LOGISTICS: Boys will leave Fort Plain en the morning of Tuesday, August 24th at 5:57 a.m., standard time. They are scheduled to arrive in New York at 10:55 a.m., standard time (add one hour for daylight time). This enables them to catch the 1:3 p.m., standard time on the Pennsylvania for Baltimore and Washington where they are supposed to arrive at 4:59 and 5:45 p.m. respectively, again standard time. The long interval in New York is allowed to provide for a maybe late train and to give an opportunity for getting something to eat. A councilor, not yet chosen, will be in charge of this expedition. Baggage may be checked or sent by express, as you direct. We will even prepay the express if that is essential to your convenience.

CARD: You will find enclosed the now familiar addressed postcard. Please return it with the following information:
      (1) How is your boy to travel, ie, car or train. (Many parents will take their sons with them after the banquet and ceremonies on Monday night, August 23rd, although boys are very welcome to stay in their own beds and be picked up any time Tuesday).
      (2) Are you coming to the banquet and how many will there be in your party. We are serving one of Bob Pickett’s now famous chicken barbeques. After his two successes of last summer, he put on a barbecue  in the environs of Harvard and recently participated in serving over 6OO portions to the assembled farmers of Otsego County. Last year 220 halves of nicely browned chicken were served to that many campers and guests. It is very important to us (and to some otherwise happy broilers) to know how many we are to expect.

ENCLOSURE: In addition to the card, you will find a description of a venerable Hyde Pay custom. You may use the card to express your wishes in this matter if you so desire.

MONDAY, AUGUST 2nd: This calm, clear, warm day smiled encouragingly upon Heb, Moose and Ken Boyd as they led another flotilla of canoes around the lake. Later in the day, Jack Garver, Sandy Jencks and Phil Schwartz took a formidable group high up on Mt. Nebo for the night. Stirred by these migrations, Charlie Brown took his tent to Gravelly for the night.

TUESDAY, OF COURSE: We Welcome a good day of rain. It came as a succor to the farmers, as a respite to the camp, and a news item to this publication. As is our wont en moist days, trips were sent off to the Baseball Museum and the similar institution devoted to agriculture.

MOVIE DAY: This Wednesday was clear, windy and on the cool side.

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The entire day was devoted to war in the most pleasant form yet devised by man. The camp broke up into two groups, a home party of peerless patriots under General Evans, who protected us from the onslaught of a “Renegade Frenchman” whom we had previously known as councilor Blaise. The day was full of deeds of valor and exciting episodes. The day drew to a tired close with a thrilling movie called “Yellow Sky”.

THEN THURSDAY: This day which the more prosaic would term August 5th was a cloudy, cool and windy era punctuated with occasional showers. Trips rattled off to the Farmer’s Museum as per our custom. The visiting Commodore staged his annual picture contest. He had previously taken snapshots of the various familiar spots about camp at such unusual angles that the pictorial results were baffling in the extreme. Two winners, Walter McManus and Brad Damon won “Silver Medallions” which were much more negotiable than the more orthodox medals. A special prize was awarded to Shawn Donahoe for his editorial style in describing the pictures.

FRIDAY: This was a good sailing day because it was clear, cool and windy. These same conditions impelled the kind hearted Pratt to take his non—swimmers to the pool in the Cooperstown gymnasium. Later in the day he made another trip with the Life Saving candidates. Meanwhile at camp, Basketball raged with the Bullets beating the Knicks 12 – l0, while in the “Farm” league, the Pistons scored 20 to the Celtics 4. The tents infested by Sandy Jencks and his assistant Charlie Webb and their satellites spent a moist night en Gravelly. The moisture was supplied by a severe thunder shower. A twilight game of softball of the Junior Varsity order found Hyde Bay beating Chenango 15 to 3.

REGATTA_DAY: With all the usual fanfare, speeches by the Commodore and frantic lest minute boat construction, the annual 8” regatta was won brilliantly by Dougie Coupe with his minute sloupe. We ended our athletic relations for this season with Chenango by heating them 12 — 7 in baseball.

THE DRAMA: The fifth and last cycle of tent plays for 1954 was a pleasant climax to an outstanding season. Judge Garver speaking for himself and two of our visiting parents who had fled awarded the prize to Tent 9 who portrayed brilliantly on Arthurian fantasy. Almost as good was the Cave Mon revelation of Tent 53B and Stalag 17 1/2 as portrayed by Tent 10 and our fourth ploy chronologically which showed the trials and perplexities of a resourceful barber of Italian accent. The actor to portray the lending role of Tony, one Danny Fisher was given a special prize by wise Judge Jack.

THE SABBATH DAY: It was warm and cloudy when the camp assembled in the theater to worship under the direction of the Director who conducted the service this day. After dinner, which was moved up 15 minutes to allow such a thing, there was a mass migration across the lake by canoes and Hacker to witness a lacrosse game by a team of Canadian Indians and another composed of Onondagas from the Syracuse reservation. Feature of the afternoon was the adoption into the Onondaga tribe of old camper, Bill Bitzer. Right after supper, Tents 6 and 9 want to Cooperstown in the hacker as the usual reward for seven days of neatness and order in their abodes. We closed the day by looking at a splendid color picture of Yellowstone Park.

“D” TSTS WERE PASSED THIS WEEK BY BRUCE CAMPPBELL, TOM HINCKLEY AND BY JOHNSON.