taught. There is no desire on the part of any Director to make of her camp a finishing school, but she should be filled with a keen desire to make the most of every opportunity to give what will be of help to the girls as Scouts and as women. The time spent at the table can be most profitably filled by guiding the conversation into interesting channels and by being merry, while eating.
The Mess Hall should always be kept swept, either a fire burning, or a fire laid on the hearth if there is one, fresh flowers on the tables. If the room is used also as a recreation room it may be possible to have a writing table with writing materials on it for the benefit of all campers.
Closing Camp
As the camp days begin to draw to a close prepare for that last day when every bit of equipment must be packed away, every nook and corner left clean and the last camper silently steals away.
Use what provisions are on hand, buy only what is needed from day to day. Begin to pack and clear out wherever possible, but do not let this work interfere with the program which should be continued to within a day or two of closing, or the giving of a last grand party, a fancy dress or masquerade affair with "eats," as campers would say.
The Scouts can be most helpful after their personal equipment is packed and out of the tents. They can assemble blankets, pillows and basins, sweep tent floors, collect and burn all trash, leaving the grounds clean. When all is ready for their departure let Assembly sound and with every Scout in line on the field, have the colors lowered. Then come goodbyes and general leave-takings.
It is well for the Director personally to inspect the Scouts before they leave camp, that she may know in a general way their condition. This can be done after they assemble and before the flag is lowered.
If arrangements are made with the counsellors to remain for a few days after the Scouts leave, all working part of the time and playing some of the time, camp can be closed without much difficulty.
Tents must be taken down, folded and numbered to correspond with tent pole and ridge pole numbers. No tent should be folded till dry, as it is sure to mildew if put away damp.
Scrubbing Up Before Meals
Blankets must be carefully inspected, shaken, brushed and allowed to hang in the sun all day before folding evenly, counting and packing for the winter. If there are any signs of soil they should be cleansed before storing. If boxed or laid on shelves or benches and covered snugly they can be kept in perfect condition.
Pillows should be treated in the same way as blankets as regards care and storage.
Lanterns should be emptied and cleaned. All dishes should be washed, wiped, counted, packed in barrels. All kitchen ware should be treated in the same way.
Any provisions left—there should be practically none—can be disposed of by selling or giving away. Amount and kind will determine that question.
The kitchen stove must be cleaned and if it is to remain in camp should be covered with grease and boarded up unless it is to be used during the winter by campers. Store all equipment in a dry, light room and do not fail to have it insured.
The Director should be the last one to leave camp. She should make a round of inspection and be sure all is well before closing the camp doors for the long winter months.