Part 33 (2/2)

A FEW INTERESTING TESTS

You can't stand for five minutes without moving, if you are blindfolded.

You can't stand at the side of a room with both of your feet touching the wainscoting lengthwise.

You can't get out of a chair without bending your body forward or putting your feet under it, that is, if you are sitting squarely on the chair and not on the edge of it.

You can't crush an egg when placed lengthwise between your hands, that is, if the egg is sound and has the ordinary sh.e.l.l of a hen's egg.

You can't break a match if the match is laid across the nail of the middle finger of either hand and pressed upon by the first and third fingers of that hand, despite its seeming so easy at first sight.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Social Activities for Men and Boys--A. M. Chesley. a.s.sociation Press, $1.00. 295 ideas, games, socials and helpful suggestions. A gold mine for one dollar.

Games for Everybody--May C. Hofman. Dodge Publis.h.i.+ng Co., 50 cents. 200 pages of rare fun.

Education by Play and Games--G. E. Johnson. Ginn and Company, 90 cents. A discussion of the meaning of play. Contains also a number of good games, graded according to ages or periods of child life.

Play--Emmett D. Angell. Little, Brown and Company, $1.50 net. A very practical book, containing instruction for planning more than one hundred games, including eight games in the water.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Hiawatha,” Presented by the Boys--Camp Becket]

CHAPTER XXI--EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

RECREATIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE EDUCATION WHITTLERS' CLUB PYROGRAPHY BOAT BUILDING PLAYS LANTERN TALKS LIBRARY TUTORING PHOTOGRAPHY AGRICULTURE FORESTRY SCOUTCRAFT CAMP PAPER RECORD OF PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT KITE MAKING AND FLYING MODEL AEROPLANE PARACHUTE IDEA BOX FURNITURE CAMP CLOCK HOW TO MAKE A MOCCASIN HOW TO MAKE A ”ROUGH AND READY” HAMMOCK A HOME-MADE TOBOGGAN HANDY FUNNEL INK FOR SCOUTING GAMES BIBLIOGRAPHY.

'Tis education forms the common mind; Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.

--Pope.

A boy is better unborn than untaught.--Gascoigne

Camping should not be merely a time of loafing or ”having fun.” The boy who has returned from a camp, having learned some definite thing, whether it be different from the school curriculum or supplementary to his school work, has accomplished something and his outing has been of use to him.

All play and no work makes Jack a dull boy, as well as ”all work and no play.” Recreative and constructive education forms a combination which appeals strongly to a boy. He would call it, ”doing things,” and in the doing would have fun galore.

In addition to nature study, woodcraft, first-aid instruction and similar types of educational activities in vogue in boy's camps, there are many other forms of educational activities which boys can engage in during the camping season.

Whittlers' Club

A ”Whittlers' Club,” organized to meet one hour several mornings a week, proved attractive to a group of boys in one camp. Under the leaders.h.i.+p of a man who understood ”Sloyd” [1] work the boys were taught how to handle a knife, and it is surprising how few boys really know how to handle this useful article found in every boy's pocket. They were also taught to know the different kinds of wood, bark, grain, and method of cutting and sawing wood for building and furniture purposes, etc. A popular model was a paper knife made of wild cherry. The bark was permitted to remain on the handle, while the other end was whittled evenly and smoothly for cutting leaves of books or magazines. With the aid of a pyrography set the name of the camp and that of the owner of the knife was burned on the handle.

[Transcriber's Footnote 1: Manual training developed in Sweden, using woodworking tools.]

Pyrography

Carved paddles, war clubs, hiking sticks, etc., were used to display the artistic ability of the boys who brought to camp pyrography sets. The camp name, date of hikes, miles travelled, and other interesting information was burned on these souvenirs. s.h.i.+elds containing the athletic records and names of honor boys were made and hung upon the walls of the permanent building.

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