Part 15 (1/2)

BREAKFAST Cream of Wheat Bananas Fried mush and maple syrup Coffee.

DINNER Roast chicken Creamed onions Mashed potatoes Pineapple sherbet Bread and b.u.t.ter.

SUPPER Cold beef Apple sauce Sweet cake Bread and b.u.t.ter.

Serving

Each table is provided with meat platter, vegetable dishes, bread plate, b.u.t.ter dish, sugar bowl, milk pitcher, water pitcher, salt and pepper shakers, etc. The only need of a waiter is to bring the food to the tables and replenish the dishes. Each boy takes his turn at waiting. If there are seven boys in a tent, a boy serves one day in seven. He usually sits at the right side of the leader and eats his meal with the others. This does away with a second or ”waiter” table. By this system you avoid the tendency to smartness and roughness. Each leader is careful to see that food is not wasted at his table, that decency and order is preserved, and wholesome conversation and pleasantries indulged in during the meal, as an aid to good digestion.

Dishwas.h.i.+ng

Some camps pay for all work done and give boys more freedom, but experience has clearly proven that the successful camp is the one where boys all have responsibility and definite duties to perform. Dishwas.h.i.+ng is never attractive. It may be made less irksome by carefully systematizing the work. There are several ways. One way is that of having each boy wash his own dishes, working a tent at a time. A number of tubs of hot, soapy water are provided for was.h.i.+ng, and several extra tubs filled with very hot water for rinsing. At a signal from the Camp Director or person in charge, each table of boys by rotation pa.s.ses from the dining room with the dishes to these tubs and each boy proceeds to do his own dishwas.h.i.+ng and rinsing and drying. Another way is to provide two good-sized dish-pans for each table, and a.s.sign two boys to do the dish-was.h.i.+ng for the day. The dishes are washed at the tables and stowed away in a closet, each table having its own closet. Another way is to purchase a good dish-was.h.i.+ng machine, like that made by the Fearless Dishwas.h.i.+ng Co., Rochester, N. Y. (Cost, $100), and install it in the kitchen. This plan is in operation at Camp Dudley and Camp Hayo-Went-Ha.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Camp Hayo-Went-Ha dishwas.h.i.+ng]

Cleanliness must be insisted upon. Never leave anything unwashed until it is used again. The eating from dirty and greasy plates, forks, knives, and spoons will result in disease. No matter what system you use, do not let down on dirty dishes.

A FEW HINTS

Soup

”Soup makes the soldier,” said Napoleon I. Bones should never be thrown away, but cracked and placed in stock pot, covered with water and let simmer. This makes ”stock” which is the foundation of all soup.

All green vegetables should be washed well in cold water and put in boiling salted water, and boiled slowly until tender. All white and underground vegetables should be cooked in boiling unsalted water, the salt being added at the last moment.

Potatoes take from twenty to thirty minutes to boil. In boiling and roasting allow about a quarter of an hour for every pound of meat. The fire should be medium hot. Boiled fish should be cooked ten minutes to each pound.

Water

Water is the only true beverage. Forming as it does three-quarters of the weight of the human body, it is of next importance to the air we breathe.

Milk is a food and not a beverage.

Onions

Peel or slice onions in water and you will not shed tears.

Egg Test

To test the freshness of an egg, drop into cold water. If the egg sinks quickly it is fresh, if it stands on end it is doubtful, and quite bad if it floats. The sh.e.l.l of a fresh egg looks dull; a stale one is glossy.

Mending Pots

A pot may be mended by making a paste of flour, salt and fine wood ashes.

Plaster it on where the leak is and let it dry before using.

Table Etiquette

A mother complained that her boy, after being in camp for two weeks, returned home speaking a new language, particularly at the dining table.

If he wanted milk, he called for ”cow,” b.u.t.ter was ”goat,” biscuits were ”sinkers,” meat was ”corpse,” and there were several other terms and phrases peculiar to camp life. He had to learn all over the ways of decency and reasonable table refinement. There is no plausible reason why this should be so in a boys' camp. Grabbing of food, yelling for food, upsetting of liquids, and table ”rough-house” will be largely prevented by the system of seating and of serving. The most satisfactory way is to seat by tent groups. Have as many tables as you have tents. Let each tent leader preside at the head of his table, and serve the food in family style. The leader serves the food, and sees that the boys observe the same delightful table life in camp as at home.