Year: 1877

Boston Globe


The cool September days which
FOLLOW the sultry summer heat are
peculiarly adapted for the pleasure
Of camping out. There is fresh
ness, vitality in the air which i'm
part a vigor and exhilaration to the
system such as is hardly dreamed
of by persons who have lounged
through the dog-days on the piazza
of watering-place hotels. This crisp
and bracing quality Of the atmos-
phere makes the outdoor life Of
the camp unusually attractive to
individuals who have escaped to it
from the confinement Of the city
Not till one has lived in the free
dom Of the woods and hills is the
essential artifciality of our ordinary
modes Of existence fully realized.
1t is not the least of the advantages
of camping out that brings the hu-
man being close to the realities of
things, and by emphasizing the
distinction between the vital and
the superficial in his life, leads him
to take a broader and clearer view
of them. The experience of Daniel
Boone in the wilds of Kentucky
shows what true philosophy is de-
veloped in a healthy organism by
constant communion with nature
in her wild and grand manifesto
tions. Another thing which that
experience showed, is one which
will be readily appreciated by any
person who has camped out in the
woods and knows the value oi
their unwritten lore. Boone
once pointed out u tree which
he had not seen for thirty years
and as it was in the heart of q
great wilderness his ability to iden-
tify it seemed unaccountable. re
prove the accuracy of his ohserva-
ton, the old hunter cut off the
layers Of bark and revealed beneath
them the name which he had carved
there in the days Of long ago. Now
this sharpening Of the observing
faculties, in which our people are
proverbially deficient, is the result
of just that training which camp
ing out is calculated to afford. The
senses become singularly acute,
amid scenes in which they are con-
constantly called into exercise.
When, as in our everyday life, the
eyes and the ears only languidly
receive impressions, they soon be
come dull to those natural mani.
festations which make such an i'm.
preston upon the tenant Of the
woods and hills. The Indian sees
and hears the slightest sights and
sounds where the white man, who
has been brought up in cities, i,
conscious of nothing but the ia
miliar objects about him.


Tie self-reliance developed by
camping out can hardly be toe
highly estimated as an element oI
character. Thoreau found that by
living as he did on the banks o.
Walden Pond he could drive life
into corner and get the marrow
Of it. When we think of the mum
bers Of men and women who have
their marrow taken ont Of them by
the enervating influences of an ar
tiicial life, we can hardly fail tt
recognize the need of snch an ex-
perience with nature as the Con
cord philosopher found so stimu'
lating. 1t is something in these
days to be thrown upon ones re
sources, to have TO do for one'i
self the numberless little offices
for which we are accustomed to de,
pend upon others. The simple
processes Of cooking, Of making
fires without the elaborate appli
ances Of city life, bring into PLAY
activities which in most Of us ar,
suffered to lie dormant for want o
such an occasion for their exercis,
as is provided by camping out
Emerson found fault with the
Brook Farm philosophy of living.
that it was unequal to the little ex
igencies of everyday life, anC
few observers have failed to Sc,
similar defects in social system
which ara vaunted ns Of sunerio