Living in the Open

Camping is the joyous part of a Scout's life. Living out in God's open air, among the hills and the trees, and the birds and the beasts, and the sea and the rivers-that is, living with nature, having your own little canvas home, doing your own cooking and exploration- all this brings health and happiness such as you can never get among the bricks and smoke of the town.

Hiking, too, where you go farther afield, exploring new places every day, is a glorious adventure. It strengthens you and hardens you so that you won't mind wind and rain, heat and cold. You take them all as they come, feeling that sense of fitness that enables you to face any old trouble with a smile, knowing that you will conquer in the end.

But, of course, to enjoy camping and hiking, you must know how to do it properly.

You have to know how to put up a tent or a hut for yourself; how to lay and light a fire; how to cook your food; how to tie logs together to make a bridge or a raft; how to find your way by night, as well as by day, in a strange country, and many other things.

Very few fellows learn these things when they are living in civilised places, because they have comfortable houses, and soft beds to sleep in. Their food is prepared for them, and when they want to know the way, they just ask a policeman.

Well, when those fellows try to go scouting or exploring, they find themselves quite helpless.

Take even your sports "hero" and put him down in the wilderness, alongside a fellow trained in camping, and see which can look after himself. High batting averages are not much good to him there. He is only a "tenderfoot".

Author

Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell (Chief Scout, London, UK)

Date of Creation

1908

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