The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-05
Bill Sikes Visits Boy
 Scout Camp and Has as
 Good a Time as His Son

[ not dip in, because there is nothing in the world to equal meal S,re- pared out in the open, and eaten sans
 sanitation,, sans fork, sans every thing. That is what makes the charm of this camp--a boy can be a boy eat with his fingers, run around as they do principally clad in sunshine and clothed in climate.
 The Pratt City hoys have a dandy nut; their leader is carpenter and most of the boys are handy with saw and hammer Their hut is ceiied and
 ready for the winter. Uncle Sam
 made a fine job of it and those boys will have good time this coming winter sitting by wide open fire
 and gossiping as only boys can
 Troop 19 are arranging to cell their | hut with cement, or mud, in lieu O. | lumber, in order to give a more rustic
 aspect. anl invited out again and
 l suspect that it will be another case ! of guest having to don oyeralls and | uaub cement. Their scoutmaster is | q fine fellow who works for the Ty l Ter Grocery company. During the
 night discussion came up aver the
 Gussman case and with plaintive voice he asked the question. Why
 is 1t that everybody can get married e&Cepl lfiC WOHNSItNt DcCduS0 nc 1 is most likable fellow and I am al loss. to understand why some young Mdy does not set her cap for | him. 1 reckon the truble with him is that he is too solid--just a plain American without fuss or frills, and nowadays it seems our young ladies want some fellow who is conce rned i with making money to give them good time, and they cannot see the fine side of the mans nature who wants to mako life happier for grow ing boys.
 In The Swimming Hole | We dropped down to the swimming hole and hoped in clothed only in | climate. The spring board is a | healthy distance from the water and 1 when Parker went off I followed
 with one of those dives that were 1 popular when l was a chap. When
 1 came up and my gray head was
 bobbing over the water 1 heard one
 of the boys exclaim, Gosh, he is I | regular felloww 1 recalled thar l when my father was over 65 pears of | age 1 went in swimming with him Often, for he was man who believed
 in making chums of his boys and taught me many trick in the swimming game. have seen an un- cle eff mine around 70 swimming with all the ease and finish of these boys. know of nothing that will banish care quicker than a good swim. And l you can row if you want to, for one troop has a dandy little canoe that the boys made out of canvas and old bicycle rims. It is the neatest | little thing I ever saw and you can l paddle it with hands and need not | use oars at all. The water in the creek, since it was damned up, gives l the boys a cruising radius of nearly | two miles both with the scow and | this canoe.
 l have travelled over a trail laid 1 out by bunch of boys that runs
 along the mountain side from the
 hut to the spring that would do credit | to civil engineer Just how they
 planned 1t out cannot sec and the 1 work required to dig out the rocks i etc, was prodigious, Yet they .have l 1t all lined up and we pass over 1t l every day.
 | Tex Rickard could stage boxing
 contest al the main building, for ma 1 ture has made an ampitheatre that would hold 10000 people and give every one an open view of the ring. 1 Here is where the watermelon cut | tings take place and where officers are elected as well as camp goats
 ana camp IOOlS. MOtlOnS are maQe l and carried with an ease that Mrs.
 Jacobs hopes to see when women l are accustomed to wider use of their
 new privileges.
 | sit would take 1io wide stretch of 1 the agination to fancy one the 1 last of the Mohicans as you wander I over these mountain sides and gaze | into the distance. The boys can
 make a Lake Superior of the creek, /, they can people the woods with my I riad creatures of the forest their
 miners lamps can be giant fire flies | passing to and fro among the woods, they can see the great moose and 1 deer racing from crag to crag and l imagine themselves the Eagle Eye Of
 the Mohawk valley or the lsat of the | Mohicans.
 l I never felt so sorry for a boy in
 all ny life as I did a young fellow
 who told me that his father hal | passed into the Great Beyond and could not enjoy the beauties and | pleasures Of the camp with him, but
 there is one big hearted fellow in this town named Patterson that tries | to make up young Parkers loss.
 May both live long is the prayer of l BILL SYKES.