INTRODUCTION TO THE EARLY EDITIONS OF THE BIRCH-BARK ROLL
This is a time when the whole nation is turning toward the Outdoor Life, seeking in it the physical regeneration so needful for continued national existence — is waking to the fact long known to thoughtful men, that those live longest who live nearest to the ground, that is, 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 become a house race, is vanquished by the sun and air, and many ills of the mind also are forgotten, when the sufferer boldly 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; nature study is the intellectual side of sport.
I should like to lead this whole nation into the way of living outdoors for at least a month each year, reviving and expanding a custom that as far back as Moses was deemed essential to the national well-being.
Not long ago a benevolent rich man, impressed with this idea, chartered a steamer and took some hundreds of slum boys up to the Catskills for a day in the woods. They were duly landed and told to "go in now and have a glorious time". It was like gathering up a netful of catfish and throwing them into the woods, saying, "Go and have a glorious time".
The boys sulked around and sullenly disappeared. An hour later, on being looked up, they were found in groups under the bushes, smoking cigarettes, shooting "craps", and playing cards, — the only things they knew.
Thus the well-meaning rich man learned that it is not enough to take men out-of-doors. We must also teach them to enjoy it.
The purpose of this Roll is to show how Outdoor Life may be followed to advantage.
