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351 pages

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"I would like to lead this whole nation into the way of living outdoors," wrote Ernest Seton many years ago.
If the nation was in need of a dose of nature then, we can certainly benefit even more from Seton's sage advice now. Learn how to build a campfire, to recognize animal tracks, to stop a nose-bleed, ease poison ivy, or soothe a sore throat with natural remedies; to prepare delicious biscuits on the trail and spot edible mushrooms; and much more. This book is essential for Boy Scouts and their leaders, and great fun for anyone desiring a fuller experience of outdoors life...

Sujets

Sport

Autres sports

Artisanat

Camping

Recreation

Sports

Sports de plein air

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Publié par	Rare Treasure Editions
Date de parution	08 novembre 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781774643631
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0050€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Woodcraft and Indian Lore: A Classic Guide from a Founding Father of the Boy Scouts of America
by Ernest Thompson Seton

First published in 1912
This edition published by Rare Treasures
Victoria, BC Canada with branch offices in the Czech Republic and Germany
Trava2909@gmail.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except in the case of excerpts by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

WOODCRAFT AND INDIAN LORE:
A Classic Guide from a Founding Father of the Boy Scouts of America
by Ernest Thompson Seton
PREFACE
For over twenty-five years I have been giving the talks anddemonstrations that are gathered together in this book. Manyof them have appeared in magazines or in the “Birch-BarkRoll” that has come out annually for ten years. But this isthe first time in which a comprehensive collection has beenmade of the activities, customs, laws, and amusements thathave been developed in my camps.
Some of the related subjects I have treated at too great lengthfor enclosure in one book. Of this class are the “Life Historiesof Northern Animals,” “Animal Stories,” “Sign Language” and“Forestry,” which appear as separate works. All are merelyparts of a scheme that I have always considered my life work,namely, the development or revival of Woodcraft as a school forManhood.
By Woodcraft I mean outdoor life in its broadest sense andthe plan has ever been with me since boyhood.
Woodcraft is the first of all the sciences. It was Woodcraftthat made man out of brutish material, and Woodcraft in itshighest form may save him from decay.
As the model for outdoor life in this country I took theIndian, and have thus been obliged to defend him against thecalumnies of those who coveted his possessions. In givingthese few historical extracts to show the Indian character, itmust be remembered that I could give hundreds, and that practicallyall the travelers who saw with their own eyes are of onemind in the matter.
Commissioner Robert G. Valentine, of the Indian Bureau,the first Indian Commissioner we have ever had who knew andsympathized with the Indians, writes after reading my manuscript:
“On the question of the character of the Indians I am inabsolute accord with you on everything that I believe any onewould consider a basic point. In speech after speech I havefought the idea that Indians were cruel or lazy or vicious, anddwelt on their positive virtues—among these their sense ofhumor, and their deep reverence.” [1]
The portions of the manuscript called “Spartans of the West,”and “Campfire Stories of Indian Character,” have been submittedto George Bird Grinnell, of New York, whose life hasbeen largely spent among the Indians, and have received fromhim a complete endorsement.
In a similar vein I have heard from Dr. Charles A. Eastman,and from nearly all of the many who have seen the manuscript.Some of my friends at the Smithsonian Institution take exceptionto certain details, but no one denies the main contentionsin regard to the character of the Indian, or the historical accuracyof the “Campfire Stories.”
Gen. Nelson A. Miles, for example, writes me: “History canshow no parallel to the heroism and fortitude of the AmericanIndians in the two hundred years’ fight during which theycontested inch by inch the possession of their country against afoe infinitely better equipped with inexhaustible resources, andin overwhelming numbers. Had they even been equal innumbers, history might have had a very different story to tell.”
I was taught to glorify the names of Xenophon, Leonidas,Spartacus, the Founders of the Dutch Republic or the NobleSix Hundred at Balaclava, as the ideals of human courageand self-sacrifice, and yet I know of nothing in all history thatwill compare with the story of Dull Knife as a narrative ofmagnificent heroism and human fortitude.
While I set out only to justify the Indian as a model for our boys in camp, I am not without hope that this may lead to ameasure of long-delayed justice being accorded him. He asksonly the same rights as are allowed without question to all othermen in America—the protection of the courts, the right toselect his own religion, dress, amusements, and the equalright to the pursuit of happiness so long as his methods do notconflict with the greater law of the land.
This book is really the eleventh edition of the “Birch-BarkRoll,” which I have published yearly and expanded yearly since1902. On the first day of July that year I founded the firstband of Woodcraft Indians. Since then the growth of themovement has called for constant revision and expansion. Inthe present volume, for the first time, I have fully set forth ajustification of my Indian Ideal.
I am deeply indebted to my friend, Edgar Beecher Bronson,for permission to include the History of Chief Dull Knife’sMarch, which appeared in his “Reminiscences of a Ranchman.”It is a story that should be known to all the world.
I have also to express my obligations to Messrs. CharlesScribner’s Sons for permission to quote from Capt. J. O. Bourke’swritings, to J. W. Schultz for the use of his charming story of“No-Heart,” to Messrs. The Fleming H. Revell Co., for permissionto quote F. W. Calkins’ story of the “Two WildernessVoyagers,” to Miss Alice C. Fletcher for the use of two Indiansongs from her book “Indian Story and Song,” as noted, toEdward S. Curtis for the use of Sitting Bull’s “War Song,”to Miller Jordan and Geo. L. White for help in revising theparts on organization and honors, to Dr. Clinton L. Baggfor help in the “First Aid,” to Dr. C. C. Curtis for the identificationof toadstools, to Dr. Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa)for general criticism and for special assistance in the chapters on“The Indian’s Creed,” “Teepee Etiquette,” and the “Teachingsof Wabasha I.”
Also to Robert G. Valentine (Indian Commissioner) andGeorge Bird Grinnell of New York for critical reading of thehistorical parts of the book.
When I was a boy I hungered beyond expression for justsuch information as I have tried herein to impart. It wouldbe a great joy to me if I could reach and help a considerablenumber of such heart-hungry boys tormented with an insatiateinstinct for the woods, and if I fail of this, I shall at least havethe lasting pleasures of having lived through these thingsmyself and of having written about them.

[1] The great racial defects of the Indians were revengefulness and disunion,and, latterly, proneness to strong drink. They taught the duty of revenge;so that it was easy to begin a feud, but hard to end one. Instead of anation, they were a multitude of factions, each ready to join an outsiderfor revenge on its rival neighbor. This incapacity for team play preventedthe development of their civilization and proved their ruin.

I. Principles of Scouting Nine Important Principles of Scouting
HIS is a time when the whole nation is turningtoward the Outdoor Life, seeking in it the physicalregeneration so needful for continued nationalexistence—is waking to the fact long known to thoughtfulmen, that those live longest who live nearest to the ground—thatis, who live the simple life of primitive times, divested,however, of the evils that ignorance in those times begot.
Consumption, the white man’s plague since he has becomea house race, is vanquished by the sun and air, andmany ills of the mind also are forgotten when the suffererboldly takes to the life in tents.
Half our diseases are in our minds and half in our houses.We can safely leave the rest to the physicians for treatment.
Sport is the great incentive to Outdoor Life; NatureStudy is the intellectual side of sport.
I should like to lead this whole nation into the way ofliving outdoors for at least a month each year, reviving andexpanding a custom that as far back as Moses was deemedessential to the national well-being.
Not long ago a benevolent rich man, impressed with thisidea, chartered a steamer and took some hundreds of slumboys up to the Catskills for a day in the woods. They wereduly landed and told to “go in now and have a glorioustime.” It was like gathering up a netful of catfish and throwing them into the woods, saying, “Go and have aglorious time.”
The boys sulked around and sullenly disappeared. Anhour later, on being looked up, they were found in groupsunder the bushes, smoking cigarettes, shooting “craps,”and playing cards—the only things they knew.
Thus the well-meaning rich man learned that it is notenough to take men out of doors. We much also teachthem to enjoy it.
The purpose of this book is to show how Outdoor Lifemay be followed to advantage.
Nine leading principles are kept in view:
(1) This movement is essentially for recreation .
(2) Camp-life. Camping is the simple life reduced toactual practice, as well as the culmination of the outdoor life.
Camping has no great popularity to-day, because menhave the idea that it is possible only after an expensivejourney to the wilderness; and women that it is inconvenient,dirty, and dangerous.
These are errors. They have arisen because camping asan art is not understood. When intelligently followed,camp-life must take its place as a cheap and delightful wayof living, as well as a mental and physical savior of thosestrained or broken by the grind of the over-busy world.
The wilderness affords the ideal camping, but many ofthe benefits can be got by living in a tent on a town lot,a piazza, or even a housetop.
(3) Self-government with Adult Guidance. Control fromwithout is a poor thing when you can get control fromwithin. As far as possible, then, we make these camps self-governing.Each full member has a vote in affairs.
(4) The Magic of the Campfire. What is a camp withouta campfire?—no camp at all, but a chilly place in a landscape, where some people happen to have somethings.
When first the brutal ant