you decide what you will
need: the earlier you begin, the less you will be hurried at the last.

You will find it is a good plan, as fast as you think of a thing that
you want to take, to note it on your memorandum; and, in order to avoid
delay or haste, to cast your eyes over the list occasionally to see that
the work of preparation is going on properly. It is a good plan to
collect all of your baggage into one place as fast as it is ready; for
if it is scattered you are apt to lose sight of some of it, and start
without it.

As fast as you get your things ready, mark your name on them: mark every
thing. You can easily cut a stencil-plate out of an old postal card, and
mark with a common shoe-blacking brush such articles as tents, poles,
boxes, firkins, barrels, coverings, and bags.

Some railroads will not check barrels, bags, or bundles, nor take them
on passenger trains. Inquire beforehand, and send your baggage ahead if
the road will not take it on your train.

Estimate the expenses of your trip, and take more money than your
estimate. Carry also an abundance of small change.

Do not be in a hurry to spend money on new inventions. Every year
there is put upon the market some patent knapsack, folding stove,
cooking-utensil, or camp trunk and cot combined; and there are always
for sale patent knives, forks, and spoons all in one, drinking-cups,
folding portfolios, and marvels of tools. Let them all alone: carry your
pocket-knife, and if you can take more let it be a sheath or butcher
knife and a common case-knife.

Take iron or cheap metal spoons.

Do not attempt to carry crockery or glassware upon a march.

A common tin cup is as good as any thing you can take to drink from; and
you will find it best to carry it so that it can be used easily.[1]

Take nothing nice into camp, expecting to keep it so: it is almost
impossible to keep things out of the dirt, dew, rain, dust, or sweat,
and from being broken or bruised.

Many young men, before starting on their summer vacation, think that the
barber must give their hair a "fighting-cut;" but it is not best to
shave the head so closely, as it is then too much exposed to the sun,
flies, and mosquitoes. A moderately short cut to the hair, however, is
advisable for comfort and cleanliness.

If you are going to travel where you have never been before, begin early
to study your map. It is of great importance, you will find, to learn
all you can of the neighborhood