[C] Today flint may be obtained at Bannermans, 501 Broadway, New York City, where they also have ancient steels which were used by the U. S. soldiers. The flints may also be purchased from Wards Natural Science Establishment at Rochester, New York, and the author found a plentiful supply of flints at one of the Army and Navy stores in New York.
CHAPTER III
HOW TO BUILD A FIRE
- HOW TO LAY AND LIGHT A FIRE
- AN EXPERIENCE WITH TENDERFEET
- MODERN FEAR OF DOING MANUAL LABOR
- MATCHES
- FIRE-MAKERS AND BABYLONIANS
- THE PALPITATING HEART OF THE CAMP
- GUMMY FAGOTS OF THE PINE
- HOW TO MAKE A FIRE IN WET WEATHER
- BACKWOODSMEN'S FIRE
- THE NECESSITY OF SMALL KINDLING WOOD
- GOOD FIREWOOD
- ADVANTAGE OF SPLIT WOOD
- FIRE-DOGS
- HOW TO OPEN A KNIFE
- HOW TO WHITTLE; HOW TO SPLIT A STICK WITH A KNIFE
- BONFIRES AND COUNCIL FIRES
- CAMP MEETING TORCH FIRES
- EXPLODING STONES
- CHARACTER IN FIRE
- SLOW FIRES, SIGNAL FIRES AND SMUDGES
CHAPTER III
HOW TO BUILD A FIRE
"By thy camp-fire they shall know thee."
A party of twenty or thirty men once called at the author's studio and begged that he would go with them on a hike, stating that they intended to cook their dinner out-of-doors. We went on the hike. The author asked the gentlemen to collect the wood for the fire; they did so enthusiastically and heaped up about a quarter of a cord of wood. There was no stick in the pile less than the thickness of one's arm, and many as thick as one's leg. A fine misty rain was falling and everything was damp. While all the other hikers gathered around, one of them carefully lighted a match and applied it to the heap of damp cord wood sticks. Match after match he tried, then turned helplessly to the writer with the remark, "It won't light, sir," and none there saw the humor of the situation!