missing in your catalogue.
"Anyone who has witnessed a real camp fire and participated in its fun
as well as seriousness will never forget it. The huge fire shooting up
its tongue of flame into the darkness of the night, the perfect shower
of golden rain, the company of happy {161} boys, and the great dark
background of piny woods, the weird light over all, the singing, the
yells, the stories, the fun, and then the serious word at the close,
is a happy experience long to be remembered."
Camp-fire Stunts
The camp fire is a golden opportunity for the telling of stories--good
stories told well. Indian legends, war stories, ghost stories,
detective stories, stories of heroism, the history of life, a talk
about the stars. Don't draw out the telling of a story. Make the story
life-like.
College songs always appeal to boys. Let some leader start up a song
in a natural way, and soon you will have a chorus of unexpected melody
and harmony. As the fire dies down, let the songs be of a more quiet
type like "My Old Kentucky Home," and ballads of similar nature.
When the embers are glowing is the time for toasting marshmallows. Get
a long stick sharpened to a point, fasten a marshmallow on the end,
hold it over the embers, not in the blaze, until the marsh-mallow
expands. Oh, the deliciousness of it! Ever tasted one? Before roasting
corn on the cob, tie the end of the husk firmly with string or cord;
soak in water for about an hour; then put into the hot embers. The
water prevents the corn from burning and the firmly tied husks enable
the corn to be steamed and the real corn flavor is thus retained. In
about twenty minutes the corn may be taken from the fire and eaten.
Have a bowl of melted butter and salt at hand. Also a pastry brush to
spread the melted butter upon the corn. Try it.
Story Telling
For an example of a good story to be told around the camp fire this
excellent tale by Prof. F. M. Burr is printed by permission:
How Men Found the Great Spirit
In the olden time, when the woods covered all the earth except the
deserts and the river bottoms, and men lived on the fruits and berries
they found and the wild animals which they could shoot or snare, when
they dressed in skins and lived in caves, there was little time for
thought. But as men grew stronger and more cunning and learned how to
live together, they had more time to think and more mind to think
with.
Men had learned many things. They had l
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