Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.) -- Juvenile fiction; Boy Scouts of America -- Juvenile fiction; Camps -- Juvenile fiction
They found the hill on the opposite shore not as steep as it had looked
from across the water, and here at its base, in the dim solitude by the
shore, was Temple Camp. There was a large open pavilion built of
untrimmed wood, which would accommodate eight or ten troops, allowing to
each some measure of privacy and there were as many as a dozen log
cabins, some large enough for two or three patrols, others intended
evidently to accommodate but one. There was a shack for the storage of
provisions and equipment, in which the boys saw among other things piles
upon piles of wooden platters.
"Not much dishwashing here," said Pee-wee, joyfully.
Here, also, were half a dozen tents and every imaginable article
necessary to camp life. Close by was a cooking shack and outside this
several long mess boards with rough seats; and just beyond was a spring
of clear water.
Jeb Rushmore had a cabin to himself upon the outside of which sprawled
the skins of as many as a dozen different sorts of animals--the trophies
of his life in the West.
John Temple had certainly done the thing right; there was no doubt of
that. He had been a long time falling, but when he fell he fell hard.
Temple Camp comprised one hundred acres of woodland--"plenty of room to
grow in," as Jeb said. It was more than a camp; it was really a
community, and had somewhat the appearance of a frontier trading post.
In its construction very little bark had been taken from the wood; the
whole collection of buildings fitted well in their wild surroundings;
there wasn't a jarring note.
But Temple Camp was unique not only in its extent, its rustic character
and its magnificent situation; it was the fulfilment of a grand dream
which John Temple had dreamed. Any troop of scouts could, by making
timely application to the trustees, go to Temple Camp and remain three
weeks without so much as a cent of cost. There was to be absolutely no
favoritism of any kind (and Jeb Rushmore was the man to see to that),
not even in the case of the Bridgeboro Troop; except that troops from
cities were to be given preference over troops from country districts.
Jeb Rushmore was to be the camp manager, working with the trustees and
the visiting scoutmasters; but as it turned out he became a character in
this scout village, and if he fell short in executive capacity he more
than made up for it in other ways. Before the first season was over
people came miles to see him. There were also a doctor and a cook,
though a troop occupying a cabin could do its own cooking and mess by
itself if it chose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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