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Homeletter 1935 Vol. 8, No. 5

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Hyde Bay
CAMP FOR BOYS

HERBERT E. PICKETT,
DIRECTOR
1935 HBC Logo COOPERSTOWN, NY
HYDE BAY HOME LETTER           VOLUME VIII        NUMBER 5, 1935.

CHANGE.
On Thursday the Campbell boys and their dog, Maggie, were borne away by Mr. and Mrs. Campbell.  Maggie and our camp dog, Garbo, had been as chummy as bridge partners for a month, but had evidently harb­ored some grudges, canine trumped aces perhaps.  At all events as the boys were on the point of departure a furious dog fight broke out. As it might happen in such cases, you will be relieved to know no gen­eral fracas ensued.  Maggie and her masters had been very popular citizens of this state-in-the-woods.

AND CHANGE.
On Tuesday Prentice Talmage, relative to Eddie Talmage, old cam­per of years gone by, and Dick Williams of an even earlier vintage, was brought to camp by his mother and Aunt, Mrs. Alexander.  As the young man was armed with a water pistol on his advent he supplied no end of excitement.  On Saturday Dick Pue of Baltimore arrived by train to Fort Plain.  Thus our numbers fluctuate but do not decrease.  The Director has not had time to figure out how many boys we have at pre­sent.  There will be a report on that later.

ILLNESS.
Dick Comer has had to go to the Cooperstown Hospital for a short stay for observation with some swollen glands as the cause. Mr. and Mrs. Comer have come up to see him.  They were here for dinner the other day.  About all of Donny Tag's tent were taken by a stomach up­set, (literal) on Monday morning just as we are going to press.  The patients seem to be doing well. Almost every summer camp suffers from such a brief disturbance.  No temperature and only a very short upset.

VISITORS.
Doctor Willse and his son Bill have been in to camp from time to time to see Jerry.  They are at Richfield Springs taking part in the Old Home Week program of that health resort. Mr. Walter Koppelman umpired most justly a ball game between pick-up teams.  Mr. Janvier was taken over at golf by some of our boys.  He departed in high dudgeon at his defeat.  Old friend of the Director and the Russells, and Mrs. Director, of course, Oz Wyckoff and Miss Storrs were here for a time Sunday.  Mr. Wyckoff took the director in tennis and stuck his thumb through a solid indoor base-ball.

HIKE.
About thirty boys and councilors went to the top of Rum Hill or
Mt. Otsego, a peak which we see across the lake.  It rises a thousand
fleet higher than camp.  The expedition crossed the lake by motorboat
and then scaled the peak on     foot.  They had two meals and spent the
night there getting back well before dinner.  The view was grand and
so was the time.

AND STILL HIKING.
Whenever Head councilor Charles Classen mounts a mountain it rains.   You will recall the fiasco of Strawberry Mountain.  This even­ing it also rained but the boys stuck it out.  Some of the councilors took refuge in the station wagon which had brought packs to the summit.After sticking out a timid hand they at last returned to their bunks.

HORSE HIKES.
Our horses took two hikes this week.  On board were in the first sally Albert Wampole and Hyde Clarke under supervision of Sunshine Pickett.  The second division under Donny Tag with Chuck Callery and Joe Brown slept till ten in the morning and arrived at camp late in the afternoon having, as an added hazard lost their way down the mountain.

WHERE IT WAS INVENTED.
On Saturday we went by all the means at our disposal to Cooperstown to see the camp team play ball on Doubleday field where the game was born.  The descendants of the General were able to take the camp team into camp by the score of ten to nothing. Pitcher Marrian perform­ed impossible deeds and his followers outdid themselves, but it was necessary for them to outdo the Cooperstown teem which they failed to do as reported.  Ice cream at Sherry's and so home in time to come back to the movies in charge of the Director.  The personnel was changed for the most part however.

WHERE IT IS PLAYED.
Chenango came up here with their senior indoor ball team and avenged our water defeat of them by a score which went into two figures on both sides.  Hyde Bay used almost the whole camp as pitchers with a great victory for democracy.  They all looked alike.

VOLLEY BALL.
Volley Ball has raged with no interruption everynight after sup­per.  The teams vary in make-up but not in spirit.

WEATHER.
A rain or two has served to make us conscious of the beauty of a number of perfect days.  Some have been quite cool, none very warm. The lake has been rough and glassy by turns. The water has been a bit colder than in the days gone by.  It is good camping weather. No long string of wet days. Plenty of variety to which we Northern races owe our energy.I mean North in the European sense, not political.

SCAVENGER HUNT.
The younger boys indulged in a scavenger hunt in which they were required to bring in a frog, a sunfish, a dog's hair not from Garbo or Maggie, and a host of other difficult assignments.  One team event­ually won.

SCHOLARSHIPS.
Jack Young out of a large file was chosen as one of the half doz­en to get one of the Commonwealth scholarship grants for work in Tufts medical school.  This will take him through the four years of medical work.  We may expect him to whittle down a human with all the skill he now lavishes on toy boats.  Sunshine Pickett was awarded a tuition scholarship at Yale.

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