Homesickness is “a malady most incident to maids.”  Boys may suffer from it, but they suffer alone.  If tears are shed they are shed in secret, lest the other fellows find it out.  Except in the case of the very little chaps, the masters are not disturbed.  But girls have no such reserves; and the teachers in charge of twenty-five strange girls, many in the throes of this really distressing ailment, are not to be envied.  “Frankly speaking,” went on the confession, “there isn’t a moment of the day when we can dismiss them from our thoughts.  Are they swimming in charge of the director of athletics, a most capable girl, one of us must be there, too, because, should anything happen, we, and not she, are directly responsible.  When the lesson hour is on, we not only teach, but must see that each girl’s work is adapted to her needs, as they come from a dozen different schools.  There are disputes to settle, plans for outings and entertainments to be made, games to direct, letters to the home folks to be superintended, or half the girls would never write at all, to say nothing of the marketing and housekeeping, and our own business correspondence, that has to be tucked into the siesta hour after luncheon.  Indeed, in the nine weeks of camp last summer I never once had an hour that I could call my very own.”

“And that is only the day’s anxiety,” sighed her colleague reflectively.  “My specialty is prowling about at night to see that everybody is properly covered.  Not a girl among them would have sense enough to get up and close windows in case of rain, so I sleep with one ear pricked for the first patter on the roof.  Occasionally there are two or three who walk in their sleep, and I’m on pins and needles lest harm come to them, so I make my rounds to see that they’re safe.  Oh, it is a peacefully placid existence, I assure you, having charge of forty darling daughters.  Some of them have done nothing for themselves in their entire lives, and what a splendid place camp is for such girls.  But while they’re learning we must be looking out for their sins of omission, such, for instance, as throwing a soaking wet bathing suit upon a bed instead of hanging it upon the line.”

These are some of the few worries that attach to the care of sensitive and delicately brought up girls that the boys’ camp never knows.  But if the financial return is adequate there will naturally be some compensation for all these pinpricks.  Here again the Senior Partner is inclined to hem and haw.  “Given a popular head of camp,” says she, “who has been fortunate enough to secure a desirable site and a paying clientele, and she will certainly not lose money.  Her summer will be paid for.  However, that is not enough to reward her for the additional work and worry.  Camp work does not confine itself to the nine weeks of residence.  There are the hours and days spent in planning and purchasing equipment, the getting out of circulars, the correspondence entailed and the subsequent keeping in touch with patrons.”