SCRIBNER'S VOL. XXXVII APRIL, KITS AND BY RICHARD H N this article T will try to describe outfits I have seen used in different parts of the world by travellers and explorers, and in different campaigns by army officers and war correspondents. My hope is that among the articles described the reader may learn of some new thing which, when lie next goes hunting, fishing, or exploring, he can ada ot to his own uses. That is my hope, but i am sceptical. I have seldom met the man who would allow anvone else to advise lim in selecting his kit, or who would admit that any other kit was better than the one he had packed for himsell. It is a very delicate question. The same article that one declares is the most essen- tial to his comfort, health, and happiness is the very first thing that another will throw into the trail. A man’s outfit is a matter which seems to touch his private honor. Ihave heard veteranssitting around a camp-fire proclaim the superiority of their kits with a jealousy, lovalty, and en- thusiasm they would not exhibit for the flesh of their flesh and the bone of their bone. On a campaign, vou may attack a man’s courage, the flag he serves, the news- paper for which he works, his intelligence, or his camp manners, and he will ignore vou; but if vou criticize his patent water-bottle he will fall upon vou with both fists. So, in recommending any article for an outfit, one needs to be careful. An outfit lends itself to dispute, because the selection of its component parts is not an exact science. It should be, but it is not. A doctor on his daily rounds can carry in a compact little Copyright, 1905, by Charles Scribner's Sons. VoL. XXXVII.—42 ARDING dy > Oatuiv MAGAZINE 1905 NO. 4 OUTEITS DAVIS satchel almost evervthing he is liable to need; a carpenter can stow away in one box all the tools of his trade. But an out- fit is not selected on any recognized prin- ciples. It seems to he a question entirely of temperament. As the man said when his friends asked him how he made his famous cocktail, I don't know. It de- pends on ny mood.” The truth is that cach man in selecting his outfit generally follows the lines of least resistance. With one, the pleasure he derives from his morn- ing bath outweighs the fact that for the rest of the day he must carr va rubber bath- tub. Another man is hearty, tough, and inured to an out-of-door life. He can sleep on a pile of coal or standing on his head, and he naturally scorns to carry a bed. But another man, should he sleep all night on the ground, the next day would be of no use to himself, his regiment, or his news- paper. So he carries a folding cot and the more fortunate one of tougher fibre laughs at him. Another man savs that the only way to campaign is to travel “light,” and sets forth with rain-coat and field-glass. He honestly thinks that he travels light be- cause his intelligence tells him it is the bet- ter wav; but, as a matter of fact, he does so because he is lazy. Throughout the entire campaign he borrows from his friends, and with that camaraderie and unselfishness that never comes to the surface so strongly as when men are thrown together im camp, they lend him whatever he needs. When the war is over, he is the man who goes about saving: “Some of those fellows car-
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