Fruit is very refreshing and always welcome if consisting of fresh berries, cherries, etc.; pack it in the same manner as lettuce, omitting the sprinkling and washing.
Fig. [567].—Picnic wooden-spoon.
Fig. [568].—Flat sticks to use as spoons.
Of course, young people do not care for coffee, but the grown ones would like it, and they must be remembered. Grind the coffee and mix with raw egg; it may then be carried in the tin coffee-pot, the coffee to be made after the grounds are reached. If cake is taken, do not let it be rich; sponge or plain cup-cake, made in layers with apple-sauce between, is best.
As far as possible have the table equipment of paper, that it may not be necessary to carry it back home. A tablecloth composed of large sheets of smooth white wrapping-paper will answer the purpose very well. Paper plates such as are used by bakers, make excellent substitutes for china ones and are the very thing for outing parties. Spoons may be home-made, whittled of wood; should the bowls of the spoons prove too difficult to manage, make them like small shovels ([Fig. 567]). If time will not allow of this, flat, smooth sticks larger at one end than the other ([Fig. 568]) may take their place. Knives are not absolutely necessary. Only one need be taken, but that must be of good size and sharp, to be used for cutting bread. It is a mistake to carry fine table linen or silver, they always prove a great care and are apt to be injured or lost, but not being skilled in the art of eating with chopsticks, like the Chinese, you will have to be supplied with forks. Take barely enough for the purpose and have them of the most inexpensive quality; then it will not matter if one or two happen to be lost. Only a few cups will be required and no saucers; the company can take turns using the cups. One item more—a pail for the water.
A small
Camp-fire
is very important. Build it on a spot where there is not the slightest danger of its spreading, and into the embers and ashes roll small raw potatoes. They will be delicious baked—velvety black on the outside and, when broken open while steaming hot, soft, mealy, and snowy white on the inside. Before boiling the coffee, pile a layer of flat stones on two sides of the fire and set the coffee-pot on them, bridging across the open space over the fire. Water can be heated in this way for tea or chocolate.