Making friends is one of the most valuable factors of our camp life. Every summer campers meet people whom they never cease to like. Wherever we go we see evidence of this. In schools and colleges throughout the country, it is the usual rather than the exceptional thing to see two or more people who have been to camp chumming together.

Under ordinary circumstances we often meet people, work with them, play on teams with them – but yet a chance meeting later in life means nothing more than a few minutes of reminiscing. But let two old campers meet after a lapse of time and the story is very different. Immediately they are on common ground, without any strained politeness or unnaturalness. They have more to talk about than a dumb man who suddenly learns to speak. And more than that, when they have run out of conversation, they are content just to be with one another. Such friendship is a thing, the value of which becomes more apparent as we get older. When we are out in the business world or attending a university, it becomes vital. We live and work for it; it is the thing that carries us over the difficult paths.

Why is it then that camp-made friendships are so permanent? We can advance at least two main reasons. In the first place, the high calibre of everybody on Canoe Lake allows us a choice of the best. Secondly, in the busy, happy two months of the summer, we see people as they really are and not as the artificial beings the city can create.

Let us be proud of our friendships, loyal to our friends and thankful that camp has given us the opportunity of meeting them.

– From “Fires of Friendship” page 2