eave the hands free. It is a
great mistake to start on a hike with one's arms laden.

Do not plan to go too great a distance in the time at your disposal.
Remember that aside from the time you need for going and coming you
expect to enjoy yourselves cooking and eating, and you need time for
both. For an over-night hike, when you carry your equipment select a
spot not more than two miles distant.

Good things to carry in one's pocket are a drinking cup, a geological
survey map (ten cents), a small pocket compass, a camper's knife, a
small soapstone to sharpen it, a match box, and a note-book and pencil.

Plan a definite object for the hike. Note how many kinds of trees, wild
flowers or birds one can find.

Practice building fires for cooking, or getting material for a bed such
as balsam, etc. Inquire for points of historical interest and make them
the goal of the hike. There is hardly a town that has not some place
connected with the early history of the nation.

Personal Equipment

Spending the nights under the stars is one of the great fascinations of
camping. Each person requires two waterproof ground cloths or ponchos,
two pairs of light wool blankets, safety pins, heavy cord, sleeping
garments, rain coat, and toilet articles, including such things as soap,
toilet paper, sewing kit, electric flashlight, mirror, first aid kit,
provision for mosquitoes or flies, five yards of bar netting, and oil of
citronella.

In order to ensure protection from the rain spread one waterproof
covering or poncho on the ground using half underneath so that the upper
half may be folded over the head in case of rain. Put blankets _under_
as well as _over_ you, and a second waterproof covering over the
blankets.

Clothing

When living out of doors, one may make shift for shelter, or even go
hungry for a space, but there is no substitute for comfortable clothing
that is safe to use if one would keep well. Horace Kephart, the master
camper, devotes much space to this subject, and we can do no better than
to follow his advice from Camping and Woodcraft.

"* * * One soon learns that the difference between comfort and misery,
if not health and illness, may depend on whether he is properly clad.
Proper, in this case does not mean modish, but suitable, serviceable,
proven by the touchstone of experience to be best for the work or play
that is in hand. When you seek a guide in the mountains, he looks first
in your eyes and then at