Panorama (25 page)

On the first of July the Wanderers travel to Adamsfreiheit, though beforehand they discuss what they should bring along, because the Wanderers want to remain on their own once they move to their summer camp. In the city all the necessities are purchased, while tools and other artifacts needed in the camp, which takes the Wanderers a month to set up, are kept at their club and divided among them, each boy carrying something in his pack, which is what the Wanderers call a knapsack. The leader of the pack is Alfred, who is already over twenty and studies medicine, everyone respecting him because he understands the boys so well, even if he’s strict and has a thick skull, making him difficult to stand up to, though no one can make a campfire as well as he can, no one knows better the best trails to take, how to set up camp and be in charge, and he is the best storyteller, tells the funniest jokes, and is deeply admired, his word always trusted, as everyone tries to do what they think Alfred will think is right, hoping that through a brief word or a glance he will acknowledge it, each one believing that Alfred is fond of him, though he treats everyone the same, as the leader of a pack of Wanderers must, there being no dissent allowed in his presence. None of the others are over eighteen, the youngest being thirteen, while Josef is fifteen, his friend Fritz Hans Fuchs, who is known only as FHF, is sixteen, he among the oldest in the pack.

Things are divided up to carry to camp, the older and stronger boys taking on the most, though the smallest are given the most important things possible that don’t weigh too much, such as the kettles, so that everyone has something for which he is personally responsible. But what is hard to carry,
such as food provisions, a crate containing unwieldy tools, another full of dressings, medicine, all kinds of utensils and, in order to use up any remaining space, a few books, these are shipped ahead of time by rail to Adamsfreiheit, the address reading “Summer Camp of the Wanderers at Landstein, Adamsfreiheit Station.” Meanwhile the older boys look out for the younger ones to make sure that their packs are in order, though a real Wanderer doesn’t allow himself to be helped by his mother, being proud to do it all himself, everyone certainly wanting to be free of grown-ups, such that what a young boy can’t do himself is better explained by an older boy rather than someone from home, Alfred deciding who needs to help out this one or that. At a meeting of the pack each has been given a list of things that he must not forget, such as the proper clothes and underwear, eating utensils and toiletries, personal items and a lamp, a small storm lantern being essential, as well as the right amount of blankets, each bringing along a tent, with an additional tent brought along to hold supplies, the boys also told what food they need to bring along for the journey and the first two days in camp.

At the last meeting before leaving, the camp leaders are chosen by a vote, these boys having a special role, and therefore needing to have set up camp at least once already, while those who have never set up camp must first undergo an initiation in order to become full-fledged members, although the ceremony is not a solemn one, because the Wanderers like to participate, and for the most part it’s done in fun. Next they choose the head of camp, who is responsible for everything, not least the life and death of the entire pack, he allowed to have the final say when necessary, otherwise decisions are made by the pack, each member having a voice in the matter, though Alfred, of course, is chosen unanimously for the role. Willi, who is eighteen, is elected as the assistant head, his role being to help Alfred and stand in for him when necessary. Fabian is put in charge of provisions, though everyone knows him as Fabi. Hans is made the treasurer, he being the only one allowed to handle money, everyone turning their money over to him as soon as they get on the train, there being a shared kitty in camp, since within the pack it’s important that no one be richer or poorer than another, it also being discouraged that anyone has anything sent to him, such as money or packages, though when an anxious mother can’t control herself everyone’s happy in camp, for only the food that will last is put in the supply
tent, whereas the usual sweets are handed out immediately, which is great. Next up is the head of entertainment, and this year FHF is sought for this job, since he always has fun ideas, he being in charge of games and entertainment, such as the campfire and special occasions, and the opening party at which the initiation of the new scouts takes place, followed by a wild party called the
bal paré
, though there is no dancing at it but just a load of fun, the third and biggest party coming on the night before they break camp, this being the most fun, for at it they really let go, everyone dressing up and getting carried away in antics as part of what they call the Knights’ Roundtable of the Great Commander. In addition to all these leaders, a cook has to be elected, that being Gustl, though he is called Bambus, since his last name is Bamberger, though the job of cook is not all that important, for each day of the week a different one of the seven leaders serves as head cook and is supplied with two helpers, the role of the cook really being that of an overseer, the menu planned out previously with Alfred, Willi, and Fabi. Last, Josef is chosen as head counsel, he being the one to whom others can bring any complaint, but when the head counsel can’t come up with a solution with the help of Alfred and Willi, then he brings the issue before the entire pack, which meets two times a week around a campfire, the last recourse being to send someone to the camp council, which consists of the seven elected leaders, though it rarely meets, and only when the head of camp or a minimum of two other leaders demands that it does.

The trip to Adamsfreiheit takes a long while because the connections are not good, requiring them to change trains twice, and they also need to make sure to arrive in Adamsfreiheit early in order to be able to temporarily pitch the tents the same day, which means a night journey, and in addition they need to save money, so they take the slow train, which rumbles endlessly across the countryside. Some of the Wanderers have poor parents who cannot or will not pay the modest fees for the camping trip, and so there needs to exist shared funds for all of them, which means they have to carefully calculate what to spend money on, Hans always afraid that there won’t be enough, and so he is always conferring with the others about the best thing to do so that the money doesn’t disappear, though Alfred finds ways and has ideas about how to spend the least amount necessary, such as if something is completely free or can be borrowed, so that by the end of the
trip there are funds left over that allow them to buy extra equipment and better furnish the club. During the journey Hans makes sure that nothing is stolen from him when he’s asleep, for although he wears his fastened wallet on a string around his neck so that it can rest safely underneath his smock, he still asks Alfred to put the money in his pocket, but as soon as they arrive in Adamsfreiheit Hans asks for it back, while in camp it is kept in an iron chest for which Hans and Alfred have a key.

An hour before the train departs, the pack is supposed to meet by a side entrance to the central station in the early evening, the air lovely and warm, almost all the boys showing up on time, their large packs on their backs, each one packed with all sorts of things above and below, left and right, all of it tied down, the smallest looking as if they can hardly stand, yet that appears so only if you look at a new arrival from behind, where he seems to disappear beneath the huge pack and his bags of provisions, but if the same boy suddenly turns around, then he looks quite happy and satisfied, if anything a little excited, and even if the weight is a bit too heavy for him, each one of them is ready to tough it out. Willi, who among the older boys is the first to arrive—his punctuality so well known that during any journey he always takes the lead if they want to know precisely when to meet up with another pack—doesn’t fool around, and says, “Men, don’t wear yourselves out. Set your packs down!” Everyone is happy to do so, and everyone can see how well the boys have packed, even the new ones, for everything looks shipshape, the many little straps a source of pride, though paper sacks and string are frowned upon, since these make them look like philistines, which the Wanderers call almost anyone, especially grown-ups. By “philistines” they mean antiquated men who have no real love of nature, most of the teachers at school being philistines, as along with the parents they hold down the youths by forbidding everything and ordering them around, the grown-ups know no better, nor could they do it better, for they fight constantly and smoke and drink beer, and if they ever go hiking they yell and holler, toss papers into the woods, and drag their little children along, after which the philistines head for an inn, usually right next to the station, buying colored beverages for their kids that no decent young man would drink or even put into his mouth, the elders getting drunk in the meantime. The Wanderers will have nothing to do with that, they are against all oppression,
no one should influence them, for they want to start a new life, which they learn about during hikes and in their club, above all in their camp. No single pack wants to get too big, thirty being the limit for each, each new member having to serve a probationary period of six weeks in order to see if he really fits in. Similarly, not just anyone is encouraged to apply, but instead is considered for a while before being invited, and once he’s selected he is expected to fully turn against his parents and teachers, though he shouldn’t be nasty but simply aloof and independent. No grown-up and no stranger is allowed into the club, not even members of other packs or organizations are allowed unless invited, for with other packs they maintain only loose relations, there being an annual meeting of them during the Easter vacation, which many packs attend, though they hike separately and meet up with one another only at the final destination, at which for two or three days they share campfires, talk, sing, and play games, after which each pack heads back alone.

No one wants to know much about other organizations, on the one hand because they are too much like the military and practice battle charges, and on the other because they are too middle-class and seek out the approval of adults, some also being too nationalistic, others too internationalist, others belonging to some church, still others being appendages of political parties that are always yelling out some party slogan, real Wanderers meanwhile not wanting to have anything to do with politics, for Alfred always says that nothing but bad comes from politics, while whoever wishes to do good in the world cannot allow himself to be swept away by slogans, for they enslave people and turn them into philistines, there being hardly any difference between being progressive or conservative, since it all amounts to nothing and, even if it’s true that an individual cannot defeat all the evil in the world, at least the individual can stand on his own and triumph over the evil within himself in order to lead an exemplary life. Nonetheless it sometimes happens that a boy who is initially pleased by Alfred’s central tenets, or who doesn’t really think about them and is only inspired by life among the other Wanderers, suddenly turns and says that none of what Alfred and the others say is true, after which the boy will not allow himself to be persuaded by anything, and so he states that he is leaving and disappears into another organization or simply takes part in nothing more with this one. Alfred
then says that one has to realize that hiking doesn’t hold a lot for many young boys, and yet it’s good when one at least has had the chance to spend a little time doing it, as something from it might stay with him nonetheless.

Josef, FHF, and some others believe that anyone who is not a real Wanderer in these times must indeed be a philistine, but Alfred just smiles at that and says that he hopes there are no philistines among the Wanderers, and that none will become one, yet there have always been people who were not philistines, and fortunately even today there were men and women who knew nothing about hiking and yet were not philistines, there even being grown-ups who were fine people, even though the young felt their generation was better than the older one. Josef is still skeptical, and FHF complains that in his family most of them are awful and complete philistines, to which Hans adds, “I think the scouts will be the first sensible generation to exist once they grow up.” The worst is when young boys who for the most part don’t belong to any organization, or at best a phony one run by adults, are complete philistines who have no interest in good books, who don’t want to go for a proper hike, who run out of the rain, long for vacations in a summer resort with a bad orchestra and snack bars, who are interested only in soccer and boxing matches, who read sentimental stories about Indians and bloodthirsty detective novels, who are happy to be led around on a leash like a dog, who like pop music and dancing, and who like the kind of school outings that Wanderers would never participate in, laughing as they do when they come upon one of them cooking his dinner on a spirit stove instead of making a real fire, even when it is raining and the brushwood is damp. A healthy Wanderer hikes every week, even in winter, for he has boots that no mud harms when they are laced up, nor does any Wanderer shrink from sleeping outside overnight, as long as it’s not so cold that he can’t pitch a tent, which is possible almost anywhere, and even when it’s too cold all you have to do is wrap yourself up well in blankets, two boys assigned to tend the fire until morning so that you can always stay warm. Only for the winter camp does the pack rent a lodge in the mountains, where you can have a warm meal in the morning and at night, though for lunch the meal is cold, while it’s hardly ever the case that they pass a night on the straw of some farmer’s barn, this happening only when the weather is completely miserable.

The Wanderer is well outfitted and knows which canteen works best, sensibly utilizing aluminum canisters and watertight pouches, though no paper sacks or cardboard boxes, but instead he has a normal drinking cup, as opposed to a collapsible one, an eating tray with two compartments, no one using regular silverware but instead a large spoon that can be used to eat anything, a fork being a luxury, though everyone has a knife, which is all you really need. A real Wanderer wears a coat or raincoat neither during a hike nor in camp but instead has a waterproof windbreaker that is not thick at all, and which preferably is always faded and old, though in town you dress inconspicuously, because Alfred says, “I don’t want any of you looking like some man from the wild!” Most of all, it’s important to keep clean and to wear nice clothes, most of the younger boys refusing to wear long pants and shirts with ties because they feel foolish in them. The Wanderers have no special insignia, or at least Alfred’s pack does not, since they have all decided that a real Wanderer should be recognizable on the inside and the outside, but not by insignia, which can easily be just superficial. The only shared piece of clothing is the smock, each member of the pack owning at least two, a good one and an everyday one, the difference being that one is new and the other old, the old one used mainly for hiking, as well as the trip to the camp, but for festive occasions and the campfire the new one is used, while for the most part you run around camp in shorts and bare feet when the weather allows.