I am not a camper.\u00a0 Ken once told a friend, \u201cHer idea of roughing it is having to walk across the street from the motel to eat breakfast.\u201d\u00a0 (Yes, there was a long-ago time when hotels did not have restaurants or complimentary breakfasts.)<\/p>\n
Betty Walden and I were recently reminiscing about a camp out in 1958.\u00a0 We were na\u00efve.\u00a0 We actually thought we would get a good night\u2019s sleep.\u00a0 We laughed about being shocked that the girls went out in their sheer baby doll pajamas to meet boys.\u00a0 We agreed if we had done that our mothers would have sent us to a convent until we were eighteen.<\/p>\n
This is a repeat post of that night.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
CLUELESS\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Posted March 25, 2015<\/p>\n
Ken and I were both teaching in Fort Worth at Rosemont Junior High (now Middle School) during the 1957-58 school year.\u00a0 One of my assignments was co-sponsor of<\/p>\n
Y Teens, a girls club under the guidance of the YWCA.\u00a0 I helped a veteran teacher who had sponsored the group for several years.\u00a0 I did whatever she told me.\u00a0 This worked well for both of us.<\/p>\n
The club had an annual overnight campout at Camp Carter located on the Trinity River.\u00a0 There had been heavy rains earlier and parts of the river had flooded.\u00a0 As the date for the campout neared, the water receded.\u00a0 A protective wire was placed along the sides of a swinging bridge we would use.\u00a0 The area was declared safe for camping.<\/p>\n
The sponsor, Mrs. B., had difficulty recruiting parents to help chaperone.\u00a0 We asked Ken and our good friends, Betty and Earl Walden, to help chaperone.\u00a0 Earl was a fellow faculty member.\u00a0 Betty would stay in a cabin with me.\u00a0 Earl and Ken would fish.\u00a0 The men would be nearby in case of an emergency.<\/p>\n
The first hint of trouble came when Mrs. B. began to get sick.\u00a0 She forged ahead assuming everything would go smoothly.\u00a0 She would rest and give me directions.\u00a0 I had no clue what was in store other than sleeping on a cot with a cabin full of excited 9th<\/sup> -grade girls.<\/p>\n We arrived at the camp after school on a Friday and settled into the cabins.\u00a0 All of the evening activities went well.\u00a0 There was plenty of food and entertainment around the campfire.\u00a0 Everyone had a good time.\u00a0 Sometime near midnight, we got the girls into the cabins.\u00a0 I thought we were secure until morning.\u00a0 Mrs. B was feeling increasingly worse.\u00a0 She took some meds, went to the back of the cabin, and went to sleep.\u00a0 Betty and I, with their Weimaraner, Duchess, relaxed on cots near the front and only door.\u00a0 The girls talked, sang, and had a good time.<\/p>\n Mrs. B failed to tell us to keep a count of the girls.\u00a0 I began to miss some faces.\u00a0 I checked the bathroom.\u00a0 It was empty.\u00a0 Some of the girls were trying to hide guilty, sideways looks at me.\u00a0 I did not pick up on that clue.\u00a0 We were missing some girls.\u00a0 The only way out without passing Betty and I was through the bathroom window.\u00a0 Betty and I had grown up as compliant teenagers.\u00a0 That any girl would sneak out had not occurred to us.\u00a0 Even though there were no cell phones or any way to communicate, we soon found out their boyfriends knew where they were.\u00a0 It was apparent plans had been made.<\/p>\n We were shocked to find the girls outside in their cute, little, sheer baby doll pajamas.\u00a0 They were sauntering toward the entrance.\u00a0 Oh my!\u00a0 Betty and I certainly would never have let a boy see us in our night clothes.\u00a0 Couldn\u2019t these girls have a least put on a robe?\u00a0 I took a deep breath, told them to go back inside and stay or I might call the police.\u00a0 A little voice said, \u201cOh, please don\u2019t do that.\u00a0 My Dad is a policeman.\u201d\u00a0 Good, maybe our problems were solved.<\/p>\n Betty and I got the girls back inside.\u00a0 We realized we needed to be more observant and keep a better count of our charges.\u00a0 The dog was the only one relaxed.<\/p>\n We had just gotten settled again where there was a tap and the door opened.\u00a0 A mother with girls in another cabin had gone outside for some fresh air.\u00a0 She looked across the river toward the entrance.\u00a0 There were lights on that side and she saw cars arriving.\u00a0 As she watched, boys began getting out of the cars.<\/p>\n I had no clue what to do.\u00a0 Mrs. B. was asleep.\u00a0 We had no idea where Ken and Earl were fishing.\u00a0 The mother told me not to worry.\u00a0 She would handle the situation.\u00a0 I was relieved to let her take charge.\u00a0 She had a large flashlight which was turned off.\u00a0 She told me to follow quietly and do whatever she did.\u00a0 I dutifully followed behind her.\u00a0 We could see the boys start across the swinging bridge Indian style, one behind the other. They were walking on tiptoe not making a sound.\u00a0 The mother stopped close to the bride, crouched down beside the path and motioned me to do likewise.\u00a0 The boys could not see us.\u00a0 She waited until the leader was within about 5 feet of us.\u00a0 She jumped up with the flashlight at his face and clicked it on.\u00a0 A few expletives flew and the boys jumped straight up.\u00a0 She definitely had their attention.\u00a0 She calmly and authoritatively told them they had proven that they could get into the camp without being caught.\u00a0 She told them to go out the same way or there would be trouble.\u00a0 They hung their heads, humbly retreated the way they had come, got into their cars and left.<\/p>\n After that, Betty and I decided we needed to be outside the cabin on the little porch.\u00a0 We knew if we dozed inside, girls might slip past us.\u00a0 The night had gotten cold.\u00a0 Duchess was a big, warm dog.\u00a0 We put her between us and scooted up against her. When the side next to the dog got warm, we turned and warmed our other side.<\/p>\n No fishing was going on for the guys.\u00a0 The perimeter of the camp had a 6-foot fence topped with barbed wire.\u00a0 Land outside the camp was rugged.\u00a0 That did not keep boys from scaling the fence and getting in.\u00a0 Earl and Ken patrolled the perimeter all night chasing boys back over the fence.\u00a0 This went on until near daylight.\u00a0 They finally began to fish when they felt there were no more intruders.\u00a0 They caught a few fish.\u00a0 They were so tired they did not want to clean them.\u00a0 They gave them to Mrs. B.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am not a camper. Ken once told a friend, “Her idea of roughing it is having to walk across the street from the motel to eat breakfast.” (Yes, there was a long-ago time when hotels did not have restaurants or complimentary breakfasts.) Betty Walden and I were recently reminiscing about a camp out in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[238,50,52],"class_list":["post-828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1955-to-1972","tag-camp-carter-in-the-fifties","tag-fifties-campout-with-teens","tag-y-teens-in-the-fifties"],"yoast_head":"\n