Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/canoeingcampingOOcruirich 
 
JAMES A. CKUIKSHANK, 
 On cruising trip, Ontario, Canada. 
 
Spalding "Red Cover" Series of ^ — i rn 
 Athletic Handbooks 
 N0.6OR 
 
 PART I 
 
 CANOEING 
 
 A Little Book for the Lover of Woods and Waters 
 
 and in Praise of the Light and Fragile Craft of 
 
 the American Indian with which Continents 
 
 have been Explored and which has now 
 
 become the Most Popular of all 
 
 Vehicles with which to find 
 
 Sport, Recuperation and 
 
 Rest out of doors. 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES A. CRUIKSHANK 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING 
 
 COMPANY 
 
 21 Warren Street, New York 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I PAo. 
 
 Introduction 6 
 
 Canoes of All Nations 8 
 
 The Open, Cruising Canoe 11 
 
 Decked Paddling Canoes 18 
 
 Decked Sailing Canoes 24 
 
 Canoe Cruising and Cruises 30 
 
 Equipment for Canoe Cruising 38 
 
 The American Canoe Association 46 
 
 Racing Regulations of the American Canoe Association 49 
 
 Hints for the Beginner 63 
 
 How to Paddle a Canoe 66 
 
 Learn to Swim — Canoe Stunts — Take a Camera — General Hints 70 
 
 Sailing Canoes 73 
 
 The Joys of Canoeing 80 
 
 Concerning the Cook on the Canoe Cruise 81 
 
 PART II 
 
 Camping for Boys and Girls 84 
 
 How a Camp is Conducted 86 
 
 The Relation of Camp Athletics to Character Building 94 
 
 Intellectual Recreation at Camp 98 
 
 "The Long Hike" 100 
 
 A Vacation Camp 102 
 
 Care Necessary in Camp Selection 104 
 
 A Boys' Camp with a Religious Environment 106 
 
 The Real Aim of Camping 108 
 
 How the Boys' Camp Movement Has Grown 109 
 
 The Camp as an Adjunct to a Summer School 110 
 
 Horseback Riding for Boys' Camps Ill 
 
 The Value of Camp Life for Girls 112 
 
 Why Basket Ball is Especially Suitable for Girls' Camps 113 
 
 Camps for Adults 114 
 
 Athletics at Camp 115 
 
 Camp Life Has Developed Many Prominent Athletes 117 
 
 582378 
 
BPALBING'S ATHLETIC LIBEABT. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Probably no vehicle or craft, so far devised by man, contains 
 in proportion to its weight such marvelous capacity for business 
 and pleasure as the canoe. Its only rival in lightness and carrying 
 capacity is the bicycle; but the bicycle is limited to one, or at 
 most to two, passengers, permits practically no baggage to be 
 carried, and is dependent for its usefulness on a road prepared by 
 man. A canoe of equal weight to a tandem bicycle will com- 
 fortably carry three, four, or even five persons, or two persons 
 with ample equipment and food for several months of cruising in 
 the wilderness far from the haunts of men. It becomes shelter 
 or tent in an emergency, and it requires only the natural road of 
 river or lake, that great, flowing highway which was man's first 
 route to the regions beyond. 
 
 As bearer of those intangible, priceless gifts, pleasure and 
 health, even the tiniest canoe carries such cargo as rarely falls to 
 the lot of an ocean greyhound. For it is not too much to say that 
 perhaps no single implement of sport enjoys such reasonable cer- 
 tainty that it will be used by many for simple, wholesome pas- 
 times out of doors, that it will stimulate many to beneficial exer- 
 cise under sunny skies, that it will bring its precious freight into 
 the very heart of nature, whence come the finest inspirations of 
 life. 
 
 Fortunately, the canoe is not a type of that "sport by proxy" 
 which thoughtful students of modern athletic pastimes are be- 
 ginning to question so critically. Nobody comes into the fas- 
 cinating range of a canoe's influence without desiring to take a 
 hand in managing the craft. Every canoe owner knows the 
 avidity with which guests are willing to exchange comfortable 
 seats among cushions for a bit of the strength-giving exercise at 
 the paddle. And few who have ever tasted the rare joys of han- 
 dling a canoe for themselves are satisfied with mere memories. 
 
6 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBEART. 
 
 Not a few men who have tried every form of water sport end by 
 being thoroughly satisfied with the canoe. Some of the most 
 noted canoeists of the world are even graduates from the decks 
 of lordly yachts, who have learned that if one truly loves the 
 water the nearer one can get to it the happier one is. 
 
 The Americans, and by that we mean all the dwellers on this 
 continent, owe much to the canoe. First as the craft with which 
 the early voyageurs made their way up the Hudson, the St. Law- 
 rence, along the Great Lakes, down the Missouri, the Ohio and 
 the Mississippi, then to explore those wonderful rivers of our 
 own great Northwest, and the even mightier highways of water 
 in Canada and Alaska. Perhaps the conquest and the civilization 
 of this continent was advanced hundreds of years by reason of 
 the birch-bark craft of the American Indian. 
 
 Having served its day and generation so well as a vehicle for 
 trade and exploration the canoe has renewed its youth and now 
 promises' to become the most popular implement for sport and 
 nature-enjoyment so far devised by this or any other people. 
 Unless one is fully in touch with the facts, the statement of the 
 rapidity with which the canoe is coming into popularity, not 
 merely on this continent, but all over the world, reads like ro- 
 mance. Where, twenty years ago, the use of the canoe was lim- 
 ited to the real wilds, or to some few daring souls apparently in 
 search of the quickest method of suicide, it is to-day found every- 
 where that men and women seek the joys of the open air, from 
 billowy ocean to tiny mountain stream. Clubs spring up over night 
 and build additions every year. With that enthusiasm character- 
 istic of the American people in matters of sport, the vogue of 
 canoeing promises to be one of the most interesting developments 
 in the wholesome athletic life of the people in which this gener- 
 ation has been privileged to participate. Already the American 
 canoe has become one of the most popular features of the Henley 
 Regatta in England, perhaps the most important aquatic festival 
 held anywhere in the world; and the upper reaches of the Rhine 
 furnish Continental proof of the widening interest taken in this 
 strictly American contribution to the joys of life afloat. The 
 Sweetwaters of the Bosphorus and the sacred waters of the 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBEAET. 7 
 
 Ganges, the blue Nile, the fjords of Norway and the lakes of 
 South Africa, the headwaters of the Amazon and the network of 
 canals which have made Venice the delight of artists for centuries 
 — all these places know and respect the light, fragile, buoyant 
 thing of life and beauty which the American of to-day has 
 learned to fashion from the patterns which the American of yes- 
 terday handed down. If America had contributed no other gift 
 to the sports of the world, the modern canoe would entitle her to 
 a respectful ranking among all those virile people who have 
 learned that the spirited outdoor pastimes of any race are true 
 foundations upon which to build structures of individual integrity 
 and character. 
 
BPAUOING'S ATHLinriO LIBRABT. 
 
 CANOES OF ALL NATIONS 
 
 It is a curious fact that something in the form of a canoe seems 
 to be known among all the peoples of the world. Differing 
 slightly in shape, and greatly in materials, the divergent products 
 seem clearly to indicate that the canoe, as we know it to-day, is 
 not a thing which has been discovered by one nation and through 
 countless centuries slowly shared with other nations. It is much 
 more likely to be a product of universal necessity, which, after 
 long years, has been evolved to its present development. This 
 seems to be amply proven by the samples of the canoes of the 
 world which, either in tangible form or through drawings and 
 photographs, have been brought to the attention of the canoe 
 enthusiast 
 
 Among the primitive peoples known to the present-day world, 
 the so-called "dug-out" is almost universal. The far centers of 
 the African continent and the upper reaches of the great rivers 
 of South America, furnish fine examples, perhaps the finest ex- 
 amples extant, of the "dug-out" craft. Among these primitive 
 peoples the shape is not merely that of a log, from which has 
 been scooped out part of the body of the wood ; it is ofttimes a 
 carefully shaped craft, having lines fore and aft admirably suited 
 to the work which it is called upon to do, whether that be the 
 carrying of great loads on still lakes and rivers or the running of 
 fast water white with foam. 
 
 Americans familiar with the northwestern States, and their 
 fast-disappearing Indian tribes, will recall the superb work in the 
 form of "dug-out" craft which can still be found there. And 
 among the little rivers of North and South Carolina and Georgia 
 there are still in existence and active use some of the best "dug- 
 outs" to be found in the world to-day. Perhaps it would be fair 
 to say that the finest examples of the ancient "dug-out" craft to 
 be found anywhere, outside of museums, is among the river folk 
 of the eastern part of the Carolinas and Georgia. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABT. 9 
 
 But the immediate predecessor of the canoe is found among the 
 wide varieties of water craft which have a cover or shell or skin 
 of some form. And again it is found that this sort of construc- 
 tion is so universal among the ancient peoples of the world as to 
 clearly indicate that it has been a local development from the 
 stimulus of necessity, rather than the copying of the arts of 
 other people. 
 
 The kayak of the Eskimo and the dwellers in the arctic regions 
 offers an excellent example of the skin-covered craft at its best. 
 Perhaps it is not too fulsome praise of this craft to say that no 
 shape or method of construction so far adapted to carrying human 
 beings in small numbers on rough water or under varying condi- 
 tions has so far been discovered. These tiny, light, amazingly 
 buoyant things, bobbing about like a cork on the crest of the 
 waves, never fail to furnish the traveler and the explorer who 
 see them for the first time a sensation rarely duplicated. And 
 some of the tricks which can be done in and with these tiny, 
 unique things are almost unbelievable ; as, for instance, the aston- 
 ishing performance of turning the craft, with the paddler and 
 his duffel, perhaps with even two paddlers, completely over to the 
 right or left, the men retaining their places in the kayak and 
 coming up on the other side as i£ nothing had happened — and, 
 incidentally, with the contents of the kayak dry and unharmed. 
 The writer has often thought that this water trick, which is by 
 no means uncommon anywhere in the regions where the kayak is 
 known and used, would make a distinct sensation if introduced 
 into some of our aquatic festivals. 
 
 The skin-covered canoe, at its best in the kayak, is also found 
 widely distributed. The "coracle" of Ireland and Scotland, and 
 the bullock-skin craft of Africa, are modern examples, although 
 the shape of the "coracle" is at the extreme of difference from 
 that of the kayak. Where the kayak is narrow and sharp-ended, 
 the "coracle" is wide and beamy and almost round in shape, or 
 elliptical. The "coracle," too, is intended for transportation over- 
 land, in wt^ch respect it may be said to be more specifically re- 
 lated to the modern canoe than the kayak, although the kayak is 
 much more closely related in form and structure to the modern 
 
10 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 canoe than is the "coracle." The "coracle" is often used in fish- 
 ing the salmon waters and lakes of Scotland and Ireland, can be 
 carried on the back or in the crook of the arm, generally does not 
 exceed ten or eleven feet in length to three feet in beam and 
 is extremely shallow. The kayak varies greatly in model, rang- 
 ing in length from ten feet to twenty, and in beam from 
 eighteen to forty inches, while its shape at bow and stern is 
 fitted to the nature of the waters in which it is to be used, 
 in some cases being sharp and low, and in others very full and 
 round below the water line and high and peaked above. 
 
 From these various sources, or in spite of them, has come 
 or been evolved the modern canoe. It is interesting that 
 the various types of the modern canoe embody many features 
 of these ancient and historic predecessors. Some have the wood 
 buoyancy of the "dug-out," its tendency to crack open, its 
 tendency therefrom to leak, and some minor ills of the all-wood 
 water craft. Some have the tightly stretched skin over frame of 
 wood, with this one difference, that whereas the ancients made 
 the canoe cover from the skin of an animal or fish, or the bark 
 of a tree, the modern canoe builder makes it of canvas, perhaps 
 of paper or pantasote, or steel or aluminum. And the modern 
 canoe, like its ancestors, is either decked or open. The latest 
 types of canoes, for use where canoeing is more popular than 
 anywhere else in the whole world, are actually reverting back to 
 the tiny cock-pit of the Eskimo kayak builder, although the 
 need for protection from rough waters is remote indeed. So, 
 although the canoe is ancient and associated with all the virile, 
 roving people of the four continents, it still retains in its general 
 form and mode of construction the features which from time 
 immemorial adapted it to the needs of man. 
 
BPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBEAKT. U 
 
 THE OPEN. CRUISING CANOE 
 
 Twenty years ago, or less, the decked sailing canoe was prac- 
 tically the only canoe known to the sport-loving folks of the 
 United States. True, occasional daring travelers in the Cana- 
 dian wilderness learned the charm and the usefulness of the 
 open cruising birch-bark or cedar or basswood, but the intro- 
 duction of this construction into the general water-life of civili- 
 zation had scarcely begun. In the Adirondacks of New York 
 state there was a craft called a canoe, but it was almost invariably 
 propelled by oars and should rightly be called a skiff or boat. 
 
 To-day the open, cruising canoe, either of wood, without or 
 with canvas cover, or of papier-mache or linenoid, or steel, or 
 aluminum, or phosphor bronze, is so far in the lead as to 
 numbers and popularity among the water-sport enthusiasts of the 
 whole world as to render the decked sailing canoe a very minor 
 item in the general canoeing world. The decked sailing canoe 
 probably does not number one-tenth of the whole fleet of canoes 
 now being used for sport and cruising. 
 
 No animadversions are implied against the decked sailing 
 canoe. It is now, as it always has been, a fascinating, thrilling 
 medium for the enjoyment of sport afloat. In some respects 
 it provides the most spectacular and daring sport so far listed 
 in the athletic doings of the world. 
 
 The open, cruising canoe ranges to great extremes in the 
 matter of material out of which it is built, dimensions, shape, 
 weight, capacity and uses. It may be said to be the most versa- 
 tile craft now in use on any of the waters of the world, for it 
 serves with equal success the aristocratic sportsman seeking 
 mere pastimes of the woods and waters, the hardy prospector 
 cruising the uncharted wilderness in search of precious gold and 
 silver, the pioneering railroad crew pushing ribbons of steel 
 across continents, the trapper, fur trader, and the half-wild 
 folks who live on the very edge of man's domains. 
 
It SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBEABT. 
 
 The Open, cruising canoe varies wonderfully in iaodel and 
 size. The writer has seen a birch-bark canoe away up in the 
 Hudson's Bay region which actually carried a piano to the 
 isolated post of a fur-trader. On the other extreme is the 
 open cruising canoe in which that master of canoeing, the 
 immortal "Nessmuk," made several of his famous cruistfs; a 
 mere shell of cedar over a score of ribs and weighing less than 
 ten pounds. 
 
 Between these extremes are the great array of open, cruising 
 canoes in use for all varieties of sport and business. The fact 
 that the open, cruising canoe is so rapidly increasing in popu- 
 larity, over against the fact that the decked sailing canoe is barely 
 holding its own, indicates that the open, cruising model has 
 greater variety of uses, is more generally serviceable, and meets 
 a much more universal need than its more aristocratic and more 
 artistic cousin. To the lover of water sport, the marvelous 
 interest in the open, cruising canoe, adaptable to anybody, re- 
 quiring but little training for its successful use, light enough to 
 be carried from one waterway or lake to another, cheapest of all 
 devices with which to cruise from place to place, and incompar- 
 ably the most ideal craft so far devised by man with which to 
 study out the fascinating secrets of nature — all these facts make 
 the widening vogue of the canoe matter for congratulation and 
 delight. 
 
 The open, cruising canoe, as generally constructed to-day, 
 ranges from fifteen to twenty feet in length, has practically no 
 decks, save for a few inches at bow and stern, probably used 
 more for the purpose of bracing the ends than for any other use. 
 Some manufacturers of strictly wood canoes do furnish a 
 decking of about fifteen inches inboard from bow to stern, and 
 a limited number of open, cruising canoes have a very narrow 
 decking which runs from bow to stern, but, in general, decks 
 of any kind are not found in the average open, cruising canoe. 
 ^ For small rivers, small lakes and one-man use, the fifteen foot 
 or sixteen foot is suitable and popular. For two men, carrying 
 camping outfit and cruising from place to place in country 
 where some or much carrying must be done, the seventeen foot 
 
SPALDING'3 ATHLETIC LIBRABT. U 
 
 length is best, although an increasing number of expert Cana- 
 dian canoe cruisers are using sixteen foot lengths for this work. 
 On large lakes, where rough water may be expected, or for use 
 on salt water of bays or ocean, eighteen foot canoes are to be 
 recommended. 
 
 In materials, the American swears by the canvas-covered craft, 
 over a frame or shell of cedar or basswood and ribs of cedar. 
 The Canadians have long preferred the all-wood canoe of cedar 
 or basswood, but the writer's long travels among the Canadian 
 canoe users warrants him in saying that the canvas-covered 
 canoe, often known in Canada as "the American style," is 
 greatly increasing in popularity, not merely among" skilled ama- 
 teurs but, what is much more significant, among the rangers of 
 governmental parks, among leading guides, and in the resorts 
 where severe service is required. Strong prejudices are met 
 here and there on either side of the border as to wood or canvas 
 outsides for canoes, but the writer believes that the canvas- 
 covered canoe is making friends so fast that within a few years 
 the all-wood canoe will be comparatively rare among cruising 
 canoes. The writer confesses his own strong preference for 
 the canvas-covered canoe after many years' use of canoes of all 
 sorts and materials, ranging from birch-bark to linenoid and 
 steel. For durability, dryness, buoyancy, ease of repair and 
 general utility, the properly constructed canvas-covered canoe 
 is without a peer. 
 
 For a cruising model, suitable for general uses on rivers and 
 waterways where moderate weather conditions prevail, and 
 adapted to the use of two people, with or without camping duffel, 
 there is a design, known as the "Maine Guide's" canoe, which 
 has become famous everywhere that canoes are used. It had 
 its origin in the varied waters of the state of Maine and is 
 well adapted to fast water, running rapids, big and dangerous 
 lakes, and even to general salt water uses, although for this 
 latter use a special model has been devised that has met with 
 general app^roval. The amateur, seeking the right model for 
 geineral cruising or summer uses, should be governed by the 
 details of these famous designs, for their safety and staunchness 
 
14 SPiLLDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRAET. 
 
 has been proven thousands of times on waters ranging from 
 the Rhine to the Columbia, from the Penobscot to the Amazon. 
 The general lines of a canoe best suited to average use on 
 average waters, implying running water and lakes, with a bit of 
 stiff weather occasionally, are as follows : 
 
 i6 feet length, 33 inches beam, 12 inches depth, weight about 
 65 pounds. 
 
 17 feet length, 34 inches beam, 13 inches depth, weight about 
 70 pounds. 
 
 18 feet length, 34% inches beam, 13 inches depth, weight about 
 75 pounds. 
 
 20 feet length, 39% inches beam, 13% inches depth, weight 
 about 90 pounds. 
 
 Such a canoe ought to have comparatively flat floor or bottom, 
 extending well into the ends, which adds stability and makes for 
 speed. It should have full bow and stern, to give quick buoy- 
 ancy, meeting the coming or following waves. It should have 
 very little rise of the extreme upper ends, since such rise fur- 
 nishes leverage for the wind and seriously interferes with easy 
 paddling in bad weather. If the canoe is to be used on salt 
 water or in very large lakes where bad weather may be encoun- 
 tered, it should have not quite such a flat floor or bottom ; some- 
 thing of the curve bottom of the yawl is better for seaworthy 
 purposes. 
 
 In the matter of a keel, it is interesting to note that there 
 are now very few canoes commercially sent out without keels. 
 Even those which are to be used in river work, where there is 
 liable to be stiff current, are now provided with keels. But 
 there can be no question, in the mind of any experienced river 
 cruiser, that the keel may be an element of positive danger if 
 one is cruising on fast water in rivers. One of the most 
 important and difficult feats with a canoe, on fast water, is to 
 "draw" it sideways, by the use of the paddle, across some 
 smooth but fast- running water just above rapids, sa as to get 
 the right position in which to shoot the rapids; in this 
 extremely important bit of canoe handling a keel may spell the 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. ]0 
 
 diflFerence between easy success and disastrous failure. Again, 
 there are many times in running fast water when even the 
 slightest projection on the bottom of the canoe will cause it 
 to catch and hang. No canoe intended primarily for running 
 fast water of rivers should be equipped with a keel. 
 
 On the other hand the growing use of the keel is due to the 
 fact that on lakes, in wind, in crowded waterways, where there 
 are many other watercraft and where manoeuvering is important, 
 thei keel is most valuable. Moreover, it certainly does tend to 
 strengthen and stiffen a canoe and adds considerably to its 
 length of life. The best models of canoes adapted to general 
 use on rivers or lakes are therefore now offered with or without 
 keels. The beginner will make his choice according to his plans 
 for the use of his craft. 
 
 An important feature, which the writer believes ought to 
 be incorporated into the construction of every canoe, is the 
 extension gunwale. A sort of inch-wide, stiff, outside gunwale, 
 running the whole length of the canoe and standing at right 
 angles to the sides of the craft, forms a most remarkable pro- 
 tection from breaking waves, besides furnishing a handy edge 
 for grasping when the canoe is carried overhead or handled. 
 This extension gunwale is by no means as well known on this 
 side of the border as it ought to be; when it is, its vogue will 
 be universal. A half-inch extension gunwale is worth two 
 inches additional freeboard or height of sides. 
 
 While the open, cruising canoe is generally of the pattern 
 and construction described, there are a few of the old guard 
 "Nessmuks" left, who cruise in the very short, extremely light 
 craft, built solely of cedar, basswood, cypress or n^ahogany, 
 without decks of any kind, or with long decks, and propelled by 
 double-blade paddles. There are not many of this fine old 
 coterie, and pity 'tis their tribe is waning, but they make up in 
 quality and dignity what they lack in numbers. Many features 
 of their outfit are well worthy of study by the young fellows 
 who are takflng up the sport of fast and far cruising in heavier, 
 less beautiful craft. 
 
 If the writer, from his experience, correctly sizes up the canoe- 
 
16 SPAUDING'S ATHLETIC LIBHART. 
 
 ing situation, there is likely to be a return soon to the extremely 
 light, one man, center seat, double blade propelled canoe for 
 small river and general cruising. It is not quite as sociable as 
 the larger canoe, being generally incapable of carrying more 
 than one man and light equipment, but for that very reason it 
 can almost be used, as one of its devotees says, "on a heavy dew." 
 The open, cruising canoe, of cedar or other woods, and with 
 or without outside cover or skin of canvas, is the preferred 
 craft for all forms of real woods travel in the United States 
 and Canada, and the writer was very much surprised a year or 
 so ago, during an extended trip abroad, to find large numbers 
 of these typically American canoes, made in Waterville, Maine, in 
 popular service at such famous aquatic festivals as the Henley 
 Regatta on the Thames River, in England, and others, of the 
 same make, away up on the far reaches of the River Rhine, in 
 Germany. It appears that America has really made definite, 
 permanent contribution to the water sport of the world in the 
 developed craft which she has fashioned from the designs of 
 the American aborigines. 
 
 The open, cruising canoe, as used for fishing, hunting, explor- 
 ing, cruising the^ famous routes of Maine and Canada and the 
 western part of this continent, is almost invariably propelled by 
 two paddles of single blades, wielded by two men, one seated 
 in the extreme stern of the craft and the other near the bow. 
 In the United States the use of seats for both paddlers is cus- 
 tomary, but the Canadian paddlers kneel on the bottom of the 
 craft and rest buttocks against the thwarts. Occasionally canoes 
 of this pattern will be seen propelled by two paddlers, using 
 double blades and seated on the bottom of the canoe near the 
 center. 
 
 Such a canoe as has been described in the first part of this 
 chapter, seventeen feet in length and about thirty-five inches 
 beam, is capable of comfortably housing two persons and all 
 their duffel and supplies for a two months' cruise far from human 
 habitation. Such a craft, drawing less than six incrj}c,s of water, 
 is capable of carrying a total of more than six hundred pounds 
 of freight. 
 

 V - ;;^ <r 
 
 Ancient "coracle," or skin-covered canoe, still in use in Ireland. 
 
The author portaging by Indian 
 tumpline method. 
 
 Hudson Bay men carrying big 
 canoe. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABT. 17 
 
 There should also be mentioned here the club-four and war 
 canoes, in which from four to twenty men are carried and which 
 are a spectacular feature of the canoe meets of the country. 
 The Toronto Canoe Club originated the war canoe some twenty 
 years ago, although it is really an adaptation of the large Hudson 
 Bay canoes, in which supplies have been carried for centuries. 
 
 The extremely light racing canoe, open, and paddled by one 
 man kneeling or half-kneeling, amidships, is also entitled to 
 mention. This, too, is a Canadian development, although now 
 used almost everywhere that canoe experts congregate. 
 
 Open canoes are frequently supplied with what are known as 
 "sponsons," or air chambers, running along the sides from bow 
 to stern. These actually render the canoe a life raft and add 
 very little to its weight. With them a canoe, fully submerged, 
 will support several persons. For those who feel a little timid 
 about venturing in the ordinary canoe, sponsons add greatly to 
 comfort, and they are frequently employed on canoes to be 
 used for sailing. With a sponson-rigged canoe, ladies and 
 children may confidently venture into the rare joys of the sport 
 who might never otherwise attempt it. 
 
 Motors are now being installed into canoes. The popularity 
 of this sort of water sport is rapidly increasing, whatever some 
 may think concerning the irrelevancy of a motor and a canoe. 
 Of course, for the lightly constructed and shoal draft canoes 
 of the day, the motor must be very light, must be set very low 
 in the craft, and must hfive little vibration; but special canoes 
 are being built, decked over fore and aft, and often equipped 
 with sponsons, which are practically revolutionizing the opinion 
 of the canoe veterans concerning the suitability of canoes as 
 motor boats. 
 
BPAZJDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBARY. 
 
 DECKED PADDLING CANOES 
 
 The decked paddling canoes in popular use in the United 
 States and Canada may be said to be of two classes: (i) those 
 which are used in actual cruising or are adapted to transporta- 
 tion, either by their owner's or on others' backs or shoulders, 
 and (2) those which are not intended to be transported from 
 the water in which they are launched. Thus, we might speci- 
 fically refer to the decked paddling canoes of some of the 
 men of the American Canoe Association or other ckibs, in 
 which actual cruises are made from time to time, and contrast 
 them with the decked paddling canoes in such large use on the 
 waters of the Charles River, Massachusetts, and to a lesser 
 extent on other similar canoe waters of the east and the west. 
 While both these types are decked paddling canoes, they are 
 so very different in model and construction as to be almost un- 
 related. 
 
 The decked paddling canoe of the Charles River, Massachu- 
 setts, is in many respects a purely local development, which 
 has gradually found popularity elsewhere. But there is good 
 reason to believe that, in many important respects, the Charles 
 River sets an increasingly potent influence upon the canoeing 
 styles of the country, and thereby upon the world — for it goes 
 without saying that the United States leads the world in the 
 number of canoes in active use and the popularity of the sport. 
 
 The Charles River, Massachusetts, is the most remarkable 
 canoeing water in the world, regarded either from the stand- 
 p'oint of the number of canoes used or the development of 
 what might be called the accessories of the sport. Here, within 
 three miles along the river, are stored more than seven thousand 
 canoes. Saturday afternoons and Sunday afternoons there are 
 frequently over three thousand canoes side to side as their 
 occupants listen to superb band concerts played from a music 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 19 
 
 Stand, overhanging the river, erected for the special use of 
 the canoeist's band. 
 
 The canoes, filled with young people in white and gay with 
 colored cushions and flags, float lazily about on the placid 
 bosom of the river, almost crowding the exquisite native water 
 lilies out of sight. A few years ago a young man did the unique 
 "stunt" of walking half a mile in the middle of the river, 
 stepping from canoe to canoe. Perhaps nowhere else in all 
 the world is there an aquatic festival which at all approaches 
 in beauty and novelty the Saturday and Sunday pictures to be 
 seen on the Charles River. The far-famed and much-advertised 
 Henley Regatta of England brings greater bodies of men to- 
 gether for racing purposes, but it is inferior as a spectacle 
 to the weekly regatta which this beautiful New England stream, 
 close to one of our great cities, provides. Then, too, reference 
 ought to be made to the fact that New England summer weather 
 is much more likely to contribute to outdoor sport than is the 
 dubious thing which the English weather man furnishes the 
 devotees of the Henley event. 
 
 The Charles River decked paddling canoe is unique. Nowhere 
 else in the world is craft of the kind to be seen. To describe 
 it is difficult. To see it in use is to question one's opinions of 
 the fundamental theories of the canoe; for many of the pet 
 ideas which the expert and the veteran have come to associate 
 with the thing called a canoe are thrown to the winds by these 
 daring pioneers in the construction and handling of the Charles 
 River craft. 
 
 The general length of the Charles River decked paddling 
 canoe is sixteen or seventeen feet, although a few longer and 
 a few shorter ones are seen. The beam of a seventeen-foot 
 canoe would be thirty-four inches and depth amidship twelve 
 inches. There is considerable convexity at thg beam, or "tum- 
 ble home," as the sailor or canoe man calls it, which means 
 that the canoe is considerably wider at the water line than it 
 is at the gunwale. In the case of the latest Charles River 
 models, this tumble home is exaggerated until it reaches three 
 to four inches. There is also great rise at the extreme bow 
 
91 BPAIiDINQ'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 and stem, sometimes as much as six to eight inches above the 
 gunwale in center of canoe. Also, in some of the late designs, 
 there is what is known as a goose-neck bow and stern, a double 
 or "S" curve from the extreme bow and stern to the top of stem 
 or stern post. 
 
 But it is in the matter of decking that the Charles River 
 tanoe is unique. Perhaps nowhere is there such originality- 
 shown in the shape of decks as in the canoes used on this river. 
 What was formerly merely a tendency has been developed to an 
 extreme which permits of no further development. The writer 
 admits no special admiration for this model, but records here 
 the facts as being part of the story of the canoe. 
 
 Probably the best way to convey to the reader an accurate 
 idea of the latest Charles River model is to describe one of the 
 canoes now being built for a leading Charles River canoeist in 
 Noirumbega Park Boat House, Auburndale, Mass, The craft 
 is to be seventeen feet long, thirty-five inches beam at gun- 
 wales, thirty-seven inches extreme beam, with depth amidships 
 of eleven inches and depth at bow and stern of nineteen. There 
 is to be full, round curve at bow and stern posts, ending in 
 slight outcurve of stem and stern posts, making a goose-neck or 
 "S" shape.. The material is to be cedar covered with canvas, 
 enameled light blue, with a three-inch gold stripe along gunwales 
 and monogram in three colors at starboard bow and port stem. 
 The gunwales are to be of mahogany, as also the thwarts, of 
 which only two are to be seen, one at each extreme end of 
 cockpit. The decks are to be of mahogany and birch, having a 
 rise of three inches in center, and extending from bow and 
 stern six and one-half feet, leaving an open cockpit of only 
 forty inches. Three-quarter inch coaming of mahogany around 
 cockpit fore and aft. No decking along sides of canoe. 
 
 In general the model of the Charles River canoe is very flat 
 on the floor or bottom, giving great steadiness and light draft. 
 There are many fine reaches of the Charles River where the 
 very minimum of draft is required, especially late in the season. 
 The sharpness of bow and stern makes for speed and ease of 
 management, and the almost invariable use of a three-quarter 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 21 
 
 inch keel facilitates the quick turns so essential in this crowded 
 river, especially as the habit of the Charles River canoemen 
 is to paddle with the craft heeled far over. In" fact, this habit 
 invariably strikes the critical visitor as being one of the most 
 remarkable canoeing customs he has ever witnessed. The sea- 
 soned canoe cruiser, accustomed to the wise habit of keeping a 
 canoe on an absolutely even keel, will marvel at this revolu- 
 tionary custom of the best canoemen of the Charles. Suffice it 
 to say that nowhere but on the Charles or similar placid waters 
 could any such habit obtain. 
 
 These Charles River canoes, with th^ir tiny cockpits, in which 
 the paddler and one guest — or, with a bit of crowding, possibly 
 two — sit, must, of course, be propelled from the center and 
 not from the stern. And truth compels the statement that the 
 writer has never seen canoemen who could make a paddle 
 wielded from the center of a canoe so perfectly control the craft 
 as do these Charles River experts. It is, of course, known to 
 canoe cruisers that many of the Indians and halfbreeds of 
 Canada run rapids and do much daring canoe management from 
 the center of the canoe, using one -blade paddles. Next to them 
 in the art of managing a canoe from the center are the Charles 
 River men. It goes without saying that the paddle is never 
 changed from side to side in this work, partly because of the 
 strong "list" or tilt of the canoe toward the side occupied by 
 the paddler, and partly because of the presence of the guest, 
 over whom one would have to lean to paddle on the other side. 
 
 The leading canoemen of the Charles River generally have 
 their canoes locally built to order to their own specifications. 
 There are thousands of regulation open, paddling or cruising 
 canoes used on this water, but the distinctive Charles River 
 model which has come to be associated with the river, and which 
 is rapidly making its way all over the world where similM* 
 water conditions are found, is of the type and specifications 
 described. 
 
 Another type of decked paddling canoe was first brought into 
 prominence by the Scotchman MacGregor, some forty years ago, 
 when he made several most remarkable cruises alone in his "Rob 
 
21 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 Roy" on some of the great rivers of the world. Many men will 
 recall having read his splendid stories in their boyhood days. His 
 cruises on the Rhine and the Jordan are classics of the sport 
 of canoeing and as interesting to-day as they were when pub- 
 lished. While he used sails or a sail as auxiliary help, much 
 of his travel was by means of a double-blade paddle, and it was 
 his experiences, probably, which resulted in the large vogue of 
 the small, one-man, decked canoe propelled with the double blade. 
 
 Following him came the veteran "Nessmuk," best known of 
 all American pioneer canoeists, whose writings, with their 
 wealth of nature lore and genial philosophy, are unsurpassed 
 among outdoor classics. While few men are either competent 
 or willing to go as light as "Nessmuk" did on his cruises, there 
 are innumerable suggestions to be drawn from his experiences 
 of great value to cruising canoeists of to-day, not the least of 
 which is the fact that it is not all of canoeing to get some- 
 where. The art and spirit of the sport is not so much to arrive, 
 like a boxed express package, but to really see something, with 
 the eye of the mind as well as the eye of the body, along the way. 
 
 The canoe which "Nessmuk" used, and in which he cruised 
 over many of the rivers of America, was a white cedar, open 
 canoe, ten and one-half feet long and it weighed nine pounds 
 and ten ounces ! Probably no craft has ever been made of equal 
 lightness which traveled so far and stood so much. It was 
 propelled by the double blade, and the balance of the outfit car- 
 ried by its skipper weighed less than twenty-fi.ve pounds. Modern 
 cruisers in canoe would do well to study this pioneer's methods 
 and equipment. The writer met a couple of New York sports- 
 men a few years ago, who were making a two months' cruise 
 in Canada, whose outfit weighed 700 pounds. One of them had 
 seven pairs of foot-coverings in his duffel bags! 
 
 Followers of "Nessmuk" and MacGregor now use canoes from 
 ten to fifteen feet in length, decked over from fifteen inches 
 at each end to one-half of the entire length, or even more, and 
 propelled by double-blade paddling from the center, where the 
 skipper sits on the bottom with a folding seat as brace for his 
 back. Sails are often used to assist in going before the wind. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 28 
 
 but, as the regulation paddling canoe carries neither leeboards 
 nor centerboard, poor success is had sailing across the wind. 
 
 The ample decks furnish dry stowage and protection from 
 incoming waves, and in some cases an apron is provided, with 
 buttons to fasten it around the coaming of the small cockpit, so 
 that the craft then really becomes almost a duplicate of the 
 kayak of the Eskimo. Such a rig makes a canoe about as sea- 
 worthy as a lifeboat, especially when the craft, as is often the 
 case, is furnished with air compartmentsi fore and aft 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBART. 
 
 DECKED SAILING CANOES 
 
 The heading naturally includes the canoe which is only sailed 
 occasionally, as, for instance, the open, cruising canoe of the 
 sportsman in which a poncho or blanket is raised upon a paddle, 
 or crossed sticks, with which to take advantage of the favoring 
 wind ; or that primitive device, as simple as it is efficient, a small 
 bush stuck up in the bow of the canoe and discarded when the 
 end of the lake is reached. We speak here of the decked canoe 
 primarily built for sailing, and equipped, therefore, with the 
 customary, if miniature, appliances with which any craft can 
 be made to sail across and into the wind without unreasonable 
 loss of direction. 
 
 The decked sailing canoe is the aristocrat of the canoe family. 
 Individual examples of the best canoes of this tyj^e, with their 
 exquisite finish and equipment, the lavish ingenuity with which 
 every device has been worked out to its finality of efficiency 
 and usefulness, the splendid care expended on the maintenance 
 of every detail in spick and span appearance and condition — 
 furnish most agreeable illustration of a sport which has been 
 brought to perfection of development. A modern sailing canoe 
 in coromission is one of the most beautiful bits of sporting 
 equipment to be found anywhere. It is a piece of marine 
 jewelry fashioned with loving care from cedar and brass and 
 silk and copper, capable of the most wonderful things in the 
 hands of its skilled owner, and perhaps the nearest approach to 
 the spirit of the wild, winged creatures of stormy gale and 
 placid lake which the hand of man has so far fashioned. All 
 of these sentiments being cordially subscribed to by a man 
 whose favorite method of canoeing is distinctly different from 
 that of the sailor-canoeist. 
 
 The decked sailing canoe is probably just about holding its 
 own in popularity. Some of the famous leaders in the sport. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRAEY. 26 
 
 whose names were almost a household word among sportsmen 
 twenty years or more ago, have passed away, leaving traditions 
 of great value to the youngsters who have taken their place. 
 The sailing canoe requires certain favorable soil — or water, 
 speaking nautically — for its largest development not everywhere 
 found. It also requires comradeship and competition for its 
 best encouragement; the life and strength of clubs seems to 
 have something, perhaps a great deal, to do with its best growth. 
 As a manly, daring, athletic sport the sailing canoe furnishes 
 opportunities which are almost unrivaled, and it seems certain 
 that the swing of the tide of popularity cannot fail soon to bring 
 it into the forefront of summer pastimes. As a spectacle, a 
 race between several sailing canoes, managed by expert sailors, 
 furnishes one of the most thrilling pictures afield or afloat. 
 Probably if more young men could see the sport at its best its 
 growth would be greatly stimulated. Enthusiasts who decry 
 its failure to attract more devotees may find in this hint a 
 suggestion for largely augmenting their ranks by giving sailing 
 races in places known to be frequented by large numbers of 
 canoe lovers and small boat sailors. 
 
 The decked sailing canoe, generally used for sailing about 
 near club houses, in races, or for extended cruising, is custom- 
 arily of about sixteen feet length, thirty inches beam, nineteen 
 inches deep at bow, eleven inches in center and sixteen inches 
 at stern. Naturally the strain which comes to a sailing canoe 
 implies the best construction, without undue weight, and the best 
 obtainable materials are employed, including oak keel, hackma- 
 tack or spruce stem and stern post, natural crook; the planking 
 is generally white cedar, one-quarter inch thick; sheer-strake, 
 deck and hatches, mahogany; ribs, red elm; coaming, cherry; 
 ^nwales, oak or cherry ; bulkheads and deck timbers, cedar ; 
 inside floor, basswood. The construction is generally smooth 
 kp, clinch-fastened, although many are lapstreak construction; 
 the cockpit is five and one-half feet in length; there is dry 
 stowage in fore and aft hatches, and the canoe is provided with 
 a patented folding centerboard, one of the cleverest devices for 
 the small boat so far made. The floor of the canoe is flush 
 
16 SPAIiDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 above the small centerboard trunk, so that the craft can be 
 slept in if necessary. Such a canoe can be bought for about 
 one hundred dollars, which does not include sails or outfit. 
 There are so many differences of opinion about the details of a 
 sailing canoe that we have thought it best to describe a conven- 
 tional design generally agreed upon as embodying no "freak" 
 ideas, so that the beginner or tyro, desirous of the correct equip- 
 ment, will have reasonably sure grounds for selecting his craft 
 even if he has never seen one of them close at hand. 
 
 The sails for such a sailing canoe vary with the place in 
 which it is to be used, the spirit of the user, and the variety of 
 purposes for which he intends to use his craft. There is no 
 agreement among the leading canoeists as to which design and 
 rig is best. Fortunately there is room for the most delightful 
 individuality in the rig and style of sails for the sailing canoe, 
 and this will probably remain true as long as there are differences 
 in shape and beam and build of canoes. The best rig for all 
 canoes has not yet been devised. 
 
 There are three patterns of sails in popular use, the leg-o'- 
 mutton, the lateen, and various patterns of the Bailey rig. The 
 leg-o'-mutton rig is not as popular as it used to be, and may 
 lose much even of its present popularity as other more satis- 
 factory rigs become better known. After many years of trial, 
 something of the pattern of what is known as the Bailey rig 
 seems destined to be the prevailing choice of the canoe sailor 
 who requires sail or sails adapted to a comparatively shallow 
 craft and suited to all waters and all winds. 
 
 The disadvantage of the leg-o'-mutton rig is the extreme 
 length of spars required, which has a tendency to overbalance 
 the craft. There are several variations of the leg-o'-mutton rig. 
 One has the sail lashed to mast and boom, and another has the 
 sail running on the mast with rings, implying the use of a 
 halliard and permitting the sail to be reefed. The leg-o'-mutton 
 type of canoe sail's extreme simplicity recommends it. 
 
 The lateen rig is pyramidal in shape, and is one of the sim- 
 plest and easiest rigs to handle so far employed in canoe sailing. 
 It is especially adapted to open canoes, since it balances well 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 21 
 
 and has less tendency to heel the craft over. The center of 
 effort is low or close to the water and the sail, if correctly- 
 rigged, is capable of immediate furling. For the latter purpose 
 the old method of rigging, with a short rrtast in the top of which 
 is a pin, over which a ring fastened to the spar of the sail is set, 
 ought not to be followed. The better rig is that which employs 
 small blocks or pulleys with which to hoist the sail by means of 
 a halliard, and a fastener by which the boom of the sail is 
 kept in the right place against the mast. 
 
 The most popular, and perhaps the best rig so far devised for 
 sailing canoes consists of some variation of the Bailey, Stoddard 
 or Mohican Settee rig. All of these rigs are similar in general 
 design and management, and practically all of them are probably 
 developments of the famous balance-lug sail which first came 
 into world notice through the cruises of MacGregor's "Rob 
 Roy," for he used this sail. 
 
 The Bailey rig, while largely in use among racers, is by no 
 means limited in its usefulness to those who seek speed. There 
 are very many excellent features about it which make it suitable 
 to general use anywhere. The choice of a sail is largely a matter 
 of personal preference; one man seeks simplicity, another seeks 
 scientific efficiency, while another may want to be able to out- 
 distance or outspeed his fellows. Fortunately there are admir- 
 able sails for all of these ready at hand. But, in general, it 
 will be found that the Bailey rig is admirably adapted to almost 
 all requirements, from leisurely cruising to racing. 
 
 The upright spar, by means of double gear set at top and foot 
 of the short mast, draws the upright spar close against the mast 
 and holds it perpendicular. The lower edge, or foot, of the sail, 
 is lashed to the boom, and a batten, or sometimes two battens, 
 are run out from the mast edge, or luff, of the sail to the outside 
 edge, or leach. These battens consist of thin strips of wood set 
 in pockets sewed in the sail. In some of the rigs of this pattern 
 a very clever reefing device is provided by which the sail can be 
 reefed down to the first batten by simply drawing taut on a reef 
 haul. No simpler reefing mechanism has ever been devised for 
 any sailing craft. Other rigs of this pattern, however, are 
 
28 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRAHT. 
 
 supplied with loose reef points sewed in the sail or through the 
 batten. 
 
 The chief points of advantage of this rig are that the center of 
 effort is low down or close to the water, the sail sets very flat 
 and snug and can be furled or reefed almost instantly. Better 
 things could hardly be said of any rig. 
 
 In the sailing canoe no headway will be made across the wind 
 without some sort of provision for holding a grip upon the 
 water. A folding centerboard furnishes the best of all devices 
 of this kind, although the use of leeboards is still popular in 
 some places. The advantage of leeboards is, that they can be 
 taken off the canoe when it is desired to use the craft for pad- 
 dling or knocking about without sail. But the folding center- 
 board takes up so little room, and interferes so little with the 
 usefulness of the canoe for general purposes, that in any canoe 
 used at all for serious sailing it may well form part of the 
 permanent equipment. 
 
 The paddle is not used for steering the sailing canoe. The 
 hands will find other things in plenty to attend to. Steering 
 is done by means of a long metal tiller having a crook in it which 
 passes around the mizzenmast, or, what is much better, by means 
 of double steering posts connected by chains and gears, the 
 forward post of which is supplied with springs which hold the 
 tiller where it is left when the hand is taken away from it. 
 Steering is also done with the feet in some canoes. The rudder 
 may be of wood or metal, the latter material, with a thin metal 
 blade swinging in cheek pieces of metal, being customary among 
 fastidious canoe sailors. It is a copy of the ancient canal boat 
 rudder. It would be hard to imagine any greater transition for 
 a rudder design than that from a canal boat to a canoe! The 
 adaptation proves how far the ingenuity of the modem canoeist 
 has ranged in search of the best tricks for his chosen sport. 
 
 The seat, in the sailing canoe of the expert, is not down in 
 the bottom of the craft, but up on the level of the deck, on a 
 sliding board which can be extended far out over the side of the 
 canoe, even to the distance of five or six feet. In such canoes 
 the tiller also can be shifted from side to side. One of the 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRATIY. 29 
 
 most interesting examples of what might be termed acrobatic 
 aquatics is an expert canoe sailor lying flat on his back along 
 this sliding seat as the canoe heels well over in the stiff breeze. 
 A fleet of sailing canoes thus heeled over in a race is one of 
 the most stirring sporting pictures to be seen anywhere. 
 
 No book can teach a man how to sail a boat. Experience is 
 the great teacher in the art of sailing; perhaps in no sport 
 popular among men is experience so fundamentally necessary. 
 Nor does the writer believe that a canoe is the best craft with 
 which to learn the rudiments of sailing. A small sloop, or even 
 a catboat, but best of all a small yawl, will teach the tyro more 
 of the principles of sailing in one week than any book could 
 in a lifetime or any canoe could in several years. The best 
 teacher is a friend who knows the art of small boat sailing and 
 who will be patient with the beginner's mistakes. And the 
 interesting fact is, that the best canoeists the writer has ever 
 known have been former yachtsmen. There are certain habits 
 of studying the weather, the appearance of the water, the 
 approach of squalls, the swing of tides and currents, the rules 
 of water travel, the yachtsman learns which are of inestimable 
 value to the canoeist, whether he uses paddle or sail or both. 
 
 If, however, the beginner in the sailing art starts with a 
 sailing canoe, let him select some comparatively quiet water for 
 practice, where tides are absent, where steady winds prevail, 
 and where there is room for him to change his mind after an 
 error without finding himself ashore among great rocks or 
 close under the bows of some great steamship. 
 
SPAIiDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBAEY. 
 
 CANOE CRUISING AND CRUISES 
 
 The ultimate refinement of the delights of canoeing is found 
 in the cruise. Whether th^ canoeist be able to depend wholly 
 upon himself for company, and require no companions in the 
 joys of the cruise, as some of the greatest canoeists have done, 
 or whether he forms part of a large or small company making 
 the same trip, the superlative pleasures of canoeing are found 
 at their best by him — or her — who knows the sport of cruising. 
 
 More cruising is done in the open canoe than in the decked 
 canoe; not merely because there are many more open canoes 
 than decked ones, but probably for the reason that the open canoe, 
 owing to its greater carrying capacity in proportion to its 
 weight and the ease with which it can be portaged from one 
 waterway to another, or around dams, waterfalls or other ob- 
 structions, lends itself better to the sport. 
 
 There are a limited number of enthusiasts over the decked 
 canoe, propelled with both paddle and sail, who make regular 
 and extended cruises on this and other continents, and they are 
 among the best equipped and most expert cruising canoeists to be 
 found anywhere. But the open canoe, propelled almost exclu- 
 sively by single-blade paddles wielded by two persons, one in 
 the bow and the other in the stern, and loaded with duffel and 
 camping kit amidship, is the most popular and probably the most 
 satisfactory of all cruising arrangements so far devised. In this 
 craft a sail can be improvised at any time from a poncho, a 
 blanket, or even a bush cut for the purpose and thrown away 
 when its usefulness is over. 
 
 The best canoe for cruising will depend upon the waters to 
 be traversed, bearing in mind the suggestions already made. 
 For general, all-round cruising on lakes and rivers having not 
 very much fast water, and for use in between cruises for every- 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. U 
 
 day purposes, a seventeen- foot open canoe is recommended, 
 canvas covered, with a stern seat and no bow seat, full at bow 
 and stern, rather flat of floor, with a very shallow keel. For 
 cruising, where one man or two men have to carry the canoe 
 occasionally, the weight of the canoe ought not to exceed 
 seventy pounds. It will weigh more as it gets more or less 
 water-soaked and as paint is added. 
 
 Such a canoe is adapted to almost any water to be found on 
 this continent, except knocking about in rough ocean waves. 
 This is the sort of canoe in which such cruises as that of 
 the ill-fated Leonidas Hubbard and later his widow and Dillon 
 Wallace, also the equally remarkable cruises of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Lawrence Tasker, of Philadelphia, over the trackless and un- 
 charted waterways of Labrador were made. In at least one 
 case, however, an eighteen-foot model was used, and this latter 
 size is favored for the large and boisterous rivers of Canada. 
 For the cruises of Maine a seventeen-foot model is ample. 
 Where the cruise implies rapids, the keel should be omitted. 
 
 The railroads will transport such a craft, either covered with 
 burlap and excelsior or unwrapped, and it is rare indeed to find 
 that any serious damage has been done the canoe during its 
 overland journey, although it is comparatively frail and not one 
 of the most agreeable things for baggage men to handle. .On 
 its arrival at the railroad station where the cruise is to |fert, 
 wagon or cart or the canoeist's shoulders transport it to the 
 nearby waters. At the end of the cruise it is shipped back to 
 home waters. 
 
 It is surprising that so comparatively small a number of 
 American sportsmen have learned the joys of thus making the 
 craft used at home a vehicle for the enjoyment of a real cruise. 
 In other countries they know much mord about it than we do. 
 Even the staid Londoners, making their week-end cruises among 
 the beautiful upper reaches of the Thames, shipping their 
 canoes or punts from place to place, probably do more canoe 
 cruising in a fortnight than New York sportsmen do in a season. 
 It is by no means as popular as it deserves to be, this fine sport 
 of canoe cruising. Begin it close to your own home, if you want 
 
81 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. "^ 
 
 to, whether that home be in New York, Boston or Philadelphia, 
 Washington or Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Portland, Oregon, 
 or any of the rarely-well situated cities of the Dominion, for 
 closer to all of these places than the uninformed would believe 
 are canoe cruises which, once tried, will be voted delightful. 
 
 It is impossible in this book to enter into elaborate descriptions 
 of the canoe cruises situated close to the great American cities. 
 Almost every region has special opportunities awaiting discovery. 
 If that be true of the crowded and congested vicinity of New 
 York, it must be true of every other locality on the continent; 
 and certainly it is true of New York City. 
 
 With some members of the American Canoe Association, the 
 writer shared a two-day cruise down the Ramapo River, N. J., 
 starting at Suffern, N. Y., and ending at Mountain View, N. J., 
 about fifty miles of as fine little-river canoeing as could be asked. 
 This is a trip which can only be done early in the season, while 
 the streams are high, but at that time it affords some very 
 picturesque rapids, some dams to shoot, a few wide and beautiful 
 lakes, and any number of absolutely ideal camp sites. The start 
 is within an hour of New York and the finish equally near the 
 big city, yet the country through which the cruise takes the 
 tourist is wild and rugged. 
 
 There are many other similar cruises close to almost any 
 great city. Boston has a rare treat awaiting the canoe cruiser 
 who essays the Charles River and the Concord River trips, 
 although here wood fires will not generally be permitted, and 
 in some cases the canoeist will have to secure the privilege of 
 camping in the backyard of some handsome suburban estate — 
 a privilege rarely denied. It is this trip which takes the canoe- 
 ist through the dramatic, historic and literary shrines sacred 
 to the Minute Men of the Revolution, to Emerson, Hawthorne, 
 Thoreau, and scores of other leaders in early American history 
 and literature. The American Canoe Association has discovered 
 and outlined, and in many cases has mapped, scores of these 
 accessible and worth-while cruises, and its generosity in sharing 
 its fund of information about such trips is proverbial. One 
 cruise with the organization, comprising a host of good fellows 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 88 
 
 from every walk of life and representing every age from youthful 
 tyro to grizzled veteran, will reveal to the ambitious devotee 
 of this fine sport that the organization is admirably well equipped 
 to encourage and conduct the fine pastime for which it has so 
 long stood. 
 
 There are a few truly remarkable canoe cruises which are 
 almost national in their interest. And there are some which, 
 while they are in Canada, are really a part of the canoeing 
 education and opportunity of the lover of the canoe from any 
 nation or clime. No man who has ever tried canoe cruising as 
 a rest and recuperation from the round of business and social 
 exactions of the everyday world needs to be told that in no other 
 way can health and strength be so wonderfully built up; in no 
 other way can nervous strain be so utterly forgotten and over- 
 come; in no other way can such a fund of physical resource 
 be accumulated as in the well selected, well planned and well 
 conducted canoQ cruise. 
 
 The canoe cruises of Maine imply the services of a guide, 
 unless the cruiser be himself a resident of that State, for Maine 
 has a law that no non-resident shall camp on the wild land of 
 the State, or build fires, unless he be accompanied by a registered 
 guide. This is not so much for the purpose of fostering the 
 guide business of the State as it is to preserve the forest from 
 the fires which so often follow in the wake of the careless 
 camper. But as the State law specifically provides that one guide 
 may accompany as many as five persons, several of the canoemen 
 may have the privilege of running the rapids and fast water, 
 using their own skill. A guide, in the first canoe, is often a very 
 valuable aid in canoe cruises, especially in truly dangerous 
 waters or where little opportunity to study the waters in advance 
 is possible. 
 
 Probably the most popular of all canoe cruises of America 
 is what is known as the West Branch trip of Maine, starting 
 at the Northeast Carry from the upper end of Moosehead Lake 
 and running generally in a southeasterly direction to Norcross, 
 a station on the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. This is a 
 superb combination of fast water, some daring rapids, open 
 
84 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 lakes, with beautiful camp sites and excellent fishing along the 
 way. It is a total of about eighty miles and can be done hurriedly 
 in a week, although it is well worth longer time for enjoyment 
 of the scenic beauty and the many wild creatures sure to be 
 met along the way. 
 
 Another Maine trip of almost equal fame is the Allagash 
 trip, which starts from the same place, takes the cruiser over 
 two hundred miles of similar waters, through foaming rapids 
 and placid lakes, amid much wild scenery and past innumer- 
 able delightful camp sites, to the waters of the St. John's River, 
 ending the cruise at Connors, Fort Kent or Van Buren. A 
 third trip in the same general region starts at Northeast Carry, 
 Moosehead Lake, and follows at first the east branch of the 
 Penobscot River, some hundred and ten miles, bringing out 
 at Wissataquoik or Grindstone. Of these three trips the best, 
 in the judgment of the writer, is the Allagash trip, although 
 here again the individual question of what one seeks in a woods 
 cruise must make choice difficult. There are several variations 
 of these trips possible. The popularity of this region for canoe 
 cruising can be imagined when it is stated that across the 
 Northeast Carry from Moosehead Lake there have been carried 
 or portaged over five thousand canoes in a single season, all 
 bound on one or another of these fine trips. 
 
 There are many fine trips in the Eastern States which do not 
 require the presence or the services of a guide. One of the best 
 of these is the Connecticut River trip, putting in somewhere in 
 the region of West Stewartstown or below, depending on the 
 height of the water and the time of year at which the cruise 
 is made, and running as far, if desired, as the Long Island 
 Sound. This trip can be done in a week, but it is better to 
 allow longer time. The Delaware River trip is another which 
 is close to the crowded eastern cities and which provides ample 
 excitement and variety. The American Canoe Association covers 
 most of the interesting section of this river every year, and 
 canoemen from Philadelphia make it several times a year. 
 Detailed maps are available of the whole distance, showing suit- 
 able camp sites, water conditions and facts en route. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 86 
 
 But Canada, of course, is the canoe cruisers' paradise of the 
 world. Here are to be found big or little rivers, connecting 
 waterways to and through settled or unsettled country, lakes 
 of all sizes and shapes, great freshwater oceans which it would 
 require many seasons for the cruiser to explore, while the rare 
 privilege of being a real pioneer, and carving out one's own 
 salvation, without the compulsory accompaniment of guides, fur- 
 nishes unparalleled attraction for the ambitious or skilled cruiser. 
 The wildness of the country, the innumerable ideal camp sites 
 which flaunt themselves in the foreground everywhere, the 
 unrivaled fishing, the abundant wild game, and the unusual 
 folks that the cruiser meets, from Hudson Bay post factors 
 to real Indians of the far north, render a cruise in Canada a 
 never-to-be-forgotten experience. 
 
 For the beginner, or the canoeist who wishes easy work, there 
 are the Thousand Islands or the Rideau River trip, keeping 
 him in touch with civilization, fresh supplies and large towns 
 all the way. Then, as he becomes more confident of his powers, 
 there is the absolutely incomparable territory of either the Al- 
 gonquin National Park or the Temagami Forest Reserve, both 
 of which contain millions of acres of wild land, great variety of 
 waterways, ranging from tiny rivers and connecting "thorough- 
 fares" between lakes to great inland seas, which will test every 
 resource of seamanship, every ounce of athletic skill. 
 
 The canoeing found in these two places is largely on lakes of 
 various sizes, connected either by short carries over falls or 
 around rapids. There is comparatively little fast water and 
 comparatively few rapids to run, most of the canoeing being 
 on still lakes. In both places there are excellent starting-off 
 hotels or resorts, where supplies of all kinds can be had and to 
 which shipment of duffel or canoe can be made. 
 
 The writer is strongly of the opinion that no finer waters for 
 amateur canoeing are to be found in all the world than those 
 which are encompassed within the boundaries of Algonquin 
 National Park, among the Highlands of Ontario. Within the 
 confines of this vast park there are more than twelve hundred 
 rivers and lakes, the altitude is more than eighteen hundred feet 
 
3B SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBEAEY. 
 
 above sea level, the fishing is magnificent almost everywhere in the 
 park, including brook trout up to three or four pounds, salmon 
 trout up to thirty pounds, and black bass up to five pounds, and 
 there is almost no spot in the whole reserve unsuited to camping. 
 Deer, beaver, mink, otter and game birds of all kinds are 
 abundant, moose and wolves are occasionally noted, and the 
 two millions of acres of the place reveal almost no signs of the 
 presence of man. 
 
 Of the best river cruises in Canada probably none surpasses 
 the Mississauga River, which starts at Bisco station on the 
 main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway and runs to near 
 Desbarats on Lake Superior, a distance of some hundred and 
 fifty miles. This is a stiff, difficult trip and at least one guide 
 familiar with the deep, strong waters is needed. It is not a 
 trip for the amateur without guides, and, so far as the writer 
 is aware, has never been run without guides by any amateur. 
 It is a scenic trip of the very finest character, furnishing won- 
 derful palisades, rising sheer from the canoe hundreds of feet; 
 great, deep, shadowy canyons, through which the canoe shoots 
 at railroad speed, and some of the wildest country within equal 
 distance of the eastern cities. There is no way of retracing the 
 trip after it is once started and there are practically no settle- 
 ments or habitations along the way. Moose in great numbers 
 and to enormous size are invariably seen along the way; there 
 is good bass fishing in some of the reaches of the river and 
 brook trout are found of great size in the contributing streams. 
 
 Another canoe cruise of incomparable interest to the angler 
 and lover of scenic beauty is the Nipigon River, Ontario, a wide, 
 powerful outlet into( Lake Superior of the Nipigon Lake, some 
 fifty miles to the north of Superior near the little town of 
 Nipigon. Here are taken some of the biggest brook trout that 
 have ever backed up the angler's tales. Seven, eight, nine and 
 ten pound genuine brook trout are taken from this magnificent 
 water, and their fame has attracted patronage to the place of 
 many distinguished men of the day. The trip is started from 
 the little trading station of Nipigon, on the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway, and the cruiser works upstream forty miles to the 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBART. 97 
 
 lake. It is one of the mostj luxurious canoe trips on the con- 
 tinent. The guides carry folding furniture, china butter dishes, 
 and other evidences of effete civilization generally considered so 
 incompatible with the woods. The river is strong and danger- 
 ous in places, but there is no doubt that itsi dane-ers are much 
 exaggerated by the local guides. Guides are almost invariably 
 employed on this trip, and the canoes used are the big twenty- 
 foot lifeboat affairs which the Hudson's Bay people have been 
 using for load carrying for many years. One canoe carries 
 two guides, two sportsmen and their entire outfit and duffel 
 for a month's cruise. 
 
 Many canoe cruisers want waters free from carries. To such 
 there can confidently be recommended the superb Grand Lakes 
 of Washington County, Maine, or the Square Lake and Eagle 
 Lake region of Aroostook County, Maine. In either of these 
 trips there will be found nearly a hundred miles of magnificent 
 canoe cruising territory with practically no carries at all. The 
 Washington County region is the home of the far-famed ouan- 
 aniche, a species of landlocked salmon, which for gaminess is 
 unbeaten among the best of fresh water fishes. The start of 
 this trip would be from Princeton, on the Maine Central Rail- 
 road, or from Grand Lake Stream village, where are located 
 some charming camps. The lakes and connecting waterways 
 are among the most beautiful in the State, and the fishing has 
 attracted men from all over the world. The Square Lake and 
 Eagle Lake waters are reached from Square Lake station, on 
 the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, or from Portage station. 
 Brook trout to great size, as well as magnificent catches of land- 
 locked salmon, with occasional visits from deer and moose, are 
 part of the attractions of this fine country. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABY. 
 
 EQUIPMENT FOR CANOE CRUISING 
 
 The seeker after canoe cruising joys must make careful pre- 
 parations or his pleasures will be much curtailed. The difference 
 between success or failure on a canoe cruise may sometimes be 
 the simple matter of anticipating rain or even the lack of pro- 
 vision for comfortable rest at night. Many a fine trip has been 
 spoiled for want of thought about matters, which, while they 
 may be neglected for a day or even several days, spell unmeas- 
 ured misery if too long continued. 
 
 The canoe itself has been described with reasonable detail 
 elsewhere. Next in importance comes the roof overhead, gen- 
 erally of waterproof duck or so-called silk. Its shape is largely 
 personal. One man wants plenty of head-room when he stands 
 up. Another simply wants a low shelter over his bedding, con- 
 tent to spend most of his time outdoors. These two men would 
 greatly differ as to the best shape and style of tent. One would 
 swear by a certain pattern ; the other would swear at it. Let us 
 grant every mian his right to what he wants, provided he is 
 willing to carry it without complaint and does not force us to 
 agree with him that it is the only right thing. 
 
 Among the canoe tents used on short cruises near to big 
 cities the palmetto tent has large popularity. But the writer 
 has never seeii one on any serious, extended trip in the Adiron- 
 dacks, Maine or Canada, which would seem to indicate that they 
 are used just where they are most useful, and that for the real 
 woods something else is better. There is the new "umbrella" 
 variety of this tent which embodies many of the advantages of 
 tents of the pattern referred to and much improves upon them 
 in its superior lightness. This tent is an actual umbrella, extra 
 large and strong, set in jointed pole, and over which a water- 
 proof tent is drawn and pegged down. 
 
 In real usefulness to the cruising canoeist, seeking some head- 
 room, large ground area, light weight and ease of manipulation 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 89 
 
 as well as real protection from the elements, there is nothing 
 superior to the so-called canoe one pole or poleless tent. It can 
 be rigged from a limb of a tree, or with one light pole carried 
 or cut on the spot, has a wall at the back, rounded front which, 
 when pegged down, holds it tight against wind even without guy 
 rope, can be quickly set up and taken down and weighs, in size 
 large enough for two or three men and their duffel, less than 
 ten pounds when made of any of the up-to-date materials. 
 
 Another excellent pattern is the camp fire improvement on 
 the famous old "Baker" tent, which consists of the old style 
 "Baker" tent with the front flap starting from a drop of a foot 
 below the peak, thus leaving headroom which is protected all 
 the time, reducing the opportunity for rain beating into the tent 
 and lowering the awning or flap. This is a very practical tent 
 and, no doubt, will come into large favor among outdoor folks. 
 
 Decidedly lighter than any other tent of equal capacity and 
 usefulness and admirable in its many original features is the 
 "Forester" tent, devised by the editor of a well-known sporting 
 magazine. Few new items of the woods life have so rapidly 
 won a leading place among critical experts. This tent has all 
 the good points of a reflector tent. A fire can be built close to 
 it if necessary for comfort or drying out; it can be quickly 
 erected with either three poles or eveii with one rope from a 
 tree, under its ridge to the ground, it has greatest headroom 
 at widest point, and its weight in ample size for two persons 
 and duffel is little over three pounds. In country where poles 
 may be had for the stroke of the axe, this is an ideal canoe 
 cruising tent. A recent improvement consists of a flap or cur- 
 tain at the top which can be let down in bad weather. 
 
 The old "A" tent, with straight sides and rectangular in 
 ground plan, is still popular among some, but its vogue has 
 been much lessened by the improvement in it known as the 
 ^'Hudson Bay" tent, which has shorter ridge and curved front 
 and back. As can be seen, this latter form of tent can be adapted 
 to almost any shape and has many good features. 
 
 There are several excellent materials out of which the modern 
 tent is made. Canvas, duck, or khaki is almost obsolete among 
 
40 SPALDINGPS ATHLETIC LIBRAET. 
 
 experienced campers ; it is bulky, heavy, holds water and moist- 
 ure, mildews quickly and rarely remains waterproof, even if 
 thoroughly so when first made. There are other materials con- 
 sisting, for the most part, of very closely woven cotton fabric, 
 which far surpass the old duck tents in every respect, even 
 including cost, if the cost be divided, as it should be, over the 
 years. Some of these materials, while the same identical cloth 
 in the trade, are given fanciful names by the tent manufacturers. 
 The so-called balloon silk is not silk and is not used in balloons. 
 Perhaps that is the reason it is called balloon silk. Egyptian 
 cloth, dryki, tanalite, balloon silk, each has its enthusiastic 
 champions. Personally, the writer^ is strongly convinced of the 
 superior worth of the material called balloon silk, especially 
 when waterproofing is done with paraffin. He has several tents 
 of this material and treatment which are ten years old, have 
 been several times across the continent on extended outing trips, 
 used for months at a time, in temperatures ranging from one 
 hundred and ten above to forty below zero, and these tents are 
 as waterproof and serviceable as on the day they were bought. 
 There is very little difference between the weight of tents water- 
 proofed by any of the other processes and those which have 
 been paraffined ; repairs can be made instantly with a bit of thin 
 cotton and a small cake of paraffin; the waterproofing treat- 
 ment seems to render them more impervious to moisture when 
 rolled up wet than any other treatment. The paraffin increases 
 the tensile strength of the material more than any other water- 
 proofing process. Scientific experiments have demonstrated that 
 tan color is repellent to insects ; white tents have a glare in the 
 early morning which helps to wake lazy folks, and green is the 
 coolest color. There is choice for all who have color preferences. 
 Tent poles may be carried by the fastidious or in regions where 
 the privilege of cutting them is denied, and tent pegs, made of 
 thin, bent iron, are well worth carrying if the region is bare 
 of much wood or if time is an object. Even in extended Cana- 
 dian cruises, in wild country, the writer always carries a few 
 metal tent pegs. They have served more than once to cheat 
 the coming storm when camp had to be made in a hurry or when 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 41 
 
 night was fast falling. Tent rope slides are practically unknown 
 in light canoe cruising and, if the tent is rigged right, have little 
 place in any camp. Get as far away as you can from all these 
 bungly, time-consuming and temper-provoking knickknacks. 
 
 Bedding will consist of boughs, if you know the charm of them 
 and know how to make them into a bed. If you do not, carry 
 a pneumatic mattress, crib size, a sleeping pocket if you are 
 very luxury loving. Or carry a couple of 12 by 20 inch pneumatic 
 cushions, which, laid end to end, make a very comfortable bed 
 on rough ground. The camp mattress of quilted Texas cotton 
 is new and good. Sleeping bags are the invariable equipment of 
 the wise canoe cruiser and camper. The simplest bag is, for 
 that reason and for others, the best. A heavy, bulky, water- 
 proof cover is unnecessary if you put the sleeping bag in a 
 waterproof duffel bag, as you should. Every sleeping bag ought 
 to have a hood. A clever design recently introduced has a hood 
 and is made of llama wool, the lightest thing for its warmth so 
 far adapted to sleeping bags. As an auxiliary aid to keeping 
 warm there are paper blankets, which the writer has been using 
 for years. One of them, between wool coverings, adds wonder- 
 fully to comfort and nothing to the pack. 
 
 For cruising about near big cities or for week-end trips, so 
 rapidly coming into popularity in this country and Canada, a few 
 pieces of the ingenious folding furniture will be found useful 
 if not almost indispensable. In the deep woods, of course, the 
 cruiser at all handy with his axe makes all sorts of seats and 
 tables and benches, but in the suburbs of great cities these 
 things would better be taken in the outfit rather than improvised 
 on the spot. The extended cruises of the real woods, with their 
 frequent and sometimes long and hard portages, render the 
 carrying of every extra ounce of debatable question ; but in sight 
 of civilization, or where there are practically no portages, a bit 
 of compact folding furniture is often well worth its weight and 
 the space it occupies. 
 
 Folding c^s, for those exquisites who use cots at all in the 
 outdoor life, are the most compact and comfortable things of 
 their kind so far discovered. Folding chairs, two of them 
 
It SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 especially being noteworthy among aids to comfortable camping, 
 are a folding camp chair, consisting of a back and legs which 
 fold to one piece and a canvas cover which forms back and seat, 
 and a camp fire chair which has seat and back of canvas set 
 into a group of wooden pieces forming legs, arms and back. 
 The latter chair, known to every traveler in England, and among 
 the armies of Europe, is generally regarded as the most perfect 
 chair of its kind so far devised. It is marvelously comfortable, 
 practically indestructible, knocks down to go into a bag twenty- 
 five inches long by six inches in diameter, and weighs about 
 fifteen pounds. There are also folding tables, roll top camp 
 tables, reclining chairs, folding cupboards or shelves, and other 
 clever and useful inventions. The United States Army has used 
 many of these contrivances, and thus demonstrated their useful- 
 ness to the campers of the world. Folding canvas buckets and 
 pails are important items of the equipment. 
 
 Near civilization, or wher^ no fires may be built, a kerosene 
 vapor camp stove is the best thing of the kind. Its flame is 
 kerosene, heated to a gas. It carries enough oil to burn nearly 
 ten hours and the weight of the stove is less than four pounds. 
 There are places where wood is scarce or where fires of any 
 other kind are not permitted ; there this stove is an absolute neces- 
 sity. It is also sold with a case, which carries the various parts 
 of the stove, taken down, and an extra supply of oil. 
 
 Where firewood is plentiful, one of the most useful tricks the 
 cruiser can have with him is either a camp broiler or a similar 
 device of larger size. The device consists of a set of strong 
 steel rods formed into a camp grate or broiler, with pointed 
 rods at the ends or corners which are stuck into the ground, 
 under the grate the camp fire is built. It is the best of all 
 portable stoves. 
 
 There are various one-man kits, made largely for army use, 
 but few of them are really adapted to the cruising canoeist. 
 But a mess-kit, made in aluminum, is excellent and will serve 
 more than one person very comfortably. In cooking utensils, 
 aluminum is much the best ware, from every standpoint. It is 
 extremely light, does not burn the food as does steel or iron, and 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 48 
 
 is very economical considering its wearing qualities. The only 
 article of the cooking kit which should invariably be of steel 
 is the frying pan. 
 
 In foods, the canoe cruiser of to-day has wonderful variety. 
 Dehydrated vegetables are a rare addition to the food supply of 
 the camper who essays wilderness travel, for nothing is more 
 important nor more difficult to obtain in the deep woods than 
 fresh vegetables, and any man who has portaged fifty pounds of 
 bulky fresh potatoes will welcome the new form in which they 
 can now be obtained. The highly concentrated nature of these 
 dehydrated vegetables can be imagined when it is stated that 
 eighteen pounds of fresh spinach is compacted down, by the 
 mere extraction of the natural moisture of the plant, to one 
 pound in weight. 
 
 Powdered eggs and powdered milk have been a ration on the 
 battleships of the United States for years. Both are admirably 
 adapted to the cruising canoeist's needs. With the egg powder 
 one can make almost everything but poached eggs; omelettes 
 which delight the epicure are easy. The milk takes the place 
 of the fresh article, although it is always the custom of the 
 writer to take along some condensed milk and evaporated cream 
 for coffee, etc. In sweets, the best form is maple sugar in cakes 
 or large tins, not in syrup. The outdoor life seems to necessitate 
 an increased quantity of sweets. 
 
 Among the real foods for the canoeist few stand higher than 
 the now famous army ration, served to the German soldiers. 
 It consists of pea meal, marrow, bacon and vegetables in the 
 form of a powder and wrapped in a sort of sausage skin. When 
 made into a soup or cake it is the most nourishing thing of its 
 kind known to the armies of the world. Other excellent soups in 
 powdered form are imported in large quantities into this country. 
 Beef cubes are excellent and very compact,* cornmeal ought to 
 be among the rations of every canoeist who plans to do any 
 baking at all in the woods ; beans can be taken in cans, but much 
 more delicioui? beans can be baked by anybody in the regulation 
 lumberman's bean-hole; while baking excellent bread and fish, 
 and even cake, in one of the aluminum reflector ovens is easier 
 
M SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 
 
 than any amateur who has not tried it would imagine. Bacon, 
 wrapped in oiled paper, rice, raisins, apricots, shelled nuts, tea, 
 coffee, cocoa, pineapple, cheese, spaghetti, and a couple of cans of 
 kippered herring and corned beef, the latter for hash, with a 
 good supply of various dehydrated vegetables — ^thers may be 
 some suggestions in these items from the writer's list for the 
 inexperienced cruiser. 
 
 For clothing and weather protection, wool from the skin out 
 is best, and for rainy weather there is nothing better than oil- 
 skins, especially the kind which has an air-pocket around the 
 breast of the coat, forming, with a few breaths of air, a genuine 
 life-preserver. Ponchos, now regarded as an indispensable part 
 of every cruising outfit, should be made of material which the 
 United States Government has recently adopted for the use of its 
 troops. It is the lightest and most perfectly waterproof material 
 so far devised — that the writer can testify, for he lived under it 
 fifty-two rainy days out of a canoe cruise of sixty days. 
 
 A heavy sweater or Mackinaw coat, the gaudier the better, will 
 be useful in almost any camp trip covering latitude north bf 
 New York City, during even the midsummer. Nothing is more 
 picturesque than the clothing which is now permitted in outdoor 
 life; let not the ultra-conservative restrain natural instincts for 
 bright color and striking pattern. 
 
 For footwear, the canoeist should have light, flexible sole 
 moccasins ; single bottom if his feet are hardy, and double bottom 
 if they are sensitive. The famous new hunting shoe, with bottom 
 of rubber, no heel, and top of soft leather, is the ideal canoe shoe 
 for long cruising or where damp weather or swampy country is 
 liable to be met. Heavy wool socks, wrapped over the turned 
 trousers, which may be either long or riding breeches style, is 
 the right rig. For summer, or as weather protection, the water- 
 proof outing clothing, made into coats and trousers, are excellent. 
 Do not accept the parrot talk of experts who camp mostly in 
 Morris chairs when they advise "any old suit" for camping. You 
 are very likely to have to sew brown canvas b(i'3oms on your 
 trousers; the dogs of every town will mistake you for a tramp 
 and act accordingly; even the scarecrows may flap their limp 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIO LIBRAEY. 45 
 
 hands at your brotherly appearance. Nature is fair and beauti- 
 ful ; be garbed like a gentleman when you are about to be intro- 
 duced to her. 
 
 A few little cruising tricks and trinkets are worth mentioning. 
 The wonderfully ingenious aluminum folding lantern, nine ounces 
 in weight, burning government compressed candles, is one; shun 
 the oil lamp as a sure sign of the beginner and the uninformed. 
 An acetylene lamp, large size, is the best light for serious use, 
 and implies less weight to strength and duration of light so far 
 discovered by campers ; it is excellent for sneaking up on deer 
 or other wild creatures to get flashlights. A gun known as the 
 game-getter is the one firearm for the canoe cruiser; it shoots 
 shot or bullet and folds to revolver size. A compass which 
 pins to the coat is the best of its kind, and a camp hatchet with 
 a folding sheath is unrivalled as canoe steel. Leave the hand- 
 some, expensive gold watch and the foreign binoculars at home. 
 Take instead a watch costing a dollar or two only and a pawn 
 shop pair of opera glasses. The former will tell you all you 
 need to know of the progress of the hours; it is also a compass, 
 if you know how to use it, and the latter is the best thing 
 in the world for studying the birds, finding lost portages or 
 companions and spying out Nature's secrets. A first-aid kit is 
 wise insurance. They are made in various sizes and weights. 
 But Nature is the real doctor for all the ills that afflict man- 
 kind, and it is rare indeed that the woods life furnishes need 
 of cure for anything more serious than sunburn, bruises or 
 overeating. 
 
 The United States Geological Survey maps are excellent for 
 many of the best cruises in the United States. For some of the 
 most popular ones blue-print maps of details important to 
 canoeists are to be had from the American Canoe Association. 
 In Canada the different Provincial governments furnlsK excellent 
 maps of some of the parks. In addition to which a firm of 
 Toronto outfitters for canoe cruisers and • mpers have a large 
 assortment^ of excellent blue-print maps of the best cruises as 
 well as printed books describing them, which are almost invalu- 
 able to the stranger traversing the wild country of Ontario. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 THE AMERICAN CANOE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 ETC. 
 
 No reference to canoeing would be complete without a word 
 concerning the American Canoe Association, which has for 
 many years stood as the special representative of the sport 
 in this country, and which is at this time the leading canoeing 
 organization of the country and, probably, of the world. 
 
 The organization came into being in August, 1880, when 
 twenty-three charter members, many of them men prominent in 
 diverse lines of affairs, and representing many sections of the 
 United States, met at Lake George and adopted a constitution 
 and rules for management of canoeing affairs which have re- 
 mained almost unchanged to this day. This was not the first 
 American canoe club, however, the New York Canoe Club, 
 founded in 1870-71, having preceded it by a decade, and the 
 New York Canoe Club is still alive and flourishing. 
 
 But there is probably no canoe organization in the world 
 which has done more to foster the sport of canoeing, in all its 
 various phases, than the American Canoe Association, nor per- 
 haps any club in any department of outdoor sport which con- 
 tains such a wide range of membership, representing every walk 
 of life and every sort of business, professional and artistic 
 employment. In this one respect alone it is a splendid model 
 of the democracy of American sport, where, on a common 
 footing, meet lovers of a special sport from every rank in life 
 and every level of financial standing. 
 
 The membership of the American Canoe Association is formed 
 of individuals and clubs, but every member has an individual 
 number. The present membership is about fifteen hundred, 
 divided among five divisions of the Association, aj^ follows: 
 Atlantic, Central, Eastern, Northern and Western. The Com- 
 modore is Payne L. Kretzmer, 541 West 149th Street, New 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 47 
 
 York City; the Secretary is Louis Reichert, 73 Nass&u Street, 
 New York City, and the Treasurer is Samuel B. Burnham, 
 P. O. Box 2S, Providence, R. I. Each division has its own 
 Vice-Commodore, Rear Commodore, Purser and Executive 
 Committee, and is fully in charge of its own internal affairs. 
 There is a Board of Governors of the Association, consisting of 
 a representative from each division, and there is a Racing 
 Board, consisting of two or more representatives, according 
 to membership in the division. There are many committees, 
 a Camp Surgeon, Camp Forester, Historian, and Custodian and 
 Superintendent of Sugar Island among the Thousarr^~TsIands, 
 whereon has been held for several years the annual meet of 
 the Association. 
 
 / The Association owns Sugar Island, situated in the Canadian 
 
 /channel, near Gananoque, Ontario, and, by provision of three 
 
 / deceased members, has the right to the exclusive use of three 
 
 ( beautiful islands in Lake George, N. Y., also the privilege of 
 
 V camping upon Jupiter Island in Stony Island Lake, Canada, 
 
 whereon are situated the summer residences of two members 
 
 of the Association. 
 
 But it is not so much in the tangible assets of the Association 
 that its value to canoeists is revealed as by the fostering spirit 
 which it has so long exercised over the sport. This is shown in 
 the annual cruises which are arranged by its various divisions 
 along and through nearby waters, or its annual meet held in 
 midsummer, to all of which events it extends courteous and 
 generous hospitality, even to non-members and unattached 
 canoeists. With no attempt to autocratic supervision over this 
 fine sport, the Association nevertheless exercises real authority 
 by reason of its age, its recognized leadership in the sport, the 
 unusually high standards which it maintains and enforces, and 
 the splendid personnel of its membership. 
 
 The word leadership represents the true service of the Asso- 
 ciation, not the word control, which is so often used by care- 
 less writerffe on sport, and which latter word is abhorrent to the 
 whole spirit of democracy. Probably few great organizations 
 in the world of outdoor sport have such little interest in exercis- 
 
48 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 ing authority and such real interest in developing the broader 
 and more wholesome phases of the pastimes for which the 
 organization stands. 
 
 Nevertheless the whole realm of canoe racing, either where 
 the propulsion is by paddle or sail, is entirely in the hands 
 of the American Canoe Association; its standards are accepted 
 all over the world, and its records are part of the history of 
 the sport, received without question everywhere. There has 
 never been suggestion of taint or suspicion in any department 
 of its affairs, which speaks volumes foi: the splendid standards 
 maintained by the organization for over thirty years. With 
 the tremendous increase in the sport of canoeing all over the 
 world, it is to be hoped that the organization will find that 
 larger measure of support to which it is so fully entitled. 
 
 The cost of membership in the American Canoe Association 
 is two dollars for the first year, one dollar being initiation fee 
 and one dollar the first year's dues, after which the Annual dues 
 are one dollar. The Association publishes a ,y_ear-book which 
 is the best comprehensive review of the sport of" canoeing 
 issued in this country; makes special arrangements for freight- 
 cars, etc., at cruises and meets ; secures concessions and special 
 rates of various kinds, and provides an interchange for 
 canoeing experiences which, as every lover of -the woods and 
 waters knows, enables the cruiser to live the pleasures all over 
 again in their telling. 
 
 There are practically few rules for the cruising canoeist; 
 those which the Association has adopted for the guidance of 
 racing events, either with paddle or sail, are incorporated 
 herewith, since they may be of real assistance to those who 
 wish to conduct events in proper fashion. 
 
■:Nq.22.. "»-•-"-•• , 0-;.-^.2A^ 
 
 1, Sleeping pocket; 2, Compass and pih;"3, famp'irfg mattres^;' 4* 5', '6, ' 
 Folding camp furniture; 7, Sleeping bag; 8, Folding baker; 9, Folding 
 canvas cupboard; 10, Vacuum bottle; 11, Waterproof matchbox; 12, 13, 
 14, 15, Canvas water pails; 16, Army kit; 17, Axe with folding guard; 
 18, First aid kit; 19, Metal tent peg; 20, Folding lantern; 21, Kerosene 
 stove; 22, Folding grate; 23, Cook kit; 24, Folding baker, canvas case. 
 
Excellent paddling position. 
 
 Twist of upper wrist at end 
 of paddling stroke. 
 
 Running rapids with canoe 
 pole. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRAET. 
 
 RACING REGULATIONS 
 OF THE AMERICAN CANOE ASSOCIATION 
 
 RULE I. 
 
 Canoe, Definition of. — A canoe to be registered and to com- 
 pete in any race, of the American Canoe Association, must be 
 sharp at both ends, without counterstern or transom, and must 
 come within the limits prescribed for its class. 
 
 RULE IL 
 
 Section i. — Classification. — Canoes of the American Canoe 
 Association shall be divided into two main classes, viz. : Open 
 Canoes and Decked Canoes. 
 
 Sec. 2. — Open canoes shall have not more than 3 feet of deck 
 at either end, nor more than 3 inches of deck at either side. 
 
 RULE in. 
 
 Section i. — Method of Measuring. — The elementary limitations 
 of a canoe shall be determined as follows: The length shall 
 be taken between perpendiculars at the fore side of the stem and 
 the after side of the stern. The breadth of beam shall be 
 taken at the widest part, wherever found, but it shall not include 
 a beading. The words "breadth of beam" shall mean the breadth 
 formed by the fair lines of the canoe, and the beam at and 
 near the water line must bear a reasonable proportion to the 
 beam at tha gunwale, except paddling canoes for one and two 
 men. Racing Class. 
 
 Sec. 2. — The depth shall be measured from the Inside of the 
 garboard next the keel, to the level of the top of the gunwales. 
 
 Sec. 3. — ^The sail area shall be the actual area, exclusive of 
 roath along spars, measured when the sail is on the spars and 
 stretched taut. 
 
60 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABY. 
 
 RULE IV. 
 
 Section i. — Dimensions and Limitations , Decked Canoes. — The 
 length shall be not more than i6 feet ; the breadth of beam shall 
 be not more than 36 inches, and the depth shall be not less than 
 10 inches. The beam at the water line, with 150 lbs. weight 
 aboard, of all canoes built after July i, 1907, must be at least 
 eighty per cent, of the over-all beam. 
 
 Sec. 2. — The minimum weight, exclusive of centerboard, rud- 
 der, steering gear and deck seats, shall be 85 lbs. 
 
 Sec. 3. — Sails. — The sails used in any race shall not have an 
 area of over 90 square feet, of which not more than 60 square 
 feet shall be in any one sail, and no spar shall project more than 
 15 feet above the water with crew on board amidship. 
 
 Sec. 4. — No sail shall be rigged on what is known as hollow 
 spars, except it be a practical hoisting, lowering and reefing rig, 
 and so used. 
 
 Sec. 5. — Centerboards. — Folding or plate centerboards may be 
 fitted. They must not, when raised, project below the keel. 
 
 Sec. 6. — A paddle at least 3 feet long shall always be carried. 
 
 Sec. 7. — Special Class. — Maximum length, 17 feet; maximum 
 beam, 42 inches; any excess of length or beam to be multiplied 
 by five and added to the water line length for rating purposes. 
 No seat shall be extended beyond the side of the canoe. L. W. L. 
 shall not be less than 12 feet 6 inches, measured with crew 
 aboard in racing position. Minimum depth outside from top of 
 deck at middle line to underside of garboard, taken anywhere 
 up to two feet from either end, shall not be less than 12 inches. 
 There shall be two fixed complete transverse wooden bulkheads, 
 which are to be not less than 5 feet 6 inches nor more than 8 feet 
 apart, and not more than 5 feet from mid over all length. 
 There shall be a direct opening to the space between these bulk- 
 heads of not less than 16 inches in width for a length of 3 feet. 
 The deck on each side shall not be less than quarter beam. 
 Scantling — Minimum finished — Plank % inch; Deck, 3-16 inch; 
 Bulkheads, ^ inch. L.W.L.XSA 
 
 Rating not to exceed 0.25 =R. In calculating the 
 
 6000 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 61 
 
 rating, the figures beyond the second place of decimals shall be 
 ignored. Sails.— The certificate of rating shall be for one rig 
 and suit of sails only, which may include a storm sail not exceed- 
 ing 75 square feet area. Only one certificate may be held at a 
 time. The L. W. L. shall be marked upon the canoe to the satis- 
 faction of the official measurer. 
 
 All sailing races of the A. C. A., except such races for prizes 
 as are by deed of gift defined as prizes, for i6x 30-inch class, 
 shall be open to both classes of canoe. 
 
 RULE V. 
 
 Section i. — Dimensions and Limitations, Open Canoes, Sailing 
 and Cruising Type, One and Two Men. — Maximum length, 18 
 feet ; minimum beam, 30 inches, with an accompanying maximum 
 length of 16 feet. For each inch the length is increased, the 
 beam must be increased at least one-eighth of an inch. The 
 depth shall be not less than 10 inches. The beam at the water 
 line, with 150 lbs. weight aboard, must be at least eighty-eight 
 per cent, of the over-all beam. 
 
 Sec. 2. — Leeboards. — ^Leeboards may be carried, but no rudder 
 nor centerboard. 
 
 Sec. 3. — Seats. — No seat shall extend beyond the side of the 
 canoe. 
 
 Sec. 4. — Sails. — The sail area shall be limited to 40 square feet. 
 
 Sec. 5. — Weight. — ^^The minimum weight of open canoes of this 
 class shall be 70 lbs. 
 
 Sec. 6. — Keels. — No keel nor fin shall project more than ij^ 
 inches below the garboards. 
 
 Sec. 7. — Paddles. — A paddle at least 4 feet 6 inches long shall 
 always be carried. 
 
 Sec. 8. — Special Appliances. — ^No special appliance of any kind 
 for holding the paddle for steering purposes shall be used. 
 
 RULE VI. 
 
 Paddling Canoes for Racing, One and Two Men. — Maximum 
 length, 16 feet; minimum beam, 30 inches; minimum depth, 10 
 inches ; minimum weight, 50 lbs. 
 
6S SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 RULE VII. 
 
 Four Men, — Maximum length, 20 feet; minimum beam, 30 
 inches; minimum depth, 12 inches; minimum weight, 70 lbs. 
 
 RULE VIII. 
 War Canoes. — Maximum length, 30 feet; minimum beam, 36 
 inches; minimum depth, 17 inches; minimum weight, 120 lbs. 
 
 RULE IX. 
 
 Section i. — Ten per cent, of the weight of a canoe may be 
 made up by ballast. 
 
 Sec. 2. — The Regatta Committee shall have power to rule out 
 any canoe which, in their opinion, does not conform to the spirit 
 of any of the above restrictions. 
 
 RULE X. 
 
 Section i. — Novices. — Novices at any Meet shall be those who 
 have never sailed nor paddled, respectively, a canoe in an A. C. 
 A. race prior to September ist of the preceding year. 
 
 Sec. 2. — Juniors. — ^Juniors, in all events but War Canoes, shall 
 be those who have never won a similar race. 
 
 Juniors may compete in Senior races without losing their 
 Junior standing unless winning. Anyone remaining a Junior in 
 one or more classes, and who shall enter in a class which ^he is 
 not qualified to enter, shall forfeit his Juniorship in all classes. 
 
 Sec. 3. — Crews. — Unless otherwise provided by the Regatta 
 Committee, the crew in all races shall consist of one man only. 
 
 Sec. 4- — No canoe shall be raced by more than one man at any 
 one Meet. 
 
 RULE XL 
 
 Section i. — Entries, Who May Enter Races. — None but mem- 
 bers of the American Canoe Association, excepting those who 
 have been invited by the Regatta Committee and accredited 
 representatives of foreign clubs, shall enter its races. No mem- 
 ber who has ever raced for money, nor who is in arrears to 
 the Association, shall enter. No man shall enter in any race at 
 the general meet until he has been two days in camp, except 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRAET. 68 
 
 entries in events of the Racing Paddling Class as defined in 
 Rule VI, or by special permission of the Regatta Committee. 
 Applicants for membership in the Association shall not be con- 
 sidered as members. 
 
 Sec. 2. — How Entries Must Be Made. — All entries must be 
 made in writing, and on the blanks provided for that purpose. 
 Entries must be delivered to the Regatta Committee within such 
 time as they may direct. 
 
 Sec. 3. — Entry Numbers, — The Regatta Committee will provide 
 each man, when he makes his entries, with three prints of his 
 number on cloth. Every canoe entering, except for an upset 
 race, must have her entry number, or other distinguishing mark 
 satisfactory to the Regatta Committee, conspicuously on canoe 
 or man in paddling races, and on both sides of the mainsail in 
 races. 
 
 RULE XII. 
 
 Section i. — Prizes, Number of Prises. — A first prize shall be 
 given in each race. A second prize shall be given in each regular 
 race when more than two finish. 
 
 Sec. 2. — Kind of Prizes. — Regular prizes, when possible, shall 
 consist of shields, or other lasting memento of the event, upon 
 which shall be expressed the letters "A. C. A.," the year in 
 four figures, the place of the meet and the name of the event, 
 with the words "first prize" or "second prize." No prize of 
 money shall be raced for. Bunting flags, size 2 feet x 3 feet, 
 having the letters "A. C. A.," the year in numerals and the 
 initial "P.," "S.," "O. S." and "R.," respectively, shall be given 
 the winners of the paddling and sailing trophies, and the 
 "Record," in addition to the regular prizes. 
 
 Sec. 3. — Special Prizes. — Special prizes may be given at the 
 discretion of the Regatta Committee. 
 
 RULE XIII. 
 Section i. — The Record Race. — There shall be three regular 
 record events forming the Record Race. No. I. Paddling and 
 Sailing combined, 3 miles; time limit 1^4 hours. No. 2. Pad- 
 dling, H niil^- No. 3. Sailing, 4J^ miles; time limit 2j^ hours. 
 
Bl SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 Sec. 2.— Place on the Record,— To obtain a place on the 
 "Record" or qualify for a prize in a "Record" event a contestant 
 must start in all three Record events. The first canoe to finish 
 in each event shall receive as many points as there are starters 
 in the first event; the second canoe, one less, and so on, and in 
 addition the winner shall be given a premium of 25 per cent, of 
 the number of starters in the first event for winning; the second, 
 a premium of 15 per cent, of the same number, and the third a 
 premium of 7 per cent, of the same number. The total num- 
 bers awarded for all three events, added together, shall give 
 the credit number on the "Record." Any competitor not finish- 
 ing a race or who is disqualified, shall receive zero for that 
 event, but all those finishing shall receive credit for beating 
 him. 
 
 Sec. 3.— In the Record Race each contestant shall use but one 
 canoe. 
 
 Sec. 4.— Regular Races,— Th^VQ shall be eight regular races 
 in addition to the Record Race. 
 
 1. The Paddling Trophy Race; distance, i mile. 
 
 2. The Decked Sailing Trophy Race; distance 18 miles in 3 
 heats of 6 miles each. Two heats shall be on the triangle and 
 one shall be over a windward and leeward course of not over 
 
 1 mile. Time limit 2H hours for each heat — for Points earned 
 and counted as provided for the "Record" in Sections 2 and 3 of 
 this rule. 
 
 3. The "Mab" Trophy Race; distance 7^' miles. Time limit 
 3 hours. The winner of the Sailing Trophy is debarred from 
 entering this race by deed of gift. 
 
 4. The Open Canoe Sailing Trophy Race; distance 9 miles in 
 3 heats of 3 miles each. Two heats shall be on the triangle, 
 and one shall be over a windward and leeward course of not 
 over I mile. Time limit i^ hours for each heat — for Points 
 earned and counted as provided for the "Record" in Sections 
 
 2 and 3 of this rule. 
 
 5. Paddling Race; open canoes; single blade; one-half mile. 
 
 6. Paddling Race; open or decked canoes; double blades; one- 
 half mile. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 66 
 
 7. Paddling Race; tandem; open canoes; single blades; one- 
 half mile. 
 
 8. Paddling Race; tandem; open or decked canoes; double 
 blades; one-half mile. 
 
 Sec. 5. — The Regatta Committee may provide such additional 
 races as they deem advisable. 
 
 RULE XIV. 
 The mode of turning marks, and all directions for each race, 
 shall be announced in the programme of the Regatta Com- 
 mittee or posted on the bulletin board one hour before the race 
 is called, and any competitor not knowing the course, or mis- 
 taking it, or not following these rules, does so at his own risk. 
 
 RULE XV. 
 No pilotage or direction from any boat or from the shore will 
 be allowed, and anyone accepting such assistance may be dis- 
 qualified. 
 
 RULE XVL 
 
 Officials. — ^For every race there shall be a Referee, Starter 
 and three Judges. 
 
 Duties of Officials. 
 
 Referee — The Jurisdiction of the Referee extends over the 
 race, and all matters connected with it from the start until its 
 final termination. Any competitor refusing to abide by the 
 decision or to follow the direction of the Referee shall be 
 disqualified. 
 
 Jud£^es— The Judges shall report to the Referee the order in 
 which competing boats cross the finish line, but the decision of 
 the race shall rest with and be declared by the Referee, subject 
 to appeal to the Racing Board. 
 
 Starter— It shall be the duty of the Starter, upon notice from 
 the Referee, to start the various events. 
 
 The Referee may act as starter if he desires; but when he 
 does not so act the Starter shall be subject to the control of 
 the Referee. 
 
88 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABT. 
 
 PADDLING RACES. 
 RULE XVIL 
 
 Starting. — Paddling races shall be started by the Starter asking 
 "Are you ready?" On receiving no answer he shall either say 
 "Go," or fire a gun, or both. If he considers the start unfair 
 he may recall the canoes to their stations by the firing of two 
 guns, and any contestant refusing to start again shall be dis- 
 qualified. 
 
 The combined sailing and paddling race shall be started in 
 the same manner. 
 
 Canoes shall be started by their bows, and shall have com- 
 pleted their course when the bows reach the finish line. 
 
 Water — A canoe's own water is the straight course, parallel 
 with other competing canoes from the station assigned it at 
 the start to a relative position on the finish line. 
 
 Each canoe shall keep its own water throughout the race, 
 and any canoe departing from its own water will do so at its 
 peril. 
 
 The Referee shall be the sole judge of a canoe's own water 
 and proper course during the race. 
 
 Fouls — It shall be considered a foul, when, after the race has 
 commenced, if any competitor, by his paddle, canoe or person, 
 comes in contact with the paddle, canoe or person of another 
 competitor; unless, in the opinion of the Referee, the contact 
 is so slight as not to influence the race. 
 
 The Referee may, during a race, caution any competitor when 
 in danger of committing a foul. 
 
 In case of a foul the Referee shall have the power — 
 
 (a) To place the canoes (except the canoe committing the 
 foul) in the order in which they finish. 
 
 (b) To order the canoes engaged in the race (other than the 
 canoe committing the foul) to paddle the race over again. 
 
 SAILING RACES. 
 RULE XVIII. 
 The paddle shall not be used in sailing races, after the starting 
 signal, except for steering, when no rudder is used, or when 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 57 
 
 the rudder is disabled, or back strokes to leeward in tacking, or 
 shoving off when aground, afoul of anything, or in extrem* 
 danger, as from a passing steamer or from a squall. 
 
 RULE XIX. 
 A canoe shall be amenable to the Racing Rules from the time 
 the ipreparatory signal is made, and shall continue so until her 
 entire hull and spars have passed across the finish line. After 
 crossing the finishing line a cauoe shall not interfere with any 
 canoe still in the race. 
 
 RULE XX. 
 
 Start and Finish. — The start and finish shall be when the bow 
 first crosses the line after the starting signal has been made. 
 If this point in any canoe be across the line when the starting 
 signal is made she shall be recalled by the Regatta Committee 
 and must return and start again. 
 
 A canoe so returning, or one working into position from the 
 wrong side of the line, after the signal for starting has been 
 made, must keep clear of and give way to all competitors. 
 
 RULE XXL 
 
 Starting Signals.— The starting signals for all races to) which 
 attention shall be called by gun or whistle shall be as follows : 
 
 Warning — The hoisting of a Blue Flag. 
 
 Preparatory. — Four minutes after the warning signal, the low- 
 ering of the Blue Flag and the hoisting of a Yellow Flag. 
 
 Start. — One minute after the preparatory signal, the lowering 
 of the Yellow Flag and the hoisting of the A. C. A. Flag. 
 
 A Green Flag displayed signifies that buoys are to be left to 
 starboard. A Red Flag signifies they are to be left to port. 
 
 The Regatta Committee may vary the manner of starting at 
 their discretion, but all races should be started to windward 
 when practicable, and under a time limit. 
 
 Should any canoe meet with an accident at the start of a 
 race, through no fault of its own, the Regatta Committee shall 
 have power to recall the entire fleet and order a new start, 
 allowing time, if they deem it just, for repairs to be made. 
 
68 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 RIGHT OF WAY. 
 
 Definitions. 
 RULE XXII. 
 
 (0) Close Hauled. — A canoe is close hauled when sailing by 
 the wind as close as she can lay with advantage in working to 
 windward. 
 
 (&) Mark. — A Mark is any vessel, boat, buoy or other object 
 used to indicate the course. 
 
 (c) Overlapping and Clear. — Two canoes sailing the same or 
 nearly the same course are said to be overlapping when an altera- 
 tion of the course of either may involve risk of collision. 
 Otherwise they are said to be clear. 
 
 (d) Overtaking. — Of two canoes, sailing in the same or 
 nearly the same course, one which is clear astern of another 
 when approaching her so as to involve risk of collision, is said 
 to be an overtaking canoe, and she continues such after the 
 canoes overlap until she has again drawn clear. 
 
 Overtaking^ Luffing and Bearing Away. 
 
 (1) A canoe overtaking another canoe shall keep clear of the 
 overtaken canoe. 
 
 Passing to Windward. 
 
 (2) An overtaken canoe may luff as she pleases to prevent an 
 overtaking canoe passing her to windward, until she is in such 
 a position that her stem would strike the overtaking canoe abaft 
 the stem, when her right to prevent the other having a free 
 passage to windward shall cease. 
 
 Passing to Leeward. 
 
 (3) An overtaken canoe must never bear away to prevent 
 another canoe from passing her to leeward — ^the lee side to be 
 considered that on which the leading canoe of the two carries 
 her main boom. The overtaking canoe must not luff until she 
 has drawn clear ahead of the danger of fouling the canoe, by 
 so luffing, which she has overtaken. 
 
 Meeting, Crossing and Converging. 
 
 (4) A canoe which has the wind free shall keep out of the 
 way of one which is close hauled. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 69 
 
 (5) A canoe which is close hauled on the port tack shall keep 
 out of the way of one which is close hauled on the starboard tack. 
 
 (6) When both canoes have the wind free on different sides 
 the canoe which has the wind on the port side shall keep out of 
 the way of the other. 
 
 (7) When both have the wind free on the same side the 
 canoe to windward shall keep out of the way of the canoe to 
 leeward. 
 
 (8) When two canoes, both close hauled on the same tack, 
 are converging by reason of the leeward canoe holding a better 
 wind, and neither can claim the rights of a canoe being over- 
 taken, then the canoe to windward shall keep out of the way. 
 
 (9) A canoe may not tack nor alter her course so as to involve 
 risk of collision with another canoe which, owing to her posi- 
 tion, cannot keep out of the way. 
 
 Altering Course. 
 
 (10) When by any of the above clauses one canoe has to 
 keep out of the way of another the latter — subject to Clause 2 — 
 shall not so alter her course as to involve the risk of fouling. 
 
 The OVERTAKING Rule overrides the MEETING, CROSS- 
 ING and CONVERGING Rule, except Clauses (5) and (9), 
 which must always be observed. 
 
 (11) Rights of New Course. — A canoe shall not become en- 
 titled to' her rights on a new course until she has filled away. 
 
 (12) Passing and Rounding Marks. — If an overlap exists 
 between two canoes when both of them, without tacking, are 
 about to pass a mark on a required side, then the outside canoe 
 must give the inside canoe room to pass clear of the mark. 
 
 A canoe shall not, however, be justified in attempting to estab- 
 lish an overlap and thus force a passage between another 
 canoe and the mark, after the latter canoe has altered her helm 
 for the purpose of rounding. 
 
 (13) Obstruction to Sea Room, — ^When a canoe is approach- 
 ing a shore, shoal, pier, rock, vessel, or other dangerous obstruc- 
 tion, and cannot go clear by altering her course without fouling 
 another canoe, then the latter shall, on being hailed by the 
 former, at once give room; and in case one canoe is forced 
 
QO SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 to tack, or to bear away in order to give room, the other shall 
 also tack, or bear away, as the case may be, at as near the same 
 time as is possible without danger of fouling. But should such 
 obstruction be a designated mark of the course, a canoe forcing 
 another to tack under the provisions of this section shall be 
 disqualified. (See Rule XXVI, Sec. 2, where this rule is par- 
 ticularly referred to.) 
 
 RULE XXIII. 
 Wrecking or Shifting of a Mark. — Should any mark be miss- 
 ing or removed from its proper position during a race the 
 Regatta Committee shall, if possible, replace it or substitute the 
 Committee Boat, and call attention by gun or whistle. Failing 
 thus to re-establish the mark, the race may be ordered resailed 
 or not, at the option of the Regatta Committee. 
 
 RULE XXIV. 
 Accidents. — A canoe should render every possible assistance 
 to any canoe or person in peril, and if in the judgment of the 
 Regatta Committee she shall have thereby injured her chances 
 of winning they shall order the race resailed. 
 
 RULE XXV. 
 
 Postponed and Resailed Races. — (i). At any time before the 
 Preparatory Signal, the Regatta Committee shall have the power 
 to postpone any race should unfavorable weather conditions 
 render such postponement advisable. 
 
 (2) At any time after the starting signal and before the finish 
 the Regatta Committee shall have the power to declare off or 
 order resailed any race, should unfavorable weather conditions 
 render a finish improbable within the time limit. The signal 
 denoting such action shall be a gun, and the lowering of the 
 A. C. A. Flag. New entries shall not be received for such 
 resailed races, and a canoe disqualified in the original race shall 
 not be eligible to start in the resailed race. 
 
 RULE XXVI. 
 Disqualifications — (i). A canoe must go fairly round the 
 course, rounding the series of marks specified in the instructions; 
 
SPAXDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRAHY. 61 
 
 and in order to round each mark, the canoe's track from the 
 preceding to the following mark must enclose it on the required 
 side. A canoe touching a mark, unless wrongfully compelled 
 to do so by another canoe, shall at once abandon the race, or be 
 disqualified. 
 
 (2) If a canoe, in consequence of her neglect of any of these 
 rules, shall foul another canoe, or compel another canoe to foul 
 any canoe, mark or obstruction, or to run aground, she shall be 
 disqualified and shall pay all damages; and any canoe which 
 shall wrongfully cause another to luff, bear away, or tack, in 
 order to avoid fouling, or shall without due cause compel an- 
 other canoe to give room or to tack under Sec. 13, Rule XXII, 
 or shall herself fail to tack or to bear away, as required in that 
 section, or shall in any other way infringe, fail to comply with 
 any of these rules or attempt to win a race by other means than 
 fair sailing and superior speed and skill, shall be disqualified. 
 
 (3) The Regatta Committee shall, without protest, disqualify 
 any canoe which to their knowledge has committed a breach of 
 these rules. 
 
 (4) Should the owner of any canoe, duly entered for a race, 
 consider that he has a fair ground of complaint against another 
 'he must give notice of the same before leaving his boat on the 
 finish of the race, to the Regatta Committee, and must present 
 the same in writing within an hour. 
 
 (5) The Regatta Committee shall, after hearing such evidence 
 as they may deem necessary, decide the protest. 
 
 (6) An appeal from' the decision of the Regatta Committee 
 may be made to the Racing Board for immediate action, and 
 their decision shall be final. 
 
 (7) No member of the Committee or Racing Board shall take 
 part in the decision of any question in which he is directly 
 interested. 
 
 RULE XXVII. 
 A canoe must carry all ballast and equipment throughout a 
 race with which she starts. 
 A canoe shall not be propelled by rocking or fanning. 
 
68 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRAET. 
 
 RULE XXVIII. 
 
 Tilting Tournament. — In the Tilting Tournament, when more 
 than two crews arje entered, they shall be paired off in heats by 
 drawing lots. The contestants must use open canoes. In select- 
 ing canoes for the contest the Regatta Conumittee must select 
 the two most unstable boats obtainable within the A. C. A. 
 classifications, and place the spearsman as far forward as pos- 
 sible, the object being to make it a test of skill in spearing 
 and balancing rather than one of strength; the tilting poles to 
 be not less than 7 nor more than 9 feet in length. The Regatta 
 Committee shall furnish tilting poles. The canoes to pass each 
 other to starboard in engaging. Spearsman to stand when within 
 sparring distance. Only the padded end of the pole to be used, 
 and this for pushing or thrusting only. If a canoe is pushed 
 or pulled with the spear it will be counted a foul; voluntary, 
 or forced squatting, kneeling, sitting down or taking hold of 
 opponent's spear will be called a foul. A crew getting eight 
 fouls called by the judges forfeits its heat. 
 
 RULE XXIX. 
 
 Amendments. — ^These rules may be amended by a vote of a 
 majority of the Racing Board of the Association, notice of such 
 change having been given in the official organs at least two weeks 
 before the vote of the Racing Board is taken thereon. 
 
 RULE XXX. 
 Vacancies. — In cases of temporary vacancies in the Regatta 
 Committee the other members shall appoint substitutes. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 HINTS FOR THE BEGINNER 
 
 At the very start of his canoeing career, or even before it 
 really begins, the amateur should make friends with some 
 canoeist known to be an expert in the sport and frankly seek 
 advice. There is a comradeship about outdoor life which fully 
 warrants this sort of thing and there need be no expectation of 
 rebuff; on the contrary, the most delightful friendships often 
 form this way and the beginner is started right while the expert 
 is complimented by the selection of himself as a teacher. 
 Canoeing, more than almost any other sport, permits the be- 
 ginner to naturally drift into bad habits in handling canoe or 
 paddle or sail which it is most difficult to break. 
 
 In some of the best canoeing centers there will occasionally 
 be seen men who have evidently been canoeing for many years, 
 yet whose work instantly stamps them as the victims of bad 
 habits. The Charles River, near Boston, is one of the most 
 conspicuous examples of this, as might naturally be expected 
 where nearly ten thousand canoeists congregate, many of them 
 simply picking up the knack of making a canoe glide over the 
 water without any technical instruction. To the lover of correct 
 methods and good form in any sport some of these canoeists, 
 notwithstanding the beauty of their canoes and the excellence of 
 equipment, but really because of those material advantages, are 
 the most distressing sight in their persistent and conspicuous 
 violations of the fundamental principles of the handling of a 
 paddle. 
 
 But before taking up the management of the paddle a word 
 should be said concerning some of the right methods of caring 
 for and handling a canoe itself. Upon the observance of these 
 points will depend the life and strength of the canoe and per- 
 haps the safety of its occupants. Many of them are the result 
 of years of experience on the part of the canoeists whose 
 
61 SPAXDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 actions are commended or years of practice on the part of the 
 writer after studying the best canoe men of two continents. 
 In almost every important respect the Indian will be found the 
 best of all models for the ambitious canoeist to study. His 
 use of the craft is not merely that of a sportsman, caring little 
 for the canoe after it has served the ends of one interesting 
 trip; he may and generally does depend upon it to serve many 
 years of usefulness and business, in all sorts of circumstances. 
 
 The Indian, for instance, never approaches a shore or landing 
 "bow on." He knows that to put one end of a frail canoe^on 
 a shore, or log or rock, and then add his weight to the load in 
 the center, is almost invariably likely to "hog" the canoe or 
 *'break its back." He approaches the shore sidewise, so that 
 both occupants may step out together; in fact he regards a wet 
 foot as much less important than a weakened canoe. His white 
 brother may well take lesson from him. Incidentally, landing 
 the contents of the canoe from the side is much easier than 
 dragging th6M over bow or stern. 
 
 When an all-wood canoe is left for any length of time, the 
 best Canadian practice is to put it in the shade or cover it over 
 with an old cloth or even boughs to keep the sun from drying 
 it out too much. A canvas covered canoe on the other hand 
 is best left, bottom side up, where wind can at least get under 
 it; the very construction implies dryness all the time. But sun 
 of course is likely to blister and peel the enamel or paint. Two 
 togs are the best resting places for a canoe, and always it should 
 be left bottom up. 
 
 Canoes intended to be drawn after a launch should have a 
 brass ring set in the stem or front bang-iron seven or eight 
 inches below the top; if drawn from a ring on dex:k they are 
 likely to turn over or plunge into the wave created by the boat 
 drawing them. When there is ice in the water it is a good 
 plan to cover the bow of the canoe back several feet under the 
 stem with an old piece of canvas held securely in place by cords 
 or rope. 
 
 The method of carrying a canoe of ordinary size and weight 
 is to first attach the paddles to the two middle thwarts, then 
 
Adirondack boys' camp. 
 
 The author's patcne 
 
 alter running 
 Maine. 
 
 strenuous Kennebec River, 
 
SPiLLDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 06 
 
 stand alongside the center of the canoe facing the) stern, grasp 
 the further side with the right hand and the near side with the 
 left, swing the canoe quickly up and over the head and it is 
 clear that the canoeman will be facing the bow with the canoe 
 over his head. An eighty pound canoe can be carried by any 
 ordinarily strong man with remarkable ease after he gets the 
 knack. 
 
 Sometiifees it will be found that the balance of the canoe 
 is better by carrying it stem first or the positions of the thwarts 
 may render that method advisable. Very rarely will it be found 
 that any canoe weighing under a hundred pounds can be carried 
 easier by two men than one man can do it ; although the amateur 
 will not be disposed to accept this statement without experiment. 
 And it is always easier to carry the canoe inverted over head 
 than under arms or held alongside, bottom down. 
 
 In carrying a canoe any distance it is well to utilize every reason- 
 able advantage of ground or rocks or stumps for resting the 
 canoe without actually turning it over; there are few amateurs 
 who will enjoy the sport of actually running two or three mile 
 carries with a canoe on their shoulders, as the half-breed guides 
 of Canada like to do. 
 
 There are various yokes and carrying devices which have 
 some measure of popularity in this country, but they are hardly 
 worth carrying any distance. A sweater thrown over the 
 shoulders, or several shirts, is the best shoulder protection. A 
 pneumatic collar, however, serves several uses, including seat, 
 pillow and shoulder protection and may be worth carrying. If 
 one prefers, the flat end of the paddles may be fastened forward 
 and rest on the shoulders but the writer prefers the round ends. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 HOW TO PADDLE A CANOE 
 
 Paddling a canoe is one of the hardest things to describe in 
 the world of outdoor sport, but a careful analysis of its prin- 
 ciples ought to be attempted in the simplest phrases possible, for 
 the benefit of the ambitious beginner. We will select the single 
 blade paddle, used from the stern of an open, cruising canoe, 
 as being the most popular form of the sport and as being the 
 first thing the canoeist ought to learn. 
 
 The fundamental principle of this method of paddling, as 
 practised by the best long distance canoemen of the continent, 
 not racing style, but simply for easy, telling propulsion under 
 normal conditions, is to make the lower arm merely a swing- 
 ing fulcrum. The upper arm, to the push of which is added at 
 least a part of the weight of the whole upper body, forms the 
 powerful leverage. Among many of the best canoemen of 
 Maine and Canada the round portion of the handle, just above 
 the place where it is grasped by the lower hand, is allowed to 
 rest upon and slightly press against the upper muscles of the 
 leg at the thigh, thus really forming a firm fulcrum. Among 
 others, notably the Montaignais Indians, and some of the best 
 paddlers among the Hudson Bay Company's crews, allow the 
 paddle to rest firmly against the gunwale of the canoe and use 
 that as fulcrum. It will be seen that the lower arm is not used 
 for serious muscular work. But in the great majority of pad- 
 dling seen on pleasure resort waters the lower arm is reached 
 far forward, the paddle inserted in the water at an angle which 
 brings the upper end or handle close to the face of the paddler, 
 the paddle projecting off on an angle only limited by the reach 
 of the lower arm. Nothing could be more incorrect, more ex- 
 hausting, more ungraceful, or less efficient. The very principle 
 of paddling, which is that of exerting leverage on the water, 
 is violated^ and the paddler frantically tries to draw the water 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 67 
 
 toward him by the wasteful expenditure of the strength of the 
 lower arm. 
 
 In the best paddling the lower hand will not swing much 
 ov€r a foot forward and aft, all the motion being by the arm 
 which is grasping the upper end of thq paddle. This arrange- 
 ment rests the lower arm and hand and, when the paddle is 
 changed to the other side of the canoe, for rest or the cultiva- 
 tion of ambidexterity, that arm and hand which has been 
 hanging as a mere swinging fulcrum comes up to the upper end 
 of the paddle fresh and vigorous. No man who paddles vio- 
 lating this fundamental principle of the art can ever hope to 
 stay with the wonderful canoemen of the north, who will 
 paddle fifty miles a day, race the last five miles of it and finish 
 fresh. 
 
 There is a saying among the canoemen of the north which 
 reveals a great deal to the student of good paddling. "He leans 
 on his paddle," they say of their best canoemen. In other 
 words he actually swings the weight of his body, from the waist 
 up, against the upper end of his paddle. Here is a conservation 
 of energy, a multiplying of power, which costs nothing more 
 than a bit of thought and which will actually add foot-tons in 
 the day's total of energy applied. 
 
 So much for the leverage and the right method of its appli- 
 cation. Now for steering. It is of course clear that a paddle 
 must be manipulated somehow if in paddling on one side of a 
 canoe the craft is to be kept on a straight course. There is only 
 one right way to do this, but the wrong way is persistently 
 illustrated almost everywhere that canoeing is in vogue and 
 even among some otherwise excellent canoemen. The right way 
 consists of making a slight turn of the wrist of the arm which 
 is uppermost, and that slight turn must invariably be as if the 
 upper end of the paddle were being turned, like a screwdriver, 
 inwardly, toward the bow of the canoe, no matter on which side 
 of the canoe the paddle is being used. Here is where a very 
 great number of canoeists make the bad error of turning the 
 paddle the wrong way; that is, at the end of the stroke they hold 
 the wri&t rigid and simply draw back with the arm which is 
 
m SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LtBRABT. 
 
 uppermost, thus bringing the canoe back to a straight course. 
 The wrong way is easier than the right way, in canoeing as well 
 as in morals, and it requires some sharp attention and care not 
 to drift into the incorrect finish of the paddling stroke. 
 
 In racing, the position is generally that of kneeling on one 
 knee on the side where the paddle is to be used. There is fair 
 excuse for the reaching forward with the lower hand and arm 
 in this racing position which has been condemned for regular 
 cruising work, but even at that, it is a question if the correct 
 cruising position and stroke would not bring a man in[ first at 
 any distance over five miles. The writer is not aware that any 
 competitive trial of these positions has ever been made. It 
 would be an interesting and novel contest for some future meet 
 of canoeists. 
 
 There is a so-called sculling stroke, or silent stroke, which is 
 most important for the hunter, either he who wields weapon of 
 steel or he who wields the harmless and perhaps more inter- 
 esting camera. For photographing wild game at night with the 
 flashlight, now generally regarded as the highest type of sport 
 to be found in the wild places, the silent stroke is absolutely 
 essential. It is possible only to the skilled expert, and consists 
 of making the return or retrieve through the water and not 
 through the air. For its best execution a short paddle, reason- 
 ably narrow, is required, which is turned flat with the direction 
 of the canoe at the end of the stroke and sent back through the 
 water. For this work one must lean well over the water and 
 the leverage is applied both by the arm which has hold of the 
 upper end of the paddle and the lower arm. This is the only 
 paddling position in which the lower hand and wrist is employed 
 to turn the paddle or to assist in its turning. 
 
 The simplest of all paddling strokes is that where the double 
 blade is used. This paddle consists of two single blades jointed 
 in the middle and the paddler or paddlers sit in the center of 
 the canoe, practically on the bottom, and do not atempt to turn 
 the canoe back to a straight course at the end of each stroke 
 as is necessarily done with the single blade continuously used 
 on one side of the canoe. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLBTIO LIBRARY. «9 
 
 The double blade is the preferred one-man canoe equipment 
 and is the type of paddle which was used by the famous pioneer 
 of canoeing as a sport, MacGregor of the "Rob Roy/' and some 
 of his almost equally famous successors. In some respects it 
 has advantages over the single blade used in the stern because 
 quicker turns can be made in bad water or rapids and there is 
 always a blade handy to stick out one side or the other to make 
 a stroke with or fend off impending danger. But it is not as 
 well adapted to cruising canoes since the paddler sits in the 
 middle occupying the best stowage of the craft and the stroke 
 cannot be maintained as long. Nor does it offer such change 
 of muscles as the single blade, which can be transferred from 
 one side to the other occasionally, thus bringing new and rested 
 muscles into use. 
 
 The racing stroke is generally done from a half-standing 
 position, one foot being extended in front and resting on the 
 bottom of the canoe and the other bent at the knee, there carrying 
 the weight of the paddler. In singles or team or club races this 
 is the best position for distance and fast work. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABY. 
 
 LEARN TO SWIM— CANOE STUNTS— TAKE 
 A CAMERA— GENERAL HINTS 
 
 One of the most interesting and illuminating items in the con- 
 stitution of the American Canoe Association is the provision 
 that membership in the organization is based upon the ability of 
 the applicant to swim. No other qualifications regarding ability 
 on the water, either in the paddling or sailing of a canoe, nor 
 knowledge of woodcraft are mentioned. The good sense of the 
 provision regarding swimming ought to be apparent to every 
 lover of the great outdoors, whether he does any canoeing or 
 not. If every American boy and every American girl were 
 taught to swim in our public schools, as they are in (benighted?) 
 Japan, we should hear less concerning the canoe as a quick 
 method of suicide. 
 
 The danger of the small boat, whether it be canoe or skiff or 
 catboat or yacht of any kind, is not in the craft but in the 
 liberties which are taken with it by the inexperienced and the 
 novice, who dare its management without fair training or proper 
 knowledge. Let every boy and every girl learn how to swim, 
 whether interested in canoeing or not, and the number of 
 fatalities will be greatly lessened. As it is, the canoe is propor- 
 tionately far less dangerous than it is supposed to be, as any 
 life or accident insurance actuary will testify. There are pro- 
 portionately more accidents and fatalities to persons quietly 
 walking along city streets than there are to the users of the 
 "deadly" canoe. 
 
 The canoeist should early learn at least a few of the so-called 
 tricks of the expert canoe handler, not merely for their enter- 
 tainment but because they teach confidence and balance and 
 make for readiness and safety. Some of them may come ex- 
 tremely handy when an upset occurs. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRAET. « 
 
 Learn to get into the canoe from the water. Bathing suit or 
 street clothes may be worn for this trick and it will sometimes 
 occur that the canoeist is in full cruising costume when he will 
 need to know how to do this little turn, so let him practice first 
 with bathing togs on and then with the street clothes. Every 
 swimmer ought to learn how to take off his clothes in the 
 water and the canoeist may need the same knowledge some day. 
 
 The Canadians are masters of this trick. In many of their 
 water sport entertainments they have an' event of this sort. It 
 is best done with a canoe of wide beam and shallow depth but 
 can be done with practically any canoe after some practice. 
 The birchi bark canoe of Canada lends itself especially well to 
 this sort of thing and it is with that type of craft that the 
 best exhibitions of the sport are generally given. The upset is 
 intentional, then the swimmer faces the side of the canoe, makes 
 a sharp swimming stroke and pushes the canoe from him as 
 strongly as possible. This ships water over the edge of the 
 craft toward him and serves to partly empty it. Repeated efforts 
 of this kind practically clear the canoe of water and then the 
 swimmer gets in either from the side or from bow or stern. 
 The side method is easiest and consists of reaching one arm 
 over the craft to the far gunwale and climbing carefully in 
 while the weight is rested partly on both gunwales. It is easier 
 than it appears. There are peculiar idiosyncrasies of individual 
 canoes which makes entrance from side or stern the easier. 
 
 Then learn to paddle standing on the gunwales of the canoe. 
 The writer knows no trick which more quickly demonstrates 
 to the crowd that the canoe is what the canoeist makes it, than 
 this trick. It is great sport to make up gunwale races, or races 
 where the paddler sits in the extreme bow, facing forward, or 
 over the stem with feet crossed. All these things are good 
 practise and show the real stability of canoes in the hands of 
 expert or careful users. 
 
 And do not fail to carry a camera of some kind ever3rwhere 
 the canoe goes. There are no more interesting or delightful 
 pictures in all the world of outdoor sport than which are asso- 
 ciated with the canoe, whether it be in crowded city park or 
 
72 SPAUDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 
 
 suburban river or among the real wilds of the far north. The 
 canoeist is generally where good pictures are possible and likely; 
 lie is in the open, water reflects light and softens shadows and 
 the combination of woods and waters needs not even Ruskin's 
 enthusiastic description as the finest thing in nature. The 
 occasional bits of athletic or acrobatic sailing, the "stunts" of 
 the canoe meet and the cruise, from the gunwale races to run- 
 ning rapids standing on one's head — which has been done — or 
 the mirth-provoking tilting contest, will furnish worth-while em- 
 ployment of photographic skill and the best equipment. 
 
 The postal card camera or kodak, 3^x5^ inches, either of the 
 box type, which is always ready, or the folding style, is an ad- 
 mirable size for pictorial effects. The 3}iM}i is excellent for 
 making lantern slides with which to regale the friends or club 
 mates during the winter. 
 
 And finally treat your canoe, whether it be open cruiser, 
 decked paddler, or racing sailer, like the thing of life and beauty 
 that it is. Be its chivalrous champion and friend, its respectful 
 custodian and happy companion; for a canoe, like a woman, has 
 moods and whims and responds to kindly attentions and defer- 
 ential treatment as if it were imbued with all the attributes of 
 charming, mysterious femininity. Thus shall you get the great- 
 est amount of pleasure out of your chosen sport and compliment 
 your own best instincts. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 SAILING CANOES 
 
 By C. BowYER Vaux 
 
 Th€ sail plays the principal part when canoe cruising is done on 
 open water. A sailing canoe is much more complicated than a 
 paddler. It must have a rudder, a centerboard or keel, besides one 
 or more suits of two sails. The canoeman used to sit on the bot- 
 tom for sailing, but the deck position has so many advantages 
 that it is now universally taken. Canoes are sailed exactly in the 
 same way as a larger boat, and the canoe racing rules are almost 
 exactly the same as those for the yacht racing. The paddle is 
 always carried when sailing, to use in case the wind fails. 
 
 There is not a prettier thing in the world than a canoe under 
 sail. It is a little butterfly on the water. If you want to see a 
 pretty sight, go to one of the American Canoe Association's 
 annual meets and watch a canoe sailing race, where twenty or 
 more of these little fellows cross a line and sail over a triangular 
 course in sight all the time. Every style of canoe, sail, and rig 
 may be seen along the shore and on the water during the two 
 weeks of the meet, and more can be learned in a half day's study 
 of them than in a year of reading. 
 
 The racing men some years ago adopted what is known as the 
 sliding deck seat, which extends over the side of the canoe and 
 on which the captain sits when sailing. It can be shifted from 
 one side to the other when the canoe tacks and is much more 
 comfortable to sit on than the deck, and dryer when sailing in 
 rough water. Considerable skill is required to keep a canoe right 
 side up when sailing, as the harder the wind blows the further out 
 of the canoe must the skipper get to hold it up. Cruisers now 
 use a deck seat, as it adds so much to one's comfort when sailing. 
 
 The regular sailing-racing canoes are now decked over entirely, 
 with the exception of a small hole, called a cockpit, for the feet 
 This cock;5>it is boarded in on all sides, so that whatever water 
 gets into it cannot get into the hold of the canoe. An upset in 
 such a canoe does not matter in the least. The skipper climbs 
 
74 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 out on the windward side and by his weight lifts the sails out of 
 the water and thus rights the canoe. As no water has been 
 able to get into the canoe except the gallon or two in the cockpit, 
 the skipper sails on again as though nothing had happened. No 
 canoeman minds getting his feet wet when sailing. 
 
 The cockpit in an ordinary cruising canoe should be at least 
 six feet clear between the bulkheads if the captain expects to 
 sleep in it at any time. The deck opening need not be over five 
 feet long and at least half of this can be covered with removable 
 hatches. 
 
 THE SAILING CANOE. 
 
 The paddling canoe is simple — boat, seat and paddling being 
 the essentials. The sailing canoe has, in addition to these, spars, 
 sails, rigging, centerboard or keel, rudder or steering gear (per- 
 haps ballast), and a sliding seat. 
 
 The canoe is so small and light a boat that it is necessary the 
 sailor should keep in the middle to trim ship. Thus, it has come 
 about, in order to get an effective rig, that the sail area is divided 
 into two sails, one in front, and the other behind him. A rudder 
 is necessary to control the movement of the canoe at all times. 
 
 A boat must have considerable lateral resistance, as it is called, 
 to sail in any direction relative to the course of the wind except 
 straight before it. If a sail is put up in a shallow paddling canoe, 
 and the boat is headed at right angles to the direction of the wind, 
 for instance, it will be found to drift sideways almost as fast as 
 it goes ahead — it makes "leeway," according to the sailor's ver- 
 nacular. The addition of a straight, deep keel will prevent this 
 and make it possible for the canoe to sail to windward ; that is, by 
 a series of tacks — sailing diagonally to the course of the wind — 
 actually to make progress against the wind. There are many dis- 
 advantages to the use of a keel. It makes the boat draw more 
 water and, consequently, dt cannot be navigated in shallows. The 
 long, straight keel prevents quick turning, and it adds materially 
 to the weight. A hoisting centerboard serves the same purpose 
 and does away with these disadvantages. 
 
 The first sailing canoes had only one small sail forward, about 
 an inch of keel along the bottom, and were steered with the pad- 
 
SPAXDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 75 
 
 die, the skipper sitting at the bottom in exactly the same position 
 as when paddling. Gradually the keel was deepened, the sail 
 area increased, a second sail added, and the captain changed his 
 seat to the deck, so that his weight would be more effectively 
 exerted against the sail pressure. Then the rudder became a 
 necessity. 
 
 The idea of making the canoe a general all-around sailing, pad- 
 dling, cruising and camping boat was alone recognized for many 
 years, and all improvements in rig were in this line. Therefore, 
 when the centerboard was introduced, it was placed well forward 
 so as not to cramp the open cockpit space which the skipper 
 occupied. 
 
 The rig necessary with such a disposition of centerboard, in 
 order to preserve the balance, was a large sail forward and a 
 small sail aft. Some canoes were built with two centerboards, a 
 very small one aft, so that more sail could be carried on the 
 mizzenmast. The modern sailing canoe is the direct result of 
 racing. The canoes that entered the races at the annual American 
 Canoe Association meets, previous to 1888, were all fairly good 
 cruising canoes. Since then, the purely racing machine has come 
 to the front, and the general utility canoe relegated to the rear. 
 
 Long practice and great skill are required to win a sailing race ; 
 but anyone who knows even a little about sailing, can very soon 
 learn to manage a moderately rigged cruising canoe and derive 
 great pleasure from the sport. Racing at present is too expensive 
 in time and money for many men to indulge in it. 
 
 A few years ago the canoemen were obliged to make their own 
 sails, do their own rigging, and even design and superintentend 
 the building of their canoes. The expert racers do this to-day. 
 Now, the best builders supply all the modern improvements, and 
 a fully equipped sailing canoe can be purchased ready for the 
 buyer to put in the water, get in himself and sail away. 
 
 THE CENTERBOARD. 
 This is a brass plate working in a trunk, hoisted and lowered 
 by a rod or line. The nearer it is placed to the center of the 
 canoe the better from a purely sailing point of view. It can be so 
 
W SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBEART. 
 
 placed without inconveniencing the canoeman, if he gives up all 
 idea of sleeping in his boat. This was thought to be a necessary 
 qualification of any canoe formerly, and very pretty and conve- 
 nient tents were made to put up at night over the cockpit as a 
 shelter, the canoe, of course, being drawn up on the shore. 
 
 There are two makes of folding boards, fan-shaped, in limited 
 use to-day, which, when hoisted, occupy a small, watertight box 
 in the keel of the canoe and leave the cockpit clear for sleeping 
 room. They are somewhat prone to get out of order and check 
 the speed considerably when lowered, and are, consequently, not 
 popular. If a small and compact shore tent is carried in the hold 
 of the canoe, all camping requirements are provided without in 
 any way lessening the speed and handiness of the canoe. 
 
 The centerboard is dropped when sailing on all points of the 
 wind, except just before it, and may be left down then as ballast 
 without any appreciable loss of speed. It is hauled up when 
 paddling, cruising in shallow water, and when the canoe is housed 
 or drawn up on shore. It can even be lifted out of the trunk and 
 clear of the canoe to lessen the weight to be carried, if so desired. 
 
 THE RUDDER. 
 
 The drop rudder is now almost universally used. It is of brass, 
 and the plate that is in the water can be raised when it is down by 
 •means of a line leading to the cockpit; when up it drops of its 
 own weight, if the line is released. The drop rudder, when down, 
 reaches far below the keel, and rarely if ever jumps out of the 
 water when the stern goes up in the air as the canoe rides over a 
 high wave. It is thus always partly in the water at least, and will 
 steer the canoe at any time. It is raised up just as the center- 
 board is when the canoe is run into shallow water or on shore. 
 
 Lines run from the rudder crosshead to a tiller within easy 
 reach of the canoeman's hand. This tiller is a movable stick 
 pivoted on the deck, which can be reached from either side of 
 the canoe on which the skipper happens to be sitting. If a sliding 
 deck seat is used, on which the sailor sits well out over the side 
 of the canoe, the tiller is made to slide also, so as always to be 
 within reach. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 77 
 
 The sliding seat is a racing device, as is also the athwart ship 
 tiller, but both have been found so comfortable for cruising pur- 
 poses that they are now generally used on all sailing canoes, but 
 not, of course, made to the extreme racing sizes. It requires 
 strength and skill to go to such extremes, as the slightest letup in 
 the force of the wind, without a quick shift of position, would 
 upset the canoe to windward. 
 
 SAILS. 
 
 There is probably no form, shape, cut or make of sail that has 
 not at some time been tried on a canoe. The sails and rig must 
 be very simple, as one man has to handle them and at the same 
 time balance and manage the canoe. The lateen is a simple sail, 
 and for this reason was very popular and largely used a few 
 years ago. The sail is triangular, with sticks (spars) on two 
 sides, linked together at the angle — boom and yard. A short mast 
 with a pin in the top completes the spars. A ring is lashed to the 
 yard which fits over the pin in the mast, and a jaw on the boom, 
 which fits the mast and holds the boom in place. A line 
 attached near the end of the boom, called the sheet, completes the 
 outfit. The canoeman trims the sail with the sheet and the sail 
 is bodily lifted off the mast when it is to be taken down. When 
 two sails are used, the sheet of the mizzen (which is behind the 
 skipper) leads to a block or ring on deck at the stern, and from 
 it to a cleat within easy reach of the skipper's hand amidship. 
 
 The standing sail is better than the lateen in several ways, and 
 even simpler. It has only mast, boom and sheet. The cloth of 
 the sail is sewed or laced to the spars. The boom can be folded 
 up against the mast, and the sail wrapped around it. It can be 
 set or furled by simply unrolling it and standing the mast up in 
 the mast tube in the canoe, or lifting it out and rolling it up. The 
 size of the sail can be greatly increased without lengthening either 
 mast or boom, by the use of battens slipped in pockets made in 
 the sail. 
 
 Racing canoes have many standing sails of different sizes, suit- 
 able for light, moderate or heavy weather, and the suit best suited 
 
78 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 
 
 to the day is used in a race, the others, of course, being left on 
 the shore. The large light weather rigs spread nearly two hun- 
 dred square feet of sail, and the heavy weather rig is rarely under 
 seventy-five feet. The latter area is ample for a cruising canoe, 
 and it will often occur on a cruise that fifteen or twenty square 
 feet will be found quite sufficient for speed and comfort. 
 
 There are those who prefer a hoisting and lowering rig to 
 either lateen or standing sails and use it for both cruising and 
 racing. There is much to be said in favor of the standing sail, 
 especially on account of its simplicity, but for those who are not 
 afraid of a little trouble, the hoisting rig is much more satisfac- 
 tory. It can be hoisted, lowered and reefed by the skipper while 
 afloat, and consequently is far better for cruising or long-distance 
 sailing than the standing sail. Small blocks, strong line and neat 
 fittings can now be purchased, and several sail-makers cut and 
 sew very fine sails for canoes. A hoisting sail is "yachty" and far 
 more scientific than any other, but it needs a "sailor man" to make 
 and handle it well. 
 
 Battens in canoe sails have been used for many years, and the 
 yachts have lately borrowed this idea for keeping parts of their 
 sail areas perfectly flat. 
 
 There have been innumerable reefing gears invented and used 
 on hoisting sails by which they can be quickly and simply reefed 
 by the captain without moving from his seat. Canoemen rarely, 
 if ever, reef in races now ; the races are not long enough in point 
 of time to make it necessary (as violent changes of wind rarely 
 occur), but for cruising or pleasure sailing for all day a reef able 
 sail is absolutely necessary. 
 
 Canoe sailors often take to larger boats, and of late years their 
 ideas in models, rigs, sails and fittings have materially affected 
 small yachts and skiffs to greatly improve them. 
 
 The St. Lawrence skiff is nothing more nor less than a large 
 canoe, and would be called a canoe if it was not propelled by oars 
 so frequently. A sailing skiff is a canoe in every sense of the 
 word, and the racing skiffs on the St. Lawrence have adopted all 
 the canoeing devices (except the sliding seat) — plate, center- 
 board, drop-rudder, two batten sails, watertight bulkheads — and 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 79 
 
 they are sailed in exactly the same way except that from four to 
 six men compose the crew instead of one man. The crew all sit 
 to windward when tacking, and lean far out during the heavy 
 puffs. 
 
 The single-hand cruisers, so called, are also often owned, de- 
 signed and rigged by ex-canoemen. The best type of such boats 
 thus far produced are solely the work of canoemen. 
 
 A larger boat than a canoe is demanded by those who want 
 companionship when sailing, and by those also who live near and 
 enjoy the sport on large bodies of water, where the waves are at 
 times too heavy for comfort in so small a craft as a sixteen- 
 footer, only thirty inches wide. Be it in canoe, skiff or single- 
 hander, if you are fond of the water and need recreation, "get 
 afloat," and "learn to swim." Perhaps the order should be re- 
 versed. 
 
BPAI^ING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABT. 
 
 THE JOYS OF CANOEING 
 
 By David M. Hooks 
 
 Director Camp Wowaste, Instructor Physical Training De Witt 
 
 Clinton High School, New York. 
 
 The contentment of a quiet paddle over the glassy surface of 
 the lake at twilight, the thrill of shooting rapids or jumping 
 small water falls on the winding river, the joy of struggle and 
 the exhilarations of the conqueror in riding the swell and white 
 caps of the great ocean are by no means the only advantages 
 afforded by the graceful canoe. There are also the physical 
 advantages. As a physical exercise, canoeing is invaluable in 
 developing the long elastic muscular fiber so essential to beauty 
 of the body, grace and agility, strength and endurance. And 
 the fine part of this muscular development is that it is acquired 
 without conscious effort. 
 
 If one would really get in touch with Nature, let him take such 
 a trip as Robert Louis Stevenson* in his incessant search for 
 health took through Belgium and Northern France. Let him 
 travel for days down some meandering stream, now drinking 
 in the glories of primeval Nature, now viewing the quaint or 
 inornate handiwork of man scattered at intervals along the 
 winding bank. Let him paddle through long almost currentless 
 stretches, let him scurry down rapids, work his way through 
 almost inaccessable places or carry his canoe around impassible 
 obstacles. Then, and only then, will one really know and ap- 
 preciate the joys of the canoe. 
 
 Canoe sailing is great sport. Any canoe can easily be 
 equipped for sailing. Single sails, double sails of the triangular 
 or leg-o'-mutton type are used. Lee boards are necessary and 
 may be easily made. Two bamboo poles are used for the mast 
 and boom respectively. The lee boards are made out of 
 shelving, so that they fit snug about the middle of canoe and 
 require no fastening. With this rig the canoe L^-weled fast 
 and we were able to sail anywhere we wished. 
 * Stevenson's Inland Voyage. 
 
I and 2 — Sea fight. 3 — One end of standing race; cross shows winner. 
 4 — Standing race. 
 
 A TRI-LAKE CANOE CLUB REGATTA, LAKE OF THE ISLES, 
 MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 
 

 ■jp^'^':'!' '' .mm 
 
 
 
 
 HHHHH^^L'iM I^B^^^B 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 iJi 
 
 1 ' ' ■II. : 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 81 
 
 CONCERNING THE COOK ON THE 
 CANOE CRUISE 
 
 By W. L. Wise 
 
 Bordentown, N. J., Manager of Camp Minne-Wawa, Algonquin 
 
 National Park, Ontario, Canada. 
 
 Whether we admit it or not, man's happiness is dependent, 
 to a great extent, on his stomach. He does not have lofty 
 flights of exultation when he 'has been without food a couple 
 of days, nor does he rejoice immoderately if what he has eaten 
 does not digest well. 
 
 One expects to give up many things on going to the woods, 
 but it is not necessary to be ill-fed. All camp cooking need not 
 be accomplished in a frypan and pails; biscuit and pies are by 
 no means among the unattainable luxuries; the folding baker is 
 easily carried, easily used, and adds immeasurably to the pos- 
 sibilities of the diet. It is made of tin or aluminum, and in 
 different sizes, to fit differing pocketbooks, and various sized 
 parties. Packed with the blanket tump, it adds little to the load, 
 and it should be included in the outfit if the trip is of more than 
 two days' duration. 
 
 It is surprising to the uninitiated what good work the baker 
 will turn out. In setting it up the operator places it in front of 
 'a fire, back of which a large log or stones will reflect the heat 
 into it. A little ingenuity will easily contrive a fireplace almost 
 anywhere ; if there is a heap of stones near the camp site, a little 
 shifting of a few of them will produce a first class one. With 
 a good fire, not a big one, but a small one made of good sound 
 wood, biscuit may be baked in from fifteen to twenty minutes, 
 that will compare verj'f avo^ably with the home product. 
 
 With a little experimenting the novice can turn out creditable 
 work, provided he does not try too many recipes at first. Go 
 slowly at the start and get confidence. 
 
82 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 Life in the open should, above all, cultivate a spirit of Jregard 
 for the other fellow's rights, and a part of that fellow's rights 
 is that you leave the woods in as good shape as you found them. 
 Do not leave behind unsightly refuse matter; tidy up the place 
 before leaving. If you cannot sympathize with these sentiments, 
 better stick to the town. But the life of the canoe cruiser, worked 
 in a fair and square way, offers one of the most attractive 
 and beneficial vacations one can spend, and if he can handle the 
 cook's job, he can give himself and his friends added pleasure. 
 
PART II 
 
 BOYS' AND GIRLS' 
 CAMPS 
 
81 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABY. 
 
 CAMPING FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 
 
 By George T. Hepbron 
 
 Camping needs no word of praise or commendation from 
 anyone, as the value of this form of spending a summer has 
 long since established itself favorably in the minds of intelli- 
 gent parents as the very best way for real girls and boys, with 
 red blood in their veins, to spend a profitable vacation under 
 the most favorable circumstances from every standpoint — 
 health, character, recreation. 
 
 The director and his councilors are responsible for the 
 "atmosphere" of the camp; and, as their personal character is 
 reflected in the actions of the boys, it is mighty important that 
 they be the right kind of men or women. 
 
 Hero worship is a strong factor in the makeup of girls and 
 boys of the camping age, and this makes it all the more im- 
 portant that the councilors or leaders, as they are sometimes 
 called, should be men or women of true and tried character, 
 refinement and enthusiasm, with a knowledge of boys and girls, 
 and of that indescribable temperament which at the same time 
 makes them congenial companions as well as wise leaders. 
 
 Councilors are selected very carefully by the directors of 
 all camps of which I am acquainted, most of them being col- 
 lege trained and of exceptionally high character. 
 
 Boys and girls for these camps are selected with the same 
 care by the directors as they exercise in engaging councilors. 
 
 Only girls and boys who are willing, voluntarily, to conform 
 to the few fundamental rules are considered, and a misunder- 
 standing of the purpose of any camp and a failure to conform 
 to conduct that respects the best interests of the camp and the 
 rights of others usually results in the camp losing the presence 
 of this boy or girl, so they may be free to go elsewhere for 
 the remainder of the season. 
 
 This does not often occur, as the intuition and long experi- 
 
: SPALDING'S ATHLBTIO LIBRARY. 8S 
 
 ence of the directors in selecting members for his or her camp 
 has made them good students of human nature. 
 
 One interview with the applicant and the parents usually is 
 sufficient to make a right decision. 
 
 Boys and girls going to camp expect to have a good time 
 under normal conditions, and, believe me, they have it to their 
 fill; and all winter, before some of them have even decided to 
 attend a camp, the director is planning for their sports, trips, 
 entertainment and education along lines that will meet with the 
 full approval of every boy and girl who have the right stuff 
 in them. 
 
 Parents, especially mothers, are often loathe to part with 
 their girl or boy for so long a period, "so far away from 
 home," in an environment totally different from the home life. 
 This is perfectly natural, but in a well-conducted camp the 
 director has anticipated this i condition, and in conjunction 
 with his councilors has planned to dispel this anxiety by being 
 temporary fathers and mothers to the girls or boys in a way — 
 pardon the statement— that makes for a larger degree of manli- 
 ness or womanliness than if they were home. 
 
 This seems like an extravagant statement, but the parents 
 who have had a girl or boy at camp, I am positive, will attest 
 to the truth of this statement. 
 
 The day's order is planned for the week, so that everyone 
 in camp has something to do which is enjoyable and beneficial. 
 Groups are selected and with a councilor go off to indulge in 
 the activities planned for that day. 
 
 During the period at camp the following takes place under 
 supervision conducted in such a wise manner that it is not 
 recognized by the girl or boy — in fact, co-operation is a better 
 word. In a well-conducted camp all activities, whether mental 
 or physical, are so planned as to produce, along the line of least 
 resistance, the following: Character, manliness, in boys* camps; 
 womanliness in girls* camps; right relations to others; love 
 for nature and animals; respect for authority; promptness, etc. 
 
86 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 HOW A CAMP IS CONDUCTED 
 
 By George T. Hepbron 
 
 It has been suggested that a chapter outlining the best methods 
 for organizing and conducting the now popular camps for boys 
 and girls, which have come to be a feature of the summer life 
 of this continent, might well be included in this book. The author 
 has had the advantage of considerable experience in summer 
 camps of all kinds and has visited many camps for boys and 
 girls in the course of his own wide travels in vacation territory 
 and is glad to record here some suggestions as to the best methods 
 of starting and maintaining these healthful and interesting estab- 
 lishments. 
 
 The first essential in a successful summer camp, for either 
 boys or girls, is a leader or camp director who shall have mag- 
 netic personality,, high character, genuine love for young folks 
 and real fondness for nature. It is not enough that there shall 
 be expensive or elaborate equipment, for these things are secon- 
 dary to that stimulating and beneficial influence which comes from 
 daily, personal association with leaders of fine ideals and rounded 
 character. Given the right leader or organizer, there is almost 
 absolute certainty that the camp will be a success. The argu- 
 ment for the summer camp for boys and girls is so strong and 
 is now so widely recognized that the thoughtful fathers and 
 mothers of the country are almost unanimously agreed that the 
 youngsters thrive better and have better times in such summer 
 environment than could possibly come to them in the artificial 
 life of the average summer resort. 
 
 It is a fact that the standard of the average summer camp 
 for either boys or girls is remarkably high. As a rule the 
 organizers of these enterprises have early learned that parents 
 will not entrust their young children in the charge of any claimant 
 not fully recommended by persons of high standing in the com- 
 
:^»|K*S *•' f*^ 
 
 CAMP WOWASTE. 
 
CAMP MINNE-WAWA, ALGONQUIN NATIONAL PARK, ONTAlCiO, UAxN, 
 
.1 I II 
 1, 1 « cii.n -<■;.!, fioetV 2i '^TeacSiiR^ novices to hurdle; 3, War Canoe party; 
 
 4, Aqua-planing near beach. 
 
 CAMP TECUMSEH 
 
SPALDINGTS ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 87 
 
 munity. The bulk of the summer camps are in charge of college 
 graduates who have followed educational pursuits. 
 
 These organizers have in turn drawn around them helpers 
 who are, like themselves, college trained, and it is almost un- 
 necessary to add that few would take positions in these summer 
 camps as helpers or assistants, with the round of temper-testing 
 experiences which must invariably accompany such a summer 
 vacation, unless they possessed genuine interest in young boys 
 or girls. That interest almost guarantees fitness for the work. 
 The average woodsman or guide, often a necessary part of the 
 camp equipment, as doer of the really hard tasks or guide in the 
 more elaborate woods* trips, may safely be counted upon as fit 
 companion of young people. There is a cleanness and spiritual 
 element in the life of the real woodsman which makes him 
 almost invariably a suitable and inspiring comrade for young 
 folks in the woods. 
 
 The location of the summer camp for boys or girls is most im- 
 portant. It should be healthful, close to good supply of pure 
 drinking water, near some lake or river where water sports may 
 be enjoyed and in such forest environment as affords opportunity 
 for the youngsters to learn some of the habits of the wild crea- 
 tures and some of the endless lore of the woods. There should 
 be abundance of firewood handy, for no single influence of the 
 summer camp will so immediately appeal to the young people or 
 offer such remarkable opportunity for potent influence upon 
 their susceptible lives, as the rendezvous about the camp fire. 
 There should be selected, if possible, a location facing the west 
 rather than any other point of the compass, for the sunset pic- 
 tures across the waters of the placid lake will be found the 
 choicest benediction of nature to the young lives into which it 
 enters. There should be good bathing facilities, with a safe, 
 shelving beach for the beginners at swimming and, if possible, 
 deep water for those who are or become expert. There should 
 be safe and well arranged landing for canoes or other water 
 craft. 
 
 Owing to the natural solicitude of many parents concerning 
 
88 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 their children when separated for long periods there should be 
 some easy and quick means of communication with the outside 
 world. The writer knew of one anxious mother, whose little 
 boy was in a camp in Maine, who suddenly became obsessed with 
 a fear that something had happened to the youngster. No quick 
 means of communication being at hand, she made the long, hard 
 trip into the woods — to find her boy the picture of sunburned 
 health. 
 
 The physical equipment of the summer camp for either boys 
 or girls need not be elaborate but it should be ample and suitable. 
 There is no reason for carrying into the woods all the burden- 
 some details of effete civilization. The youngsters will feel more 
 thoroughly in touch with the spirit of nature if there is just a 
 little spice of "roughing it"; which need imply no breaking 
 down of the refinements of civilized life nor weakening of the 
 standards of the best homes. Many of the best men of the 
 country take real delight in donning flannel shirts and eating flap- 
 jacks around an open fire, whenever and for as long as their 
 business affairs permit; their children have this inherent desire 
 to get away from the conventional and the habitual even more 
 strongly than have their parents. 
 
 Good beds, which may mean cots raised above the floor or 
 merely beds from the forest balsams, "boughed down with care," 
 as a guide once put it to the writer, are one of the first essen- 
 tials. They may be under roofs of log cabins, rough frame 
 bungalows or tents ; there is a strong preference among boys for 
 the tent rather than the wood house and strong preference among 
 girls for the house rather than the tent. Blankets are invariably 
 required among almost all camps in the northern part of the 
 United States during the summer and in some camps sheets are 
 used. 
 
 There are a few camps where the young patrons are allowed to 
 wear almost anything they please. There are many disadvantages 
 to this plan. It emphasizes differences of wealth and standing, 
 since some will be elaborately and expensively equipped and 
 others will bring old clothes. Few parents know the right equip- 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 89 
 
 ment for these camps. The better plan is the regular camp uni- 
 form or costume as supplied to many of the leading camps of 
 the country by A. G. Spalding & Bros. There is nothing in 
 this arrangement to give any boy or girl social advantages over 
 any other; the uniform makes a neat appearance either in 
 camp or on any of the outings of the youngsters and the wearers 
 are always easily to be noted. A uniform not only will prevent 
 a boy from falling into temptation which the ordinary daily cos- 
 tume might suggest as a cover, but will likewise serve to differ- 
 entiate him, and often avoid the odium which might attach to 
 an escapade in which he could very easily be wrongfully included 
 if there was no means of identification. Besides which, a uni- 
 form on a well conducted party of boys gives a camp better 
 advertising than tons of printers* ink. All sorts of colors and 
 combinations are possible and the general design of the gar- 
 ments are the result of the experience of the leading conductors 
 of boys' camps. 
 
 The following is a typical list of the outfit as supplied to many 
 of the largest boys' camp of the country by A. G. Spalding & 
 Bros. : 
 
 BOYS' CAMP. 
 1 No. C300B Hat, cloth, gray, one inch monogram embroidered 
 on front in camp colors. 
 
 1 No. C600 Shirt, worsted, sleeveless, with camp monogram in 
 
 camp colors. 
 
 2 No. C6E Shirts, cotton, sleeveless, with camp monogram in 
 
 camp colors. 
 
 2 No. C406G Shirts, flannel, full sleeves, two pockets, camp mono- 
 gram on left pocket. 
 
 2 Pairs No. C5D Flappers, khaki. 
 
 1 Pair No. C3CL Trousers, duck, white, loops for belt, cuffs. 
 
 1 No. C4R Swimming Suit, one piece, fine quality. 
 
 1 Pair No. C2 Tights, cut worsted, short, silky finish. 
 
 2 Pairs No. 33R Stockings, wool, white feet, medium weight. 
 1 No. C725 Belt, leather, nickel buckle. 
 
go SPALDINQ'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 
 
 1 No. CWDJP Sweater, worsted, medium weight, coat style, 
 
 reversible collar. 
 
 2 Pairs No. CI Shoes, canvas, white rubber soles, best quality, 
 
 low cut. 
 
 1 Pair No. CI Moccasins, leather soles, spring heel. 
 
 The outfit for girls' camps, as supplied by A. G. Spalding & 
 Bros., to many of the leading girls' camps of the country is as 
 follows : 
 
 GIRLS' CAMP. 
 
 4 No. Ill White Middy Blouses. 1 No. C20 Belt. 
 
 2 No. 112 Khaki Middy Blouses. 1 No. CMKH Half Kerchief. 
 2 Pairs No. 224 Poplin Blooomers. 1 No. CX Windsor Tie. 
 
 1 Pair No. 220 Serge Bloomers. 2 No. 4RL Bathing Suits. 
 1 Pair No. 219 Khaki Bloomers. 3 No. CSH' Bathing Caps. 
 1 No. C505 White Duck or Khaki 1 No. WJP Sweater. 
 
 Hat. 1 Pair No. C3 Mocassins, or 
 
 6 Pairs Tan Stockings. 1 Pair Sneakers. 
 
 1 Pair No. C6D Army Blankets. 1 No. CS Camping Kit. 
 1 No. C2y2 Rubber Blanket. 1 No. CM Canteen. 
 
 1 No. C280 Rain Coat. 1 Tennis Racket. 
 
 1 No. C420 Hat, sou'wester. 1 Hockey Stick. 
 
 1 Pair No. CWHB Hiking Shoes. 1 Basket Ball. 
 1 Pair No. WCB Athletic Shoes. 
 
 A tennis racket is usually a necessary part of the athletic 
 equipment. Tennis racket, hockey stick and basket balls are 
 selected from Athletic Department. 
 
 In addition to these items it is wise for the young folks to have 
 as part of the personal equipment of each, the following items : 
 
 BOYS' CAMP. 
 
 1 No. C420 Hat, sou'wester, oiled, lined, waterproof. 
 
 2 No. C6D Blanket, wool, West Point gray. 
 1 No. 0214 Blanket, rubber, 45x72 inches. 
 
 1 No. CI Poncho, rubber, 66x72 inches, or 
 1 No. C336 Poncho, oiled, 54x72 inches. 
 
 1 No. CSB Camp kit, consisting of aluminum cup, spoon, plate 
 and a combination knife and fork. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABY. M 
 
 1 No. CM Canteen, metal, felt inside canvas covered, shoulder 
 
 strap, Vi gallon. 
 
 2 No. C271 Towels, Turkish, extra heavy, plain white. 
 1 Pair No. BT Shoes, tramping, high cut. 
 
 There is a tendency among these camps for boys and girls to 
 allow the matter of exercise largely to adjust itself. The result 
 often is that energetic and restless young people get more exer- 
 cise than is good for them and the more phlegmatic or anaemic 
 youngsters get too little. There is therefore distinct advantage 
 in regulating periods of sports in which all the members of the 
 camp are urged if not required to participate. The water sports 
 will be overdone in almost every case unless strict attention is 
 paid to the camp life while other fine and developing sports, 
 such as lawn tennis, base ball, basket ball or volley ball, are 
 neglected. Too much time should not be spent in the water by 
 growing children or young people. 
 
 A delightful variety of wholesome and fascinating land sports 
 are now available for the members of these camps. Some of 
 these have so recently come into vogue as not to have been in- 
 corporated in the programme of a few of the camps. Among the 
 boys' camps the following sports may be suggested and recom- 
 mended: Base ball, among the members of the camp, or playing 
 rival camps or even local town teams; volley ball, the new and 
 fast game which has so rapidly caught the fancy of American 
 youths; basket ball, unquestionably the most widely popular in- 
 door game in the country and especially adapted for play in the 
 out of doors; foot ball, or even the passing of the foot ball 
 in the start of imaginary plays; medicine ball, putting the shot 
 and all forms of tumbling, wrestling and athletic drilling. There 
 should be, on the part of every member of the leader's corps, 
 a persistent effort to urge every youngster in the camp to par- 
 ticipate in some or all of these sports and failing in the enlist- 
 ment of such interest by urging, there should be positive in- 
 sistence upon these sports by those boys who need them most. 
 It is always the case that there are athletic young fellows in 
 
9B SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 every camp who will lead any form of sport; it is just these 
 young fellows who ought not to be allowed to monopolize the 
 good effects of regular outdoor games and sports. 
 
 In the list of games suitable for girls' camps may be men- 
 tioned the following: Base ball, with the softer ball now pro- 
 vided for girls' use; lawn tennis, basket ball, volley ball, kicking 
 or passing the foot ball, medicine ball, tether tennis, archery, 
 fencing, roque and croquet. Some of these sports have special 
 advantages little suspected by those unfamiliar with them; put- 
 ting the lightweight shot, for instance, is about as fine practice 
 for golf, where no golf is available, as could be imagined, since 
 it encourages steadiness of pose, strength of arm muscles and 
 even control of the swing of the body. Fencing is much too 
 little employed among the trainers of young girls in athletic mat- 
 ters; it is unsurpassed for the development of grace, suppleness 
 and carriage. 
 
 Every camp, whether for boys or girls, is a law unto itself 
 in the matter of the day's programme. The location of the 
 camp and the specific objects of its leaders influence the ar- 
 rangement of the day's doings. But for the information of the 
 interested reader an excellent programme is presented herewith, 
 as followed in many of the best known boys' camps in the 
 country, also one from a girls' camp : 
 
 BOYS' CAMP. 
 
 A.M. 
 
 Daily Programme. 
 
 7.00 
 
 (Rising bugle. 
 
 7.05 
 
 Setting-up exercises. 
 
 7.15 
 
 Morning plunge. 
 
 7.45 
 
 Breakfast. 
 
 8.30 
 
 Inspection. 
 
 9.12 
 
 Boating, canoeing, athletics, manual training, photography, 
 
 
 nature study, tutoring, etc. 
 
 11.00 
 
 Swim. 
 
 12.00 
 
 Dinner. 
 
SPAIJ)ING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABT. 98 
 
 P.M. 
 
 12.45-1.45 Rest, no physical exertion. 
 1.45-4.30 Base ball, tennis, athletics, basket ball, volley ball, 
 
 archery. 
 4.30 Afternoon swim. 
 5.30 Supper. 
 
 Rest after supper 30 minutes. 
 8.00 Assembly for camp fire, stories, games, entertainments. 
 9.00 Evening prayers, singing. 
 9.15 Good night. 
 9.30 Lights out, perfect quiet, asleep. 
 
 On Sunday each boy is expected to write a letter home and 
 to attend church. 
 
 GIRLS' CAMP. 
 
 A.M. Order of Exercises. 
 
 7.00 Reveille. 
 
 7.10-7.30 Setting-up exercises, dip, tennis, archery, volley ball, 
 basket ball, playground ball. 
 
 7.30 Breakfast. 
 
 8.30-11.30 Riding, sports. 
 
 8.30- 9.00 Inspection. 
 
 9.00-11.30 Handcrafts, 
 12.00 Dinner. 
 p. M. 
 
 1.00- 2.00. Rest hour. 
 
 2.00- 4.00. Land and water sports. 
 
 2.00- 5.00. Horseback riding 
 
 4.00 Swimming. 
 
 6.00 Supper. 
 
 6.30-7.45 Land and water sports. 
 
 8.00-9.00 Social hour, dancing, theatricals, reading log, etc 
 
 9.00 Call to quarters, 
 
 9J0 Lights out. 
 
94 SPAIiDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 THE RELATION OF CAMP ATHLETICS 
 TO CHARACTER BUILDING 
 
 By George W. Orton. 
 
 Director of Camp Tecumseh and Athletic Director University 
 
 of Pennsylvania- 
 
 The relation of camp athletics to character building is a matter 
 that is seriously considered by all those who are making a study 
 of the ways and means of obtaining the best results from camp 
 life. Most summer camps make a big feature of their athletics. 
 This is true except for those camps that are chiefly interested in 
 canoe trips and on that account are so situated that they have 
 not the facilities for developing any system of athletics through- 
 out the camp. Parents are coming more and more to realize 
 that the benefits of athletics are not only physical, but in a great 
 measure also mental and moral. Those who have had much to do 
 with developing boys have noted time and time again the great 
 effect that athletics have on the character development of the 
 boys interested. Several years ago a boy at Camp Tecumseh, 
 after running a quarter mile race, was called into the office of 
 the camp by the head of the organization. "You showed a yellow 
 streak this morning," said the head of the camp to the boy. This 
 abrupt declaration by the camp director completely knocked the 
 boy off his pins and he vehemently disclaimed any idea that he 
 was yellow. "You have more speed than your opponent, you 
 have often shown that you can run further, but simply because 
 you could not shake him off and because he stuck to you with 
 grim determination, at last you gave in and he beat you," said 
 the director. "You certainly showed a yellow streak and as you 
 are only a boy, now is the time to think about it and to make 
 up your mind whether you are going to be a coward in your 
 athletics from now on or not. Now I want to leave you to 
 yourself for a little while so that you can think it over and 
 when I come back I expect you frankly to acknowledge that you 
 
1, Senior Camp ; 2, Swimmingr Meet ; 3, Sigmund Neustadt Memorial feuildihg. 
 SURPRISE LAKE CAMP, COLD SPRING-ON-HUDSON. N. Y. 
 
KAMP KILL RARE, ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN, VERMONT 
 
;i^ 
 
 mm 
 
 kM^~ 
 
 m 
 
 KAMP KIWASSA, OXFORD, MAINE 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LXBBABT. « 
 
 were yellow this morning and to promise that you will not show 
 the white feather again." Thereupon the camp director left the 
 boy and did not return for some fifteen minutes. The boy then 
 stated that after thinking the matter over he felt that he had 
 shown a streak of yellow and he declared that he would not give 
 any evidence of it again. That boy became one of the 
 greatest scholastic athletes in this country. He has shown him- 
 self fearless and plucky and there is no doubt that the lesson 
 he got that morning was a big factor in his development along 
 this line. 
 
 The above is a definite individual example of what can be 
 done through athletics in the development of a boy's character 
 along the lines of courage and determination. 
 
 Boxing is a sport which is practised at many camps and is one 
 that should be encouraged because of its aid in developing manli- 
 ness and self-control. How often at camp does one see two 
 little fellows in their first boxing match. The first time that one 
 of the little fellows gets a good crack over the eye he is quite 
 liable to stop and to begin to cry. If this matter is handled right 
 the boy's self-esteem will not be hurt and it will only be a matter 
 of ten days or so until the same little fellow will be standing 
 up to an opponent getting the same knock and not thinking any- 
 thing about it. The older boys also get through boxing a degree 
 of self-control that is worth much to them later on. ^ 
 
 Base ball and other team sports are also most valuable aids 
 in developing the character of boys. In base ball, as in other 
 team games, the boy must learn to give away to the best interest 
 of the team. He must learn to "sacrifice," if the order for a 
 sacrifice is given, even though he would much prefer to knock 
 it to the woods. He must learn to be courageous enough to slide 
 to bases, to stand up to the plate and to do many other things 
 that will develop self-control and courage in him. He must also 
 learn to recognize that the boy who displaces him on the team 
 is a better boy than he is and that the best way to get back on 
 the team is to get down to business, work hard and earn his way 
 back. Such lessons as these for the growing boy are really 
 
96 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRAHT. 
 
 i 
 
 invaluable as they have a direct influence on his character md 
 strengthen him on the very lines that are necessary for him if 
 later on he is to be a success in business or professional life. 
 
 The individual games, such as track and field athletics, tennis, 
 swimming, etc., are also all valuable aids in developing a boy's 
 character. In these individual sports, the boy must learn to de- 
 pend upon himself. He is opposed directly to other individuals 
 and it is soon brought home to him that in order to do well he 
 must practice faithfully and must gain a high degree of skill 
 in whatever event he is participating. The field events, hurdle 
 races, rowing, swimming, etc., are also very valuable in teaching 
 a boy concentration of mind and self-control. In field events, it 
 is necessary first of all to obtain the required style for the event. 
 For instance, in high jumping the boy must put a great deal of 
 attention on the way in which he throws his body over the bar. 
 To do this he must concentrate probably much more keenly than 
 he ever does in his studies. There is no denying the fact that 
 in mastering the various sports and games boys generally develop 
 more concentration than in any other way. For this reason 
 fi.eld sports and athletics in general are very valuable factors in 
 developing concentration of mind. The individual sports spoken 
 of above are also a great aid in bringing out individuality in the 
 boy and in developing courage and determination. In such sports 
 the boy finds himself opposed directly to some other individual 
 and he must do his very best or it can be seen at once. The boy 
 must measure himself with the others and he feels at once 
 whether he is superior or not. It is for this reason that in some 
 respects these individual sports are more valuable in the training 
 of a boy than are the team games. They are, undoubtedly, so 
 as far as the development of concentration of mind and courage 
 are concerned. 
 
 One of the best features of athletics at a camp or any insti- 
 tution, is the generous feelings that are developed throughout 
 the boys on the various teams. The boy in his athletics learns 
 self-sacrifice in very many ways. How often do we see a boy 
 on a base ball team, for instance, teaching another boy the finer 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRART. 97 
 
 points of catching or batting or sliding to bases, even though he 
 knows that that boy may later on displace him from the team. 
 The boy's idea is to do his best for the team and this spirit 
 will help him greatly in after life in business and in society. 
 
 Summing up, I would state that athletics are one of the biggest 
 factors in the life of any camp because they have a direct in- 
 fluence upon the character of the boys. They develop courage, 
 self-control, self-sacrifice, keenness of eye, and an all around 
 ability to handle oneself physically, and a general sturdiness of 
 character that is appreciated by all. In addition to the real bene- 
 fits to character, through their athletics, the boys get a vast 
 amount of enjoyment and they make some of their very best 
 friends while engaging in sports. No summer camp, unless as 
 stated previously having as its aim canoe trips, etc., could afford 
 to abolish athletics from its sphere of activity. 
 
 The question of whether athletics in summer camps should be 
 confined entirely to the camp itself, or to competition with other 
 camps, is one that must be decided by circumstances. If suitable 
 opponents can be found, competition with other camps should be 
 engaged in because it emphasizes the various benefits spoken of 
 above. Inter-camp athletics will also develop an esprit de corps 
 throughout camp, which is valuable not only to the camp, but 
 to the boys. Such a spirit will help the boys in their determina- 
 tion to do their very best and it will also spread throughout the 
 camp a feeling of comradeship, which is very valuable to all 
 concerned. 
 
•PAIi»IN6'S ATHLBTIO LIBRARY. 
 
 INTELLECTUAL RECREATION AT CAMP 
 
 By Dr. George Alexander Kohut 
 Director of Kamp Kohut, Oxford, Maine. 
 
 As an oflFset to the strenuous activities of camp life, with its 
 diversified sports and athletic routine, it is well to encourage 
 diversions and recreations which give the boy not only a rest 
 period but a definite interest in something which appeals to his 
 emotional and spiritual nature. 
 
 A feature of any well organized camp is the compulsory siesta, 
 usually after the principal meal, at midday. Boys should 
 be required to stretch out on their cots and to relax. If they 
 are not able to sleep, they should be encouraged to lie perfectly 
 still or to read some absorbing book. It is obviously perilous 
 to permit them to be at large, during the heat of the day, after 
 a heavy meal. 
 
 Perhaps the most important phases of camp life are certain 
 group activities, established under wise and competent leader- 
 ship. These may be either clubs, for the purpose of reading or 
 debate; nature study classes, for the observation of the flora 
 and fauna; dramatic societies, and other forms of entertain- 
 ment, which are numerous and varied, according to the resources 
 of the men and women in charge of camp organizations. 
 
 In our own camp we have found it a pleasure to interest boys 
 in dramatics. In this field a boy is naturally at home. One does 
 not find it difficult^ to discover latent talent in almost every in- 
 dividual. Every boy is an actor. At every camp there is 
 abundant human material for this form of entertainment. We 
 have reproduced quite a number of popular plays as given in 
 New York, and guests who had seen these performances are 
 enthusiastic in their endorsement and admiration and maintaia 
 that they compare favorably with the work of professionals. 
 
 A notable educational feature is a series of illustrated trave- 
 logues. The director and members of his faculty can easily 
 
SPALBINQ'S ATHLETIO LIBRARY. 99 
 
 hoW a group of boys by telling them something of their varied 
 experiences. In addition to these, addresses by distinguished 
 men on various topics likely to interest the average boy, would 
 be welcome for an evening's entertainment. 
 
 Altogether, it may be recommended as a good working prin- 
 ciple, that a boy's mental and spiritual life should not be suf- 
 fered to lie fallow during the fruitful vacation period, when a 
 boy, in his formative years, will carry with him impressions 
 which will remain through life and which should help him in his 
 future career of usefulness as a citizen. 
 
SPALDINO'a ATHLBTIO LIBRABT. 
 
 "THE LONG HIKE." 
 
 By Eugene H. Lehman 
 Director Highland Nature Club, South Naples, Me. 
 
 On the first Saturday evening in July, when the Highland 
 Nature Club lassies, having assembled to participate in the cere- 
 monies connected with lighting the opening campfire of the sea- 
 son, instructions are given out relative to the big hike. Girls are 
 then informed that only fifteen of the fifty members of the 
 summer colony will be chosen for this expedition, and that the 
 privilege will be awarded to those who show the best physical 
 condition and reveal in their community life the highest degree 
 of H. N. C spirit. 
 
 From that moment, competition begins — a unique competition 
 in caring for one's body and in obeying the laws of the clan. 
 The expert tennis player now ceases to grumble when her less 
 skillful partner fails to return an easy ball; the snobbish girl 
 abandons her clique; the poor "mixer" seeks to become a "good 
 fellow." 
 
 Finally, as a result of a fair competition in a series of pre- 
 liminary tests, fifteen enthusiastic walkers and trained campers 
 win their places in the hiking squads. After the weather bureau 
 has been carefully consulted, the day is set for the start. On 
 the evening before, each girl is provided with a government 
 chart, showing the highway along which the party is to proceed. 
 This road, she, under the guidance of the chief hiking councilor, 
 marks with red ink, plainly indicating the places where every 
 meal is to be taken and where the night is to be spent. Further, 
 she it told of the points of literary, geographical, or historical 
 interest that are to be passed on the march, and is then sent to 
 bed for a good night's rest. 
 
 As the girls tramp along, their merry voices accord so nat- 
 urally with the songs of the birds and the beauty of the flowers 
 that the actual walking is almost forgotten, when the whistle 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLBTIO LIBRARY. 101 
 
 suddenly gives the signal that the six mile stage has been covered, 
 and that th© time for the two minute rest period has therefore 
 arrived. The hikeri halt, but do not iit down, for sitting 
 relaxes the muscles and makes starting again all th« mort 
 difficult. At five in the evening, camp is made for the night. 
 By seven, supper is over, the ponchos spread out upon the grassy 
 turf in the orchard of a kindly-disposed farmer, and soon the 
 girls are sleeping the reinvigorating sleep of health. 
 
 They rise with the sun the following morning, and after break- 
 fast, they tip-toe their way to the farmer's cottage, and startle 
 his family by giving a lusty camp cheer in grateful recognition 
 of his hospitality. With a song on their lips, they are off for 
 the second day's march. 
 
 So the miles roll on, until at five in the evening, the hikers 
 reach the summit of Crockett's hill; their campmates espy them 
 and rush to welcome their more hardy sisters with a cheer while 
 plying them with innumerable questions until every adventure 
 on the hike is told and retold to groups of interested listeners. 
 
 On the morrow, there is but one topic of conversation — ^the 
 "Long Hike" for the next year. 
 
108 FPAIJSING'S ATHLBTIC LIBBABT. 
 
 A VACATION CAMP 
 
 By Leon E. Katzenstein. / 
 
 Superintendent Young Men's Hebrew Association, Lexington 
 Avenue and Ninety-second Street, New York; 
 Administrator Surprise Lake Camp. 
 
 The growth of population in our large cities has developed 
 the "Vacation Camp," varying from the luxurious lodge in the 
 Adirondacks, the plaything of some millionaire, to the little 
 tent of a group of boys, erected on the ocean's edge, or in a 
 grove on the property of some kind-hearted farmer. 
 
 Of this later type and its development, I would write. When 
 people lived more moderately, with room for air and sunshine 
 and exercise, and an opportunity for enjoyment of green grass 
 and waving trees and the sparkling waters of river or lake or 
 ocean, there was not the present crying need for a period of 
 rest and change. This has evolved with the growth of industry 
 and the consequent development of cities. 
 
 To meet the natural longing and actual needs of the less 
 fortunate boys and girls and even men and women, the "vaca- 
 tion camp," so called, has been developed. A bit of the history 
 of Surprise Lake Camp owned jointly by the Educational Al- 
 liance and the Young Men's Hebrew Association of Man- 
 hattan, will best illustrate the vacation camp idea. Its slogan, 
 "Recreation Without Temptation," the words of Mr. Henry M. 
 Toch, for many years chairman of the Committee epitomizes 
 the camp object. "^ 
 
 From two small camps on rented grounds on Long Island, 
 has grown the present organization, occupying its own premises 
 near Cold Spring-on-Hudson. The property comprises six hun- 
 dred acres of rugged mountain land, covered with forests and 
 fields and orchards and encompassing a most picturesque little 
 lake. The land is so rugged that there was not even enough 
 level land for an athletic field, so the only swampy spot on the 
 
CAMP NAMASCHAUG. SPOFJTORD^ NEW^HAMPSpiRE 
 
CAMP HARLElV J^aUREL lake, TYLER HILL, PA, 
 
CAMP WONPOSET. BANTAM LAKE,' COJ^CtlOUT ' 
 
1. A-wor.mjr of CoBege Camp; % Camp minstrel troupe; 3, Trying to look civilized. 
 ' • ^JOlilJSiitiE .GAMP. CLIFF HAVEN, N. Y. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLBTIO LIBRABT. IM 
 
 property was graded and filled for this purpose. The prin- 
 cipal structure at the camp is the elaborate Sigmund Neustadt 
 Memorial Building, containing kitchens and mess halls for the 
 accommodation of three hundred campers, play rooms |for 
 younger bOys, business and physician's offices and rooms for 
 visiting directors. 
 
 In a camp as large as this (almost fifteen hundred were ac- 
 commodated last year) systematic administration is an im- 
 portant requisite. Not only is the commissary carefully regu- 
 lated, but the amusements of the campers must be directed, so 
 that every facility may receive the fullest use. The lake, with 
 its boating, bathing and fishing, is constantly under the sur- 
 veillance of life guards. A man trained in sports is always on 
 duty on the athletic field to organize and assist. Leaders take 
 groups for hikes and excursions. Manual training teachers 
 interest boys in handicraft. An experienced forester teaches 
 them the ways of the woods and the kinds of trees and their 
 value. There is even an artist to arouse the interest in and 
 appreciation of nature. 
 
 This camp is by no means self-supporting. A large section is 
 devoted to boys from poor homes whose payments represent 
 only a fraction of the cost of maintenance, but all are treated 
 exactly alike 
 
 A camp like this receives students and clerks of moderate 
 means. It gives them, during their usually limited vacations, 
 the opportunity of receiving all the benefits of life out of doors, 
 witkout the hardships which their inexperience would bring, 
 were they in a crude camp and dependent on their own efforts 
 in procuring and preparing their food and otherwise providing 
 for their personal necessities. 
 
lil SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABY. 
 
 CARE NECESSARY IN CAMP SELECTION 
 
 By Ralph F. Perry 
 Director Kamp Kill Kare, on Lake Champlain, Vermont. 
 
 The experimental stage of the summer camp for boys has 
 passed. The value of such camps is now well recognized. 
 Parents, who are able, prefer to have their boys' activities 
 supervised during the long vacations, rather than to allow the 
 boys free rein to their inclinations with the "gangs" in their 
 native towns, or at summer resorts where the social life does not 
 provide a wholesome atmosphere for the adolescent. 
 
 Different camps provide different advantages, and parents 
 should make a careful study of these advantages before making 
 a selection. Four factors enter into such deliberations. First, 
 the personnel of the directing forces; second, the location; 
 third, the type of boys represented; and, lastly, the equipment 
 should receive consideration. 
 
 The parent wants to feel sure that the camp to which his boy 
 is going for a considerable time during the most formative 
 period of his life, is directed by men who know and sympathize 
 with boy nature, and have had successful experience in dealing 
 with boys. He should make sure that there is a stability and a 
 permanency to the organization; that conscientious effort is ex- 
 pended to develop the best qualities in the boy. The wise parent 
 will scrupulously avoid all mushroom organizations, and such 
 as have been formed with no broader vision than to make money. 
 The pitiable feature of the situation is that, with the growing 
 need of these camps, has sprung up a crop of unscrupulous ex- 
 perimenters who think they see, in this business, an opportunity 
 to make some "easy money," and who know or care nothing for 
 the proper care and supervision of youth. ^\ 
 
 The second consideration is one of locality. It is a mistake to 
 send a boy to a camp so remote from railroad accommodations 
 that it is inaccessible. It should be possible for parents fre- 
 quently to visit their boys during the summer, and access to 
 
,^ BPALDINQ'S ATHLKTIO LIBRAET. 106 
 
 tenUri should be easy in case of need. This does not mean that 
 the wild, free life of nature must be sacrificed, for there ar« 
 many camps not remote from centers which yet afford all the 
 pleasures of the wildest regions. 
 
 The locality should be one which affords water for fishing and 
 swimming, mountains for climbing, land for all kinds of sport. 
 It furthermore should be a site which is high, and so free from 
 all the attendant evils of low, damp ground. The tents should be 
 pitched in a grove furnishing shade, but not too deep shade. 
 For this, maples and elms afford a much more healthful atmos- 
 phere than thickest evergreens. 
 
 Just a word should be included regarding the selection of boys. 
 A money-making organization will take a boy regardless of his 
 qualifications. An honest camp with an ideal, will see to it that 
 no boy of twisted morals enters its doors. Moreover, it will 
 be as scrupulous in dismissing boys who prove themselves, in 
 any way, unfit companions. 
 
 Finally, a camp which intends to perform its functions properly 
 for the growing boy should be well equipped in all that makes 
 that function possible. If boys over fourteen years of age are 
 taken, it should be ascertained that such boys have separate 
 grounds and sleeping quarters, widely removed from the younger 
 boys. A regulation base ball diamond for each group should be 
 provided; tennis courts, in number enough to accommodate the 
 needs of all the camp, and good enough to insure pleasurable and 
 accurate play, are indispensable; open air gymnasiums, basket 
 ball courts, canoes, rowboats, motor boats, swimming rafts — all 
 should furnish their quota toward making the boy's summer 
 profitable and enjoyable. 
 
 And most important of all is the consideration of sanitation. 
 If pure drinking water is not provided and sanitary disposal of 
 all refuse, the camp is unsafe and no fit place for summer occu- 
 pation. ^>^' 
 
 If the councilors are wise and kind, the location suitable, the 
 boys congenial, and the equipment satisfactory, no more healthful 
 or enjoyable vacation can be offered a boy than a season in a 
 summer camp. 
 
BPALDINS'S ATHLBTIO LIBBIST. 
 
 A BOYS' CAMP WITH A RELIGIOUS 
 ENVIRONMENT 
 
 While camps in general are usually undenominational and the 
 director makes it a point to see that his charges attend the 
 services of whatever creed they may profess, still many parents 
 prefer to entrust their boys to the supervision of one of their 
 own denomination. 
 
 Camp Namaschaug at Spofford, New Hampshire, under the 
 direction of the Very Rev. J. J. Griffin, Ph. D., is a typical camp 
 of this description, but the routine varies in no wise from that 
 of hundreds of others. In speaking of his ideas of camp life and 
 what led to his establishment of Camp Namaschaug, Father 
 Griffin said: 
 
 **Some years ago, the problem of what to do with the boys 
 was often a perplexing one to parents who were planning their 
 summer holidays; for resorts which offered the fullest measure 
 of rest and recreation to the other members of the family 
 proved dull and depressing to the boys when the novelty of the 
 new environment wore off. Though the schools close their doors 
 and books are laid aside, the boy's education itself knows no 
 respite but continues on during vacation, and needs capable 
 experts for its direction through the summer months as well 
 as during those of winter. Courage, fortitude* resolution, self- 
 control, regard for the rights of others, and courtesy, may be 
 inculcated in school, but they become habits in a properly con- 
 ducted camp, the true laboratory of character. 
 
 "The development of the real boy calls for a certain amount 
 of proficiency in athletics on land and water, and no lad is going 
 to neglect any opportunity of attaining it. During the summer 
 months, away from the restrictions of school life, and with that 
 freedom of movement which comes from a dependence on his 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRABT. 107 
 
 own resources for amusement, his search for recreation may 
 bring him into aisociations more or less injurious. 
 
 *'Not the least effective factor in the success of the Many 
 camps is the personnel of their staff of instructors. These are 
 college men of proven ability; better, graduates, selected for 
 their sympathetic interest in all that concerns boys. They enter 
 into companionship with them, joining in their work and play, 
 aiding them with suggestions, discussing school work and all 
 boyish ambitions, giving assistance in study, and discerning and 
 bringing out the best that is in them. 
 
108 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 THE REAL AIM OF CAMPING 
 
 By William Mitchell 
 Director Camp Harlee, Laurel Lake, Tyler Hill, Pa. 
 
 The great aim of a camp should be to give the boy camper 
 every benefit possible. The average boy of from ten to fourteen 
 years of age is impressionable; full of the desire to learn and 
 to live, and it is at this time in his life when camping will do 
 him the greatest amount of good. The one thing that should 
 be most emphasized is that he be helpful to others. It is all 
 well and good to derive as much pleasure and personal benefit 
 from camp life as possible. That is what the camp is for. But 
 the boy who seeks only selfish benefit and refuses to give a help- 
 ing hand to his fellow campers, loses much of the beauty and 
 value of camp life. 
 
 The time is coming when parents will fully realize the great 
 value of camp life for the all round development of their boys. 
 In the meantime it is the duty of the camp leader to equip him- 
 self for the great task of dealing with tender lives and to make 
 his camp more than a mere pleasure ground. It should be this 
 and more. The only camp that is worth while is the one that 
 is and aims to be a character-building institution. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLBTIO LIBBABT. 109 
 
 HOW THE BOYS' CAMP MOVEMENT HAS 
 GROWN 
 
 By ROBERt TiNDALB. 
 
 Director Camp Wonposet, Bantam Lake, Conn. 
 
 There has never been any question in the minds of most 
 thinking people as to the advisability of keeping the younger 
 generation out-o'-doors as much as possible. The various wood- 
 craft movements begun by Seton-Thompson, and encouraged 
 by such nationally-known defenders of boydom as Dan Beard and 
 his brother, have developed with remarkable rapidity of late 
 years and one of the natural outgrowths was the summer camp 
 for boys. 
 
 It is now pretty thoroughly understood that the change of air, 
 change of mental perspective, change of food and companions 
 and methods of life in general, all under the blue sky and forest 
 trees is beneficial to a degree. Boys are becoming more self- 
 reliant, more resourceful, and, after their long period of study, 
 far healthier boys. 
 
 The sweet, clean tent, in the big outdoors, with sandy beaches, 
 tennis and base ball matches, in addition to Nature's wonderful 
 book of many mysteries, open for all to see. When a boy re- 
 turns at the end of a season he is pretty much a master of any 
 situation, from building a fire without matches in the rain to 
 knowing the habits of the cinnamon bear and the scarlet tanager. 
 We are destined to see still more rapid advances in the boy's 
 camp movement and with such big, manly ideals, guiding it, is 
 sure to be the Mecca of every real boy who once discovers what 
 Old Chief Wonposet discovered, many, many years ago. 
 
BPALDING'B ATHLBTIO LIBRARY. > 
 
 THE CAMP AS AN ADJUNCT TO A 
 SUMMER SCHOOL 
 
 Lafayette W. Yarwood, who is director of the "College Camp/* 
 near the Catholic Summer School at Cliff Haven, N. Y., adjacent 
 to Plattsburgh, on Lake Champlain, has made an especial study 
 of camp life and is a believer in athletics as a vent for the rest- 
 less nature of the boy and likewise as an antidote for the regu- 
 larity of the life which would otherwise become monotonous 
 to the undeveloped and semi-disciplined youngster. 
 
 Mr. Yarwood says: "The educational advantages that accrue 
 to a boy from association with others in camp can be readily 
 appreciated. Mental training and character building depend in 
 great measure on the associations of youth, and diversity of ideas 
 and breadth of view are the results of the subconscious impres- 
 sions which are moulded into youthful habits of thought. Ath- 
 letics and muscle building must have a prominent place in the 
 schedule of camp existence. Realizing this, camp officials are 
 making athletic contests an attractive incentive to boys under 
 their charge. Tennis, base ball, golf and water sports are some 
 of the major attractions which give the boys healthful outdoor 
 exercise." 
 
HORSEBACK RIDING AT CAMP KINEO 
 
7 
 
 
 CAMP SETAG. IN THE ADIRONDACKS, N. Y. 
 
A standing doubles contest. 
 
 Swimming ashore with a canoe after an upset. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABT. lU 
 
 HORSEBACK RIDING FOR BOYS' CAMPS 
 
 By Irving G. McColl, Director of Camp Kineo. 
 
 Riding is a manly sport which every young gentleman should 
 master as early in life as possible. The "rough rider" idea 
 appeals to every live boy and this should be encouraged. An 
 ambition to become a cowboy is more wholesome for the young- 
 ster than a desire to be a gentleman chauffeur. The city- 
 bred boy is trending too much in the latter direction and knows 
 more at thirteen than his father did at twenty— or thinks he 
 does — and has more privileges. He needs some "roughing up" 
 in contact with other beings, human and otherwise, and a re- 
 adjustment of his opinions and ideals to fit the real conditions 
 he will encounter later. This is what the right kind of camping 
 will do for him and here he should have the widest kind of 
 experience such as he does not get during his school year. 
 
 Riding as a part of the boy's training in sports should take 
 equal rank with swimming, base ball, athletics and the study of 
 nature and campcraft. The boy should learn to know and love 
 his pony. Learning to ride properly is a training in self-control, 
 • in unselfishness, in manliness, and in a broadening of interests, 
 for he learns to treat his mount kindly and keep his wits 
 working. 
 
 The boy who learns in camp something about his true relation 
 to the world around him, its great message of love and service, 
 and the art of living with and enjoying other beings and creatures 
 about him, has gained something worth while. 
 
in SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 THE VALUE OF CAMP LIFE FOR GIRLS 
 
 By Miss Ada M. Gates 
 Camp Setag, in the Adirondacks, N. Y. 
 
 The past few years have brought quite clearly to parents the 
 value of the outdoor life for girls. Heretofore the outdoor sports 
 and the week or month's tenting in the woods and enjoying of 
 nature was left entirely to the realm of boyhood. Consequently 
 she did not reach the physical development she should and thus 
 her mental development was restricted. The broad, wholesome 
 view of life she should have had given her was lost — lost in 
 the training of the girls who were to be the mothers of the 
 future men of this country. 
 
 As distinguished from mountain climbing, walks, and the 
 various phases of life in the open — the direct activities include 
 tennis, archery, soccer, basket ball, swimming and rowing. All 
 these sports stimulate team work and the right spirit of rivalry. 
 The swimming hour is always one of greatest interest. No one 
 can use boats until she has quahfied by swimming a certain num- 
 ber of yards, which has been decided upon by the physical di- 
 rector. This rule stimulates all the girls, so that before camp 
 closes practically everyone can swim. 
 
 And when the nine weeks of this healthy, helpful and happy 
 life come to an end many girls wish instead they were still before 
 them. 
 
BPAU>INa-S ATHLETIC MBBABT. lU 
 
 WHY BASKET BALL IS ESPECIALLY 
 SUITABLE FOR GIRLS' CAMPS 
 
 By Senda Berenson Abbott- 
 Formerly Director of Physical Culture, Northampton, Mass. 
 
 Of all times and places the summer and a camp are most 
 ideal for the playing of games. It is then one can catch the 
 spirit of play — one can then play all day with a clear conscience. 
 And what more delightful game is there to play than basket ball ? 
 It has been the most popular game for girls ever since it came 
 into existence, over twenty years ago. It is played by thousands 
 of girls of all ages, all over the country, and if carefully super- 
 vised is the best all round game anyone can play. 
 
 It is a most valuable game from the point of view of physical 
 development; it exercises every part of the body and does not, 
 like most other games, exercise one side of the body more than 
 the other. It trains the mind to think and act quickly. Especially 
 it teaches, as no other game, the spirit of co-operation, the desire 
 to work for the team instead of for oneself, loyalty — traits that 
 the woman of today vitally needs. 
 
 From a practical point of view it is a splendid game to play 
 in a camp, as it gives a surprising amount of exercise and pleas- 
 ure the very first time one plays it — and with each practise the 
 pleasure and interest are increased. Until teams are chosen, if 
 the open air fi,eld is large enough, it may be played by a goodly 
 number (say, ten or twelve on each team) at one time. Young 
 girls, also, may play it with perfect safety, providing they are 
 never allowed to play it without supervision, and there are 
 numerous periods of rest during the practise. 
 
 Surely, anyone who has tried basket ball for a summer will 
 say that it is the most delightful and profitable game that camp 
 girls play. 
 
IM SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 CAMPS FOR ADULTS 
 
 By a. Schatzel 
 Director Kamp Kiwassa, Oxford, Maine. 
 
 While, what might be termed "community" camps — as dis- 
 tinguished from the hunting or fishing camp of a few sports- 
 men — are commonly associated with those designed for the 
 summer vacations of boys and girls, there is just as much neces- 
 sity for a camp on similar lines for the grown-ups, and this 
 phase of camp life is meeting with much encouragement from 
 those wearied with the conventionality of the town and who 
 have not the desire to follow it during the all too short period 
 of midsummer recreation. Living in the open, if only for a 
 limited period, fortifies one for the rigors of another year of 
 urban residence and the healthful and recuperative air of the 
 forest does for the camper what the prescription clerk can never 
 compound. 
 
 No camp is complete now without the athletic feature — of 
 varying degrees of strenuosity, as the camper may elect — and 
 tennis, volley ball, medicine ball, basket ball, and even base ball 
 with the soft playground ball, all lend themselves to enjoyable 
 contests which can include players of both sexes. 
 
 Style is ignored and with congenial companions, the days soon 
 pass, while the evening is spent around the big campfire with 
 music, story telling and such diversions as make the twilight 
 hours most pleasant memories. 
 
SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBBART. 116 
 
 ATHLETICS AT CAMP 
 
 By George V. Bonhag, Director. 
 
 The primary object of a camp should be to afford boys a 
 wholesome vacation — the amount of exercise to be indulged 
 in (in the various forms of sports) to be governed entirely by 
 the physical condition of the different boys. The value of 
 athletics as an aid to education has long been acknowledged and 
 at all the leading schools of the country a certain number of 
 hours per week, devoted solely to athletics, is insisted upon. 
 
 Right here is where the camp proves an invaluable aid. 
 Athletics at camp should not be conducted as a requirement, but 
 should be encouraged and so presented as to afford the greatest 
 amount of pleasure to the participants. Among every group of 
 boys there is always a certain number who are more or less 
 apathetic to athletics. These boys should be instructed in the 
 various sports in such a manner as to arouse an interest. This 
 can be accomplished in several ways. Take for instance the 
 game of base ball. The writer has known of several instances 
 where young boys have shown a decided dislike for the most 
 popular of American sports; yet before the end of two months 
 some of these boys have not only shown great interest in the 
 sport, but decided ability. This was brought about by forming a 
 base ball league, playing the "indoor base ball" game outdoors. 
 Every boy, no matter how young, could take part and be a 
 member of one of the teams, and before the first interclub series 
 was finished the greatest possible interest was aroused for all, 
 which continued throughout the season. It developed a sense 
 of team work in the boys which could hardly have been brought 
 about in any other way. The same thing will apply to other 
 sports, if tournaments are arranged for teams — doubles in tennis, 
 doubles or fours in rowing, and so on down the line. The 
 directors of camps have a splendid opportunity to develop the 
 js^ense of loyalty in the boy — loyalty to his school, his college, his 
 
us SPiLLDlNG'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 
 
 friends, his puriK)se in life— by instilling the idea of team work 
 in his athletics. 
 
 Track work at camp (especially for boys under sixteen years 
 of age) should be confined to such events for which it will not 
 be necessary to undergo a systematic course of training. The out- 
 door life of camp, with its various activities in base ball, tennis, 
 swimming, etc., should be sufficient preparation for running events 
 up to the 440 yards run, and races of longer distance can well 
 be dispensed with at camp. The purpose of the camp is to build 
 up the boy and prepare him for a hard year at school, and 
 training for young boys during the summer season will defeat 
 this purpose. 
 
BPAU>INa'S ATSUITIO LIBBABT. tVt 
 
 CAMP LIFE HAS DEVELOPED MANY 
 PROMINENT ATHLETES 
 
 By George C. Carens, in the Boston Transcript 
 
 With the recent great development of summer camps, schools 
 and colleges have been quick to realize how much these institu- 
 tions do to insure that steady flow of good athletes that is not 
 only desirable, but virtually necessary. Many of our college 
 stars received their early base ball training at camp, where they 
 were under the direction of competent coaches and where they 
 were free to devote much of their time to their favorite sport. 
 School boys who have spent a portion of every day during the 
 summer on the diamond or tennis court or in the water are bound 
 to become proficient athletes and to find the task of earning posi- 
 tions on the school teams a much easier task. 
 
 Every boy must learn to swim in order to care for himself in 
 the water. Instructors usually teach the best methods so that 
 it is not many days before the smallest members of the camp can 
 take the "morning dip" with the larger campers. The love of 
 the water in summer camps has no doubt been the cause of many 
 of the marked strides made by this sport in the school and college 
 ranks of recent years. 
 
 One of the advantages of camp life is that everyone, from 
 the director down through the councilors, senior and junior 
 campers, is required to share the work of bed-making, water 
 carrying, cleaning of the grounds and other duties which under 
 other conditions might be considered distasteful. A democracy 
 among the campers is developed by this plan, it has been found, 
 and tends to develop the boys physically. A part of the after- 
 noon programme at many of the camps includes a "rest period,*' 
 usually after lunch, during which time the boys are required 
 to either sleep or read, in order that the life may not key them 
 up to a high tension and assume a "merry-go-round" atmos- 
 phere. 
 
118 «PAl4DING'S ATHLETIC LIBBABT. 
 
 Intra-camp base ball leagues are formed as a general rule, 
 with the councilor in charge of the different teams. The coun- 
 cilors generally are boys who have a lot of natural ability, or 
 athletes of more or less note who have made good as college 
 or school players. The programme at many of the camps is 
 practically along the lines of the "compulsory sports" systems 
 adopted by many private schools, although not bearing that 
 name. Every boy is given a chance to get into the game and 
 this is especially true of base ball, for the club system is usually 
 adopted, with intense rivalry resulting. Then, too, once or 
 twice a week the "first" team meets nines that represent adja- 
 cent camps, and when the grouping of camps allows, a league 
 is formed. 
 
 Evening story-telling, occasional visits from college men who 
 are known because of their feats in the field of sports, boat and 
 canoe racing, archery, croquet and many other activities are used 
 to break up the routine and put zest into camp life. 
 
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