THE BOY SCOUTS BOOK
OF CAMPFIRE STORIES

THERE, STANDING KNEE-DEEP IN THE WATER, WAS THE BIGGEST AND BLACKEST MOOSE IN THE WORLD

THE BOY SCOUTS BOOK
OF CAMPFIRE STORIES

EDITED
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY

FRANKLIN K. MATHIEWS

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

The campfire for ages has been the place of council and friendship and story-telling. The mystic glow of the fire quickens the mind, warms the heart, awakens memories of happy, glowing tales that fairly leap to the lips. The Boy Scouts of America has incorporated the "campfire" in its program for council and friendship and story-telling. In one volume, the Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stories makes available to scoutmasters and other leaders a goodly number of stories worthy of their attention, and when well told likely to arrest and hold the interest of boys in their early teens, when "stirs the blood—to bubble in the veins."

At this time, when the boy is growing so rapidly in brain and body, he can have no better teacher than some mighty woodsman. Now should be presented to him stirring stories of the adventurous lives of men who live in and love the out-of-doors. Says Professor George Walter Fiske: "Let him emulate savage woodcraft; the woodsman's keen, practiced vision; his steadiness of nerve; his contempt for pain, hardship and the weather; his power of endurance, his observation and heightened senses; his delight in out-of-door sports and joys and unfettered happiness with untroubled sleep under the stars; his calmness, self-control, emotional steadiness; his utter faithfulness in friendships; his honesty, his personal bravery."

The Editor likes to think that quite a few of the stories found in the Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stories present companions for the mind of this hardy sort, and hopes, whether boys read or are told these stories, they will prove to be such as exalt and inspire while they thrill and entertain.

CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Introduction v I.  Silverhorns Henry van Dyke 1 II.  Wild Horse Hunter Zane Grey 21 III.  Hydrophobic Skunk Irvin S. Cobb 90 IV.  The Ole Virginia Stewart Edward White 100 V.  The Weight of Obligation Rex Beach 108 VI.  That Spot Jack London 140 VII.  When Lincoln Licked a Bully Irving Bacheller 155 VIII.  The End of the Trail Clarence E. Mulford 180 IX.  Dey Ain't No Ghosts Ellis Parker Butler 201 X.  The Night Operator Frank L. Packard 218 XI.  Christmas Eve in a Lumber Camp Ralph Connor 258 XII.  The Story That the Keg Told Me    Adirondack (W. H. H.) Murray