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The History of <strong>Mowglis</strong><br />
The development of the <strong>Mowglis</strong> tradition from 1907-1911.<br />
By Alcott Farrar Elwell<br />
The summer of 1907 is the<br />
beginning of the <strong>Mowglis</strong><br />
graduates, those boys who<br />
have been at <strong>Mowglis</strong> for at<br />
least two years and are<br />
fourteen, and who<br />
thus cannot<br />
return as<br />
campers. This<br />
summer the<br />
"Hope-to-be<br />
House" is built. It<br />
is named by the<br />
boys as the place<br />
for those who<br />
"hope to be"<br />
swimmers. The<br />
Masquebec boat<br />
house is moved up<br />
the shore, and is<br />
the original part<br />
of Waingunga.<br />
During the<br />
summer, baseball<br />
is in demand. The climax is a<br />
game between <strong>Mowglis</strong> and<br />
<strong>Camp</strong> Wachusett, at the<br />
Holderness School. In addition,<br />
the party camps two<br />
nights on the side of<br />
Prospect Mountain, climbs<br />
to the top, and tries to<br />
find the "Devil's Den,"<br />
which is supposedly on<br />
this mountain. One of<br />
the counselors claims<br />
to have found the Den,<br />
and as proof displays<br />
what looks like a<br />
Devil's hoof. This trophy<br />
was kept in the<br />
<strong>Mowglis</strong> Museum, until<br />
it surprisingly disappeared.<br />
Soon we are on our<br />
way with Mr. Ford Holt to<br />
Waterville. The same means<br />
of travel is used as in 1905,<br />
with a twenty mile hike for<br />
the staff! Mr. Holt and Mr.<br />
Hodges take some boys to<br />
climb Tripyramid, then later<br />
in the week a group goes<br />
over the Livermore trail.<br />
The party stays at a deserted<br />
lumber camp and finds a<br />
second growth wilderness<br />
and good trout fishing. The<br />
rest climb Mt. Osceola, eat-<br />
Mrs. Holt, 1911<br />
31<br />
ing and sleeping (more accurately<br />
freezing) on the top.<br />
They all see the sunrise -<br />
every one of them!<br />
The <strong>Mowglis</strong> Howl (our<br />
annual) is first<br />
published this<br />
year and continues,<br />
interrupted<br />
only by the<br />
Second World<br />
War. This is the<br />
last year Mr.<br />
Ford Holt is at<br />
<strong>Mowglis</strong>. From<br />
1904 through<br />
1907 he brought<br />
much to the boys<br />
in his love for<br />
camp life and his<br />
enthusiasm for<br />
mountain climbing.<br />
In 1908, the<br />
boys feel closer to their far<br />
away <strong>Mowglis</strong> kinsman,<br />
because with the help of Mrs.<br />
Holt, they act out the <strong>Mowglis</strong><br />
story in their first outdoor<br />
play. Their theatre is the<br />
woods behind the cave, where<br />
the boys with wolf<br />
masks, grey flannel uniforms,<br />
and long grey<br />
stockings give a most<br />
realistic effect, creeping<br />
through the forest in the<br />
fading twilight.<br />
We are soon off on the<br />
Long Walk. Hiking to<br />
Plymouth over the Hill<br />
Road, we entrain on the<br />
B&M to Warren. Here<br />
the smaller boys get off<br />
and hike to Breezy Point<br />
Hotel. The stalwarts continue<br />
to Glen Cliff and climb Mt.
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