San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-02
Annual Outing at Landa
Park, New Braunfels,
Really a Sschool to In
spire Boys With Higher
Ideals.

There may be in San Antonio some
people who, accustomed to the mis-
chief that one or two boys can gem
crate during the course of one short
day, wonder hod it is possible to .di-
rect the activities Of 4o7 boys for more
than a week without serious accident
or difficulty.
There may be some few individuals
SO unfamiliar with the purposes and
ideals of the Boy Scouts of America
that they consider such enoampments
as the one just concluded at Camp
William S. Fly i'll Lar da Park, New
BraunfeIs, waste of endeavor.
To either class a ready answer may
be given by recounting a few of the
many things that occupied the time of
the scouts during their ten days stay
at the beautiful camp that the gem
crosby of Harry Landa has made
available to the Boy Scouts of San
Antonio.
"On my honor l will do my best
to do my duty, to guard my country
and to obey scout laws, to help other
people, at all times, keep myself
physically strong, mentally awake and
morally straight"
The manifold sctivities of the Boy
Scouts CT America are shaped by scout
commissioners and Scout masters along
those lines that will prepare boys to
become better and more useful citi-
zens. Scout leaders realize that the
future of the United States lies in
the hands of the boys Mhom they are
training, and no training can be made
compete, they believe, by any course
of study that fails to bring the scout
into close contact wi Gods great
outdoors" In no other way can the
simple but far-reaching obligation of
the Boy Scouts be So fOrcibly I'm
pressed on the mind of the initiated
than by the study of scout subjects
in such surroundings as those of Camp
William S. Fly.
Purpose Behind Camp.
The purpose of the summer camp
for Boy Scouts is not primarily one
of amusement although an encamp-
ment of boys without fun would be
an anomaly. A boy will get fun out
of anything he enjoys doing, and Boy
Scouts like to do the work that makes
them proficient in those subjects that
are listed among the tests required.
Among the many camps for Boy
Scouts in America, truly can it be
said that the Boy Scouts of San An
tonic have one than which there can
exist none more beautiful, none more
healthy and none more adapted to
the study of woodcraft and other out
door studies that are so attractive to
the boys. Camp William S. Fly is
ideal in every particular and located
so close to the homes of the boys that
their parents can visit them in camp
after work hours and partake of the
fun attendant on the evening PERI
formances of the different troops.
A pleasant drive of an hour over
gently sloping hills brings you to
quiet, clean New Braunfels. You may
be stranger and wholly unable to
choose between north and south, but
that is no excuse for your Ignorance.
Where is Landa Park? You have COM
mitted an objectionable sin by such
an irreverent question. Everybody
from Adam on down has visited
Landa Park if not prevented By I'M
surmountable obstacles. Humbly you
bow your head and follow the road
that leads most every automobile
away from the city.
Barely a half mile away you be-
gin to see objects that attract your
attention. Large trees and beautiful
flowers appear on either hand. You
approach a bridge and stop in amaze
ment. The noiseless stream of clear
blue water that passes beneath beg
gars description. You reluctantly
raise your eyes and pass on. Wonder
succeeds wonder a. you advance
further along the road till you see
across the mill stream The tent city
that houses the boys from San An
tonic.
An Ideal Camp Site.
The camp site is located on ground
that is nearly level, sloping toward
the river sufficiently to give almost
perfect drainage. Two hundred yards
beyond lies the big swimming hole
that claims much OF the Boy Scouts
time. You visit this and then pass
on into the heart of matchless Landa
Park.
Huge pecan ard live. oak trees, in
termingled with blackberry, cypress,
mesquite and willow, furnish a canopy
through which the rays of the sun but
lightly pierce. Oout of the side of the
hill flows the clearest and cleanest of
sweet cold water which joins the cur
rent of the gently flowing Comal
Squirrels play on the. ground or
climb the trees and ducks sport in
the water.
Down ''Kickapoo Trail you go
and marvel at he huge elephant
ears" that line the bank of the Comal.
The majesty of the surroundings takes
hold of you, and you fully determine
that such a place rs Landa Park is
a fitting location for a school that
is to aid in moulding the plant lives
of the future rulers Of America.
The daily program at Camp William
S. Fly was full and varied. Scout
leaders long ago learneu that boys
system contained at least one full
days energy. Enough work was pro-
vided to keep all the boys at the camp
occupied from the time they were
called out of their hunks at 6 :15 each
morning until taps blew at > so at
night.
Reveille and roll cali at 6 80 was
followed by a twenty-minute hike or
swim across pool before break
fast. The boys, in column of twos,
were marched through the park or
down. TO the swimming hole to get q
little early exercise. The waters of