Most girls need to look upon camp life as an incomparably rich opportunity to gain in an all-round physical development. The life itself, aside from its possible physical culture exercises and its sports of rowing, paddling, swimming, climbing and walking, is the big architect of a splendid substructure for health. By taking thought, refusing to eat greasy, unwholesome food, getting plenty of sleep, avoiding over-strain, taking corrective exercises, cool baths and rub downs, there is no better health builder than the wilderness life. A wise Danish man said that “He who does not take care of his body, neglects it, and thereby sins against nature; she knows no forgiveness of sin, but revenges herself with mathematical certainty.” In the woods nature keeps reminding you of this fact, and you are never allowed to forget it for any length of time.
It is only sensible to care for one’s health. It is not necessarily old maidish or silly to take precautions that the camp health should be at its zenith all the time. No one would think of criticising a man for being particularly careful of his horses under new conditions. This is precisely what we should be for ourselves. Your thorough-paced sportsman is always regardful of his physical condition. I have spoken about the drinking of pure water, the care of food, the folly of taking great risks, and of other details. There are more factors, as well, which will be at work in obtaining and maintaining good health conditions.
The right sort of underclothing—and women seldom wear suitable underwear—should be worn. It should be high necked, with shoulder caps and knee caps, and should be of linen mesh. Every girl who is in fit condition should see that each day has a brief period at least of hard, warm, strenuous work in it. A sweat once a day, with a proper rub down afterwards, is one of the best health makers on record. In “By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou labor” was enunciated one of the greatest of natural laws. If it were possible for each one of us to sweat once a day, we should scarcely ever know what sickness is. But our over-refined civilization makes even the use of the word an offence to certain middle class people who care more for the so-called propriety (they are the folk who say “soiled” handkerchief instead of dirty, and “stomach” when they mean belly, and yet are ready to use such a detestably vulgar word, straight out of the mouths of the lowest classes of immigrants, as “spiel”) of what is said than for its truth and strength. Lay it down, then, that one of the first of the camp health rules is a sweating every day. Third among the camp rules is to keep the bowels open. Do you know what one of Abraham Lincoln’s mottoes for life was? “Fear God and keep your bowels open,” and in this saying there is no irreverence whatsoever, nor any sacrilege, but only a profound common sense that is a credit both to the Maker and the great man who spoke the words. Cascara is the best and safest laxative for a girl to use in camp. It should be bought in the purest tablets or liquid form on the market, and all patent cascara nostrums should be avoided.[7]
[7] If there is a privy in the camp great care should be taken that, for every reason, it is placed at a sufficient distance from cabins and tents. It should not be placed on a slope that could possibly drain off into any water supply. An abundance of ashes should always be kept within the privy and no water of any kind be poured into the box. A few cans of chloride of lime should, if possible, be kept on hand; and one can opened and in use in the closet. Chambers and slop pails should not be emptied in the immediate vicinity of the cabins but at some distance and in different localities. There is no greater abomination on the face of the earth than a dirty camp, and no place which so thoroughly tests one’s love of order, decency and cleanliness. If you are following the trail and go into “stocked” camps for the night, shake and air the blankets thoroughly, and, out of courtesy to those who will follow you in their use, shake and air the blankets when you get out of them in the morning.
If a girl is delicate or under the weather in any way, she must take more than the ordinary care of herself or she may have a head-on collision with out-and-out illness. The new mode of living, the various kinds of exposure—especially to wet weather—, the larger quantities of food eaten because of an appetite stimulated by the vigorous outdoor life, the temptation to overdoing—all these possibilities should be kept in mind and avoided as dangers. Don’t be silly about overdoing. Harden yourself slowly for the life; avoid competition. It is far better to have lived your camp life successfully and to have come out of it fresh and vigorous, than it is to have done a few “stunts” and have come out of it fagged, overstrained and ill. It is well the first days of camp life to try to eat less than you want; by this act of self-control you will avoid the plague of constipation which follows so many campers. Moderate eating will mean more sleep, too. Abundant water drinking and a few grains of cascara should be able to remedy all the ills to which camp flesh is heir.
As a girl takes thought about this care and culture of the body, making herself clean within and without, higher lessons and perfections, both of the mind and of the soul will come to her as inevitably as the earth answers to the touch of rain and sun. Do you want to be happy? Very well then, learn in the woods to be well, consider the laws of health, and remember first, last, and always that good health, not money or position or fame or any shallow beauty of feature, is the greatest and soundest security for happiness.