[THE IMAGINARY BOAT.]
Oh, I've got a beautiful 'maginary boat!
'Tis the finest boat there is.
There isn't a place where the craft won't float,
And go with a lively whiz.
I can shut my eyes
And sail in the skies
On board of that 'maginary ship;
And without any ropes,
With nothing but hopes,
I can soar to the mountain's tip.
I can sail to the moon
Any afternoon,
I can cruise all about the stars,
I can sail any sea
That ever did be,
I can sail on tracks like the cars.
It'll go on land
With a speed that's grand;
It will sail up a cataract steep;
And there isn't a place
On the whole earth's face
I can't make that vessel creep.
It takes no steam for to make it go,
It takes no wind on its sails to blow,
It takes no mule with a rope to tow,
But goes like a breeze
Over land and seas
When I say so—
And it's big and strong,
And it's short or long,
According as 't needs to be:
And it's manned by a crew
That's 'maginary too,
Who all think the world of me.
And night or day
It's ready for play,
And it's safe as a boat can be,
For it's all in your mind
That its joys you find—
And that's not a very deep sea.
So I say to you all get a 'maginary boat;
'Tis the finest boat there is;
And there isn't a place where the craft won't float,
And go with a lively whiz.
Gaston V. Drake.
[CAMPING AND HUNTING.]
There is no reason why a boy of fifteen or sixteen should not spend his two weeks in a camp hunting during September as well as his father or uncle. The only requirements are a wholesome respect and care for the gun, and the presence of some older man as a guide to keep him in the right track. The Round Table has spoken often of late years concerning the care and uses of a gun, and it is useless to go into the particulars of this again. It is enough to say here that a gun must be kept clean, always oiled and wiped each night, and never loaded except when game is momentarily expected to appear; and, above all, no gun, nor any part of a gun, should be pointed at any one.
The first question of moment in camping is the object. If it is hunting, then the particular game is to be considered, and places sought where that game is to be found. If it is fishing, then the best available fishing-grounds must be the site of the camp. The site of a camp should be on comparatively high ground, on some knoll where water will drain away on all sides. This avoids the danger of having water run down into the tent. One of the best of sites is the edge of a bluff, over the sea or a lake, which in the main slopes back inland on its other three sides. Such places can always be found if time is spent in searching sufficiently far for them.
With the certainty that rain will drain away from the tent-floor and that any breezes which may be going will blow across the tent itself, from whatever direction they may come, the actual flooring of the tent-house is settled. This knoll, however, must not be far from a spring. Here again time is the only thing that is necessary, for there is seldom a bluff near salt or fresh water that there is not a spring in one of the surrounding valleys less than 100 yards away. Of course the nearer the spring is the better, provided the tent site is not in or near a swamp. In the northeastern quarter of the United States—that is, from Ohio north and east—the tent should face southwest and northeast. It should not be too much covered by trees, and though not absolutely in the sun, the west exposure ought really to be open to all airs. If possible, the shore on which the tent site is should be an easterly or northeasterly one, so that as you stand on the bluff and look out on the river, bay, or lake you look in a southerly or westerly direction. By selecting such a shore, you will have your prevailing summer wind coming into the tent across whatever water is near, and hence so much the cooler. As some business man once said that "goods well bought were half sold," so a camping party with a site well selected is practically sure to be a success. Water is at hand and likely to be good, the wind is cool when it blows, and the ground is sure to be dry except immediately after a rain, when any spot would be wet. There will be shade under trees near by, though the tent itself will be in the sun a good deal of the day to keep it perfectly dry. This last is quite necessary, because, though a tent pitched in a hot plain is perhaps the hottest habitation on earth, the question of dryness is more important; and all tents on such situations as have been described will be cool at night if the directions regarding the care of the tent which are given below are followed.
The best tent, because the coolest, roomiest, and easiest to make and set up, is the ridge-pole tent. It consists of a ten-foot horizontal pole lying about seven feet from the ground on two uprights. Over this is stretched a piece of duck ten feet wide and about twenty feet long. Along the two ten-foot ends of this canvas are fastened cords about two feet from the end, something after the fashion of reefing-points on a boat's sail; and these cords, being perhaps three feet in length, are attached to tent pegs driven in sufficiently far out on each side to draw the canvas taut over the horizontal or "ridge" pole. The result is a peaked roof of canvas seven feet high at the centre and three feet high where the "walls" begin, and then two three-foot perpendicular walls. The ends of the tent are of course still open, and in all warm weather they will remain so. But to keep out rain and cold winds four flaps should be made, to hang at the front and back and on each side of the perpendicular supports to the ridge-pole. They should be somewhat larger than the space they are to cover, in order that they may lap sufficiently to close the opening completely. All during the day, if the weather permits, these "flaps" should be turned back on the roof of the tent, and the three feet of perpendicular canvas wall on either side should be turned up on the roof also. In this way every whiff of air will blow through and under the tent all day. At night the sides and ends may be left open or not, as the temperature and weather suggest. In this way a healthy and inexpensive camping-house can be set up on the most approved sanitary principles. If you are particularly aristocratic you can lay down three pieces of three-inch joist across the tent floor and place a plank flooring over them. But the cool summer or fall ground is quite good enough for the average sportsman. To avoid heat a second cover of canvas can be stretched over the tent, as shown in the illustration.