Requisites carried in one’s pockets: Watch; knife; money; compass; matches; handkerchief.
Requisites carried in the knapsack: Change of underclothes, stockings, and handkerchiefs; toilet articles; mending kit; grease for shoes.
Articles which, though not necessary, are altogether to be desired: Second outer shirt; second pair of walking shoes, particularly if the tour be a long one; sweater; pair of flannel trousers, light socks and shoes (gymnasium slippers are good), and necktie for evening wear; medicaments; notebook and pencil; postcards or stamped envelopes; a book to read.
Articles which may be requisite or desired, according to season or circumstance, to be carried in pocket or knapsack or, some of them, slung from the shoulders ready for use: Colored glasses; pajamas; head net, as protection against mosquitoes; woolen underclothing; gloves or mittens; knitted helmet; naphtha soap, for washing woolens; map case; canteen; culinary articles; whistle; clothes brush; flashlight.
An indefinitely long list might be made of articles which a man will choose, according to taste and inclination. A bird-lover will carry a pair of binoculars; a collector, his cases; the fisherman, rod and fly-book. Some member of almost every walking party will carry a camera.
Notes upon some of the articles thus far enumerated will be useful:
The pocketknife should be large and strong, with one or two blades; leave in the showcase the knife bristling with tools of various kinds; see that the blades are sharp.
Let the watch be an inexpensive one; leave the fine watch at home; do not wear a wrist watch, particularly not in warm weather. At the wrists perspiration accumulates and the circulating blood is cooled. Any surface covering at that point, and particularly a close-fitting band, is in hot weather intolerable. But, regardless of season, a wrist watch is in the way, and is sure soon or late to be damaged. For the pedestrian its disadvantages greatly outweigh the small convenience it affords.
The best moneybag is a rubber tobacco pouch; a leather bill-folder and its contents will soon be saturated with perspiration.
A compass is a requisite in the wilderness, but not elsewhere. Regarding compasses, see further pages [75] and [116].