behold the beauty of the night._

_At what inaudible summons, at what gentle touch
of Nature, are all these sleepers thus recalled in
the the same hour to life? Do the stars rain down
an influence, or do we share some thrill of mother
earth below our resting bodies?... Towards two in
the morning ... the thing takes place._

_Robert Louis Stevenson_
_From "Travels With a Donkey."_

Woodcraft in the beginning was the first science of man. As applied to
camping we most frequently think of it as anything which pertains to the
woods or forests and as a turning away from the more artificial side of
camping, and as in pioneer times learning to do everything ourselves,
which is after all the keynote of real joy in camping.

[Illustration: THE LEAN-TO GOING UP]

To acquaint ourselves with the woods we can begin with our immediate
surroundings. Short walks to search for flowers or ferns and to know the
different varieties of trees, or early morning trips to a bit of swamp
land where we can study the coloring and habits of birds or sit quietly
while patiently listening to distinguish them by their songs.

We can lie out on the grass when the stars have come out, and study the
heavens or take trips at night with an experienced woodsman, who perhaps
shows us that Nature by night is very often different from Nature by
day, or of how we can find a trail through a dense wood by the light of
a star--the North Star.

Woodcraft includes what we may merely for convenience classify as
campcraft, which is to know all there is to know about camping in the
open.

For most purposes a good knowledge of how to make out-door fires; (both
from the standpoint of heat and the kind of food to be cooked) cooking;
trailing; and how to make and break a camp, are sufficient.

Beginners in this lore would do well to get a thorough knowledge of
campcraft by going about it one step at a time. For instance, it is
advisable to confine oneself to short trips at first and learn about the
sensing of directions, trail cutting and blazing, cooking, pitching
tents or building lean-tos; thus taking the various branches which are
preparatory to the actual experience and real adventure of a camping-out
party, and it is then and there that our real knowledge is tested.

The topics to be considered either when learning about campcraf