Newlywed at Camp

We had only been married a couple of months when I was asked to go to Young Women camp as a cabin mother. Yes, at the ripe old age of 19, I would be in charge of a cabinful of girls, aged approximately 15, if I recall correctly.

I was supremely unprepared. I was too lenient. When one of the girls burst into tears without warning, I was helplessly unable to figure out how to handle it. The brightest spot in the week was when David showed up for a surprise visit. How I missed him! We had only been married a couple of months, after all.

The worst part of the week happened just as we were getting ready to go home. The evening activity had run very late the night before we left, and I allowed the girls to go to bed without finishing the dishes. So the next morning, we had to light a fire to heat water and wash up, despite firm instructions from the camp director--NO FIRES IN THE MORNING. Hurriedly they cleaned the dishes, put out the fire, and packed, and in my efforts to help them stay on track, I offered to take the ashes to the ashpit. Bucket in hand, I followed the trail to the main part of the camp, where the lodge and the flagpole were located, but I couldn't find the ashpit. Luckily for me, Sister Booth was in the area, and she pointed out the nearby ashpit, where I quickly disposed of the ashes.

Our preparations complete, we headed for the bus-boarding area with our sleeping bags and luggage in hand. As we prepared to board, the camp director came charging up, red-faced and foaming at the mouth, and to my immense surprise, accused me of trying to burn down the camp. You had a fire this morning, she spat with contempt, and then you dumped your ashes behind your addie so no one would know that you broke the rules. Yes we had a fire this morning, I admitted, but we didn't dump our ashes behind the addie. Her contempt deepened at my obvious and pathetic lies, clearly conjured to conceal my sin. She knew I was lying because the addie behind which I had supposedly dumped the ashes had practically burned down.

In disbelief I followed her to the addie in question, so near to ours, and indeed a large area was severely blackened, right above an incriminating pile of smouldering ash. If I had sent one of my girls to dump the ash, I surely would have believed that they were the culprit, so how could I blame the camp director for making the same mistake? But, I assured her, I brought the ashes down myself this morning. And since I asked Joan Booth for directions, she could and did testify in my behalf. What a relief. The camp director, balked of her prey, was scarcely reconciled, but she could hardly direct her wrath at me any more, since my sin was so much less than the accusation that had been leveled at me. All the same, I was happy to board the bus and return home, chastened, and certain that I would do well to stay away from girl's camp in the future.