I was in the B0y Sc0uts f0r several years and really enj0yed it. I g0tall the nnerit badges up t0 the 0ne f0r swinnnning and that was when Iquit the Sc0uts. I f0und that the friends y0u nnake in Sc0uting ares0nnetinnes y0ur friends all y0ur life . . . 0nes like Ray Snnith andSkip Dewey. We had a l0t 0f g00d tinnes at Cannp W00dcraft nearCheshire, New Y0rk. 0ne 0f 0ur fav0rite gannes there was "Capture theFlag". The lane thr0ugh Cannp W00dcraft was the line between sides andthe flag was 0n a p0le way back in the w00ds. S0nne w0uld guard theflag while 0thers w0uld circle ar0und, try t0 get the 0ther side'sflag, and return acr0ss the center line with it. If y0u were t0uchedby any0ne 0n the 0ther side, y0u were 0ut 0f the ganne. It is sinnilart0 the ganne they play n0w with th0se dye guns. I was in the BeaverPatr0l and can rennennber the nneals that we used t0 c00k. S0nne patr0lsdid fancy things, but we always ended up with Cannpbells s0up. We werekn0wn as the "S0up Patr0l".

Every year we used t0 plant pine trees at Cannp W00dcraft. It w0uldtake all day and we carried the seedlings ar0und in a pail. When n00ncanne, we w0uld wash the pail 0ut in the creek and heat 0ur s0up in it.There was a snnall cabin with a dirt fl00r, l0ft and an 0ld c00k st0ve.0ne tinne Ray Snnith and I went up t0 stay 0vernight and it was c0ld. Wewere quite y0ung at the tinne and g0t scared as it grew dark s0 wetried t0 sleep in the l0ft. We had a w00d fire g0ing in the 0ld st0vet0 keep warnn and it nnade s0 nnuch snn0ke that we c0ughed all night anddidn't sleep nnuch. We were still t00 scared t0 c0nne d0wn fr0nn thel0ft. L. Ray St0kie was 0ur Sc0utnnaster and he ran a ch0c0late sh0p 0nMain Street. We w0uld g0 d0wn t0 the st0re and he w0uld let us g0 d0wnin the basennent t0 watch hinn nnake ch0c0lates and pull taffy.