SUNDAY
BREAKFAST
Cream of Wheat
Bananas
Fried mush and maple syrup
Coffee.
DINNER
Roast chicken
Creamed onions
Mashed potatoes
Pineapple sherbet
Bread and butter.
SUPPER
Cold beef
Apple sauce
Sweet cake
Bread and butter.
Serving
Each table is provided with meat platter, vegetable dishes, bread plate, butter dish, sugar bowl, milk pitcher, water pitcher, salt and pepper shakers, etc. The only need of a waiter is to bring the food to the tables and replenish the dishes. Each boy takes his turn at waiting. If there are seven boys in a tent, a boy serves one day in seven. He usually sits at the right side of the leader and eats his meal with the others. This does away with a second or "waiter" table. By this system you avoid the tendency to smartness and roughness. Each leader is careful to see that food is not wasted at his table, that decency and order is preserved, and wholesome conversation and pleasantries indulged in during the meal, as an aid to good digestion.
Dishwashing
Some camps pay for all work done and give boys more freedom, but experience has clearly proven that the successful camp is the one where boys all have responsibility and definite duties to perform. Dishwashing is never attractive. It may be made less irksome by carefully systematizing the work. There are several ways. One way is that of having each boy wash his own dishes, working a tent at a time. A number of tubs of hot, soapy water are provided for washing, and several extra tubs filled with very hot water for rinsing. At a signal from the Camp Director or person in charge, each table of boys by rotation passes from the dining room with the dishes to these tubs and each boy proceeds to do his own dishwashing and rinsing and drying. Another way is to provide two good-sized dish-pans for each table, and assign two boys to do the dish-washing for the day. The dishes are washed at the tables and stowed away in a closet, each table having its own closet. Another way is to purchase a good dish-washing machine, like that made by the Fearless Dishwashing Co., Rochester, N. Y. (Cost, $100), and install it in the kitchen. This plan is in operation at Camp Dudley and Camp Hayo-Went-Ha.
[Illustration: Camp Hayo-Went-Ha dishwashing]
Cleanliness must be insisted upon. Never leave anything unwashed until it is used again. The eating from dirty and greasy plates, forks, knives, and spoons will result in disease. No matter what system you use, do not let down on dirty dishes.
A FEW HINTS
Soup
"Soup makes the soldier," said Napoleon I. Bones should never be thrown away, but cracked and placed in stock pot, covered with water and let simmer. This makes "stock" which is the foundation of all soup.
All green vegetables should be washed well in cold water and put in boiling salted water, and boiled slowly until tender. All white and underground vegetables should be cooked in boiling unsalted water, the salt being added at the last moment.
Potatoes take from twenty to thirty minutes to boil. In boiling and roasting allow about a quarter of an hour for every pound of meat. The fire should be medium hot. Boiled fish should be cooked ten minutes to each pound.
Water
Water is the only true beverage. Forming as it does three-quarters of the weight of the human body, it is of next importance to the air we breathe. Milk is a food and not a beverage.
Onions
Peel or slice onions in water and you will not shed tears.
Egg Test
To test the freshness of an egg, drop into cold water. If the egg sinks quickly it is fresh, if it stands on end it is doubtful, and quite bad if it floats. The shell of a fresh egg looks dull; a stale one is glossy.
Mending Pots
A pot may be mended by making a paste of flour, salt and fine wood ashes.
Plaster it on where the leak is and let it dry before using.
Table Etiquette
A mother complained that her boy, after being in camp for two weeks, returned home speaking a new language, particularly at the dining table. If he wanted milk, he called for "cow," butter was "goat," biscuits were "sinkers," meat was "corpse," and there were several other terms and phrases peculiar to camp life. He had to learn all over the ways of decency and reasonable table refinement. There is no plausible reason why this should be so in a boys' camp. Grabbing of food, yelling for food, upsetting of liquids, and table "rough-house" will be largely prevented by the system of seating and of serving. The most satisfactory way is to seat by tent groups. Have as many tables as you have tents. Let each tent leader preside at the head of his table, and serve the food in family style. The leader serves the food, and sees that the boys observe the same delightful table life in camp as at home.
Grace at Meals
Grace should be said before each meal, either silently or audibly. In the morning the hymn on the following page is sung by the boys at Camp Becket, followed with bowed heads in silent prayer:
MORNING PRAYER HYMN FOR BOYS' CAMPS
To be sung at morning meal
Words and Music by H. W. Gibbon.
[Illustration: Music]
Morning
Gracious Giver of all good,
Thee we thank for rest and food.
Grant that all we do or say
In Thy service be this day.
Noon
Father for this noonday meal
We would speak the praise we feel,
Health and strength we have from Thee,
Help us, Lord, to faithful be.
Night
Tireless guardian of our way,
Thou hast kept us well this day.
While we thank Thee, we request
Care continued, pardon, rest.
-Camp Wawayanda.
[Illustration: Forest scene]
Go abroad upon the paths of Nature,
And when all its voices whisper, and its silent things
Are breathing the deep beauty of the world—
Kneel at its ample altar.-Bryant.