Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 3 · column 3 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
no electricity, except on Friday and Sunday, and no radios are permitted. But the camp has a library, a museum, a lab and even a canteen.
We slept in cabins, on bunk beds. We followed a winding path from the bunk house to the latrine. Showers were not allowed in the morning or
at night, so we had to squeeze one*in during some other time of the day. Inevitably, when we found the time, we didn’t find any hot water. So we did what we could, starting off by standing in the shower and finishing with a sponge in the sink. (Someone told me that the hot water ran through the boys’ latrine before it reached us. I KNOW that was a camp joke, but every time I reached for the spigot, I remembered the story.)
Each day, we campers were assigned chores: bunk house clean-up, latrine clean-up, table setting. And every day, every bunk house wing was inspected. Everything had to be immaculate.
It was the people who made this camp special. We had more than 80 campers, both boys and girls, and 20 counselors. There was no peer pressure, no drugs, no anything—just a gang of high school kids who accepted each other for what they were. We published a camp newspaper, and most of the news told of our love for the place.
Closing ceremonies were particularly stirring. Awards were presented. Then candles were lighted. Everyone circled the mess hall, candles held high in tjie dark. We walked to the pool, each of us made a wish and we set our candles afloat. The counselors recited poetry to the accompaniment of sobs and sniffles. You could FEEL how wonderful the place was.
We were sworn under the Benedictine Silence—no one could utter a syllable. But words were unnecessary. Hands firmly grasped in friendship said everything. This has got to be the closest thing to heaven.
The Rappahannock County Garden Club has sent 1*9 youngsters to the Vesuvius Nature Camp since beginning its scholarship program in 1950. In the past, some of the participants were children of club members. In more recent years, the children of those children have journeyed to Vesuvius.
The Garden Club’s objective in providing the full tuition scholarships is to give Rappahannock students an experience in camping and to stimulate an interest in nature study and conservation among the county’s young people.
The majority of the money to support the Nature Camp Scholarship Program comes from the annual sale of Christmas greens and decorations made by the Rappahannock County Garden Club members.
95.7%