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 VOLUME XI NUMBER  FOUR.                                     JULY 29, 1938

TURN OF THE CENTURY.  We are half over.  The one month boys have begun to go and the August boys have begun to arrive.  The Thomases were in for a day or so and left Gus.  Mr. Thomas and the Director explored Trenton Chasm and made contact with the boys at Prospect.  Dr. Buford Johnson was here over Friday night and took Julian away with her to Pen Yan.  The Franklin’s paid a brief call on Friday to see Benjy.  Mr. and Mrs. Brauns called in Thursday to leave Stewart for the rest of camp.

RECESS.  By dint of Saturday tutoring we were enabled to declare a mid-term recess on Friday.  The tutoring boys went to Trenton Falls.  Mr. Marrian went to Baltimore.  Jack Young was away for a day or two.  The rest of the faculty relaxed, Mr. Russell indulging in his favorite recreation out of the wrestling season.  He caught the unfortunate Benjy and tutored him a few hours.  Mr. Hartzell went to Cherry Valley and reported no hostile Indians in sight.  Mr. Mercer chased a golf ball all the way around the curse twice, only to find it in the 18th hole, essentially the same ball he originally hit.  So we took our ease.

HUNT.  Hunt Williams was in for a week including Horse hike.  Bill Maltbie and Tommy Tomkins went out via Fort Plain early Friday morning.  Marion Dashiel went back to Snow Hill on Thursday noon along with Mr. Marrian, who went only to Baltimore.

BRUTES.  On Saturday we had a wrestling and boxing tournament or exhibition.  Not so many wrestled, but they did so with a will.  The Director lifted four men, as Charley Gillet can testify.  Jake and Lawry gave fearful exhibitions of jiu jitsu.  One wonders why the Japs have so much trouble in China.  Lethal blows were explained in cold blood.

BRIDGE??????????.  After the tournament, the older boys and staff had a bridge tournament which had to be finished several days later with Jack Stockbridge and Mr. Russell winning over Cap and Frank Beury in two hands in the finals.  There was some bridge which Culbertson could not dream of in any fit of indigestion.

DOWN THE RIVER.  The entire nine o’clock tent group went down the river in the steps of the intrepid explorers of last week.  Sunshine lead the squadron.  A great time was reported with a clay slide on one of the higher, at least, smoothe spots.  They went in at Phoenix and out at Milford.

HILL-HORSE HIKERS AND GORDON.  Gordon Kinder lead out the first hike to Mount Nebo.  A squad of one-monthers went along and actually returned.  They followed the interesting new cut-off through a picturesque abandoned road.  No rain.

[some off the top of page info.]  way.  Practice is every day when some other activity does not interfere.  It comes Thursday and will be staged on the water.  Old campers recall Mrs. Dresser’s great pageant of last year out on the float.

WE WIN.  After two distressing defeats as reported last week, Benjy Franklin and Capt. John Smith won a Comet race, as did Kennedy and his crew, Barker.  Sparky may have been captain for all we know.  Pathfinder was not in the race; so the crews paid closer attention to the weather.

MASS MOVEMENT.  All the camp but about two or three boys who elected to keep the home fires alight, went to Cooperstown on Wednesday for the annual game on the very field where the game was born.  Four went by horse, nine by canoe, a group walked, the big motor boat took some, the ST37 took four, the cars transported the rest.  We ate lunch at beautiful Fairy Springs.  We visited the baseball museum.  We were beaten on Doubleday Field by the trifling score of 16-0.  George Stewart, Bob Pickett, and Carl Schmidt toiled in turn on the fabled mound.  In his one inning, Carl was not hit.  Then Sherry’s for a few dollars worth of ice cream and such, and so back home in time for supper.  Lawry and Sunshine tried to equal their record of last year on the way home; paddling the distance in an hour and twenty five minutes, they missed by a quarter of an hour in the face of head winds, broken paddles, and a detour to the aid of the ST37.  A well managed trip for which the credit must go to George who had so many lists that he had to have a list of his lists.  The team had one practice at East Springfield, the day before the day before the game.  They were obviously over trained.  The Director took fifty feet of colored film which you may see next winter.

THAT NIGHT.  The old silent film, The Covered Wagon was the home movie of the week and was well received.

GREENHORN.  Harry Middendorf deserves a vote of censure for this one.  We painted Bumpo’s horns green and took him to Cooperstown in the oldest of the station wagons.  Harry says he is now a green horn.  As a matter fact, Bumpo, as you know, is really a veteran.

BACK AGAIN BY GAS.  Jack Young went down to Cooperstown with a crew and was towed back as usual.  Facilis decensus, as Mr. Russell puts it.

OVER.  Tars Cromwell and Waters allowed the stable Comet to turn turtle.  We may next expect the Turtle to turn comet!  Teddy reduced the resulting sentence by a day by a masterly two-minute speech at supper.

NEW CLUB.  A mysterious fraternity has grown up out in the woods.  It is called the “Explorers Club,” and combines the worst features of the K* ****, the Facists and the Black Hand.  Several Campers have become members.  It meets in a place full of nameless horrors.

TRENTON.  As mentioned, the tutoring boys and a few others for good measure made the Trenton trip on Friday and Saturday.  John Smith lost his pants, fortunately his marine pants, so to speak.  In his early youth he was once washed over the falls, so this was nothing new to him.  An old cedar made a great fire on the rocks.  Water was again so low that they did not try the ledges.

MORE.  There must have been a lot more exciting events this full week, but if so, Sunshine can add them when he mimeo graphs this.  We have had some rain, but not as much as the average in the U. S., if one can form an estimate from the papers.  Had a good letter from Billy Payne.  He is planting cotton.

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