Tidiness.—Tidiness in camp means tidiness in the home and also tidiness in the streets or parks or when out picnicing. Scouts have got a splendid name for cleaning up their camp ground when they leave, although it is not a pleasant duty. They do it because a dirty littered bit of ground is not pleasant for other people to look on or use. Therefore out in the streets or parks or country don’t throw away the bit of paper that held your candy or cake. It not only makes the place look untidy, but it means work for someone else to clear it up. Therefore, carry your paper to the waste-paper bin, or burn or bury it.
How to make a Bed.—To manufacture a bed in camp is a different thing from “making your bed” in a house. To make a bed for camp use the following is the dodge:—
Using a camp loom.
To make a Camp Loom.—Plant a row (1) of five stakes, 2 ft. 6 in. long, firmly in the ground; opposite to them at a distance of 6 ft. to 7 ft., drive in a row of two and a crossbar (2). Fasten a cord or gardener’s twine to the head of each stake in No. 1 row and stretch it to the crossbar in No. 2 and make it fast there, then carry the continuation of it back over No. 1 row for some 5 ft. extra, and fasten it to a loose crossbar or “beam” at exactly the same distance apart from the next cord as it stands at the stakes. This beam is then moved up and down at slow intervals by one Scout, while the others lay bundles of fern, straw, or heather, etc., alternately under and over the stretched strings, which are thus bound in by the rising or falling on to them.
Bleeding.—When a man is bleeding badly from a wound, press the wound or the flesh just above it—that is between the wound and the heart—press it hard with your thumb to try and stop the blood running in the artery. Then make a pad with something like a flat rounded pebble, and bind it over the wound. If bleeding violently, tie a handkerchief loosely round the limb above the wound, and twist it tight with a stick. [Demonstrate this.] Keep the wounded part raised above the rest of the body if possible. Apply cold water, or ice, if possible, wet rags, etc.
Bleeding from the ears and insensibility after a fall mean injury to the skull. The patient should not be moved at all if possible. It is best even to keep him lying on the spot, and put cold water or ice to his head and keep him quiet till a doctor comes.
Spitting or throwing up blood means internal injury or bursting of a small blood-vessel inside the patient. The case often looks more serious than it really is. If the blood is light red in colour and mixed with froth it means injury to the lungs. In either case keep the patient quiet and give ice to suck or cold water to sip.
Don’t be alarmed at the amount of blood that flows from a patient. It used to be a common thing for the barber to bleed a man to the extent of five or six cupfuls of blood, and the patient feels all the better for it.
S.T.