Campward Ho! Part 9

Other things that can be sold in the canteen are stationery, stamps, plain postal cards, picture postal cards, hair pins, pins, shoe laces, needles and thread, kodak films, bathing caps, soap, and pencils.

The best time for having the canteen open is determined by the rule that Scouts do not eat between meals. For this reason it is better to sell fruit and candy either directly after dinner or directly after supper.

For many reasons it is much more convenient and fully as well for the child to have the canteen open after supper, especially when that meal is served at half-past five.

The question as to whether Scouts should be allowed to receive packages of food from home is one which every camp Director has to decide.

Probably nothing causes more unhappiness than the fact that some girls receive no packages while others have many. The most serious phase is that boxes often contain food which is not best for the girl. Then, too, packages have been sent by parcel post so badly wrapped and packed that when received at the local post office the authorities have complained to the camp Director. The condition of fruit or other food was such as to be a menace.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAKING CAMP ON AN OVERNIGHT HIKE. Tents and other equipment come by trek cart.]

The problem of caring for the boxes of food which are sent to campers is sometimes a serious question. If labelled and put into the storeroom they take up valuable s.p.a.ce; also much time is spent taking them out at canteen hour and in putting them away. If a child is allowed to keep food of any kind in her tent, it is quite impossible to have the blankets, cots, or pillows in absolutely perfect condition.

All things considered, it seems best not to allow food including fruit or candy to be sent or brought into camp.

EQUIPMENT FOR SWIMMING AND BOATING

The average child who enters camp does not know how to swim and knows less about boating. What is more, it is probably the only place for many to learn to do these things. Taking a dip for the sake of having a good time, splas.h.i.+ng in the water, and so forth, is one thing, but to really learn to swim, to dive, to throw a life line, to rescue, to resuscitate, is quite a different matter. These things must be learned, for as a matter of fact, human beings do none of them naturally.

When possible a crib for beginners is a very desirable thing to have.

(p. 69.) Unless there is a safe beach or shallow water and a good bottom there is more or less danger attending the teaching of swimming to a group of children even though the group be small. With the crib, for use especially in deep lakes and ponds, this danger is practically overcome, and in consequence much anxiety on the part of those in charge of the camp eliminated. The child seems to fear less, therefore learns to swim sooner. A crib 20 x 85 feet is large enough for a group of twenty children (Cut H.) It is built partially on land by the water's edge, is made of logs and planks and pulled into the water over logs used as rollers. A floor is made of 6 inch planks placed half an inch apart and nailed on to a rectangular frame work of logs with lengthwise supports under the planks. Uprights of logs are placed at intervals along the sides and ends and at the corners. Two and a half feet from either end a second row of uprights is placed. The sides and inner ends are built up to a height of 5 feet, the outer ends to 3 feet. The crib is pulled into the water and towed to its position by a pier or wharf. It is sunk with stones between the double ends until the floor is 3-1/2 feet below the surface of the water at the pier end, and 4 feet below the surface at the other end. It is held in position by being fastened to piles placed at intervals around the edge. Steps lead down into the crib either from the end of a pier, or from a wharf. As soon as a child can swim three times around the crib without touching her foot to the bottom of the crib or her hands to the sides, and can demonstrate three strokes, she should be allowed to go into deep water, but should be carefully watched for a while.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "EATS"]

Land drill preceding the swimming lesson is very helpful. An expert person should be made responsible for not more than twenty girls at one time unless the girls are competent swimmers, and no one should be allowed to interfere with the rules and regulations laid down by the person in charge. Absolute obedience to all signals, rules and regulations must be observed. An a.s.sistant counsellor should always be in attendance at swimming lessons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: H. Swimming Crib as it would appear out of water. The crib is 35' by 20', outside dimensions, with end pockets for stones, 2-1/2' each, leaving a swimming s.p.a.ce of 30' by 20'. The idea for this was planned and executed by the Engineers of the Park Commission of the N.Y. and N.J. Interstate Park, for use in the camps in the Palisades Park.]

Deep water swimmers should be able to pa.s.s the following requirements: demonstrate three different strokes, breast, overarm and back stroke.

Swim under water. Demonstrate resuscitation. Throw a life-line twenty-five feet for accuracy. Demonstrate diving, shallow, deep and fancy diving. Rescue a drowning person twenty-five feet away from a raft. Swim 50 yards with clothes on.

It is always advisable during a swimming period to have a boat well manned near at hand. Bathing in fresh water, especially in spring-fed lakes is not as exhilarating as salt water bathing, and twenty minutes is considered the longest time a girl should stay in fresh water. Great care should be taken that no child is allowed to get chilled. At the first sign of pinchedness, s.h.i.+vering, or blue lips the child should be called out of the water, and instructed to rub herself briskly and dress at once.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MORNING AFTER]

Bathers should always be counted immediately before going into the water, and immediately after being called out. It is well to have a.s.sembly and roll call for this.

Suits

A word as to bathing suits may not be amiss. Care should be taken that the shoulder straps are tight enough and the under arm seam sewed up high enough to keep the top part of the suit in place. It is recommended that camps adopt a uniform style of bathing suit and that all cla.s.sified groups wear bathing caps of the same color, as for instance, first cla.s.s swimmers wear white caps, second cla.s.s blue caps, third cla.s.s green caps, and fourth cla.s.s, red caps.

The Float

Probably there is more fun experienced by the Scouts who are privileged to use a raft or float, than by all the other campers put together. To get out of the crib group and go for the first time to the float is a thrilling experience and one that is much discussed and enjoyed. Water sports without a float cannot be imagined, neither can a camp really be called a Girl Scout camp unless it possesses this important piece of floating property, which may be large or small, but must be properly built to be safe. For a camp of 150 or more, a float 20 x 40 feet is none too large. It should be equipped with spring board, diving tower and life lines, and moored in deep water, not too long a swim from sh.o.r.e.

Bath houses are not always considered necessary to campers but the use of them does much toward keeping tents and tent equipment in good condition. Wet floors, cots, blankets and so forth are always a detriment and should not be allowed. If bath houses are impossible, erect a large tent with a clothes line running from pole to pole and low benches under it to serve as racks for clothing. Have pails at hand for holding rinsing water. This kind of bath house is easily arranged.

Where possible it is an excellent idea for girls to be able to take a quick dip before dressing for breakfast, but in a large camp this is not always possible, and other arrangements have to be made for the morning ablutions, as have been suggested in another part of this book.

Boats

Only first cla.s.s swimmers should be allowed the use when alone, of boats of any kind. The flat bottomed boats are the safest and it is almost impossible to tip them over. They are, however, much heavier and harder to manage than the round bottomed boats. Care should be taken that not too many girls go in one boat at one time and that whoever is put in charge of the group must be obeyed. Girls should be taught to row, how to enter a boat and leave it, how to tie it, how to seat pa.s.sengers so that the boat will be well balanced, how to row alone, and how to keep stroke with another.

Camp Supplies

A list of firms handling approved equipment for camps will be furnished upon request to National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SETTING OUT FOR THE WATER HIKE]

WATER FRONT PROTECTION FOR SUMMER CAMPS

_By_

Captain Fred. C. Mills, Red Cross Life Saving Corps, Atlantic Division.

Every camp that is situated on water or has a near-by bathing place, should organize its water front protection system before the camp opens.

Choice of Bathing Place

The swimming place should be so chosen as to combine, if possible, deep water swimming for the experienced swimmers and a shallow bathing place for beginners. The non-swimmers' pool should never be over four and one-half feet deep at its deepest point.

Equipment

_For Beginners._ The non-swimmers' pool should be enclosed on three sides by life lines, (1" to 1-1/2" manila rope, depending on weather conditions), buoyed up every fifteen feet by cork floats or balsa wood buoys, painted white and made fast at the corners to piles driven into the sand, or to buoys moored with rocks or cement moorings. No beginners should be allowed to go beyond these lines.

_For Swimmers._ The area to be used by Swimmers should then be plainly marked off with white floats moored to the bottom, with a flag placed at top. No swimmer, no matter how expert, should be allowed to go beyond these floats, unless permission is obtained from the Master of Aquatics.

Great care should be taken that all diving platforms and spring boards are safely situated and that the water surrounding these diving arrangements is clear of all rocks, stumpage, etc., to the depth of at least 10 feet. Ladders should be placed at the float to allow swimmers to climb from the water easily.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LAYING THE FIRE]

_Tower._ A small tower, eight to twelve feet high, should be erected on the sh.o.r.e so as to overlook the bathing place. A warning signal, such as a bell or gong, should be placed in the tower.

_Life Boats._ Two or more boats, depending on the size of the camp, should be set aside for life-saving patrol. These should be equipped with life lines looped around the outside of the gunwhale, ring rowlocks, and an air tank placed under the bow and stern seats. A hole should be cut in the top of the stern board for sculling.

Life boats should be chosen that are light and easy to handle, and care should be used in picking boats that are sea-worthy and have good beam.

One life boat should always be at the dock, ready for instant use, while the other boat or boats are on patrol.