Chapter I: Front Matter

On the Trail

An Outdoor Book for Girls

By LINA BEARD

AND

ADELIA BELLE BEARD

With Illustrations by the Authors

NEW YORK

Charles Scribner's Sons

1915

COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published June, 1915

TO ALL GIRLS
WHO LOVE THE LIFE OF THE OPEN
WE DEDICATE THIS BOOK

Fire notice is posted on tree.]

PRESENTATION

The joyous, exhilarating call of the wilderness and the forest camp is surely and steadily penetrating through the barriers of brick, stone, and concrete; through the more or less artificial life of town and city; and the American girl is listening eagerly. It is awakening in her longings for free, wholesome, and adventurous outdoor life, for the innocent delights of nature-loving Thoreau and bird-loving Burroughs. Sturdy, independent, self-reliant, she is now demanding outdoor books that are genuine and filled with practical information; books that tell how to do worth-while things, that teach real woodcraft and are not adapted to the girl supposed to be afraid of a caterpillar or to shudder at sight of a harmless snake.

In answer to the demand, "On the Trail" has been written. The authors' deep desire is to help girls respond to this new, insistent call by pointing out to them the open trail. It is their hope and wish that their girl readers may seek the charm of the wild and may find the same happiness in the life of the open that the American boy has enjoyed since the first settler built his little cabin on the shores of the New World. To forward this object, the why and how, the where and when of things of camp and trail have been embodied in this book.

Thanks are due to Edward Cave, president and editor of _Recreation_, for kindly allowing the use of some of his wild-life photographs.

LINA BEARD,
ADELIA BELLE BEARD.
FLUSHING, N. Y.,
March 16, 1915.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. TRAILING 3
II. WOODCRAFT 21
III. CAMPING 44
IV. WHAT TO WEAR ON THE TRAIL 84
V. OUTDOOR HANDICRAFT 106
VI. MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE OUTDOOR FOLK 119
VII. WILD FOOD ON THE TRAIL 138
VIII. LITTLE FOES OF THE TRAILER 165
IX. ON THE TRAIL WITH YOUR CAMERA 187
X. ON AND IN THE WATER 205
XI. USEFUL KNOTS AND HOW TO TIE THEM 233
XII. ACCIDENTS 244
XIII. CAMP FUN AND FROLICS 255
XIV. HAPPY AND SANE SUNDAY IN CAMP 269

ILLUSTRATIONS

Over-night camp _Frontispiece_

PAGE
One can generally pass around obstructions like this on the trail 5

Difficulties of the Adirondack trail 9

Blazing the trail by bending down and breaking branches 11

Returning to camp by the blazed trail 13

Footprints of animals 17

Footprints of animals 19

Ink impressions of leaves 23

Ink impressions of leaves 24

Ink impressions of leaves 25

Pitch-pine and cone 26

Sycamore leaf and fruit of sycamore 26

How to use the axe 29

The compass and the North Star 37

A permanent camp 49

Outdoor shelters 51

Dining-tent, handy racks, and log bedstead 53

A forest camp by the water 55

In camp 57

The bough-bed, the cook-fire, and the wall-tent 59

Soft wood 63

Hard wood 65

Bringing wood for the fire 69

Camp fires and camp sanitation 81

Trailers' outfits 87

The head-net and blanket-roll 91

Some things to carry and how to carry them 101

Handicraft in the woods 107

Outdoor dressing-table, camp-cupboard, hammock-frame, seat,
and pot-hook 109

Camp-chair, biscuit-stick, and blanket camp-bed 111

The birch-bark dish that will hold fluids. Details of making 115

A bear would rather be your friend than your enemy 118

Making friends with a ruffed grouse 120

Found on the trail 122

Timber wolves 124

Baby moose 126

Stalking wild birds 128

The fish-hawk will sometimes build near the ground 131

Antelopes of the western plains 135

Good food on the trail 143

Fruits found principally in the south and the middle west 147

Fruits found principally in the north and the middle west 151

Fruits common to most of the States 155

Hickory nuts, sweet and bitter 159

Nuts with soft shells. Beechnut and chestnut 161

Poisonous and non-poisonous snakes 173

Plants poison to the touch 181

Plants poison to the taste 185

The white birch-tree makes a fine background for the beaver 191

Blacktail deer snapped with a background of snow 193

The skunk 195

The porcupine stood in the shade but the background was light 197

Photographing a woodcock from ambush 199

The country through which you pass, with a trailer in the foreground 201

Method of protecting roots to keep plants fresh while you carry
them to camp for photographing 203

A rowboat is a safer craft than a canoe 206

Keep your body steady 208

Canoeing on placid waters 210

Bring your canoe up broadside to the shore 212

How to use the paddle and a flat-bottomed rowboat 215

The raft of logs 219

Primitive weaving in raft building 221

Learn to be at home in the water 225

For dinner 229

The veteran 231

Bends in knot tying 235

Figure eight knot 237

Overhand bow-line knot 237

Underhand bow-line knot 239

Sheepshank knot 239

Parcel slip-knot 241

Cross-tie parcel knot 241

Fisherman's knot 241

The halter, slip-knot, and hitching-tie 243

The fireman's lift 245

Aids in "first aid" 247

Restoring respiration 253

When darkness closes in 259

Wood-thrush 261

Yellow-throated vireo 262

Fire without matches 264

Fire without the bow 267

ON THE TRAIL