Yesterday in church, worship began with one of my favorite songs. We sang “This Is My Father’s World”. This song takes me back to the days when I camped at The Conference Grounds near Dunkirk, NY when I was growing up.
Although I did not belong to the church that sponsored that camp, I was allowed to attend. I went two years in a row. Since I went from one age group to another the sessions were different. The first time I attended it was my first time away from home. I had not even stayed at a friend’s house. The only time I stayed away was with my cousins.
That was a difficult experience. I was lonesome. It was not long until I got so involved in the camping session that I let go of home. We spent time in the woods every day. One day we fixed our lunch there. We were each given jobs to help with the preparation. I was assigned to help the counselor cut up vegetables. We made a sort of stew. Since we prepared it, it was delicious. The only thing I did not like was the dessert.
We wrapped bananas in foil and put them into the fire. Each banana had chocolate chips and marshmallows inside. I did not eat mine. One taste was enough. The stew on the other hand was very good.
At camp each day began with a service called Matins – I think that meant morning worship. If it was nice weather, we all gathered in the outdoor chapel that sat on the bluff facing Lake Erie. We could hear the birds singing and got a glimpse of them occasionally. I think the benches there were cement. All I remember is that it was a wonderful experience in nature.
I remember singing the song that we sang on Sunday. When I did some research, I found out that the words were part of a sixteen-verse poem written by Reverend Maltbie D. Babco*ck. Babco*ck lived and worked around the Syracuse, New York area. The song was not set to music and published until after he died. He was a Presbyterian minister.
While I dearly love the song, I am glad that we do not have to sing all sixteen verses. Each verse begins with “This is my Father’s World”. The verses talk about the beauty of God’s creation. I think of it as rather pastoral.
I am sure we had some books to sing out of since we would not all have known the words to more than one verse of all the songs we used.
Throughout the day we had various activities. After Matins we went to breakfast. Next came some acting experiences. We also had arts and crafts. We were allowed to pick the type of activity that we wanted. I recall painting some coasters that I took home. We also had swim time, a rest time after lunch, and a snack time before we went to bed.
The first year I attended camp we went down Jacob’s Ladder to the beach. By the time the second year rolled around there was a pool up on top so we only used Jacob’s Ladder when we went for a walk.
In the evening, we had a sing-a-long around the campfire. I really enjoyed the singing. We could harmonize on many of the camp songs. One of the counselors played a guitar. It was fascinating to watch him find all the chords he needed.
Oh, yes, I forgot. We had a Vesper service in the evening at the outdoor chapel. By evening the lake was often very calm. Sometimes we saw boats passing in front of the camp. Since “This Is My Father’s World” was a favorite hymn, we used in the evening as well.
I mentioned that we had a rest time after lunch. We did not have to sleep, but we had to be quiet. No talking. That was hard for all of us since there were four people to a room. We were supposed to use the time to write home. I could see no sense in that since we were only there for a week. I remember one of the girls had a bag of lemon drops. To this day every time I eat a lemon drop, I think of her. She passed them around. All was fine until one of the girls dropped the bag. That brought a bouncing of candy and we all laughed. That triggered an inspection by the counselor. We were told to keep it quiet!
Thank you to the worship team for choosing one of my favorite songs. It brought back so many memories.
Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell. Contact her at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.
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