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