Stewart Edward White

Camp and Trail Stewart Edward White

A sense of direction, therefore, I should name as the prime requisite for him who wouldbecome a true woodsman, depending on himself rather than on guides. The faculty islargely developed, of course, by much practice; but it must be inborn. Some men possess it;others do not-just as some men have a mathematical bent while to others figures arealways a despair. It is a sort of extra, having nothing to do with criterions of intelligence ormental development, like the repeater movement in a watch. A highly educated or culturedman may lack it; the roughest possess it. Some who have never been in the woods ormountains acquire in the space of a vacation a fair facility at picking a way; and I have met afew who have spent their lives on the prospect trail, and who were still, and always wouldbe, as helpless as the newest city dweller. It is a gift, a talent. If you have its germ, you canbecome a traveler of the wide and lonely places. If you have it not, you may as well resignyourself to guides.