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Title: Scouting for Boys
Author: Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Scouting for Boys" ***
SCOUTING FOR BOYS.
[Illustration: The Boy Scout in Action.]
SCOUTING FOR BOYS
Robert Baden-Powell
1908
CONTENTS OF THE PARTS.
PART I.
SCOUTCRAFT AND SCOUT LAW, giving the Duties of Boy Scouts, their Secret
Signs, Laws, Badges, War Dance, etc.
PART II.
OBSERVATION AND TRACKING.
WOODCRAFT AND KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMALS.
PART III.
CAMPAIGNING AND CAMP LIFE.
PIONEERING AND RESOURCEFULNESS.
PART IV.
ENDURANCE AND HEALTH.
CHIVALRY AND BRAVE DEEDS.
DISCIPLINE.
PART V.
SAVING LIFE AND FIRST-AID.
PATRIOTISM AND LOYALTY.
PART VI.
SCOUTING GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAYS.
WORDS TO INSTRUCTORS.
FOREWORD FOR INSTRUCTOR.
[_N.B.--Remarks printed in italics are, throughout the book,
addressed to the Instructor._]
_By the term "Instructor" I mean any man or lad who takes up the
training of either a Patrol_ (i.e., _six to eight boys_), _or a Troop_
i.e., (_several Patrols joined together_).
_By means of this book I hope that anyone, even without previous
knowledge of scouting, may be able to teach it to boys--in town just as
well as in the country._
_The system is applicable to existing organisations such as schools,
boys' brigades, cadet corps, etc., or can supply a simple organisation
of its own where these do not exist. But in all cases I would strongly
commend the "Patrol" system: that is, small permanent groups, each under
responsible charge of a leading boy, as the great step to success._
_The reasons for this, the objects of the training and full hints to
Instructors I have already published in a pamphlet called "The Boy
Scouts Scheme." Price Twopence. Published by Bradbury, Agnew, Bouverie
Street, London, E.C. They will be further set forth in Part VI. of the
present book._
_I recommend the Instructor to begin with a Patrol of eight boys if
possible, and when these have qualified as "First-class Scouts" to
select the best five or six to raise each a patrol of his own and
instruct it under his (the Instructor's) supervision._
_A great step is to obtain, if possible, a room, barn, or school to
serve as a Club, especially for work on long winter evenings. It must be
well-lit and warmed. And to have a camp-out in the summer._
_There need be no great expense in working a troop of Boy Scouts._
_Finance must largely depend on the efforts of the Scouts themselves.
Methods for making money will be indicated in Part IV. I do not hold
with begging for funds if it can possibly be avoided._
_Any further information or advice will readily be given on application,
and I shall be glad to have any suggestions or informal reports of
progress and numbers trained. But I have no desire to trouble
Instructors with red-tape returns, and so on._
_Scouts' Badges, Medals, Patrol Flags, and Crests, Tracking Irons, and
such articles of scouts' equipment, can be obtained at low rates on
application here._
_All communications should be addressed, not to me by name, but to:_
_THE MANAGER,_
_Boy Scouts,_
_Goschen Buildings,_
_Henrietta Street,_
_London, E.C._
_R. S. S. B.-P.
January, 1908._
PART I.--CONTENTS.
SCOUTCRAFT.
NOTES FOR INSTRUCTOR.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
1.--SCOUTS' WORK: The Mafeking Cadets. "Kim."
2.--SUMMARY OF COURSE OF INSTRUCTION: The Elsdon Murder.
3.--BOY SCOUTS' ORGANISATION: Officers; Test for Scouts; Scout's
Badges, Medals, etc.; Scout's Oath; Secret Signs and Calls; Dress.
4.--SCOUT LAW.
GAMES AND PRACTICES.
BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT.
CHAPTER I.
SCOUTCRAFT.
NOTE FOR INSTRUCTOR.
_The following is a suggestion for the distribution of the work for the
first week. It is merely a suggestion and in no sense binding._
FIRST EVENING:
INDOORS.
_Address the boys on "Scoutcraft," giving a summary of the whole scheme,
as in this chapter, with demonstrations or lantern slides, etc._
_Swear in the Scouts, form Patrols, and give shoulder knots._
FOLLOWING DAY:
MORNING AND AFTERNOON.
_Practical work, outdoors if possible, as follows:--_
_Alternatives according to whether in town or country, indoors or out._
MORNING.
_Parade, hoist Union Jack and salute it._
_Scouting game: e.g., "Scout Meets Scout." (See page 53)._
_Practise salutes, secret signs, patrol calls, scouts' chorus, etc._
_Practise drawing scout-signs on ground or walls with stick or chalk._
_Tie knots._
_Make ration bags, leather buttons, etc._
MORNING.
_Parade. Prayers or Church Parade (if Sunday)._
_Physical Exercises._
_Drill._
_Self-measurement by each scout of span, cubit, finger joint, stride,
etc._
_Send out scouts independently or in pairs to do a "good turn," to
return and report how they have done it._
_March out the Patrol to see the neighbourhood._
_Make them note direction of starting by compass, wind, and sun._
_Notice and question them on details seen, explain "land marks," etc._
_Make Scout's Marks on ground or chalk them on pavement or walls._
_Practise Scout's pace._
_Judge distances._
AFTERNOON.
_Play an extended Scouting Game. (See "Games," P. 51)._
_Or indoors if wet--"Ju-Jitsu," "Scouts' War Dance," Boxing, Scouts'
Chorus and Rally, etc._
EVENING.
_Camp Fire Yarns from this book or from books recommended (see p. 19)._
_Or rehearse a Scout play, or hold Debate, Kim's Game, etc._
_Patrols to continue practice in these throughout the week in their own
time or under the scout master, with final games or exercise on the
following Saturday afternoon._
_If more evenings than one are available in the week one of the subjects
might be taken in turn more fully each evening, and rehearsals carried
out of a display such as "Pocahontas."_
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 1.
MAFEKING BOY SCOUTS.
We had an example of how useful Boy Scouts can be on active service,
when a corps of boys was formed in the defence of Mafeking, 1899-1900.
Mafeking, you may remember, was quite a small ordinary country town out
on the open plains of South Africa.
Nobody ever thought of its being attacked by an enemy any more than you
would expect this town (or village) to be attacked--the thing was so
improbable.
But it just shows you how you must be prepared for what is _possible_,
not only what is _probable_ in war; and so, too, we ought to be prepared
in Britain against being attacked by enemies; for though it may not be
probable, it is quite as possible as it was at Mafeking; and every boy
in Britain should be just as ready as those boys were in Mafeking to
take their share in its defence.
Well, when we found we were to be attacked at Mafeking, we told off our
garrison to the points that they were to protect--some 700 trained men,
police, and volunteers. And then we armed the townsmen, of whom there
were some 300. Some of them were old frontiersmen, and quite equal to
the occasion; but many of them, young shopmen, clerks, and others, had
never seen a rifle before, and had never tried to learn to drill or to
shoot, and so they were hopelessly at sea at first. It is not much fun
to have to face an enemy who means to kill you, when you have never
learned to shoot.
Every boy ought to learn how to shoot and to obey orders, else he is no
more good when war breaks out than an old woman, and merely gets killed
like a squealing rabbit, being unable to defend himself.
Altogether, then, we only had about a thousand men all told to defend
the place which contained 600 white women and children, and about 7,000
natives, and was about five miles round.
[Illustration: Lord Edward Cecil and Boy Scouts in Mafeking.]
Every man was of value, and as their numbers gradually got less, owing
to men getting killed and wounded, the duties of fighting and keeping
watch at night got harder for the rest. It was then that Lord Edward
Cecil, the chief staff officer, got together the boys in the place and
made them into a cadet corps, put them in uniform and drilled them; and
a jolly smart and useful lot they were. We had till then used a large
number of men for carrying orders and messages and keeping look-out, and
acting as orderlies and so on. These duties were now handed over to the
boy cadets, and the men were released to go and strengthen the firing
line.
And the cadets, under their serjeant-major, a boy named Goodyear, did
right good work, and well deserved the medals which they got at the end
of the war. Many of them rode bicycles, and we were thus able to
establish a post by which people could send letters to their friends in
the different forts, or about the town, without going out under fire
themselves; and we made postage stamps for these letters which had on
them a picture of a cadet bicycle orderly.
[Illustration: Stamp.]
I said to one of these boys on one occasion, when he came in through
rather a heavy fire: "You will get hit one of these days riding about
like that when shells are flying." And he replied: "I pedal so quick,
sir, they'd never catch me." These boys didn't seem to mind the bullets
one bit; they were always ready to carry out orders, though it meant
risk to their life every time.
Would any of you do that? If an enemy were firing down this street, and
I were to tell one of you to take a message across to a house on the
other side, would you do it? I am sure you would. But probably you
wouldn't much like doing it.
But you want to prepare yourself for it beforehand. It's just like
taking a header into cold water; a fellow who is accustomed to bathing
thinks nothing of it; he has practised it over and over again, but ask a
fellow to do it who has never practised it and he will funk it.
So, too, with a boy who has been accustomed to obey orders at once,
whether there is risk about it or not; the moment you order him to do a
thing on active service, no matter how great the danger is to him he
does it, while another chap who has never cared to obey would object,
and would then be despised as a coward even by his former friends.
But you need not wait for war in order to be useful as a scout. As a
peace scout there is lots for you to do any day, wherever you may be.
SCOUTS' WORK.
I suppose every British boy wants to help his country in some way or
other.
There is a way, by which he can do so easily, and that is by becoming a
scout.
A scout, as you know, is generally a soldier who is chosen for his
cleverness and pluck to go out in front of an army in war to find out
where the enemy are, and report to the commander all about them.
But, besides war scouts, there are also peace scouts, _i.e._, men who in
peace time carry out work which requires the same kind of abilities.
These are the frontiersmen of all parts of our Empire. The "trappers" of
North America, hunters of Central Africa, the British pioneers,
explorers, and missionaries over Asia and all the wild parts of the
world, the bushmen and drovers of Australia, the constabulary of
North-West Canada and of South Africa--all are peace scouts, real _men_
in every sense of the word, and thoroughly up in scout craft, _i.e._,
they understand living out in the jungles, and they can find their way
anywhere, are able to read meaning from the smallest signs and
foot-tracks; they know how to look after their health when far away from
any doctors, are strong and plucky, and ready to face any danger, and
always keen to help each other. They are accustomed to take their lives
in their hands, and to fling them down without hesitation if they can
help their country by doing so.
They give up everything, their personal comforts and desires, in order
to get their work done. They do not do all this for their own amusement,
but because it is their duty to their King, fellow-countrymen, or
employers.
The History of the Empire has been made by British adventurers and
explorers, the scouts of the nation, for hundreds of years past up to
the present time.
The Knights of King Arthur, Richard Coeur de Lion, and the Crusaders,
carried British chivalry into distant parts of the earth.
Raleigh, Drake, and Capt. John Smith, soldiers and sailors of Queen
Elizabeth's time, faced unknown dangers of strange seas, as well as the
known dangers of powerful enemies, to take and hold new lands for the
expansion of our small kingdom.
Capt. Cook in Australia, Lord Clive in India, opened up new countries.
Speke, Baker, and Livingstone pushed their way through the savage
deserts and forests of Africa; Franklin and Ross braved the ice and
snows of the Arctic regions.
In the present time Selous, the great hunter, and Lieut. Boyd Alexander,
who last year crossed Africa, are peace scouts.
These are just a few names out of many hundreds of the scouts of the
nation who have from all times down to the present spread the good name
and power of our country in all parts of the world.
And there have been women scouts of the nation, too: such as Grace
Darling, who risked her life to save a shipwrecked crew; Florence
Nightingale, who nursed sick soldiers in the Crimean War; Miss Kingsley,
the African explorer; Lady Lugard, in Africa and Alaska; and many
devoted lady missionaries and nurses in all parts of our Empire. These
have shown that girls as well as boys may well learn scouting while they
are young, and so be able to do useful work in the world as they grow
older.
It is a grand life, but it cannot suddenly be taken up by any man who
thinks he would like it, unless he has prepared himself for it
beforehand.
Those who succeed best are those who learnt scouting while they were
still boys.
Scouting also comes in very useful in any kind of life you like to take
up, whether it is soldiering or even business life in a city. Sir
William Crookes says it is even valuable for a man who goes in for
science, and finding out little things about air, and light, and so on.
So I am going to show you how you can learn scout-craft for yourself and
can put it into practice at home.
It is very easy to learn and very interesting when you get into it. You
can best learn by joining the "Boy Scouts."
"KIM."
A good example of what a Boy Scout can do is to be found in Rudyard
Kipling's story of "Kim."
"Kim," or, to give him his full name, Kimball O'Hara, was the son of a
sergeant of an Irish regiment in India. His father and mother died while
he was a child, and he had been left to the care of an aunt who lived in
an humble way in India.
His playmates were all natives, so he got to talk their language and to
know their ways better than any European. He became great friends with
an old wandering priest who was tramping about India, and with whom he
travelled all over the north part of that country. At last, one day he
chanced to meet his father's old regiment on the line of march, and in
visiting the camp he was arrested on suspicion of being a thief. His
birth certificate and other papers were found on him, and the regiment,
seeing that he had belonged to them, took charge of him, and started to
educate him. But whenever he could get away for holidays he dressed
himself in Indian clothes, and went again among the natives as one of
them.
After a time he became acquainted with a Mr. Lurgan, a dealer in old
jewellery and curiosities, who, owing to his knowledge from dealing with
natives, was also a member of the Government Intelligence Department.
[_Explain this._]
This man, finding that Kim had such special knowledge of native habits
and customs, saw that he would make a useful agent for Government
Intelligence work, that is, a kind of detective among the natives. But,
first of all, before employing him, he put him to one or two tests to
see whether he was sufficiently brave and strong-minded.
As a trial of his strong-mindedness he attempted to mesmerise him, that
is to say, he tried to make Kim's thoughts obey what was in his own
mind. It is possible for strong-minded men to do this with those of
weaker mind. The way he attempted it was by throwing down a jug of water
so that it smashed to pieces; he then laid his fingers on the boy's
neck, and wished him to imagine the jug mended itself again. But, do
what he would to make his thought reach the boy's brain, he failed; Kim
saw the jug was broken, and would not believe it was mended, although at
one time he nearly obeyed him, for he saw a kind of vision of the jug
being mended, but it faded away again.
Most boys would have let their mind and eyes wander, and would not have
been able to keep them on the one subject, and would so have easily
become mesmerised by the man.
Lurgan, finding him strong-minded and quick at learning, then gave him
lessons at noticing small details and remembering them, which is a most
important point in the training of a scout--it is a thing that he should
learn and be practising every hour of the day wherever he may be. Lurgan
began it with Kim by showing him a tray full of precious stones of
different kinds--he let him look at it for a minute, and then covered it
with a cloth, and asked him to state how many stones and what sort were
there. At first he found he could only remember a few, and could not
describe them very accurately, but with a little practice he soon got to
remember them all quite well. And so, also, with many other kinds of
articles which were shown to him in the same way.
Then Kim travelled about the country a great deal with a fine old Afghan
horse-dealer to whom he was much attached, who was also an agent of the
Intelligence Department. On one occasion Kim was able to do him a good
turn by carrying an important message for him secretly; and another time
he saved his life by overhearing some natives planning to murder him
when he came along. By pretending to be asleep and then having a
nightmare which caused him to move from his position, Kim got away from
the neighbourhood of the would-be murderers, and was able to give
warning to his friend in good time.
At last he was made a member of the Secret Service, and was given a
secret sign--namely, a badge to wear round his neck and a certain
sentence to say, which, if said in a peculiar way, meant he was one of
the service. Scouts generally have secret signs by which they can
communicate with each other.
The members of the Intelligence Service are very numerous in India, and
do not know each other by sight, so they have to have a secret sign by
which they will recognise each other among other people who may be their
enemies.
Once when travelling in the train Kim met another member whom he did not
know. This was a native, who when he got into the carriage was evidently
in a great state of alarm, and was rather badly cut about the head and
arms. He explained to the other passengers that he had met with an
accident from a cart whilst he was driving to the station, but Kim, like
a good scout, noticed the cuts were sharp and not grazes such as you
would get by falling from a cart, and so did not believe him. While the
man was tying up a bandage over his head, Kim noticed he was wearing a
locket like his own; so Kim let his own be seen. Directly the man saw it
he brought into conversation some of the secret words, and Kim answered
with the proper ones in reply. So then the stranger got into a corner
with Kim and explained to him that he was carrying out some secret
service work, and had been found out and hunted by some of the enemies
of the Government who had nearly killed him. They probably knew he was
in the train and would therefore telegraph down the line to their
friends that he was coming. He wanted to get his message to a certain
police officer without being caught by the enemy, but he could not tell
how to do it if they were already warned of his coming. Kim thereupon
hit upon the idea of disguising him.
[Illustration: Kim disguising the native spy.]
In India there are a number of holy beggars who go about the country.
They wear next to no clothing and smear themselves with ashes, and paint
certain marks on their faces; they are considered very holy, and people
always help them with food and money. So Kim made a mixture of flour and
wood ashes, which he took from the bowl of a native pipe, and he
undressed his friend and smeared these all over him, and finally, with
the aid of a little paint-box which he carried, he painted the proper
marks on the man's forehead. He smeared the man's wounds with flour and
ashes, partly so as to heal them, and also so that they did not show;
and he brushed his hair down to look wild and shaggy like that of a
beggar, and covered it with dust so that the man's own mother would not
have known him. Soon afterwards they got to a big station where on the
platform they found the police officer to whom the report was to be
made. The imitation beggar pushed up against him and got abused by the
officer in English; the beggar replied with a string of native abuse
into which he introduced the secret words. The police officer, although
he had pretended not to know Hindustani, understood it quite well, and
at once recognised from the secret words that this beggar was an agent;
and so he pretended to arrest him and marched him off to the
police-station where he could talk to him quietly. It was thus done
without anyone on the platform knowing that they were in league with
each other, or that this native beggar was the escaped Intelligence
agent.
Finally, Kim became acquainted with another agent of the department--an
educated native or Babu as they are called in India--and was able to
give him great assistance in capturing two Russian officers who were
acting as spies against the British on the north-west frontier of India.
[_Note.--Point out on map respective positions of British and
Russians._]
The Babu pretended to the Russians that he was the manager for a local
native prince who did not like the English, and travelled with them for
some time as representative of this prince. In this way he got to know
where they kept their secret papers in their baggage. At last he got up
trouble between them and a holy priest, whom they struck; this caused
great excitement among the natives, who rushed off with the baggage and
got lost in the darkness. Kim, who was among the natives, opened the
luggage and found the secret papers which he took out and carried to
headquarters.
These and other adventures of Kim are well worth reading, because they
show what valuable work a boy scout could do for his country if he were
sufficiently trained and sufficiently intelligent.
BOOKS.
The following books, which may be got from a Lending Library or from
friends, may be found useful in connection with Chapter I.:--
"Rob the Ranger," by Herbert Strang, price 6s. (Published by Hodder &
Stoughton), describes the exciting adventures of boy scouts in Canada in
the early days, including tracking and backwoods life.
Also,
* "Kidnapped," by R. L. Stevenson.
* "Kim," by Rudyard Kipling.
"Siege of Mafeking," by Major F. Baillie.
* "Two Little Savages," by E. Thompson Seton.
"Parents and Children," by Miss Charlotte Mason.
"The Romance of Every Day," by L. Quiller Couch,
gives inspiring instances of heroism in everyday life.
5s.
"Heroes of Pioneering," by Edgar Sanderson. 5s.
(Published by Seeley & Co.)
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 2.
SUMMARY OF SCOUT'S COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.
To become a Boy Scout you join a patrol belonging to your Cadet Corps,
or Boys' Brigade or club.
If you are not a member of one of these, or if it does not as yet
possess a patrol of scouts, you can raise a patrol yourself by getting
five other boys to join. They should, if possible, be all about the same
age. One boy is then chosen as Patrol Leader to command the patrol, and
he selects another boy to be the Corporal or second in command. Several
patrols together can form a "Troop" under an officer called a
"Scoutmaster."
You all take the scout's oath, that is you promise, _on your honour_,
three things, namely:
1. To be loyal to God and the King.
2. To help other people at all times.
3. To obey the scout law.
You learn the scout sign of the scouts (see page 40), and also the call
of your patrol (see page 45).
Every patrol is named after some animal, and each scout in it has to be
able to make the cry of that animal in order to communicate with his
pals, especially at night. Thus you may be "the Wolves," "the Curlews,"
"the Eagles," or "the Rats" if you like. No scout may ever use the call
of another patrol. The second law binds you to be loyal, kind, obedient,
and cheerful. Most of your work then consists in playing scouting games
and practices by which you gain experience as scouts. When you have
learned sufficient to pass the test you can win the badge of either a
first class or second class scout.
That of the first class scout consists of a brass arrow head with the
motto on it "BE PREPARED."
That of the second class scout is merely the motto without the arrow
head.
The meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by
previous thinking out and practising how to act on any accident or
emergency so that he is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what
to do when anything unexpected happens.
The following subjects are what you have to know about to pass the test
as a scout:--
WOODCRAFT means knowing all about animals, which is gained by following
up their foot-tracks and creeping up to them so that you can watch them
in their natural state, and learn the different kinds of animals and
their various habits. You only shoot them if in want of food; but no
scout wilfully kills an animal for the mere sake of killing, unless it
is a harmful creature.
A good story is told of a soldier in the South African War who killed a
harmless animal, namely a sheep, when the order had been given out that
nobody was to kill any animal except a "savage wild beast."
But the soldier wanted some mutton, and he found a sheep round at the
back of a house; so he started to make it into mutton with his bayonet.
Just as he was doing so an officer happened to come round the corner.
The soldier saw the danger that he was in for disobeying the order, but
he did not lose his head. Pretending not to see the officer, he again
plunged his bayonet into the wretched sheep, shouting at the same time,
"Ah, you would bite me, would you? You 'savage wild beast'!"
By continually watching animals in their natural state one gets to like
them too well to shoot them.
The whole sport of hunting animals lies in the woodcraft of stalking
them, not in the killing.
Woodcraft includes, besides being able to see the tracks and other small
signs, the power to read their meaning, such as at what pace the animal
was going, whether he was frightened or unsuspicious, and so on. It
enables the hunter also to find his way in the jungle or desert; it
teaches him which are the best wild fruits, roots, etc., for his own
food, or which are favourite food for animals, and, therefore, likely to
attract them.
In the same way in scouting in civilised countries you read the tracks
of men, horses, bicycles, etc., and find out from these what has been
going on; noticing by small signs, such as birds suddenly starting up,
that someone is moving near, though you cannot see them.
By noticing little things on the ground you will often find lost
articles, which you can then restore to their owners.
By noticing details of harness, and so on, you can often save a horse
from the pain of an ill-fitting strap or bit.
By noticing the behaviour or dress of people, and putting this and that
together, you can sometimes see that they are up to no good, and can
thus prevent a crime, or you can often tell when they are in distress
and need help or sympathy--and you can then do what is one of the chief
duties of a scout, namely, help those in distress in any possible way
that you can.
Remember that it is a disgrace to a scout if, when he is with other
people, they see anything big or little, near or far, high or low, that
he has not already seen for himself.
Kim, when learning to be scout, was taught to notice small things
quickly and to remember them, by being shown a tray full of small
articles for a few moments and then having to state what he had seen.
[_Play Kim's game. See page 54._]
CAMPAIGNING.--Scouts must, of course, be accustomed to living in the
open; they have to know how to put up tents or huts for themselves; how
to lay and light a fire; how to kill, cut up, and cook their food; how
to tie logs together to make bridges and rafts; how to find their way by
night, as well as by day, in a strange country, and so on.
But very few fellows learn or practise these things when they are living
in civilised places because they get comfortable houses and beds to
sleep in, their food is prepared and cooked for them, and when they want
to know the way "they ask a policeman."
Well, when those fellows go out to a colony, or try to go scouting, they
find themselves helpless duffers.
Take even the captain of your cricket eleven and put him down on the
South African veldt alongside the young Colonial, and see which can look
after himself. High averages and clean flannels are not much good to him
there. He is only a "tenderfoot," and would be the object of continual
chaff until he got some scoutcraft into him.
And scoutcraft, mind you, comes in useful in any line of life that you
like to take up. Cricket doesn't matter a hang--though it is a jolly
good game to play, and comes in useful to a certain extent in training a
fellow's eye, nerve, and temper. But, as the American would say, "it
isn't a circumstance" to scouting which teaches a fellow to be a man.
[_Make each boy lay a fire in his own way and light it. After
failures, show them the right way (i.e., delicate use of dry chips
and shavings, and sticks in a pyramid), and make them do it again.
Also teach them how to tie knots._ _See Part III._]
CHIVALRY.--In the old days the knights were the scouts of Britain, and
their rules were very much the same as the scout law which we have now.
And very much like what the Japs have, too. We are their descendants,
and we ought to keep up their good name and follow in their steps.
They considered that their honour was the most sacred thing to uphold;
they would not do a dishonourable thing, such as telling a lie or
stealing: they would really rather die than do it. They were always
ready to fight and to be killed in upholding their king, or their
religion, or their honour. Thousands of them went out to Palestine (the
Holy Land) to maintain the Christian religion against the Mahommedan
Turks.
Each knight had a small following of a squire and some men-at-arms, just
as our patrol leader has his corporal and four or five scouts.
The knight's patrol used to stick to him through thick and thin, and all
carried out the same idea as their leader--namely:
Their honour was sacred.
They were loyal to God, and their king, and to their country.
They were particularly courteous and polite to all women and
children and infirm people.
They were helpful to everybody.
They gave money and food where it was wanted and saved up their
money in order to do so.
They taught themselves the use of arms in order to protect their
religion and their country against enemies.
They kept themselves strong and healthy and active in order to be
able to do these things well.
You scouts cannot do better than follow the example of your forefathers,
the knights, who made the tiny British nation into one of the best and
greatest that the world has ever known.
One great point about them was that every day they had to do a good turn
to somebody, and that is one of our rules. When you get up in the
morning remember that you have got to do a good turn to someone during
the day; tie a knot in your handkerchief or necktie, and leave the tail
of your necktie outside your waistcoat to remind yourself of it; and
when you go to bed at night think who you did the good turn to.
If you should ever find that you had forgotten to do it, you must do two
good turns the next day instead. Remember that by your scout's oath you
are on your honour to do it.
A good turn need only be a very small one; if it is only to put a
halfpenny into a poor box, or to help an old woman to cross the street,
or to make room on a seat for someone, or to give water to a thirsty
horse, or to remove a bit of banana skin off the pavement where it is
likely to throw people down, it is a good turn. But one must be done
every day, and it only counts as a good when you do not accept any
reward in return.
[_Make each scout tie knot in his necktie to remind him to do a good
turn next day._]
[Illustration: A Boy Scout's Necktie.]
SAVING LIFE.--You have all heard of the Victoria Cross--the little
bronze cross given by Queen Victoria to soldiers who specially
distinguish themselves in action under the fire of the enemy.
But there is the companion medal to it, and that is the Albert Medal for
those who are not soldiers, and who distinguish themselves in saving
life in peace time.
And I think the man who wins this medal, as he does in the sudden
appalling accidents which occur in big cities, mines, and factories, in
everyday life, is no less a hero than the soldier who rushes into the
thick of the fight to rescue a comrade amid all the excitement and
glamour of the battle.
My great hope is that many of you scouts will in time to come win for
yourselves the high honour of receiving the Albert Medal.
It is certain that very many of you will at one time or another get the
chance of it if you are prepared to seize the opportunity. That is, you
must be _prepared_ for it; you should know what to do the moment an
accident occurs--and do it then and there.
It is not enough to read about it in a book and think that you know how
to do it--but you must actually practise, and practise pretty often, the
actual things to be done; such as how to cover your mouth and nose with
a wet handkerchief to enable you to breath in smoke, how to tear a sheet
into strips and make a rope for escaping from fire, how to open a
manhole to let air into a gassy sewer, how to lift and carry an
insensible person, how to collar, save, and revive apparently drowned
people, and so on.
When you have learnt all these things you will have confidence in
yourself, so that when an accident happens and everybody is in a state
of fluster, not knowing what to do, you will quietly step out and do the
right thing.
Remember the case at the Hampstead Ponds last year when a woman drowned
herself in shallow water before a whole lot of men, who were too
frightened to do anything but shout to her. It was a disgrace to our
nation that there was not a real man amongst them. It would have been a
grand opportunity for a Boy Scout, had there been one there, to go in
and fetch her out. As it was, these cowards stood there clamouring and
chattering on the bank--not one of them daring to go in because the
others did not. And she was drowned before their eyes.
[_Teach the scouts how to lift and carry an insensible man. Also how
to drag an insensible man through smoke, gas, etc. Also how to cover
nose and mouth with wet handkerchief. Divide them off into pairs,
and let each in turn act as insensible patient to be rescued by his
comrade._]
ENDURANCE.--To carry out all the duties and work of a scout properly a
fellow has to be strong, healthy, and active. And he can make himself so
if he takes a little care about it.
It means a lot of exercise, like playing games, running, walking,
cycling, and so on.
A scout has to sleep very much in the open, and a boy who is accustomed
to sleep with his window shut will probably suffer, like many a
tenderfoot has done, by catching cold and rheumatism when he first tries
sleeping out. The thing is always to sleep with your windows open,
summer and winter, and you will never catch cold. Personally I cannot
sleep with my window shut or with blinds down, and when living in the
country I always sleep outside the house, summer and winter alike. A
soft bed and too many blankets make a boy dream bad dreams, which weaken
him.
A short go of Swedish or ju-jitsu exercises every morning and evening is
a grand thing for keeping you fit--not so much for making showy muscle
as to work all your internal organs [_Explain_], and to work up the
circulation of the blood in every part of you.
A good rub down daily with a wet rough towel, even if you cannot get a
bath, which of course is preferable, is of the utmost importance.
Scouts breathe through the nose, not through the mouth; in this way they
don't get thirsty; they don't get out of breath so quickly; they don't
suck into their insides all sorts of microbes or seeds of disease that
are in the air; and they don't snore at night, and so give themselves
away to an enemy.
"Deep breathing" exercises are of great value for developing the lungs,
and for putting fresh air (oxygen) into the blood, provided that they
are carried out in the open air, and are not overdone so as to injure
the heart, etc. For deep breathing the breath must be taken in slowly
and deeply through the nose, not through the mouth, till it opens out
the ribs to the greatest extent, especially at the back; then, after a
time it should be slowly and steadily, breathed out again without
strain. But the best deep breathing after all is that which comes
naturally from plenty of running exercise.
Alcohol is now shown to be quite useless as a health-giving drink, and
it is mere poison when a man takes much of it. A man who is in the habit
of drinking wine or spirits in strong doses every day is not the
slightest use for scouting, and very little use for anything else.
Similarly a man who smokes much. The best war scouts don't smoke because
it weakens their eyesight; it sometimes makes them shaky and nervous; it
spoils their noses for smelling (which is of great importance at night),
and the glow of their pipe, or even the scent of tobacco carried on them
at night gives them away to watchful enemies. They are not such fools as
to smoke. No boy ever began smoking because he liked it, but because he
thought it made him look like a grown-up man. As a matter of fact it
generally makes him look a little ass.
[_Show ju-jitsu or Swedish extension motions--one or two exercises
only to begin with. Also deep breathing._]
PATRIOTISM.--You belong to the Great British Empire, one of the greatest
empires that has ever existed in the world.
[_Show on the map._]
From this little island of Great Britain have sprung colonies all over
the world, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Canada.
Almost every race, every kind of man, black, white, or yellow, in the
world furnishes subjects of King Edward VII.
This vast empire did not grow of itself out of nothing; it was made by
your forefathers by dint of hard work and hard fighting, at the
sacrifice of their lives--that is, by their hearty patriotism.
People say that we have no patriotism nowadays, and that therefore our
empire will fall to pieces like the great Roman empire did, because its
citizens became selfish and lazy, and only cared for amusements. I am
not so sure about that. I am sure that if you boys will keep the good of
your country in your eyes _above everything else_ she will go on all
right. But if you don't do this there is very great danger, because we
have many enemies abroad, and they are growing daily stronger and
stronger.
Therefore, in all that you do, remember to think of your country first;
don't spend the whole of your time and money on games and tuck shops
merely to amuse _yourself_, but think first how you can be of use in
helping your empire, and when you have done that you can justly and
honestly sit down and enjoy yourself in your own way.
"Country first, self second," should be your motto. Probably, if you ask
yourself truly, you will find you have at present got them just the
other way about.
I hope if it is so that you will from this moment put yourself right and
remain so always, Patriot first, player second. Don't be content, like
the Romans were, and some people now are, to pay other people to play
your football or to fight your battles for you. Do something yourself to
help in keeping the flag flying.
If you take up scouting in that spirit you will be doing something; take
it up, not merely because it amuses you, but because by doing so you
will be fitting yourself to help your country. Then you will have in you
the true spirit of patriotism, which every British boy ought to have if
he is worth his salt.
[_Show the Union Jack. Explain its history and composition, and
which is the right way for flying it._ (_See Part V._)]
[Illustration: HOW TO FLY BRITAIN'S FLAG: Right way up.]
[Illustration: HOW NOT TO FLY BRITAIN'S FLAG: Upside down.]
WINTER'S STOB; OR, THE ELSDON MURDER.
[_Note: The following story, which in the main is true, is a sample
of a story that should be given by the Instructor illustrating
generally the duties of a Boy Scout._]
A brutal murder took place many years ago in the North of England; and
the murderer was caught, convicted, and hanged chiefly through the
scoutcraft of a shepherd boy.
WOODCRAFT.--The boy, Robert Hindmarsh, had been up on the moor tending
his sheep, and was finding his way home over a wild, out-of-the-way part
of the hills, when he passed a tramp sitting on the ground with his legs
stretched out in front of him eating some food.
OBSERVATION.--The boy in passing noticed his appearance, and especially
the peculiar nails in the soles of his boots.
CONCEALMENT.--He did not stop and stare, but just took these things in
at a glance as he went by without attracting much attention from the
man, who merely regarded him as an ordinary boy not worth his notice.
[Illustration: Observing the murderer's boots.]
DEDUCTION.--When he got near home, some five or six miles away, he came
to a crowd round a cottage, where they had found the old woman (Margaret
Crozier) who inhabited it lying murdered. All sorts of guesses were
being hazarded as to who had done the deed, and suspicion seemed to
centre on a small gang of three or four gipsies who were going about the
country robbing and threatening death to anyone who made any report of
their misdeeds.
The boy heard all these things, but presently he saw some peculiar
footprints in the little garden of the cottage; the nailmarks agreed
with those he had seen in the boots of the man on the moor, and he
naturally deduced from these that the man might have something to do
with the murder.
CHIVALRY.--The fact that it was a helpless old woman who had been
murdered made the boy's chivalrous feelings rise against the murderer,
whoever it might be.
PLUCK AND SELF-DISCIPLINE, ALACRITY.--So, although he knew that the
friends of the murderer might kill him for giving information, he cast
his fears on one side and went at once and told the constable of the
footmarks in the garden, and where he could find the man who had made
them--if he went immediately.
HEALTH AND STRENGTH.--The man up on the moor had got so far from the
scene of the murder, unseen (except by this one small boy), that he
thought himself safe, and never thought of the boy being able to walk
all the way to the scene of the murder and then to come back, as he did,
with the police. So he took no precautions.
But the boy was a strong, healthy hill-boy, and did the journey rapidly
and well, so that they found the man and captured him without
difficulty.
The man was Willie Winter, a gipsy.
He was tried, found guilty, and hanged at Newcastle. His body was then
brought and hung on a gibbet near the scene of the murder, as was the
custom in those days, and the gibbet still stands to this day. Two of
the gipsies who were his accomplices were caught with some of the stolen
property, and were also executed at Newcastle.
KIND-HEARTEDNESS.--But when the boy saw the murderer's body hanging
there on the gibbet he was overcome with misery at having caused the
death of a fellow-creature.
[Illustration: The gibbet at Stang's Cross.]
SAVING LIFE.--However, the magistrate sent for him and complimented him
on the great good he had done to his fellow-countrymen--probably saving
some of their lives--by ridding the world of such a dangerous criminal.
DUTY.--He said: "You have done your duty although it caused you
personally some danger and much distress. Still you must not mind
that--it was your duty to the King to help the police in getting justice
done, and duty must always be carried out regardless of how much it
costs you, even if you had to give up your life."
EXAMPLE.--Thus the boy did every part of the duty of a boy scout without
ever having been taught.
He exercised--
Woodcraft.
Observation without being noticed.
Deduction.
Chivalry.
Sense of duty.
Endurance.
Kind-heartedness.
He little thought that the act which he did entirely of his own accord
would years afterwards be held up as an example to you other boys in
teaching you to do your duty. In the same way you should remember your
acts may be watched by others after you, and taken as an example too. So
try to do your duty the right way on all occasions.
Since writing down the above story I have visited the place, Stang's
Cross, where the gibbet, with a wooden head hanging from it, still
stands as a warning to evildoers. Some foolish people used to believe
that toothache could be cured by rubbing the teeth with chips of wood
cut from this gibbet, and used to come from miles round to get them.
Mrs. Haldane, the mother of our present Secretary of State for War,
remembers seeing the effigy of Winter hanging on the gibbet, and recalls
with horror the doleful rattling of the chains on which it swung in the
night wind on the lonely moor. The gibbet is known as "Winter's Stob."
Winter belonged to a notable family. He was not the only one who
distinguished himself, for his father and his brother were also hanged
for different offences. Another brother, feeling the disgrace of
belonging to such a family, changed his name from Winter to Spring, and
became--a prize-fighter.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 3.
BOY SCOUTS' ORGANISATION.
It is not intended that boy scouts should necessarily form a new corps
separate from all others, but the boys who belong to any kind of
existing organisation, such as schools, football clubs, Boys' or Church
Lads' Brigades, factories, district messengers, Telegraph Service, Cadet
Corps, etc., etc., can _also_ take up scouting in addition to their
other work or play--especially on Saturdays and Sundays.
But where there are any boys who do not belong to any kind of
organisation--and there is a very large number of such boys about the
United Kingdom--they can form themselves into Patrols and become Boy
Scouts.
For this purpose officers are necessary.
_Officers_: The head officer of all the boy scouts in the world is
called the _Chief Scout_.
_A Scout Master_ is an officer who has charge of a troop. A troop
consists of not less than three patrols. Scouts address the scout
master as "Sir."
_A Patrol Leader_ is a scout appointed to command a patrol. A patrol
consists of six scouts. Any lad or young man who learns scouting
from this book can make himself a patrol leader and collect and
train five or seven boys to be scouts.
_A Corporal_ is a scout selected by the patrol leader to be his
assistant, and to take command of the patrol when he himself is
away.
_A Scout_ is of two kinds--first-class and second-class.
First-class scout is one who has passed certain tests to show that
he is able to scout.
Second-class scout is one who has passed certain easy tests in
scouting.
_A Tenderfoot_ is a boy who is not yet a scout.
_A Court of Honour_ is formed of the scout master and two patrol
leaders, or in the case of a single patrol by the patrol leader and
the corporal. It decides rewards, punishments, and other questions.
_Tests_: To become a second-class scout and gain the motto badge, a boy
must satisfy his scout master in the following details:
1. Tie four of the following knots in less than thirty seconds each
knot: Bowline, fisherman's bend, reef knot, clove hitch, sheet bend.
2. Track a deer's "spoor" (made with tracking irons) or a horse's
track for a quarter of a mile in not more than fifteen minutes; or,
in a town, to describe satisfactorily the contents of one shop
window out of four observed for one minute each.
3. Go at scout's pace for one mile in not more than thirteen
minutes.
4. Know the scout's laws and signs.
5. Know the composition of the Union Jack, and the right way to fly
it.
To become a first-class scout and gain the whole scout's badge, a boy
must pass the following test--in addition to those for second-class
scout (above)--before a Court of Honour. (_N.B._--In the case of a new
troop the Scout Master can act as the Court of Honour.)
6. Point out the direction of different points of the compass where
he stands.
7. Make a journey alone of not less than fifteen miles from point to
point by walking, riding, boat, or bicycle.
8. Describe or show the proper means for saving life in case of one
(selected by the Court) of the following accidents: fire, drowning,
runaway carriage, sewer gas, ice-breaking; or bandage an injured
patient, or revive apparently drowned persons.
9. Be able to read and write.
10. Have at least sixpence in the savings bank.
11. Show that he has brought a recruit to the Boy Scouts, and has
taught him to tie the six principal knots.
12. To lay and light a fire, using not more than two matches, and
cook a quarter of a pound of flour and two potatoes without cooking
utensils.
_Badges and Medals_: The scout's badge is this:
[Illustration: Scout Badge.]
The scout's badge is the arrow head, which shows the north on a map or
on the compass. It is the badge of the scout in the Army, because he
shows the way: so, too, a peace scout shows the way in doing his duty
and helping others.
The motto on it is the scout's motto of
BE PREPARED.
(B. P., my initials), which means that a scout must always be prepared
at any moment to do his duty, and to face danger in order to help his
fellow-men. Its scroll is turned up at the ends like a scout's mouth,
because he does his duty with a smile and willingly.
The knot is to remind the scout to do a good turn to some one daily.
A scout's badge represents and is called his "life." It is given him
when he passes the tests in scout-craft necessary to make him a scout.
He will be called on at some time or the other to risk his life, that is
to perform some difficult task, and if he fails in it he loses his
life--that is his badge. In such case a Court of Honour may allow him to
remain in the patrol, but he cannot have his badge again, unless he
performs some very specially good work.
If he breaks his word of honour, or otherwise disgraces himself, his
life is taken (that is his badge), and he is expelled from the patrol.
The badge is worn by scout masters on the left side of the hat or cap.
The badge is worn by patrol leaders on front of the hat or cap.
The badge is worn by corporal on the left arm above elbow with a strip
of white braid below it.
The badge is worn by scouts on the left arm above the elbow.
The badge worn by first-class scouts is the whole badge.
Only the motto part of the badge is worn by second-class scouts.
_Badges of Honour_ are also given for certain tests. These are worn on
the right arm below the elbow.
Signalling: ability to read and send Morse or semaphore message,
twenty letters a minute.
First Aid: for passing the St. John Ambulance tests in First Aid.
Stalking: series of twelve photos of wild animals taken from life by
the scout and developed and printed by himself.
Merit: for twenty good marks for various good deeds.
_Medals_ are worn on the right breast, and are as follows:
Bronze medal with red ribbon: For gallantry in saving life, or
attempting to save life at risk of own life.
Silver medal with red ribbon: For saving and helping to save life
without risk of own life, but where life might have been lost.
Silver medal with blue ribbon: Meritorious service, or assisting
police at personal risk.
These are only granted by the chief scout on special recommendation from
the patrol leader or scout master, who should send in a full account of
the case when applying.
_Marks_ are awarded by scout masters, from their own knowledge or on
recommendation of patrol leaders, or as marks for competition.
Two marks are given to any scout who brings a recruit whom he has
already taught to tie the regulation knots. Such recruit must be in
addition to the one who enabled him to qualify for his scout's badge.
"_The Wolf._"--The Red Indians of North America call their best scout
"Grey Wolf," because the grey wolf is a beast that sees everything and
yet is never seen.
And the fighting tribes in South Africa in the same way speak of a scout
as a wolf.
In the Matabele War, 1896-1897, the enemy called me "The Wolf" for that
reason.
Mr. Thompson Seton, the head of the "Red Indian" Boy Scouts in America,
is called "Grey Wolf."
So in the Boy Scouts a special badge and title of "Wolf" will be given
as a reward for very special distinction in scouting; not more than one
will be granted in a year.
All medals and badges are only worn as above when scouts are on duty or
in camp. At other times they should be worn on the right breast of the
waistcoat, underneath the jacket.
A small arrow-head badge may be worn at all times in the button-hole.
THE SCOUT'S OATH.
Before he becomes a scout a boy must take the scout's oath, thus:
"On my honour I promise that--
1. I will do my duty to God and the King.
2. I will do my best to help others, whatever it costs me.
3. I know the scout law, and will obey it."
(For Scout Law, see page 40.)
While taking this oath the scout will stand, holding his right hand
raised level with his shoulder, palm to the front, thumb resting on the
nail of the little finger, and the other three fingers upright, pointing
upwards:--
[Illustration: Scout's Salute and Secret Sign.]
This is the scout's salute and secret sign.
When the hand is raised shoulder high it is called the "Half Salute."
When raised to the forehead it is the "Full Salute."
SCOUT'S SALUTE AND SECRET SIGN.
The three fingers held up (like the three points of the scout's badge)
remind him of his three promises in the scout's oath.
1. Honour God and the King.
2. Help others.
3. Obey the Scout Law.
When a scout meets another for the first time in the day, whether he is
a comrade or a stranger, he salutes with the secret sign in the half
salute.
He always salutes an officer--that is, a patrol leader, or a scout
master, or any officer of His Majesty's forces, army, navy, or police in
uniform--with the full salute.
Also the hoisting of the Union Jack, the colours of a regiment, the
playing of "God Save the King," and any funeral.
A scout who has the "Wolf" honour is entitled to make the sign with the
first finger and thumb opened out, the remaining fingers clenched, thumb
upwards.
A man told me the other day that "he was an Englishman, and just as good
as anybody else, and he was blowed if ever he would raise a finger to
salute his so-called 'betters': he wasn't going to be a slave and
kow-tow to them, not he!" and so on. That is a churlish spirit, which is
very common among fellows who have not been brought up as scouts.
I didn't argue with him, but I might have told him that he had got hold
of the wrong idea about saluting.
A salute is merely a sign between men of standing. It is a privilege to
be able to salute anyone.
In the old days the free men of England all were allowed to carry
weapons, and when they met each other each would hold up his right hand
to show that he had no weapon in it, and that they met as friends. So
also when an armed man met a defenceless person or a lady.
Slaves or serfs were not allowed to carry weapons, and so had to slink
past the freemen without making any sign.
Nowadays people do not carry weapons; but those who would have been
entitled to do so, such as knights, esquires, and men-at-arms, that is
anyone living on their own property or earning their own living, still
go through the form of saluting each other by holding up their hand to
their cap, or even taking it off.
"Wasters" are not entitled to salute, and so should slink by, as they
generally do, without taking notice of the free men or wage-earners.
To salute merely shows that you are a right sort of fellow and mean well
to the other; there is nothing slavish about it.
If a stranger makes the scout's sign to you, you should acknowledge it
at once by making the sign back to him, and then shake hands with the
LEFT HAND. If he then shows his scout's badge, or proves that he is a
scout, you must treat him as a brother-scout, and help him in any way
you can.
SCOUT'S UNIFORM.
[Illustration: SCOUT'S UNIFORM. Patrol Leader with Scout.]
If you already belong to a corps which has a uniform, you dress in that
uniform; but on passing the tests for a scout given here you wear the
scout badge, if your commanding officer allows it, in addition to any of
your corps' badges that you may have won.
A scout does not use a showy uniform, because it would attract
attention; but scouts in a patrol should, as far as possible, dress
alike, especially as regards hats, or caps, and neckerchief.
If your patrol does not belong to any uniformed corps, it should dress
as nearly as possible thus:
Flat brimmed hat if possible, or wide-awake hat.
Coloured handkerchief tied loosely round neck.
Shirt: Flannel.
Colours: A bunch of ribbons of patrol colour on left shoulder.
Belt, with coat rolled tight and strapped or tied on it behind.
Haversack: To carry food, etc., slung on back across the shoulders.
Shorts: Trousers cut short at knee. A kilt if you are a Scotsman.
Stockings, with garters made of green braid, with one end hanging
down one inch.
Boots or shoes.
Staff as high as scout's shoulder. Not shod, as it is for feeling
the way at night quietly.
Badge on left arm above elbow.
Whistle, with cord round neck for patrol leader.
N.B.--The colour of the neckerchief, or necktie and shoulder knot should
be the colour of the patrol.
Corporal has a white stripe of braid three inches long stitched across
his sleeve below the badge.
SCOUT'S WAR SONGS.
1. _The Scout's Chorus._
To be shouted on the march, or as applause at games, meetings, etc. Must
be sung exactly in time.
Leader: Een gonyama--gonyama.
Chorus: Invooboo.
Yah bobo! Yah bo!
Invooboo.
The meaning is--
Leader: "He is a lion!"
Chorus: "Yes! he is better than that; he is a
hippopotamus!"
THE SCOUTS' CHORUS.
[Illustration: THE SCOUTS' CHORUS.]
2. _The Scout's Rally._
To be shouted as a salute, or in a game, or at any
time.
Leader: Be Prepared!
Chorus: Zing-a-Zing!
Bom! Bom!
(Stamp or bang something at the "Bom! Bom!")
THE SCOUTS' RALLY.
[Illustration: THE SCOUTS' RALLY.]
THE SCOUTS' CALL.
[Illustration: THE SCOUTS' CALL.]
For scout master to call together his troop by bugle; or for scout to
whistle to attract attention of another scout.
PATROL SIGNS.
Each troop is named after the place to which it belongs. Each patrol in
that troop is named after an animal or bird. Thus the 33rd London Troop
may have five patrols which are respectively the Wolves, the Ravens, the
Curlews, the Bulls, the Owls.
Each scout in a patrol has his regular number, the patrol leader being
No. 1, the corporal No. 2, and the scouts have the consecutive numbers
after these. Scouts usually work in pairs as comrades, Nos. 3 and 4
together, Nos. 5 and 6 together, and Nos. 7 and 8.
SIGNS AND CALLS OF DIFFERENT PATROLS.
(For each patrol, the sign, name, call, and colours are given.)
[Illustration: Curlew.] CURLEW. _Whistle_-- GREEN. "_Curley_."
[Illustration: Owl.] OWL. _Whistle_-- BLUE. "_Koot-koot-kooo_."
[Illustration: Wolf.] _Wolf._ _Howl_-- YELLOW. "_How-oooo_."
[Illustration: Bull.] BULL. _Lowing_-- RED. "_Um-maouw_."
[Illustration: Raven.] RAVEN. _Cry_-- BLACK. "_Kar-kaw_."
[Illustration: Hound.] HOUND. _Bark_-- ORANGE. "_Ba-wow-wow_."
[Illustration: Ram.] RAM. _Bleat_-- BROWN. "_Ba-a-a_."
A white shoulder knot is worn by Officers and Umpires at games.
Each scout in the patrol has to be able to make the call of his
patrol-animal--thus every scout in the "Ravens" must be able to imitate
the croak of the raven. This is the sign by which scouts of a patrol can
communicate with each other when hiding or at night. No scout is allowed
to imitate the call of any patrol except his own. The patrol leader
calls up the patrol at any time by sounding his whistle and uttering the
call of the patrol.
Also when a scout makes signs on the ground for others to read he also
draws the head of the patrol animal. Thus if he wants to show that a
certain road should not be followed he draws the sign across it "Not to
be followed," and adds the head of his patrol animal to show which
patrol discovered that the road was no good, and his own number to the
left of the head to show which scout discovered it, thus:
[Illustration: Sign.]
[Illustration: Patrol Leader's Flag of "The Wolves Patrol" of the 1st
London Troop.]
Each patrol leader has a small white flag on his staff with the head of
his patrol animal shown in green cloth stitched on to it on both sides.
Thus the "Wolves" of the 1st London Troop would have the flag shown on
the opposite page.
[_Patrol flags can be got on payment of fourpence
each by applying to_
_The Manager_,
_Boy Scouts_,
_Goschen Buildings_,
_Henrietta Street_,
_London, W. C._]
All these signs scouts must be able to draw according to the patrol to
which they belong.
[_Practise with chalk on floor or walls, or with a stick on the sand
or mud._]
Scout signs on the ground or wall, etc.:
[Illustration: Road to be followed.]
[Illustration: Letter hidden three paces from here in the direction of
the arrow.]
[Illustration: This path not to be followed.]
[Illustration: I have gone home.]
[Illustration: (Signed) Patrol Leader of the Ravens Fifteenth London
Troop.]
At night sticks with a wisp of grass round them should be laid on the
road in similar forms so that they can be felt with the hand.
[_Practise this._]
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 4.
SCOUT LAW.
Scouts, all the world over, have unwritten laws which bind them just as
much as if they had been printed in black and white.
They come down to us from old times.
The Japanese have their Bushido, or laws of the old Samurai warriors,
just as we have chivalry or rules of the knights of the Middle Ages. The
Red Indians in America have their laws of honour, the Zulus, the natives
of India, the European nations--all have their ancient codes.
The following are the rules which apply to Boy Scouts, and which you
swear to obey when you take your oath as a scout, so it is as well that
you should know all about them.
The scouts' motto is founded on my initials, it is:
BE PREPARED,
which means, you are always to be in a state of readiness in mind and
body to do your DUTY;
_Be Prepared in Mind_ by having disciplined yourself to be obedient to
every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident or
situation that might occur, so that you _know_ the right thing to do at
the right moment, and are willing to do it.
_Be Prepared in Body_ by making yourself strong and active and _able_ to
do the right thing at the right moment, and do it.
THE SCOUT LAW.
1. A SCOUT'S HONOUR IS TO BE TRUSTED.
If a scout says "On my honour it is so," that means that it _is_ so,
just as if he had taken a most solemn oath.
Similarly, if a scout officer says to a scout, "I trust you on your
honour to do this," the scout is bound to carry out the order to the
very best of his ability, and to let nothing interfere with his
doing so.
If a scout were to break his honour by telling a lie, or by not
carrying out an order exactly when trusted on his honour to do so,
he would cease to be a scout, and must hand over his scout badge,
and never be allowed to wear it again--he loses his life.
2. A SCOUT IS LOYAL to the King, and to his officers, and to his
country, and to his employers. He must stick to them through thick and
thin against anyone who is their enemy, or who even talks badly of them.
3. A SCOUT'S DUTY IS TO BE USEFUL AND TO HELP OTHERS.
And he is to do his duty before anything else, even though he gives
up his own pleasure, or comfort, or safety to do it. When in
difficulty to know which of two things to do, he must ask himself,
"Which is my duty?" that is, "Which is best for other people?"--and
do that one. He must Be Prepared at any time to save life, or to
help injured persons. And _he must do a good turn_ to somebody every
day.
4. A SCOUT IS A FRIEND TO ALL, AND A BROTHER TO EVERY OTHER SCOUT, NO
MATTER TO WHAT SOCIAL CLASS THE OTHER BELONGS.
Thus if a scout meets another scout, even though a stranger to him,
he must speak to him, and help him in any way that he can, either to
carry out the duty he is then doing, or by giving him food, or, as
far as possible, anything that he may be in want of. A scout must
never be a SNOB. A snob is one who looks down upon another because
he is poorer, or who is poor and resents another because he is rich.
A scout accepts the other man as he finds him, and makes the best of
him.
"Kim," the boy scout, was called by the Indians "Little friend of
all the world," and that is the name that every scout should earn
for himself.
5. A SCOUT IS COURTEOUS: That is, he is polite to all--but especially to
women and children and old people and invalids, cripples, etc. And he
must not take any reward for being helpful or courteous.
6. A SCOUT IS A FRIEND TO ANIMALS. He should save them as far as
possible from pain, and should not kill any animal unnecessarily, even
if it is only a fly--for it is one of God's creatures.
7. A SCOUT OBEYS ORDERS of his patrol leader or scout master without
question.
Even if he gets an order he does not like he must do as soldiers and
sailors do, he must carry it out all the same _because it is his
duty_; and after he has done it he can come and state any reasons
against it: but he must must carry out the order at once. That is
discipline.
8. A SCOUT SMILES AND WHISTLES under all circumstances. When he gets an
order he should obey it cheerily and readily, not in a slow, hang-dog
sort of way.
Scouts never grouse at hardships, nor whine at each other, nor swear
when put out.
When you just miss a train, or some one treads on your favourite
corn--not that a scout ought to have such things as corns--or under
any annoying circumstances, you should force yourself to smile at
once, and then whistle a tune, and you will be all right.
A scout goes about with a smile on and whistling. It cheers him and
cheers other people, especially in time of danger, for he keeps it
up then all the same.
The punishment for swearing or using bad language is for each
offence a mug of cold water to be poured down the offender's sleeve
by the other scouts.
9. A SCOUT IS THRIFTY, that is, he saves every penny he can, and puts it
into the bank, so that he may have money to keep himself when out of
work, and thus not make himself a burden to others; or that he may have
money to give away to others when they need it.
SCOUTING GAMES.
FOR WINTER IN THE COUNTRY.
ARCTIC EXPEDITION.
Each patrol makes a bob sleigh with ropes, harness, for two of their
number to pull (or for dogs if they have them, and can train them to the
work). Two scouts go a mile or so ahead, the remainder with the sleigh
follow, finding the way by means of the spoor, and by such signs as the
leading scouts may draw in the snow. All other drawings seen on the way
are to be examined, noted, and their meaning read. The sleigh carries
rations and cooking-pots, etc.
Build snow huts. These must be made narrow, according to the length of
sticks available for forming the roof, which can be made with brushwood,
and covered with snow.
SNOW FORT.
The snow fort may be built by one patrol according to their own ideas of
fortification, with loop holes, etc., for looking out. When finished it
will be attacked by hostile patrols, using snowballs as ammunition.
Every scout struck by a snowball is counted dead. The attackers should,
as a rule, number at least twice the strength of the defenders.
SIBERIAN MAN HUNT.
One scout as fugitive runs away across the snow in any direction he may
please until he finds a good hiding place, and there conceals himself.
The remainder, after giving him twenty minutes' start or more, proceed
to follow him by his tracks. As they approach his hiding-place, he
shoots at them with snowballs, and everyone that is struck must fall out
dead. The fugitive must be struck three times before he is counted dead.
IN TOWNS.
Scouts can be very useful in snowy weather by working as a patrol under
their leader in clearing away the snow from pavements, houses, etc. This
they may either do as a "good turn," or accept money to be devoted to
their funds.
SCOUT MEETS SCOUT.
IN TOWN OR COUNTRY.
Single scouts, or complete patrols or pairs of scouts, to be taken out
about two miles apart, and made to work towards each other, either
alongside a road, or by giving each side a landmark to work to, such as
a steep hill or big tree, which is directly behind the other party, and
will thus insure their coming together. The patrol which first sees the
other wins. This is signified by the patrol leader holding up his patrol
flag for the umpire to see, and sounding his whistle. A patrol need not
keep together, but that patrol wins which first holds out its flag, so
it is well for the scouts to be in touch with their patrol leaders by
signal, voice, or message.
Scouts may employ any ruse they like, such as climbing into trees,
hiding in carts, etc., but they must not dress up in disguise.
This may also be practised at night.
DESPATCH RUNNERS.
A scout is sent out to take note of some well-known spot, say, the post
office in a neighbouring town or district. He will there get the note
stamped with the post mark of the office and return. The rest of the
scouts are posted by their leader to prevent him getting there by
watching all the roads and likely paths by which he can come, but none
may be nearer to the post office than two hundred yards. The despatch
runner is allowed to use any disguise and any method of travelling that
he can hit upon.
In the country the game may similarly be played, the scout being
directed to go to a certain house or other specified spot.
KIM'S GAME.
Place about twenty or thirty small articles on a tray, or on the table
or floor, such as two or three different kinds of buttons, pencils,
corks, rags, nuts, stones, knives, string, photos--anything you can
find--and cover them over with a cloth or coat.
Make a list of these, and make a column opposite the list for each boy's
replies. Like this:
List Adams Smith Long. Atkins Jones
Walnut
Button
Black button
Red rag
Yellow rag
Black rag
Knife
Red pencil
Cork
String knot
Plain string
Blue bead
Then uncover the articles for one minute by your watch, or while you
count sixty at the rate of "quick march." Then cover them over again.
Take each boy separately and let him whisper to you each of the articles
that he can remember, and mark it off on your scoring sheet.
The boy who remembers the greatest numbers wins the game.
MORGAN'S GAME.
(Played by the 21st Dublin Co. Boys' Brigade.)
IN TOWN.
Scouts are ordered to run to a certain hoarding where an umpire is
already posted to time them. They are each allowed to look at this for
one minute, and then to run back to headquarters and report to the
instructor all that was on the hoarding in the way of advertisements.
DEBATES, TRIALS, ETC.
A good exercise for a winter's evening in the clubroom is to hold a
debate on any subject of topical interest, the Instructor acting as
chairman. He will see that there is a speaker on one side prepared
beforehand to introduce and support one view of the subject, and that
there is another speaker prepared to expound another view. After hearing
them, he will call on the others present in turn to express their views.
And in the end he takes the votes for and against the motion.
At first boys will be very shy of speaking unless the subject selected
by the Instructor is one which really interests them and takes them out
of themselves.
After a debate or two they get greater confidence, and are able to
express themselves coherently; and also pick up the proper procedure for
public meetings, such as seconding the motion, moving amendments,
obeying chairman's ruling, voting, according votes of thanks to
chair--etc., etc.
In place of a debate a mock trial may be of interest as a change.
For instance, the story of the murder given in Part I. might form the
subject of trial.
The Instructor would appoint himself to act the judge, and detail boys
to the following parts:
Prisoner William Winter.
Witness Boy, Robert Hindmarsh.
" Police Constable.
" Villager.
" Old woman (friend of the murdered woman).
Counsel for prisoner.
" " prosecution.
Foreman and jury (if there are enough scouts).
Follow as nearly as possible the procedure of a court of law. Let each
make up his own evidence, speeches, or cross-examination according to
his own notions and imagination, the evidence to be made up on the lines
of the story, but in greater detail. Do not necessarily find the
prisoner guilty unless the prosecution prove their case to the jury.
In your summing up bring out the fact of the boy (Hindmarsh) having
carried out each part of the duty of a scout, in order to bring home its
lesson to the boys.
SCOUTS' WAR DANCE.
Scouts form up in one line with leader in front, each holding his staff
in the right hand, and his left on the next man's shoulder.
Leader sings the Ingonyama song. Scouts sing chorus, and advance to
their front a few steps at a time, stamping in unison on the long notes.
At the second time of singing they step backwards.
At the third, they turn to the left, still holding each other's
shoulders, and move round in a large circle, repeating the chorus until
they have completed the circle.
They then form into a wide circle, into the centre of which one steps
forward and carries out a war dance, representing how he tracked and
fought with one of his enemies. He goes through the whole fight in dumb
show, until he finally kills his foe. The scouts meantime still singing
the Ingonyama chorus, and dancing on their own ground. So soon as he
finishes the fight, the leader starts the "Be Prepared" chorus, which
they repeat three times in honour of the scout who has just danced.
Then they recommence the Ingonyama chorus, and another scout steps into
the ring, and describes in dumb show how he stalked and killed a wild
buffalo. While he does the creeping up and stalking the animal, the
scouts all crouch and sing their chorus very softly, and as he gets more
into the fight with the beast, they similarly spring up and dance and
shout the chorus loudly. When he has slain the beast, the leader again
gives the "Be Prepared" chorus in his honour, which is repeated three
times, the scouts banging their staffs on the ground at the same time as
they stamp "Bom! bom!"
At the end of the third repetition, "Bom! bom!" is repeated the second
time.
The circle then close together, turn to their left again, grasping
shoulders with the left hand, and move off, singing the Ingonyama
chorus, or, if it is not desired to move away, they break up after the
final "Bom! bom!"
SCOUTS' PLAY.
POCAHONTAS; or, THE CAPTURE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH.
SCENE:
_In the jungle, Virginia, in 1607._
ENTER:
_A band of Red Indians,_ R., _scouting. The leading scout suddenly
signals to the others to halt and hide, and remains himself keenly
looking ahead. The_ PATROL LEADER _creeps nearer to him, and they
speak in a loud whisper_.
PATROL LEADER (Eagle's Wing). Ho! Silver Fox! What dost thou see?
SILVER FOX (the leading scout). My leader, I saw but just now a
strange figure ahead--but for the moment I see it not. There was an
Indian, one of the hated Assock tribe, and close by him was a being
who looked like a man yet not a man. He wore no feathers, no war
paint. But his body was all hidden in skins or cloths, and his head
was covered with a huge kind of protector. He had, it is true, two
arms and legs, but his face was of a horrible colour--not bronze
like ours, but an awful white, like that of a dead man, and half
covered with a bush of hair.
EAGLE'S WING. It must be either a medicine man or devil.
SILVER FOX (_still gazing ahead_). Look there, he moves! (PATROL
LEADER _springs forward and crouches near_ SILVER FOX.) Close to
yonder birch tree. What is it he carries? A heavy shining staff of
iron. See he is pointing at those ducks with it. Ah!
(_Report of gun in the distance._)
PATROL LEADER. Scouts! There is the devil before us. He spits fire
and smoke from an iron staff.
SILVER FOX. Aye, and see how the birds fall dead before him.
PATROL LEADER. Yes, he is a very devil. What a prize for us if we
can kill him and take his scalp.
SCOUTS. Nay, nay. He is a devil. He will kill us!
SILVER FOX. Yes, that is true. There is a saying, "Let dogs that
sleep lie sleeping, then they harm you not." Let us leave this devil
so he harm us not.
SCOUTS. Aye, aye.
EAGLE'S WING. Scouts! What woman's talk is this? Are ye no longer
scouts and warriors when ye see a foe? The worse the foe the greater
the glory of defeating him. Are four Sioux scouts afraid of one,
even though he be the devil himself? Begone to your lodges, but
never call yourselves warriors more. Ye be dogs! Curs but to harbour
such thoughts. For me I am going to have that scalp--devil or no
devil, I am going to have that scalp!
[Illustration: Princess Pocahontas.]
SILVER FOX. Pardon, my leader! I am no cur. Any man I will fight,
but a witch or the devil is more than I had thought on. But if you
mean to face him, why, then, so do I.
SCOUTS. Ay, and so do all of us.
EAGLE'S WING. 'Tis well, my scouts. But soft, he is coming this way.
What luck! Better than scalping him, we will catch him alive, and
present him living to our King. Hide. Hide yourselves. Lie close
around his path, and, when I give the call, then rush upon him and
secure him. (_All hide_, R.)
(_Enter_ CAPT. JOHN SMITH, L., _accompanied by Indian guide, who is
tied to_ SMITH'S _left arm by his wrist by means of a
garter--coloured tape_).
SMITH. How now, my untruthful friend? You have just told me that
there are no Indians in this part of the country, and here are
footmarks of several quite fresh, and see where the grass quite
newly trod down is still giving out juice. They must be quite close
by. Lucky that I have thee tied to me, else could you run away and
leave me guideless; but whatever befalls us now we share the risks
together. How like you that, my red cocksparrow? (_An arrow whizzes
past._) Ha! They're not far off. Behold, they come, but they'll find
one Briton is stouter stuff than the foes that they're accustomed
to.
(_The Red Indians are heard shouting their war cries without. Arrows
fly past._ JOHN SMITH _fires, loads, and fires again, talking all
the time, while his native guide crouches back alarmed_.)
SMITH (_laughing_). Ha! ha! They like not my rifle-fire. They run,
the dogs! Another bites the dust. (_Patting his rifle._) Well done,
thou trusty Bess--thou art a good lass! There! Have at them again.
(_Fires._) Good; another falls! But now they rally and come on
again--their leader gives them heart. Well, and we will give them
lead. (_Fires again. To his guide, who is very frightened._) Cheer
up. Gadzooks, but I like their leader--that last ball struck him,
still he fainteth not. He leads them on again. By my head! but we
shall yet have a decent fight of it. Aid me, St. George, and let me
show what stuff an Englishman is made of. (_As he presses forward
the guide in his fear slips down and accidentally drags_ SMITH _down
with him_.) How now--fool? You have undone me.
(_Indians rush in from all sides and spring on to_ SMITH, _and after
a severe struggle capture and bind his arms behind his back. He
stands panting and smiling. The Indians stand back to either side
while_ EAGLE'S WING--_with one arm bleeding--addresses him_.)
EAGLE'S WING. So, devil, we have thee caught at last. Four good
warriors hast thou sent to their happy hunting grounds, but our turn
has come and we have thee fast--a prize for kings--and for our King.
[Illustration: Captain John Smith.]
SMITH. Well, 'twas a good fight, and you deserve to win for facing
rifle-fire, which you had never seen before. I should like to shake
you by the hand had I a hand free to do it with. But by St. George,
had it not been for this white-livered knave who dragged me down,
there would have been more of you to join your hunting-party down
below. But who is this who comes?
(_Scouts chorus heard without "Ingonyama," etc. Scouts all raise
their hands and join in the chorus, looking off to the_ R.)
(_Enter_ KING POWHATTAN, R., _w'th his chiefs and warriors_.)
KING. How now! Eagle's Wing, what have you here?
EAGLE'S WING. My lord, we have just fought and foiled a very devil.
We killed him not in order that you, our liege, might have him to
see and question and to kill yourself. (_Brings gun._) He used the
lightning and the thunder of Heaven with this engine, so that he
killeth those he hateth. Four of us lie yonder stricken dead
therewith. He is a very devil.
KING to SMITH. So! What be you? Devil or witch or Indian painted
white? What do you here?
SMITH. Hail, King! I am no witch nor devil--nothing but a man--an
Englishman, which is something more than a mere man. I came across
the seas. Five moons it took me; so far away my country is. But here
I am, and where I am there follow others. And we come to tell you of
a greater King than thou. _Our_ King who is now to be your king
also.
KING (_very angry_). What! a greater King than I? Knave, how dare
you, whether devil or no--how dare thou speak like this?
KING. Aye, I have heard of these white folk. Art not afraid?
SMITH. Nay. I have faced the seas and storms, the anger of the
elements, beside which the rage of men is very small. (_Laughing._)
Forget not--I am an Englishman--an Englishman knows not fear.
KING. Ho! Say you so? We'll soon put that beyond all question by a
proof. (_Draws dagger, rushes on_ SMITH _with a yell, as if to stab
him, and stops the knife only as it touches_ SMITH'S _breast_. SMITH
_does not flinch_.) Ah!
SMITH. A joke was it. (_Laughs._) By St. George, I thought you meant
to kill me.
(_Enter_ PRINCESS POCAHONTAS (_the_ KING'S DAUGHTER.) R. _Aside._)
What is this strange being? A man, yet not a red man. He has a noble
look. Alas! that he should fall into my father's power, for he will
surely slay him.
KING to SMITH. And thou wert not afraid?
SMITH. Nay. Why should I be? I have long ago thought out how to meet
my fate. Death and I have looked at each other face to face before
now, and death has a kindly smile for anyone who has never wilfully
done ill to a fellow creature; to such an one he is no longer a
dreaded demon, but a kindly host.
[Illustration: King Powhattan.]
KING. Well! he'll have a guest before long now; for since you say he
is a friend of yours it proves that you are, as my people first told
me, some kind of witch or devil yourself. Therefore, it will be well
for the land that we do slay thee. Besides, I have not seen a man's
red blood for many days, and I am tired of the blood of the Assocks.
(POCAHONTAS _shrinks down, holding her ears_.) I shall dearly like
to see how looks the blood of a white half-man, half-devil. But
first I want to see him cower, and squeal for mercy; for therein
lies the joy of killing. (_Calls to his_ WARRIORS.) Ho! there!
Stretch out this devil on the ground, and let him learn that death
is not the joy he thinks it is. (_They drag_ SMITH _down, and lay
him on his back on the ground_, C. _One holds his feet, but the
rest, finding that he does not struggle, stand back; two prepare to
use their battle-axes on him, while the rest dance weird dances,
singing Ingonyama chorus round him. The executioners make false
blows at his head--but he never flinches._)
POCAHONTAS (_kneeling beside the_ KING. R.). Oh! King--I have not
often asked for gifts from you--and now I pray you, on my bended
knee, to grant me this request. I have no slave to guard me when I
walk abroad. It is not seemly that I take a young brave of our
tribe, and the old ones are so very old and slow. Now here; a slave
of whom one may be proud--one strange to see, yet strong and great
and brave. Ah! give him to thy child instead of unto death.
KING. Nay! nay! my child. If you don't like the scene, withdraw, for
he shall die. 'Tis sport for me to see how long he lasts before he
cries for mercy. And when he does he dies. (_To_ WARRIORS.) Now
stand him up, and try some new device to make him quail.
(POCAHONTAS _shrinks back. They raise_ SMITH, _and he stands boldly
facing them_.)
KING. Death now comes to thee, and thou hast no chance of escaping
him. Art thou not now afraid of him?
JOHN SMITH. Nay. Why should I be? We men are born not for ourselves
but as a help to others; and if we act thus loyally we know our God
will have us in his care both now and after death.
KING. But _after_ death you're dead!
JOHN SMITH. Not so. A Christian lives again.
KING to SMITH. Well now your hour has come. I know not what has
brought you to this land, but you shall know that witch or no, your
spells can have no power on me; and you will die, and I shall smile
to see you die.
SMITH. What brought me here was duty to my King and God and
countrymen; to spread his powerful sway over all the earth, that you
and yours may know of God, that trade may spread to carry peace and
wealth throughout the world. If you accept these views all will be
well; if you accept them not then do your worst, but use your haste;
our mission is to _clean_ the world! Kill me, but that will not
avail, for where I fall a thousand more will come. Know this, O
Savage King, a Briton's word is trusted over all the world; his
first care is for others--not himself; he sticks to friend through
thick and thin; he's loyal to his King. And though you threat with
death or pains, he'll do his duty to the end.
[Illustration: Warrior.]
KING (_springs angrily forward_). I'll hear no more. You offer terms
to ME, the King! Down, dog, upon your knees, and meet the death you
feign to smile at. (_To_ WARRIORS.) Strike, strike, and smash this
vermin from my path.
(PRINCESS POCAHONTAS, _who has been cowering in the background, runs
forward and places herself close in front of_ Capt. JOHN SMITH, _so
as to protect him from the_ WARRIORS, _who are preparing_, R. and
BACK, _to rush at him with their spears and axes_).
PRINCESS POCAHONTAS. Hold! Warriors--I am your Princess, and to get
at him you have to kill me first. (_To_ KING.) O King--I call you no
more "Father." O King your rule has been a time of blood and murder.
I was too young to think before, but now I know that all your works
are cruel, bad, not just. (WARRIORS _lower their weapons, and
whisper among themselves, as if saying, "Yes. She's quite right_.")
And I have been obedient as your child till now. But now my eyes are
opened, and I see that as King you are neither just nor kind towards
your tribe--or other men.
To bring it home to you, I swear that if you slay this man you also
slay your daughter! For I'll not leave him thus to die alone. (_To_
WARRIORS.) Now, braves, come on and do your work.
(_They hang back._)
How now--you never feared an enemy, so why fear me?
EAGLE'S WING (_bowing_). Nay, sweet Princess, it may not be. We care
not what of men we kill in fighting for our land, but this we cannot
do--to raise a hand against a woman, and she our own Princess.
KING (_furious_). How now! What talk is this? Ye speak as though you
had no King and no commands. Slay on--strike true, and spare not man
nor maid, for she no longer is a child of mine.
(_Braves still hesitate._)
Ye will not? Dogs, wouldst have me do it for myself? I will, and,
what is more, I'll slay you Eagle's Wing for this, and you too----
(_Enter a warrior scout_, L., _who rushes up to the_ KING _and
kneels while shots are heard outside_.)
SCOUT. O King! There be more white devils over there. They're
pressing on, and none can stand against them.
KING to WARRIORS. Stand firm, and kill these devils as they come. To
every brave who takes a white man's scalp I'll give the noblest
feather for his head. Stand firm! Bend well your bows.
(_While the_ KING _and_ WARRIORS _are looking off_ L. _towards the
fight_, POCAHONTAS _takes_ SMITH R., _draws a dagger and cuts_ JOHN
SMITH'S _arms lose. He shakes hands with her. Taking the dagger, he
rushes to the_ KING, _and seizing his hair with one hand, and
threatening him with the dagger with the other, he leads him_ C.)
SMITH. Now yield thee, King, as prisoner, or I will send thee quick
to other hunting grounds. (_To Warriors who rush forward to rescue
the_ KING.) Nay, stand you there: another step, and lo! your King
will die. (_A pause. All stand quite still._) I will not harm if he
lists to me. (_Leads_ KING _to front_, C., _and then lets go his
hold of him_. WARRIORS _remain at back. Distant noise of fighting,
cries and shots heard all the time_. WARRIORS _keep looking off to
see how the fight is going on_.)
(SMITH _standing_ L., _facing_ KING, C. POCAHONTAS, R., WARRIORS,
_back_.)
SMITH. If you would live in peace, your only way is now to join with
us. Our God is stronger than your idols, and our King is king of
many tribes far greater and more powerful than your own. But if you
join with us your wicked ways must cease; no more to kill your
people for no crime, no more to steal their goods or beasts, no more
to make them slaves against their will. Beneath the British flag all
men are free. (WARRIORS _whisper among themselves_. SMITH _turns to
them_.) What say you? Will you join and serve our King, and live in
peace, or will you go on being slaves of cruel chiefs, to live a
life of fear and poverty?
EAGLE'S WING. Nay. We should like to join you well, but we have aye
been faithful to our King, and what he says, why that is what we'll
do.
SMITH. You're right in being faithful to your King. Now, King, what
say you? Will you join our mighty King with all your braves, or will
you face his power and be destroyed?
KING (_sullenly_). You talk as though you were a king yourself and
conqueror, instead of but a prisoner in my hands. You must be mad or
very brave, since I could kill thee at one stroke.
SMITH. Well, mad or brave, it matters not; but there are others just
as mad or brave out there, who even now (_points off_ L.) are
pressing back your men; and were your men to kill off all of us, a
thousand more will come for each one killed, and in the end you too
would meet your fate. Know this, that Britain, once she puts her
hand to the plough for doing noble work, does not withdraw, but
presses on till peace and justice are set up, and cruel wrongs
redressed. You would yourself remain as King among your people, but
beneath the friendly wing of Britain's world-wide power.
KING to WARRIORS. My braves! I never asked your will before; but ye
have heard what this brave man has said. What think ye? Should we
yield or fight this white man's power?
EAGLE'S WING. My King, we all say "yield," and join this mighty
power, whereby we shall ourselves be strong.
POCAHONTAS (_kneeling to_ KING, R.). Once more I call thee Father,
and I pray, for all the wives and children of our tribe, that you
will take this noble man's advice, and bring true peace at last into
our land. (_Kisses_ KING'S _hands and remains kneeling while he
speaks_.)
KING. 'Tis well. Fair, sir, we yield; and on our oath we swear
allegiance to your King for aye and ever, weal or woe. We will be
true (_holding up right hand in scout's sign_).
WARRIORS (_holding up right hands in scout's salute_). We will be
true.
SMITH (_taking St. George's flag from under his coat, and tying it
on to a scout's staff, holds it aloft._) Behold your flag--the flag
of St. George and Merry England!
WARRIORS _salute and sing Ingonyama Chorus. Band plays "Rule
Britannia!"_
CURTAIN.
DRESSES.
WARRIORS.--Band or tape round head, with plait of hair over ear, and
four goose feathers with black tips.
Naked body coloured red brick dust colour.
Trousers: light-coloured if possible, with strips of coloured rag
and goose feathers stitched all down the outside seam of the leg.
Bare feet.
Bow and arrows and staff.
KING.--Like warriors, but with red blanket or shawl over one
shoulder, and headdress made of linen band with goose feathers, some
upright in it and continued down the back.
POCAHONTAS.--Headdress band of linen, with three upright goose
feathers and two drooping on each side; also a plait of hair over
each shoulder.
Brass curtain-rings tied with thread round each ear as earrings.
Necklace of beads, also bracelets.
A skirt.
Coloured short petticoat under it.
Bare feet.
JOHN SMITH.--Big hat with pheasant's tails feathers.
Beard and moustache and long hair of tow or crepe hair. Could all be
stitched to hat if desired. Steel gorget or wide soft linen collar;
long brown or yellow coat, with big belt.
Bagging knickerbockers.
Stockings.
Shoes with big buckles.
Old-fashioned flint-lock gun.
SCENERY.--Strips of brown paper, 1 ft. to 1-1/2 ft. wide, and 2 ft.
to 3 ft. wide at the bottom will represent trees if stuck up on the
back wall, and marked with charcoal and chalk to represent rough
bark.
SCOUTING FOR BOYS.
PART II.
will be published on January 30th, 1908.
_CONTENTS_:
CHAPTER II.--TRACKING.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 5.
Observation of "Sign," or How Scouts
Find Out Things.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 6.
"Spooring" Men or Animals.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 7.
Reading "Sign": Sherlock Holmes-ism.
Stories, Games, and Practices in Tracking in
Town and Country.
CHAPTER III.--WOODCRAFT.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 8.
Stalking, Hiding, and Creeping up to
Animals or Men.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 9.
Habits of Animals, Birds, and Reptiles.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 10.
Plants, useful to Scouts.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 11.
Stars useful to Scouts.
Stories, Games, and Practices in Woodcraft in
Town and Country.
NOTE TO INSTRUCTORS AND LEARNERS.--It would be well not to
commence a course of instructions until you have this Part as
well as Part I. in your hands.
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SCOUTING FOR BOYS
BY
LIEUT. GEN. BADEN POWELL C.B.
PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,
BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.
[Illustration: Scout.]
Scouting for Boys.
A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTION
IN
GOOD CITIZENSHIP.
BY
Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
_All communications should be addressed to_--
LIEUT.-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL,
BOY SCOUTS' OFFICE,
GOSCHEN BUILDINGS,
HENRIETTA STREET,
LONDON, W.C.
_by whom Scouts will be enrolled, and from where
all further information can be obtained_.
Copyrighted by Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
1908.
_All rights reserved._
PART II.
CONTENTS: CHAPTER II.
TRACKING;
or, Noticing and Reading the Meaning of Small Signs.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
5.--OBSERVATION OF "SIGN" OR TRACKS: Details of People; "Sign" round a
Dead Body; Use of Eyes, Ears, and Nose; Night Scouting.
6.--SPOORING: Adventures; Value of Spooring, How to Learn.
7.--READING "SIGN": Sherlock Holmesism; Deduction, or putting this and
that together; Instances; How to Practice.
PRACTICES, GAMES, AND PLAYS IN TRACKING.
BOOKS ON TRACKING.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_Instruction in the art of observation and deduction is difficult to lay
down in black and white. It must be taught by practice. One can only
give a few instances and hints, the rest depends upon your own powers of
imagination and local circumstances._
_The importance of the power of observation and deduction to the young
citizen is great. Children are proverbially quick in observation, but it
dies out as they grow older, largely because first experiences catch
their attention, which they fail to do on repetition._
OBSERVATION _is, in fact, a habit to which a boy has to be trained_.
TRACKING _is an interesting step towards gaining it_. DEDUCTION _is the
art of subsequently reasoning out and extracting the meaning from the
points observed_.
_When once observation and deduction have been made habitual in the boy,
a great step in the development of "character" has been gained._
CONTENTS: CHAPTER III.
(_Commences on page 109._)
WOODCRAFT;
or, Knowledge of Animals and Nature.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
8.--STALKING: As an Aid to Observation; How to Hide.
9.--ANIMALS: The Calling of Wild Animals. Animals; Birds; Reptiles;
Fish; Insects.
10.--PLANTS: Trees and How to Identify Them.
PRACTICES, GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAYS IN WOODCRAFT.
BOOKS ON WOODCRAFT.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_HOW TO TEACH NATURAL HISTORY._
_If in London take your scouts to the Zoological Gardens and to Natural
History Museum, South Kensington. Take them to certain animals on which
you are prepared to lecture to them. About half a dozen animals would be
quite enough for one day._
_If in the country, get leave from a farmer or carter to show the boys
how to put on harness, etc., and how to feed and water the horse; how he
is shod, etc. How to catch hold of a runaway horse in harness. How to
milk a cow._
_Study habits of cows, rabbits, birds, water-voles, trout, etc., by
stalking them and watching all that they do._
_Take your scouts to any menagerie, and explain the animals._
CHAPTER II.
TRACKING;
or,
Noticing and Reading the meaning of small Signs.--Camp Fire Yarns on
Observation--Spooring--Reading "Sign."
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 5.
OBSERVATION OF "SIGN."
NOTICING "SIGN."--Details of People.--Sign round a dead
body--Details in the Country--Use of eyes, ears, and nose by
Scouts--Night Scouting--Hints to Instructors--Practices and Games in
Observation--Books on Observation.
NOTICING SIGN.
"Sign" is the word used by scouts to mean any little details such as
footprints, broken twigs, trampled grass, scraps of food, a drop of
blood, a hair, and so on; anything that may help as clues in getting the
information they are in search of.
Mrs. Smithson, when travelling in Kashmir last year, was following up
with some native Indian trackers the "pugs" of a panther which had
killed and carried off a young buck. He had crossed a wide bare slab of
rock which, of course, gave no mark of his soft feet. The tracker went
at once to the far side of the rock where it came to a sharp edge; he
wetted his finger, and just passed it along the edge till he found a few
buck's hairs sticking to it. This showed him where the panther had
passed down off the rock dragging the buck with him. Those few hairs
were what scouts call "sign."
Mrs. Smithson's tracker also found bears by noticing small "sign." On
one occasion he noticed a fresh scratch in the bark of a tree evidently
made by a bear's claw, and on the other he found a single black hair
sticking to the bark of a tree, which told him that a bear had rubbed
against it.
One of the most important things that a scout has to learn, whether he
is a war scout or a hunter or peace scout, is _to let nothing escape his
attention_; he must notice small points and signs, and then make out the
meaning of them: but it takes a good deal of practice before a
tenderfoot can get into the habit of really noting everything and
letting nothing escape his eye. It can be learnt just as well in a town
as in the country.
And in the same way you should notice any strange sound or any peculiar
smell and think for yourself what it may mean. Unless you learn to
notice "signs" you will have very little of "this and that" to put
together and so you will be no use as a scout; it comes by practice.
Remember, a scout always considers it a great disgrace if an outsider
discovers a thing before he has seen it for himself, whether that thing
is far away in the distance, or close by under his feet.
If you go out with a really trained scout you will see that his eyes are
constantly moving, looking out in every direction near and far, noticing
everything that is going on, just from habit, not because he wants to
show off how much he notices.
I was walking with one the other day in Hyde Park in London. He
presently remarked "that horse is going a little lame"--there was no
horse near us, but I found he was looking at one far away across the
Serpentine: the next moment he picked up a peculiar button lying by the
path. His eyes, you see, were looking both far away and near.
In the streets of a strange town a scout will notice his way by the
principal buildings, and side-streets, and in any case he will notice
what shops he passes and what is in their windows; also what vehicles
pass him and such details as whether the horses' harness and shoes are
all right; and most especially what people he passes, what their faces
are like, their dress, their boots, and their way of walking, so that
if, for instance, he should be asked by a policeman, "Have you seen a
man with dark over-hanging eyebrows dressed in a blue suit, going down
this street," he should be able to give some such answer as "Yes--he was
walking a little lame with the right foot, wore foreign looking boots,
was carrying a parcel in his hand, he turned down Gold Street, the
second turning on the left from here, about three minutes ago."
Information of that kind has often been of greatest value in tracing out
a criminal, but so many people go along with their eyes shut and never
notice things.
In the story of "Kim," by Rudyard Kipling, there is an account of two
boys being taught "observation" in order to become detectives, or
scouts, by means of a game in which a trayful of small objects was shown
to them for a minute and was then covered over and they had to describe
all the things on it from memory.
We will have that game, as it is excellent practice for scouts.
There was a revolutionary society in Italy called the Camorra who used
to train their boys to be quick at noticing and remembering things. When
walking through the streets of the city, the Camorrist would suddenly
stop and ask his boy--"How was the woman dressed who sat at the door of
the fourth house on the right in the last street?" or, "What were the
two men talking about whom we met at the corner of the last street but
three?" or, "Where was the cab ordered to drive to, and what was its
number?" "What is the height of that house and what is the width of its
upper floor window?" and so on. Or the boy was given a minute to look in
a shop window and then he had to describe all that was in it. Captain
Cook, the great explorer and scout, was trained in the same way as a
boy, and so was Houdin the great conjurer.
Every town scout should know, as a matter of course, where is the
nearest chemist's shop (in case of accidents), the nearest police "fixed
point," police-station, hospital, fire alarm, telephone, ambulance
station, etc.
The scout must also have his eyes on the ground especially along the
edge of the pavement against the houses or in the gutter. I have often
found valuable trinkets that have been dropped, and which have been
walked over by numbers of people, and swept to one side by ladies'
dresses without being noticed.
[Illustration: How the wearing of a hat shows character.]
DETAILS OF PEOPLE.
When you are travelling by train or tram always notice every little
thing about your fellow travellers; notice their faces, dress, way of
talking and so on so that you could describe them each pretty accurately
afterwards; and also try and make out from their appearance and
behaviour whether they are rich or poor (which you can generally tell
from their boots), and what is their probable business, whether they are
happy, or ill, or in want of help.
But in doing this you must not let them see you are watching them, else
it puts them on their guard. Remember the shepherd-boy who noticed the
gipsy's boots, but did not look at him and so did not make the gipsy
suspicious of him.
Close observation of people and ability to read their character and
their thoughts is of immense value in trade and commerce, especially for
a shop-assistant or salesman in persuading people to buy goods, or in
detecting would-be swindlers.
It is said that you can tell a man's character from the way he wears his
hat. If it is slightly on one side, the wearer is good-natured: if it is
worn very much on one side, he is a swaggerer: if on the back of his
head, he is bad at paying his debts: if worn straight on the top, he is
probably honest but very dull.
The way a man (or a woman) walks is often a good guide to his
character--witness the fussy, swaggering little man paddling along with
short steps with much arm-action, the nervous man's hurried, jerky
stride, the slow slouch of the loafer, the smooth going and silent step
of the scout, and so on.
I was once accused of mistrusting men with waxed moustaches. Well, so,
to a certain extent, I do. It often means vanity and sometimes drink.
Certainly the "quiff" or lock of hair which some lads wear on their
forehead is a sure sign of silliness. The shape of the face gives a good
guide to the man's character.
Perhaps you can tell the character of these gentlemen?
[Illustration: Character of gentlemen.]
I was speaking with a detective not long ago about a gentleman we had
both been talking to, and we were trying to make out his character. I
remarked--"well, at any rate, he was a fisherman," but my companion
could not see why: but then he was not a fisherman himself. I had
noticed a lot of little tufts of cloth sticking upon the left cuff of
his coat.
A good many fishermen, when they take their flies off the line, stick
them into their cap to dry: others stick them into their sleeve. When
dry they pull them out, which often tears a thread or two of the cloth.
It is an amusing practice when you are in a railway carriage or omnibus
with other people to look only at their feet and guess without looking
any higher what sort of people they are, old or young, well to do or
poor, fat or thin, and so on, and then look up and see how near you have
been to the truth.
Mr. Nat Goodwin, the American actor, once described to me how he went to
see a balloon ascent at a time when he happened to be suffering from a
stiff neck. He was only able to look down instead of up--and he could
only see the feet of the people round him in the crowd so he chose among
the feet those that he felt sure belonged to an affable kind-hearted man
who would describe to him what the balloon was doing.
I once was able to be of service to a lady who was in poor
circumstances, as I had guessed it from noticing, while walking behind
her, that though she was well dressed the soles of her shoes were in the
last stage of disrepair. I don't suppose she ever knew how I guessed
that she was in a bad way.
But it is surprising how much of the sole of the boot you can see when
behind a person walking--and it is equally surprising how much meaning
you can read from that boot. It is said that to wear out soles and heels
equally is to give evidence of business capacity and honesty; to wear
your heels down on the outside means that you are a man of imagination
and love of adventure; but heels worn down on the inside signify
weakness and indecision of character, and this last sign is more
infallible in the case of man than in that of woman.
Remember how "Sherlock Holmes" met a stranger and noticed that he was
looking fairly well-to-do, in new clothes with a mourning band on his
sleeve, with a soldierly bearing, and a sailor's way of walking,
sunburnt, with tattoo marks on his hands, and he was carrying some
children's toys in his hand. What should you have supposed that man to
be? Well! Sherlock Holmes guessed, correctly, that he had lately retired
from the Royal Marines as a Sergeant, and his wife had died, and he had
some small children at home.
SIGNS ROUND A DEAD BODY.
It may happen to some of you that one day you will be the first to find
the dead body of a man, in which case you will remember that it is your
duty to examine and note down the smallest signs that are to be seen on
and near the body before it is moved or the ground disturbed and
trampled down. Besides noticing the exact position of the body (which
should if possible be photographed exactly as found) the ground all
round should be very carefully examined--without treading on it yourself
more than is absolutely necessary, for fear of spoiling existing tracks.
If you can also draw a little map of how the body lay and where the
signs round it were, it might be of value.
Twice lately bodies have been found which were at first supposed to be
those of people who had hanged themselves--but close examination of the
ground round them, in one case some torn twigs and trampled grass, and
in the other a crumpled carpet, showed that murder had been committed,
and that the bodies had been hung after death to make it appear as
though they had committed suicide.
Finger-marks should especially be looked for on any likely articles and
if they do not correspond to those of the murdered man they may be those
of his murderer, who could then be identified by comparing the
impression with his fingers. Such a case occurred in India, where a man
was found murdered and a bloody finger-mark on his clothes. The owner of
the finger-mark was found, tried, and convicted.
In St. Petersburg in Russia a banker was found murdered. Near the body
was found a cigar-holder with an amber mouthpiece. This mouthpiece was
of peculiar shape and could only be held in the mouth in one position,
and it had two teeth marks in it. These marks showed that the two teeth
were of different lengths.
The teeth of the murdered man were quite regular, so the cigar-holder
was evidently not his. But his nephew had teeth which corresponded to
the marks on the mouthpiece, so he was arrested, and then further proof
came up and showed that he was the murderer.
[_Compare the story in "Sherlock Holmes' Memoirs" called "The Resident
Patient" in which a man was found hanging and was considered to be a
suicide till Sherlock Holmes came in and showed various signs such as
cigar ends bitten by different teeth, footprints, and that three men had
been in the room with the dead man for some time previous to his death
and had hanged him._]
DETAILS IN THE COUNTRY.
If you are in the country you should notice landmarks, that is objects
which help you to find your way or prevent you getting lost, such as
distant hills, church towers, and nearer objects such as peculiar
buildings, trees, gates, rocks, etc.
And remember in noticing such landmarks that you may want to use your
knowledge of them some day for telling someone else how to find his way,
so you must notice them pretty closely so as to be able to describe them
unmistakably and in their proper order. You must notice and remember
every by-road and footpath.
Then you must also notice smaller signs such as birds getting up and
flying hurriedly which means somebody or some animal is there; dust
shows animals, men, or vehicles moving.
Of course when in the country you should notice just as much as in town
all passers-by very carefully--how they are dressed, what their faces
are like, and their way of walking, and examine their footmarks--and jot
down a sketch of them in your notebook, so that you would know the
footmark again if you found it somewhere else--(as the shepherd boy did
in the story at the beginning of this book).
And notice all tracks--that is footmarks of men, animals, birds, wheels,
etc., for from these you can read the most important information, as
Captain d'Artagnan did in the story of the secret duel, of which I shall
tell you later.
This track-reading is of such importance that I shall give you a lecture
on that subject by itself.
USING YOUR EYES.
Let nothing be too small for your notice, a button, a match, a cigar
ash, a feather, or a leaf, might be of great importance.
A scout must not only look to his front but also to either side and
behind him, he must have "eyes at the back of his head" as the saying
is.
Often by suddenly looking back you will see an enemy's scout or a thief
showing himself in a way that he would not have done had he thought you
would look round.
There is an interesting story by Fenimore Cooper called "The Pathfinder"
in which the action of a Red Indian scout is well described. He had
"eyes at the back of his head," and after passing some bushes he caught
sight of a withered leaf or two among the fresh ones which made him
suspect that somebody might have put the leaves there to make a better
hiding place, and so he discovered some hidden fugitives.
NIGHT SCOUTING.
A scout has to be able to notice small details just as much by night as
by day and this he has to do chiefly by listening, occasionally by
feeling or smelling.
In the stillness of the night sounds carry further than by day. If you
put your ear to the ground or place it against a stick, or especially
against a drum, which is touching the ground, you will hear the shake of
horses' hoofs or the thud of a man's footfall a long way off. Another
way is to open a knife with a blade at each end, stick one blade into
the ground and hold the other between your teeth and you will hear all
the better. The human voice, even though talking low, carries to a great
distance and is not likely to be mistaken for any other sound.
I have often passed through outposts at night after having found where
the picquets were posted by hearing the low talking of the men or the
snoring of those asleep.
BOOKS TO READ ON OBSERVATION.
"Criminal Investigation" by Dr. Gross. Edited by John Adam. 30s.
"Aids to Scouting." 1s. (Gale and Polden.)
[Illustration: An Alarm Bell in Mafeking--"Look out for shells!"]
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
HOW TO TEACH OBSERVATION IN PRACTICE.
_PRACTICES._
IN TOWNS: Practise your boys first in walking down a street to notice
the different kinds of shops as they pass and to remember them in their
proper sequence at the end.
Then to notice and remember the names on the shops.
Then to notice and remember the contents of a shop window after two
minutes' gaze. Finally to notice the contents of several shop windows in
succession with half a minute at each.
The boys must also notice prominent buildings as landmarks; the number
of turnings off the street they are using; names of other streets;
details of horses and vehicles passing by; and--especially--details of
the people as to dress, features, gait; numbers on motor cars,
policemen, etc.
Take them the first time to show them how to do it; and after that send
them out and on their return question them, as below.
Make them learn for themselves to notice and remember the whereabouts of
all chemists' shops, fire alarms, police fixed points, ambulances, etc.,
etc.
IN THE COUNTRY: Take the patrol out for a walk and teach the boys to
notice distant prominent features as landmarks such as hills, church
steeples, and so on, and as nearer landmarks such things as peculiar
buildings, trees, rocks, gates, etc. By-roads or paths, nature of
fences, crops; different kinds of trees, birds, animals, tracks, etc.,
also people, vehicles, etc. Also any peculiar smells of plants, animals,
manure, etc.
Then send them out a certain walk, and on their return have them in one
by one and examine them verbally, or have them all in and let them write
their answers on, say, six questions which you give them with reference
to certain points which they should have noticed.
It adds to the value of the practice if you make a certain number of
small marks in the ground beforehand, or leave buttons or matches, etc.,
for the boys to notice or to pick up and bring in (as a means of making
them examine the ground close to them as well as distant objects).
TELLING CHARACTER: Send scouts out for half an hour to look for, say, a
brutish character, or a case of genteel poverty, etc.
The scout must on his return be able to describe the person accurately,
and give the reasons which made him think the person was of the
character he reports.
He should also state how many other characters he passed in his search,
such as silly, good-natured, deceitful swaggering, wax-moustached, and
so on, judging of course by their faces, their walk, their boots, hats,
and clothing, etc.
GAMES IN OBSERVATION.
THIMBLE FINDING (Indoors).
Send the patrol out of the room.
Take a thimble, ring, coin, bit of paper, or any small article, and
place it where it is perfectly visible but in a spot where it is not
likely to be noticed. Let the patrol come in and look for it. When one
of them sees it he should go and quietly sit down without indicating to
the others where it is.
After a fair time he should be told to point it out to those who have
not succeeded in finding it.
[This ensures his having really seen it.]
SHOP WINDOW (Outdoors in town).
Umpire takes a patrol down a street past six shops. Gives them half a
minute at each shop, then, after moving them off to some distance, he
gives each boy a pencil and card, and tells him to write from memory, or
himself takes down what they noticed in, say, the third and fifth shops.
The one who sets down most articles correctly wins. It is useful
practice to match one boy against another in heats--the loser competing
again, till you arrive at the worst. This gives the worst scouts the
most practice.
SIMILAR GAME (Indoors).
Send each scout in turn into a room for half a minute; when he comes out
take down a list of furniture and articles which he noticed. The boy who
noticed most wins.
The simplest way of scoring is to make a list of the articles in the
room on your scoring paper with a column for marks for each scout
against them, which can then easily be totalled up at foot.
SPOTTING THE SPOT (Indoors--town or country).
Show a series of photos or sketches of objects, in the neighbourhood
such as would be known to all the scouts if they kept their eyes
open--such, for instance, as cross-roads, curious window, gargoyle or
weathercock, tree, reflection in the water (guess the building causing
it), and so on.
A pair of scouts can play most of the above competitions off between
themselves, if they like, as a matter of practice.
Patrol leaders can match one pair of their scouts against another pair
in the game, and thus get them really practised at it, and when they
become really good he can challenge other patrols to compete against
his.
FOLLOW THE TRAIL.
Send out a "hare," either walking or cycling, with a pocketful of corn,
nutshells, confetti paper or buttons, etc., and drop a few here and
there to give a trail for the patrol to follow.
Or go out with a piece of chalk and draw the patrol sign on walls,
gateposts, pavements, lamp-posts, trees, etc., every here and there, and
let the patrol hunt you by these marks. Patrols should wipe out all
these marks as they pass them for tidiness, and so as not to mislead
them for another day's practice.
The other road signs should also be used, such as closing up certain
roads as not used, and hiding a letter at some point, giving directions
as to the next turn.
SCOUTS' NOSE (Indoors).
Prepare a number of paper-bags, all alike, and put in each a different
smelling article such as chopped onion in one, tan in another,
roseleaves, leather, aniseed, violet powder, orange-peel, etc. Put these
packets in a row a couple of feet apart and let each competitor walk
down the line and have five seconds' sniff at each. At the end he has
one minute in which to write down or to state to the umpire the names of
the different objects smelled, from memory, in their correct order.
FAR AND NEAR. (For town or country.)
Umpire goes along a given road or line of country with a patrol in
patrol formation. He carries a scoring card with the name of each scout
on it.
Each scout looks out for the details required and directly he notices
one he runs to the umpire and informs him or hands in the article if it
is an article he finds. The umpire enters a mark accordingly against his
name. The scout who gains most marks in the walk, wins.
Details like the following should be chosen, to develop the scout's
observation and to encourage him to look far and near, up and down, etc.
The details should be varied every time the game is played; and about 8
or 10 should be given at a time.
Every match found 1 mark.
Every button found 1 mark.
Birds' foot tracks 2 marks.
Patch noticed on stranger's clothing or boots. 2 marks.
Grey horse seen 2 marks.
Pigeon flying 2 marks.
Sparrow sitting 1 mark.
Ash-tree 2 marks.
Broken chimney pot 2 marks.
Broken window 1 mark.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 6.
SPOORING.
Men's Tracks--Animals' Tracks--How to Learn Spooring.--Hints to
Instructor--Tracking Games--Books on Spooring.
MEN'S TRACKS.
General Dodge, of the American Army, describes how he once had to pursue
a party of Red Indians who had been murdering some people.
The murderers had nearly a week's start and had gone away on horseback.
But General Dodge got a splendid tracking-scout named Espinosa to help
him. The Indians were all riding unshod horses, except one, and after
Espinosa had been tracking them for many miles he suddenly got off his
horse and pulled four horseshoes out of a hidden crevice in the rocks.
The Indian had evidently pulled them off so that they should not leave a
track.
For six days they pursued the band, and for a great part of the time
there was so sign visible to an ordinary eye, and after going for 150
miles they eventually overtook and captured the whole party. But it was
all entirely due to Espinosa's good tracking.
On another occasion some American troops were following up a number of
Indians, who had been raiding and murdering whites, and they had some
other Red Indian scouts to assist them in tracking. In order to make a
successful attack, they marched by night, and the trackers found the way
in the darkness by feeling the tracks of the enemy with their hands, and
they went at a fairly good pace for many miles, merely touching the
track with their fingers; but suddenly they halted and reported that the
track they had been following had been crossed by a fresh track, and on
the commanding officer going up, he found the Indians still holding the
track with their hands, so that there should be no mistake. A light was
brought and it was found that the new track was that of a bear which had
walked across the trail of the enemy! So the march continued without
further incident, and the enemy were surprised, and caught in the early
hours of the morning.
The scout, Burnham, in South Africa, who was with Wilson's party when
they were massacred on the Shangani River in Matabeleland, was sent away
with a dispatch shortly before they were surrounded. He travelled during
the night to escape observation of the enemy. He found his way by
feeling for the tracks left in the mud by the column when it marched up
there in the morning.
I myself led a column through an intricate part of the Matopo Mountains
in Rhodesia by night to attack the enemy's stronghold which I had
reconnoitred the previous day. I found the way by feeling my own tracks,
sometimes with my hands and sometimes through the soles of my shoes
which had worn very thin; and I never had any difficulty in finding the
line.
Tracking, or following up tracks, is called by different names in
different countries. Thus, in South Africa you would talk only of
"spooring," that is, following up the "spoor"; in India it would be
following the "pugs," or "pugging"; in America it is "trailing."
It is one of the principal ways by which scouts gain information, and
hunters find their game. But to become a good tracker you must begin
young, and practise it at all times when you are out walking, whether in
town or country.
If at first you constantly remind yourself to do it you will soon find
that you do it as a habit without having to remind yourself. And it is a
very useful habit, and makes the dullest walk interesting.
Hunters when they are looking about in a country to find game first look
for any tracks, old or new, to see if there are any animals in the
country; then they study the newer marks to find out where the animals
are hiding themselves; then, after they have found a fresh track, they
follow it up till they find the animal and kill him; and afterwards they
often have to retrace their own tracks to find their way back to camp.
And war scouts do much the same as regards their enemies.
First of all you must be able to distinguish one man's footmark from
that of another, by its size, shape, and nails, etc. And similarly the
prints of horses and other animals.
From a man's track, that is, from the size of his foot and the length of
his stride, you can tell, to a certain extent, his height.
In taking notes of a track you should pick out a well-marked print, very
carefully measure its length, length of heel, with widest point of
tread, width at waist, width of heel, number of rows of nails, and
number of nails in each row, heel and toe-plates or nails, shape of
nail-heads, etc.
It is best to make a diagram of the foot-print thus--nails missing.
You should also measure very carefully the length of the man's stride
from the toe of one foot to the heel of the other.
NOTE TO INSTRUCTOR: _Make each scout take off his own boot and draw a
diagram of it on paper, putting in all nails and other points. Or, out
of doors, give each scout the outline ready drawn of a foot-mark, and
then let him find a foot-mark (or make his own) and fill in the details
of nail-marks, etc._
_Also, he should note down the length of stride taken, and how much the
feet point outwards from the straight direction of their path._
A man was once found drowned in a river. It was supposed that he must
have fallen in accidentally, and that the cuts on his head were caused
by stones, etc., in the river. But some one took a drawing of his boots,
and after searching the river bank came on his tracks, and followed them
up to a spot where there had evidently been a struggle, the ground being
much trampled and bushes broken down to the water's edge, and the track
of two other men's feet. And though these men were never found, it
showed the case to be one of probable murder, which would not otherwise
have been suspected.
A scout must learn to recognise at a glance at what pace the maker of
the tracks was going, and so on.
A man walking puts the whole flat of his foot on the ground, each foot a
little under a yard from the other. In running the toes are more deeply
dug into the ground, and a little dirt is kicked up, and the feet are
more than a yard apart. Sometimes men walk backwards in order to deceive
anyone who may be tracking, but a good scout can generally tell this at
once by the stride being shorter, the toes more turned in, and the heels
being tightly impressed.
With animals, if they are moving fast, their toes are more deeply dug
into the ground, and they kick up the dirt, and their paces are longer
than when going slowly.
You ought to be able to tell the pace at which a horse has been going
directly you see the tracks.
At a walk the horse makes two pairs of hoof prints--the near (left) hind
foot close in front of near forefoot mark, and the off (right) forefoot
similarly just behind the print of the off hindfoot.
At a trot the track is similar but the stride is longer.
The hind feet are generally longer and narrower in shape than the
forefeet.
HORSES' TRACKS.
[Illustration: Walking.]
[Illustration: Trotting.]
[Illustration: Canter.]
[Illustration: Galloping.]
[Illustration: Lame Horse Walking.]
[Illustration: Bird tracks.]
These are the tracks of two birds on the ground. One lives generally on
the ground, the other in bushes and trees. Which track belongs to which
bird?
Native trackers boast that not only can they tell a person's sex and age
by their tracks, but also their characters. They say that people who
turn out their toes much are generally "liars."
It was a trick with highwaymen of old, and with horse stealers more
recently, to put their horses' shoes on wrong way round in order to
deceive trackers who might try to follow them up, but a good tracker
would not be taken in. Similarly, thieves often walk backwards for the
same reason, but a clever tracker will very soon recognise the
deception.
[Illustration: Track of (1) Bicycle and (2) Motor.]
Wheel tracks should also be studied till you can tell the difference
between the track of a gun, a carriage, a country cart, motor-car, or a
bicycle, _and the direction they were going in_. [_See diagram._]
In addition to learning to recognise the pace of tracks, you must get to
know how old they are. This is a most important point, and requires a
very great amount of practice and experience before you can judge it
really well.
So much depends on the state of the ground and weather, and its effects
on the "spoor." If you follow one track, say on a dry, windy day, over
varying ground, you will find that when it is on light, sandy soil it
will look old in a very short time, because any damp earth that it may
kick up from under the surface will dry very rapidly to the same colour
as the surface dust, and the sharp edges of the footmark will soon be
rounded off by the breeze playing over the dry dust in which they are
formed. When it gets into damp ground, the same track will look much
fresher, because the sun will have only partially dried up the upturned
soil, and the wind will not, therefore, have bevelled off the sharp
edges of the impression, and if it gets into damp clay, under shade of
trees, etc., where the sun does not get at it, the same track, which may
have looked a day old in the sand, will here look quite fresh.
Of course, a great clue to the age of tracks will often be found in
spots of rain having fallen on them since they were made (if you know at
what time the rain fell), dust or grass seeds blown into them (if you
noticed at what time the wind was blowing), or the crossing of other
tracks over the original ones, or where the grass has been trodden down,
the extent to which it has since dried or withered. In following a
horse, the length of time since it passed can also be judged by the
freshness, or otherwise, of the droppings--due allowance being made for
the effect of sun, rain, or birds, etc., upon them.
Having learnt to distinguish the pace and age of spoor, you must next
learn to follow it over all kinds of ground. This is an accomplishment
that you can practice all you life, and you will still find yourself
learning at the end of it--you will find yourself continually improving.
Then there is a great deal to learn from the ashes of fires--whether
they are still warm or cold, scraps showing what kind of food the people
were eating, whether plentiful or scarce.
You must not only keep a sharp look out for scout signs made by your own
scouts, but also for those made by hostile scouts. Foreign scouts also
have their private signs--as also do tramps. The following are some of
the signs made by tramps on walls or fences near houses where they have
been begging which they chalk up to warn others of their class:
[Illustration: Very bad: they give you in charge here.]
[Illustration: Too many tramps been here already.]
[Illustration: No good.]
[Illustration: Bad people.]
There are very good native trackers in the Soudan and Egypt, and I saw
some of their work there.
The Colonel of the Egyptian Cavalry had had some things stolen out of
his house, so a tracker was sent for from the neighbouring Jaalin tribe.
He soon found the footprints of the thief and followed them a long way
out on to the desert, and found the spot where he had buried the stolen
goods. His tracks then came back to the barracks.
So the whole of the regiment was paraded without shoes on for the
tracker to examine. And at the end when he had seen every man walk, he
said, "No the thief is not there." Just then the Colonel's native
servant came up to him with a message, and the tracker who was standing
by said to the Colonel "That is the man who buried the stolen things."
The servant, surprised at being found out, then confessed that it was he
who had stolen his master's property, thinking that he would be the last
man to be suspected.
Mr. Deakin, the Premier of Australia, told me how he travelled on board
ship with a number of natives of Australia who were on the sea for the
first time in their lives.
When the ship got out to sea he noticed all these natives had got into
the bows and were lying flat on the deck with their heads over the side
staring intently into the water ahead of the ship. So interested were
they in the water that for some time he could not get any reply to his
question as to what they were looking at, till at length one of them
said: "We cannot understand how the ship is finding its way across the
sea; we cannot see the trail that it is following; we know that our eyes
are sharp enough on shore and often when we are guiding white men along
a trail they say they cannot see the tracks which to us are clear
enough--their eyes are different to ours. But here at sea the English
sailors evidently can see tracks ahead of them, otherwise they would not
know which way to send the ship, and yet we, who are so good at seeing
on shore, cannot see any sign of a track or mark on the water."
When getting on to very fresh spoor of man or beast, the old scout will
generally avoid following it closely because the hunted animal will
frequently look back to see if it is being followed. The tracker
therefore makes a circle, and comes back on to where he would expect to
find the spoor again. If he finds it, he makes another circle further
ahead till he finds no spoor. Then he knows he is ahead of his game, so
he gradually circles nearer and nearer till he finds it. See diagram.
HINTS TO SPOORING.
Some trackers of Scinde followed up a stolen camel from Karachi to
Sehwan, 150 miles over sand and bare rock. The thieves, to escape
detection, drove the camel up and down a crowded street, in order to get
the trail mixed up with others--but the trackers foresaw this and made a
"cast" round the town, and hit on the outgoing spoor on the far side,
which they successfully followed up.
[Illustration: Tracking.]
In tracking where the spoor is difficult to see, such as on hard ground,
or in grass, note the direction of the last foot-print that you can see,
then look on in the same direction, but well ahead of you, say 20 or 30
yards, and in grass you will generally see the blades bent or trodden,
and on hard ground, possibly stones displaced or scratched, and so on,
small signs which, seen in a line one behind the other, give a kind of
track that otherwise would not be noticed. I once tracked a bicycle on a
hard macadam road where it really made no impression at all, but by
looking along the surface of the road for a long distance ahead of me,
under the rising sun as it happened, the line it had taken was quite
visible through the almost invisible coating of dew upon the ground.
Standing on the track and looking upon it close to my feet I could not
see the slightest sign of it. The great thing is to look for a difficult
track _against_ the sun, so that the slightest dent in the ground throws
a shadow.
If you lose sight of the track you must make a "cast" to find it again.
To do this put your handkerchief, staff, or other mark at the first
footmark that you noticed, then work round it in a wide circle, say 30,
50 or 100 yards away from it as a centre--choosing the most favourable
ground, soft ground if possible, to find signs of the outward track. If
you are with a patrol it is generally best for the patrol to halt while
one or perhaps two men make the cast. If everybody starts trying to find
the spoor they very soon defeat their object by treading it out or
confusing it with their own footmarks--too many cooks easily spoil the
broth in such a case.
In making a cast use your common-sense as to which direction the enemy
has probably taken, and try it there. I remember an instance of tracking
a boar which illustrates what I mean. The boar had been running through
some muddy inundated fields, and was easy enough to follow until he
turned off over some very hard and stony ground, where after a little
while not a sign of his spoor was to be seen. A cast had accordingly to
be made. The last footmark was marked, and the tracker moved round a
wide circle, examining the ground most carefully, but not a sign was
found. Then the tracker took a look round the country, and, putting
himself in place of the pig, said "Now which direction would I have gone
in?" Some distance to the front of him, as the original track led, stood
a long hedge of prickly cactus; in it were two gaps. The tracker went to
one of these as being the line the boar would probably take. Here the
ground was still very hard, and no footmark was visible, but on a leaf
of the cactus in the gap was a pellet of wet mud; and this gave the
desired clue; there was no mud on this hard ground, but the pig had
evidently brought some on his feet from the wet ground he had been
travelling through. This one little sign enabled the tracker to work on
in the right direction to another and another, until eventually he got
on to the spoor again in favourable ground, and was able to follow up
the boar to his resting place.
I have watched a tracker in the Soudan following tracks, where for a
time they were quite invisible to the ordinary eye in this way. While
the track was clear he made his own stride exactly to fit that of the
track, so that he walked step for step with it, and he tapped the ground
with his staff as he walked along--ticking off each footprint as it
were. When the footprints disappeared on hard ground, or had been buried
by drifting sand he still walked on at the same place tap-tapping the
ground with his staff at the spot where there ought to have been a
footprint. Occasionally one saw a slight depression or mark which showed
that there had been a footprint there, and thus he knew he was still on
the right line.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
PRACTICES IN TRACKING.
1. _The Instructor should make his scouts prepare a well-rolled or
flattened piece of ground (about ten or fifteen yards square) and make
one boy walk across it, then run, and then bicycle across it. Part of
the ground should be wet as if by rain, the other part dry._
_He can then explain the difference in the tracks so that scouts can
tell at once from any tracks they may see afterwards whether a person
was walking or running._
_If possible, a day later make fresh tracks alongside the old and notice
the difference in appearance so that the scouts can learn to judge the
age of tracks._
_Then make tracks of various kinds overrunning each other such as a
bicycle meeting a boy on foot, each going over the other's tracks, and
let the scouts read the meaning._
2. _Send out a boy with "Tracking Irons" on and let the patrol track him
and notice when any other tracks override his, showing what people or
animals have passed since._
_N.B. Tracking irons are an invention of Mr. Thompson Seton's and can be
strapped on to soles of scout's boots (like a pair of skates) so that
wherever he goes he leaves a track similar to that of a deer._
TRACKING GAMES.
PRACTICES AND GAMES IN SPOORING.
TRACK MEMORY.
Make a patrol sit with their feet up so that other scouts can study
them. Give the scouts, say, three minutes to study the boots. Then
leaving the scouts in a room or out of sight let one of the patrol make
some footmarks in a good bit of ground. Call up the scouts one by one
and let them see the track and say who made it.
TRACK DRAWING
Take out a patrol; set them on to one foot-track. Award a prize to the
scout who makes the most accurate drawing of one of the footprints of
the track. The scouts should be allowed to follow up the track till they
get to a bit of ground where a good impression of it can be found.
FOR HONOURS.
SPOT THE THIEF.
Get a stranger to make a track unseen by the scouts. The scouts study
his track so as to know it again.
Then put the stranger among eight or ten others and let them all make
their tracks for the boys to see, going by in rotation. Each scout then
in turn whispers to the umpire which man made the original
track--describing him by his number in filing past. The scout who
answers correctly wins; if more than one answers correctly, the one who
then draws the best diagram, from memory, of the foot-print wins.
This game may also be carried out as a test for marks towards a badge of
honour. Correct detection of the thief counts two marks; if good diagram
is also drawn another mark may be added.
"SMUGGLERS OVER THE BORDER."
The "Border" is a certain line of country about four hundred yards long,
preferably a road or wide path or bit of sand, on which foot-tracks can
easily be seen. One patrol watches the border with sentries posted along
this road, with a reserve posted further inland. This should be about
half-way between the "border" and the "town," the "town" would be a base
marked by trees, buildings, or flags, etc., about half a mile distant
from the border. A hostile patrol of smugglers assembles about half a
mile on the other side of the border. They will all cross the border, in
any formation they please, either singly or together or scattered, and
make for the town, either walking or running, or at scout's pace. Only
one among them is supposed to be smuggling, and he wears tracking irons,
so that the sentries walk up and down their beat (they may not run till
after the 'alarm'), waiting for the tracks of the smuggler. Directly a
sentry sees the track, he gives the alarm signal to the reserve and
starts himself to follow up the track as fast as he can. The reserve
thereupon co-operate with them and try to catch the smuggler before he
can reach the town. Once within the boundary of the town he is safe and
wins the game.
BOOKS TO READ ON SPOORING.
"Lectures on Tracking": _Cavalry Journal_ Office, Whitehall, S.W.
"Scouting and reconnaissance in Savage Countries": Captain. Stigand.
"Tracks of Wild Animals."
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 7.
READING "SIGN" OR DEDUCTION.
Putting this and that together--Sherlock-Holmesism--Instances of
Deduction--Hints to Instructors--Practice in Deduction--Books on
Deduction.
When a scout has learned to notice "sign," he must then learn to "put
this and that together," and so read a _meaning_ from what he has seen.
This is called "deduction." Here is an example of what I mean which was
lately given in the "Forest and Stream," which shows how the young scout
can read the meaning from "sign" when he has been trained to it.
A cavalry soldier had got lost and some of his comrades were hunting all
over the country to find him, when they came across a native boy, and
asked him if he had seen the lost man. He immediately said: "Do you mean
a very tall soldier, riding a roan horse that was slightly lame?"
They said, "Yes; that was the man. Where did you see him?"
The boy replied "I have not seen him, but I know where he has gone."
Thereupon they arrested him, thinking that probably the man had been
murdered and made away with, and that the boy had heard about it.
But eventually he explained that he had seen tracks of the man which he
could point out to them.
Finally he brought them to a place where the signs showed that the man
had made a halt. The horse had rubbed itself against a tree, and had
left some of its hairs sticking to the bark which showed that it was a
roan horse; its hoof marks showed that it was lame, that is, one foot
was not so deeply indented on the ground and did not take so long a pace
as the other feet. That the rider was a soldier was shown by the imprint
of his boot which was an army boot. Then they asked the boy "How could
you tell that he was a tall man?" and the boy pointed out to where the
soldier had broken a branch from the tree which would have been out of
reach of a man of ordinary height. Deduction exactly like reading a
book.
A boy who has never been taught to read and who sees you reading from a
book would ask "How do you do it?" and you would point out to him that a
number of small signs on a page are letters; these letters when grouped
form words; and words form sentences; and sentences give information.
Similarly a trained scout will see little signs and tracks, he puts them
together in his mind and quickly reads a meaning from them such as an
untrained man would never arrive at.
And from frequent practice he gets to read the meaning at a glance just
as you do a book without the delay of spelling out each word, letter by
letter.
I was one day, during the Matabele war [_Show on map_] with a native out
scouting near to the Matopo Hills over a wide grassy plain. Suddenly we
crossed a track freshly made in grass, where the blades of grass were
still green and damp though pressed down; all were bending one way which
showed the direction in which the people had been travelling; following
up the track for a bit it got on to a patch of sand, and we then saw
that it was the spoor of several women (small feet with straight edge,
and short steps), and boys (small feet, curved edge and longer strides)
walking not running, towards the hills, about five miles away; where we
believed the enemy to be hiding.
Then we saw a leaf lying about ten yards off the track--There were no
trees for miles, but we knew that trees having this kind of leaf grew at
a village fifteen miles away, in the direction from which the footmarks
were coming. It seemed likely therefore that the women had come from
that village, bringing the leaf with them, and had gone to the hills.
[Illustration: From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By
permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.]
On picking up the leaf we found it was damp, and smelled of native beer.
The short steps showed that the women were carrying loads. So we guessed
that according to the custom they had been carrying pots of native beer
on their heads, the mouths of the pots being stopped up with bunches of
leaves. One of these leaves had fallen out; but we found it ten yards
off the track, which showed that at the time it fell a wind was blowing.
There was no wind now, _i.e._, seven o'clock, but there had been one
about five o'clock.
So we guessed from all these little signs that a party of women and boys
had brought beer during the night from the village 15 miles away and had
taken it to the enemy on the hills, arriving there soon after six
o'clock.
The men would probably start to drink the beer at once (as it goes sour
in a few hours), and would, by the time we could get there, be getting
sleepy and keeping a bad look-out, so we should have a favourable chance
of looking at their position.
We accordingly followed the women's track, found the enemy, made our
observations and got away with our information without any difficulty.
And it was chiefly done on the evidence of that one leaf. So you see the
importance of noticing even a little thing like that.
INSTANCES OF DEDUCTION.
Mr. Tighe Hopkins writing in "World's Work" describes how by noticing
very small signs detectives have discovered crimes.
In one case a crime had been committed and a stranger's coat was found
which gave no clue to the owner. The coat was put into a stout bag and
beaten with a stick. The dust was collected from the bag and examined
under a powerful magnifying glass and was found to consist of fine
sawdust which showed that the owner of the coat was probably a
carpenter, or sawyer, or joiner. The dust was then put under a more
powerful magnifying glass--called a microscope--and it was then seen
that it also contained some tiny grains of gelatine and powdered glue.
These things are not used by carpenters or sawyers, so the coat was
shown to belong to a joiner, and the police got on the track of the
criminal.
Dust out of pockets, or in the recesses of a pocket-knife, and so on, if
closely examined, tells a great deal.
Then on another occasion a murder was committed, and close by a cap was
found which did not belong to the victim, so probably it belonged to the
murderer. Two hairs were found sticking to the lining of the cap; they
were carefully taken to Dr. Emile Pfaff, a celebrated observer. He
examined the hairs under a microscope and was able to read from them
that the owner of the cap was "A man of middle age, strong, inclined to
be fat; black hair with some grey among it, getting bald; lately had his
hair cut."
In this way a clue was got to the appearance of the murderer.
Dr. Bell of Edinburgh is said to be the original from whom Sir Conan
Doyle drew his idea of Sherlock Holmes.
The doctor was once teaching a class of medical students at a hospital
how to doctor people. A patient was brought in, so that the doctor might
show how an injured man should be treated. The patient in this case came
limping in, and the doctor turned to one of the students and asked him:
"What is the matter with this man?"
The student replied, "I don't know, sir. I haven't asked him yet."
The doctor said, "Well, there is no need to ask him, you should see for
yourself--he has injured his right knee; he is limping on that leg: he
injured it by burning it in the fire; you see how his trouser is burnt
away at the knee. This is Monday morning. Yesterday was fine; Saturday
was wet and muddy. The man's trousers are muddy all over. He had a fall
in the mud on Saturday night."
Then he turned to the man and said, "You drew your wages on Saturday and
got drunk, and in trying to get your clothes dry by the fire when you
got home you fell on the fire and burnt your knee--Isn't that so?"
"Yes, sir," replied the man.
I saw a case in the paper last week where a judge at the county court
used his powers of "noticing little things," and "putting this and that
together." He was trying a man as a debtor.
The man pleaded that he was out of work, and could get no employment.
The judge said--"Then what are you doing with that pencil behind your
ear if you are not in business?"
The man had to admit that he had been helping his wife in her business,
which, it turned out, was a very profitable one, and the judge thereupon
ordered him to pay his debt.
Dr. Reiss, of the Police Department of the University of Lausanne,
records how the police read the spoor.
A burglary had taken place in a house, and the thief's footprints were
found in the garden. Those going towards the house were not so deeply
impressed as those coming away from it nor were they so close together;
from this the police gathered that the burglar had carried away with him
a heavy load which made him take short steps and he was fully weighted
down so that they sank deeply in the ground.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
HOW TO TEACH DEDUCTION IN PRACTICE.
_Read aloud a story in which a good amount of observation of details
occur, with consequent deductions, such as in either the "Memoirs" or
the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."_
_Then question the boys afterwards as to which details suggested certain
solutions, to see that they really have grasped the method._
_Follow up ordinary tracks and deduce their meaning. For examples of
daily practice see my book of "Aids to Scouting."_
EXAMPLE OF PRACTICE IN DEDUCTION.
A simple deduction from signs noticed in my walk one morning on a stony
mountain path in Kashmir.
_Sign Observed_--Tree-stump, about three feet high, by the path. A stone
about the size of a cocoanut lying near it, to which were sticking some
bits of bruised walnut rind, dried up. Some walnut rind also lying on
the stump. Further along the path, 30 yards to the south of the stump,
were lying bits of walnut shell of four walnuts. Close by was a high
sloping rock, alongside the path. The only walnut tree in sight was 150
yards north of the stump.
At the foot of the stump was a cake of hardened mud which showed the
impression of a grass shoe.
What would you make out from those signs? My solution of it was this:
A man had gone southward on a long journey along the path two days ago,
carrying a load; and had rested at the rock while he ate walnuts.
My deductions were these:
It was a man carrying a load, because carriers when they want to rest do
not sit down, but rest their load against a sloping rock and lean back.
Had he had no load he would probably have sat down on the stump, but he
preferred to go 30 yards further to where the rock was. Women do not
carry loads there, so it was a man. But he first broke the shells of his
walnuts on the tree-stump with the stone, having brought them from the
tree 150 yards north. So he was travelling south, and he was on a long
journey, as he was wearing shoes, and not going barefooted as he would
be if only strolling near his home. Three days ago there was rain, the
cake of mud had been picked up while the ground was still wet--but it
had not been since rained upon and was now dry. The walnut rind was also
dry and confirmed the time that had elapsed.
There is no important story attached to this, but it is just an example
of everyday practice which should be carried out by scouts.
_GAMES AND COMPETITIONS IN DEDUCTION._
_Get some people who are strangers to the boys to come along as
passers-by in the street or road, and let the boys separately notice all
about them; and after an interval ask each for a full description of
each of the passers-by as to appearance, peculiar recognisable points,
and what he guesses his business to be; or let each boy have two
minutes' conversation with your friend and try to find out what he can
about him in that time by questioning and observation._
_Set a room or prepare a piece of ground with small signs, tracks, etc.,
read aloud the story of the crime up to that point and let each boy or
each patrol in turn examine the scene for a given time and then
privately give each his solution of it._
_The very simplest, most elementary schemes should be given at first,
and they can gradually be elaborated. For instance take a number of
footmarks and spent matches by a tree showing where a man had difficulty
in lighting his pipe, etc._
_For a more finished theme take a mystery like that in "Memoirs of
Sherlock Holmes" called "The Resident Patient." Set a room to represent
the patient's room where he was found hanging, with footprints of muddy
boots on the carpet, cigar ends bitten or cut in the fireplace, cigar
ashes, screw-driver and screws, etc. Put down a strip or "stepping
stones" of stuff, handkerchiefs, or paper on which the competitors shall
walk (so as not to confuse existing tracks). Let each scout (or patrol)
come in separately and have three minutes in which to investigate. Then
to go out and give in his solution, written or verbal, half an hour
later._
_Let one patrol make tracks by carrying out such a series as that which
D'Atagnan elucidated. The other patrol then acts as detectives and
endeavours to unravel the mystery from the tracks and other sign._
PLAY.
Any one of Sherlock Holmes stories makes a good play.
BOOKS TO READ.
"Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes."
"Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."
"The Thinking Machine" which contains a number of stories like Sherlock
Holmes.
"Criminal Investigation" by Dr. Gross. Edited by J. Adam. (Published by
Specialist Press, London.)
CHAPTER III.
WOODCRAFT;
or,
Knowledge of Animals and Nature.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 8.
STALKING.
As an aid to Observation--How to hide yourself--How to learn
Stalking--Games--Book on Stalking.
At some manoeuvres lately, two hostile patrols of soldiers were
approaching, looking for each other, till the ground between them became
very open, and it seemed hopeless for a scout to cross it without being
seen. However, a small ditch about two feet deep and overgrown with
bushes ran across part of the open plain from the point where one patrol
was lying hidden. They noticed two calves which came out on to the plain
from the opposite side and walked across the open till they got to the
end of this ditch, and here they stopped and separated and began
browsing.
A scout now started to make use of this ditch by crawling along it till
he should get to the far end near the calves, and there he hoped to find
some way of getting on further, or of at least peeping out and getting a
nearer view of the possible position of the enemy. When about half-way
along the ditch he was suddenly fired at by an enemy's scout already
there, in the ditch.
When the umpire rode up and asked him how he had got there without being
seen, the hostile scout said that finding he could not reach the ditch
without being seen if he went across the plain, he seized two calves
which he had found among the bushes where his patrol were hiding, and
stepping between them, he drove the pair of them, by holding their tails
across the open ditch; here he let them go and slid himself into the
ditch without being noticed.
HOW TO HIDE YOURSELF.
When you want to observe wild animals you have to stalk them, that is,
to creep up to them without their seeing or smelling you.
A hunter when he is stalking wild animals keeps himself entirely hidden,
so does the war scout when watching or looking for the enemy; a
policeman does not catch pickpockets by standing about in uniform
watching for them, he dresses like one of the crowd and as often as not
gazes into a shop window and sees all that goes on behind him reflected
as if in a looking-glass.
If a guilty person finds himself being watched it puts him on his guard,
while an innocent person becomes annoyed. So when you are observing a
person don't do so by openly staring at them but notice the details you
want to at one glance or two, and if you want to study them more, walk
behind them; you can learn just as much from a backview, in fact, more
than you can from a frontview, and, unless they are scouts and look
round frequently, they do not know that you are observing them.
War scouts and hunters stalking game always carry out two important
things when they don't want to be seen.
One is--they take care that the ground behind them, or trees, or
buildings, etc., are of the same colour as their clothes.
And the other is--if an enemy or a deer is seen looking for them they
remain perfectly still without moving so long as he is there.
In that way a scout even though he is out in the open will often escape
being noticed.
In choosing your background, consider the colour of your clothes; thus,
if you are dressed in khaki, don't go and stand in front of a
white-washed wall, or in front of a dark-shaded bush, but go where there
is khaki-coloured sand or grass or rocks behind you--and remain
perfectly still. It will be very difficult for an enemy to distinguish
you even at a short distance.
If you are in dark clothes, get among dark bushes, or in the shadow of
trees, or rocks, but be careful that the ground beyond you is also
dark--if there is light-coloured ground beyond the trees under which you
are standing, for instance, you will stand out clearly defined against
it.
If you are in red, try and get against red brick buildings, or red earth
or rocks, and so on.
[Illustration: Stalking Attitudes.]
In making use of hills as lookout places be very careful not to show
yourself on the top or sky-line. That is the fault which a Tenderfoot
generally makes.
It is quite a lesson to watch a Zulu scout making use of a hill-top or
rising ground as a look-out place. He will crawl up on all fours, lying
flat in the grass; on reaching the top he will very slowly raise his
head, inch by inch, till he can see the view. If he sees the enemy on
beyond, he will have a good look, and, if he thinks they are watching
him, will keep his head perfectly steady for an immense time, hoping
that he will be mistaken for a stump or a stone. If he is not detected
he will very gradually lower his head, inch by inch, into the grass
again, and crawl quietly away. Any quick or sudden movement of the head
on the sky-line would be very liable to attract attention, even at a
considerable distance.
At night keep as much as possible in low ground, ditches, etc., so that
you are down in the dark while an enemy who comes near will be visible
to you outlined against the stars on higher ground.
By squatting low in the shadow of the bush at night, and keeping quite
still, I have let an enemy's scout come and stand within three feet of
me, so that when he turned his back towards me I was able to stand up
where I was and fling my arms round him.
A point also to remember in keeping hidden while moving, especially at
night, is to walk quietly; the thump of an ordinary man's heel on the
ground can be heard a good distance off, but a scout or hunter always
walks lightly, on the ball of his foot not on his heels; and this you
should practise whenever you are walking by day or by night, indoors as
well as out, so that it becomes a habit with you--so as to walk as
lightly and silently as possible. You will find that as you grow into it
your power of walking long distances will grow, you will not tire so
soon as you would if clumping along in the heavy footed manner of most
people.
Remember always that to stalk a wild animal, or a good scout you must
keep down wind of him even if the wind is so slight as to be merely a
slight air.
Before starting to stalk your enemy then you should be sure which way
the wind is blowing, and work up against it. To find this out you should
wet your thumb all round with your tongue, and then hold it up and see
which side feels coldest, or you can throw some light dust, or dry grass
or leaves in the air, and see which way they drift.
The Red Indian Scouts when they wanted to reconnoitre an enemy's camp,
used to tie a wolf's skin on their backs and walk on all fours, and,
imitating the howl of a wolf, prowled round the camps at night.
In Australia the natives stalk emus--which are great birds something
like an ostrich--by putting an emu's skin over themselves and walking
with body bent and one hand held up to represent the bird's head and
neck.
American scouts when peeping over a ridge or any place where their head
might be seen against the sky line put on a cap made of wolf's head skin
with ears on it--so that they may be mistaken for a wolf if seen.
[Illustration: From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By
permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.]
Our scouts also when looking out among grass etc., tie a string or band
round their head and stick a lot of grass in it, some upright some
dropping over their face, so that their head is very invisible.
When hiding behind a big stone or mound, etc., they don't look over the
top but round the side of it.
HOW TO TEACH STALKING.
_Demonstrate the value of adapting colour of clothes to background, by
sending out one boy about 500 yards to stand against different
backgrounds in turn, till he gets one similar in colour to his own
clothes._
_The rest of the patrol to watch and to notice how invisible he becomes
when he gets a suitable background, e.g. a boy in a grey suit standing
in front of dark bushes, etc., is quite visible--but becomes less so if
he stands in front of a grey rock or house; a boy in dark suit is very
visible in a green field but not when he stands in an open door-way
against dark interior shadow._
GAMES IN STALKING.
SCOUT HUNTING.
One scout is given time to go out and hide himself, the remainder then
start to find him, he wins if he is not found, or if he can get back to
the starting point within a given time without being touched.
DESPATCH RUNNING.
A scout is told to bring a note into a certain spot or house from a
distance within a given time: other hostile scouts are told to prevent
any message getting to this place and to hide themselves at different
points to stop the despatch carrier getting in with it.
To count as a capture two scouts must touch the despatch runner before
he reaches the spot for delivering the message.
STALKING.
Instructor acts as a deer--not hiding but standing, moving a little now
and then if he likes.
Scouts go out to find and each in his own way tries to get up to him
unseen.
Directly the instructor sees a scout he directs him to stand up as
having failed. After a certain time the instructor calls "time," all
stand up at the spot which they have reached and the nearest wins.
The same game may be played to test the scouts in stepping lightly--the
umpire being blindfolded. The practice should preferably be carried out
where there are dry twigs lying about, and gravel, etc. The scout may
start to stalk the blind enemy at 100 yards distance, and he must do it
fairly fast--say in one minute and a half--to touch the blind man before
he hears him.
STALKING AND REPORTING.
The umpire places himself out in the open and sends each scout or pair
of scouts away in different directions about half a mile off. When he
waves a flag, which is the signal to begin, they all hide and then
proceed to stalk him, creeping up and watching all he does. When he
waves the flag again, they rise, come in, and report each in turn all
that he did, either by handing in a written report or verbally as may be
ordered. The umpire meantime has kept a look-out in each direction, and,
every time he sees a scout, he takes two points off that scout's score.
He, on his part, performs small actions, such as sitting down, kneeling
up, and looking through glasses, using handkerchief, taking hat off for
a bit, walking round in a circle a few times, to give scouts something
to note and report about him. Scouts are given three points for each act
reported correctly. It saves time if the umpire makes out a scoring card
beforehand, giving the name of each scout, and a number of columns
showing each act of his and what mark that scout wins, also a column of
deducted marks for exposing themselves.
BOOK ON STALKING.
"Deer Stalking." Badminton Library Series.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--NO. 9.
ANIMALS.
The calling of Wild
Animals--Animals--Birds--Reptiles--Fish--Insects--Practical
Instruction about Animals--Games--A Play about Animals--Books to
read.
Scouts in many parts of the world use the calls of wild animals and
birds for communicating with each other, especially at night or in thick
bush, or in fog, etc., but it is also very useful to be able to imitate
the calls if you want to watch the habits of the animals. You can begin
by calling chickens; or by talking to dogs in dog language and you very
soon find you can give the angry growl or the playing growl of a dog.
Owls, woodpigeons, and curlews are very easily called.
In India I have seen a certain tribe of gipses who eat jackals. Now a
jackal is one of the most suspicious animals that lives and is very
difficult to catch in a trap, but these gipsies catch them by calling
them in this way.
Several men with dogs hide themselves in a grass and bushes round a
small field. In the middle of this open place one gipsy imitates the
call of the jackals calling to each other; he gets louder and louder
till they seem to come together; then they begin to growl and finally
tackle each other with violent snapping, snarling and yelling, and at
the same time he shakes a bundle of dried leaves which sounds like the
animals dashing about among grass and reeds. Then he flings himself down
on the ground and throws up dust in the air so that he is completely
hidden in it, still growling and fighting. If any jackal is within sound
of this he comes tearing out of the jungle and dashes into the dust to
join in the fight. When he finds a man there he comes out again in a
hurry; but meantime the dogs have been loosed from all sides, and they
quickly catch him and kill him.
Mr. William Long in his very interesting book, called "Beasts of the
Field," describes how he once called a moose. The moose is a very huge
kind of stag with a ugly, bulging kind of nose. He lives in the forests
of North America and Canada, and is very hard to get near; and is pretty
dangerous when he is angry.
[Illustration: Indian Gipsy calling Jackals.]
Mr. Long was in a canoe fishing when he heard a moose bull calling in
the forest--so just for fun he went ashore and cut a strip of bark of a
birch tree and rolled it up into a cone or trumpet shape so as to make a
kind of megaphone (about fifteen inches long, five inches wide at the
larger end, and about an inch or two at the mouth-piece). With this he
proceeded to imitate the roaring grunt of the bull-moose. The effect was
tremendous; the old moose came tearing down and even came into the water
and tried to get at him--and it was only by hard paddling that in the
end he got away.
One of the best things in scouting is the hunting of big game--that is
going after elephants, lions, rhino, wild boar, deer, and those kind of
animals; and a fellow has to be a pretty good scout if he hopes to
succeed at it.
You get plenty of excitement and plenty of danger too; and all that I
have told you about observation and tracking and hiding yourself comes
in here. And in addition to these you must know all about animals and
their habits and ways if you want to be successful.
I have said the "hunting" or "going after big game is one of the best
things in scouting." I did not say shooting or killing the game was the
best part; for as you get to study animals you get to like them more and
more, and you will soon find that you don't want to kill them for the
mere sake of killing, and that the more you see of them the more you see
the wonderful work of God in them.
All the fun of hunting lies in the adventurous life in the jungle, the
chance in many cases of the animal hunting _you_ instead of you hunting
the animal, the interest of tracking him up, stalking him and watching
all that he does and learning his habits. The actual shooting the animal
that follows is only a very small part of the fun.
No scout should ever kill an animal unless there is some real reason for
doing so, and in that case he should kill it quickly and effectively, so
as to give it as little pain as possible.
In fact many big-game hunters nowadays prefer to shoot their game with
the camera instead of with the rifle--which gives just as interesting
results--except when you and your natives are hungry, then you must, of
course, kill your game.
My brother was lately big game shooting in East Africa and had very good
sport with the camera, living in the wilds, and tracking and stalking
and finally snap-shotting elephants, rhinoceros and other big animals.
One day he had crept up near to an elephant and had set up his camera
and had got his head under the cloth focussing it, when his native
cried, "Look out, sir!" and started to run. My brother poked his head
out from under the cloth and found a great elephant coming for him, only
a few yards off. So he just pressed the button, and then lit out and ran
too. The elephant rushed up to the camera, stopped, and seemed to
recognise that it was only a camera after all and smiling at his own
irritability lurched off into the jungle again.
Mr. Schillings' book "With Flashlight and Rifle in Africa" is a most
interesting collection of instantaneous photos of wild animals, most of
them taken by night by means of flashlight, which was set going by the
animals themselves striking against wires which he had put out for the
purpose. He got splendid photos of lions, hyænas, deer of all sorts,
zebras, and other beasts. There is one of a lion actually in the air
springing on to a buck.
The boar is certainly the bravest of all animals; he is the real "King
of Jungle," and the other animals all know it. If you watch a drinking
pool in the jungle at night, you will see the animals that come to it
all creeping down nervously, looking out in every direction for hidden
enemies. But when the boar comes he simply swaggers down with his great
head and its shiny tusks swinging from side to side: he cares for
nobody, but everybody cares for him; even a tiger drinking at the pool
will give a snarl and sneak quickly out of sight.
I have often lain out on moonlight nights to watch the animals,
especially wild boars, in the jungle; and it is just as good fun as
merely going after them to kill them.
And I have caught and kept a young wild boar and a young panther, and
found them most amusing and interesting little beggars. The boar used to
live in my garden, and he never became really tame though I got him as a
baby.
He would come to me when I called him--but very warily; he would never
come to a stranger, and a native he would "go for" and try and cut him
with his little tusks.
He used to practise the use of his tusks while turning at full speed
round on old tree stump in the garden, and he would gallop at this and
round it in a figure-of-eight continuously for over five minutes at a
time, and then fling himself down on his side, panting with his
exertions.
My panther was also a beautiful and delightfully playful beast, and used
to go about with me like a dog; but he was very uncertain with his
dealings with strangers.
I think one gets to know more about animals and to understand them
better by keeping them as pets at first, and then going and watching
them in their wild natural life.
But before going to study big game in the jungles everybody must study
all animals wild and tame at home. It would be a very good thing if
every scout kept some kind of animal such as a pony or a dog, or even
birds, rabbits, or even live butterflies.
Every boy scout ought to know all about the tame animals which he sees
every day. You ought to know all about grooming, feeding, and watering a
horse, about putting him into harness or taking him out of harness and
putting him in the stable, and know when he is going lame and should not
therefore be worked.
And when you harness a horse I hope you will show more knowledge of the
animal and more kindness towards him than do half the carriage coachmen
in London--by not putting bearing reins on him.
Prince Edward of Wales was reported a short time ago to have said as
follows:--
"When I am King I shall make three laws:
1. That no one shall cut puppies' tails, because it must hurt them
so.
2. That there shall be no more sin in the country.
3. That nobody shall use bearing-reins because they hurt the
horses."
These laws not only show us that King Edward VIII. will be a kind and
humane monarch, but that he is farseeing, for the last one at any rate
might well be a law of the country now. It is much needed.
Bearing reins are small extra reins which are hooked on to the horse's
collar to hold up his head. They are generally put on so tightly as to
cause him pain the moment he droops his head at all; when put on loosely
they do not cause him to hold up his head and therefore are not of any
use.
There are no better drivers than the London cabbies and 'busmen, and
they do not use bearing reins, and their horses are more handy than
those usually seen in carriages.
Sometimes you see them used on horses in heavy carts; they are then
called "Hame-reins"--but they are cruel on the horse if tightly tied. A
horse when pulling a heavy cart wants to lean forward with his head
down, just as you or I would do when pulling a garden roller--but this
hame-rein pulls at the corners of his mouth and forces him to keep his
head up.
[Illustration: Torture.]
[Illustration: Comfort.]
I saw lately a man in charge of a loaded cart whose horse was thus tied
up. He wanted to get the cart through some heavy mud (it was on the new
Mall from Buckingham Palace to Charing Cross) and the horse tried to
lean forward to pull but could not. The man beat him for not trying--the
poor beast in his pain and terror reared up on his hind legs, and the
man beat him again for "showing temper."
When I saw it I felt inclined to beat the man, but I went up and said I
thought I could make the horse do it. The man grinned while I was
undoing the hame-rein and said I should have to get another horse to do
it then. But when the horse found his head free and I smacked him on the
back, he flung the whole of his weight into the collar with his head
well down, and with both hind toes dug into the ground he heaved the
cart forward a few inches, and then again a few more, and not many
seconds later had it all safe on the hard road.
Often you can help a horse struggling with a load on a slippery road by
scattering a few handfuls of sand or ashes. Miss Lisette Rest used to do
this in London and when she died she left money for that purpose.
Other tame animals to understand are, of course, dogs. And a good dog is
the very best companion for a scout, who need not think himself a really
good scout till he has trained a young dog to do all he wants of him. It
requires great patience and kindness, and genuine sympathy with the dog.
A dog is the most human of all animals and, therefore the best companion
for a man. He is always courteous, and always ready for a game--full of
humour, and very faithful and loving.
Of course a scout who lives in the country has much better chances of
studying animals and birds than one who lives in a town.
Still if you live in London there are lots of different kinds of birds
in the parks, ducks and waterfowl of every kind, pelicans, woodpigeons,
woodpeckers, and most of the English birds; there is almost every animal
under the sun to be seen alive in the Zoological Gardens, or stuffed and
set up in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington--so that a Boy
Scout in London ought to know as much about all animals as most people.
And even in Leadenhall Market you can see a number of different kinds of
live animals for sale, as well as in the many animal shops about London
or any other big town.
In other towns it is perhaps a little more difficult, but most of them
have their Natural History Museum where a fellow can learn the
appearance and names of many animals; and you can do a lot of observing
in the parks or by starting a feeding-box for birds at your own window.
And, best of all, by going out into the country whenever you can get a
few hours for it by train, or bicycle or on your own flat feet, and
there to stalk such animals as rabbits, hares, water-rats, birds, fish,
etc., and watch all they do, and get to know their different kinds and
their names, and also what kind of tracks they make on the ground, their
nests and eggs, and so on.
If you are lucky enough to own a camera you cannot possibly do better
than start making a collection of photos of animals and birds taken from
life. Such a collection is ten times more interesting than the ordinary
boy's collection of stamps, or crests, or autographs, which any ass can
accomplish by sitting at home and bothering other people to give.
And cameras can be got very cheaply now: it only means saving up money
in a money-box for a short time.
The wild animals I shall talk of now are those which you find in Great
Britain. Any scouts who live in the Colonies or elsewhere must make up
their own lists for themselves.
As a scout you should study the habits of as many of these animals as
you can:--
Red Deer
Hares
Rabbits
Rats
Badgers
Foxes
Mice
Weasles
Otters
Fallow Deer
Bats
Moles
Hedgehogs
Voles
Squirrels
Polecats
Stoats
Every animal is interesting to watch and it is just as difficult to
stalk a weasel as it is to stalk a lion. Even the humble hedgehog can be
a hero among animals. Here is a description of a fight between a
hedgehog and a viper by Mr. Millais in his book on the "Mammals of Great
Britain and Ireland." (Mammals mean animals that have "Mammas"--that is,
they are born alive, not like chickens in eggs that have to be
hatched--birds are not mammals.)
"Everyone knows that the hedgehog is a sworn enemy of reptiles in
general and of the viper in particular; but few, perhaps, are aware in
what way he overcomes so dangerous an enemy.
"My keeper was going his rounds this summer in a wood which was infested
by vipers when he espied an enormous one asleep in the sun. He was on
the point of killing it with a charge of shot, when he perceived a
hedgehog coming cautiously over the moss and noiselessly approaching the
reptile. He then witnessed a curious sight. As soon as the hedgehog was
within reach of his prey, he seized it by the tail with his teeth and as
quick as thought rolled himself into a ball. The viper, awakened by the
pain, at once turned and made a terrific dart at him. The hedgehog did
not wince. The viper, infuriated, extends itself, hisses and twists in
fearful contortions. In five minutes it is covered with blood, its mouth
one large wound (from the spines of the hedgehog), and it lies exhausted
on the ground.
"A few more starts, and then a last convulsive agony, and it expires.
"When the hedgehog perceived that it was quite dead he let go his hold
and quietly unrolled himself. He was just about to begin his meal and
devour the reptile when the sight of my keeper, who had approached
during the struggle, alarmed him, and he rolled himself up again till
the man had retreated into the wood."
We are apt to think that all animals are guided in their conduct by
instinct, that is by a sort of idea that is born in them. For instance,
we imagine that a young otter swims naturally directly he is put into
water, or that a young deer runs away from a man from a natural inborn
fear of him.
Mr. W. Long in his book "School of the Woods" shows that animals largely
owe their cleverness to their mothers who teach them while yet young.
Thus he has seen an otter carry two of her young upon her back into the
water, and after swimming about for a little while she suddenly dived
from under them and left them struggling in the water. But she rose near
them and helped them to swim back to the shore. In this way she
gradually taught them to swim.
I once saw a lioness in East Africa sitting with her four little cubs
all in a row watching me approaching her. She looked exactly as though
she were teaching her young ones how to act in the case of a man coming.
She was evidently saying to them, "Now, cubbies, I want you all to
notice what a white man is like. Then, one by one, you must jump up and
skip away, with a whisk of your tail. The moment you are out of sight in
the long grass you must creep and crawl till you have got to leeward
(down-wind) of him; then follow him, always keeping him to windward, so
that you can smell whereabouts he is and he cannot find you."
[Illustration: Teaching the Youngsters.]
In "The School of the Woods," Long writes:
"Watch, say, a crow's nest. One day you will see the mother bird
standing near the nest and stretching her wings over her little ones.
Presently the young stand up and stretch their wings in imitation. That
is the first lesson.
"Next day, perhaps, you will see the old bird lifting herself to tip-toe
and holding herself there by vigorous flapping. Again the young imitate
and soon learn that their wings are a power to sustain them. Next day
you may see both parent birds passing from branch to branch about the
nest aided by their wings in the long jumps. The little ones join and
play and, lo! they have learned to fly without even knowing that they
were being taught."
BIRDS.
A man who studies birds is called an ornithologist. Mark Twain, the
amusing, yet kind-hearted, American writer, says: "There are fellows who
write books about birds and love them so much that they'll go hungry and
tired to find a new kind of bird--and kill it.
"They are called 'ornithologers.'
"I could have been an 'ornithologer' myself, because I always loved
birds and creatures. And I started out to learn how to be one. I see a
bird sitting on a dead limb of a high tree, singing away with his head
tilted back and his mouth open--and before I thought I fired my gun at
him; his song stopped all suddenly, and he fell from the branch, limp
like a rag, and I ran and picked him up--and he was dead: his body was
warm in my hand, and his head rolled about this way and that, like as if
his neck was broke, and there was a white skin over his eyes, and one
drop of red blood sparkled on the side of his head--and--laws! I
couldn't see nothing for the tears. I haven't ever murdered no creature
since then that warn't doing me no harm--and I ain' agoing to neither."
A good scout is generally a good "ornithologer" as Mark Twain calls him.
That is to say he likes stalking birds and watching all that they do. He
discovers by watching them where and how they build their nests.
He does not, like the ordinary boy, want to go and rob them of their
eggs, but he likes to watch how they hatch out their young and teach
them to feed themselves and to fly. He gets to know every species of
bird by its call and by its way of flying; and he knows which birds
remain all the year round and which only come at certain seasons; and
what kind of food they like best, and how they change their plumage;
what sort of nests they build, where they build them, and what the eggs
are like.
There are 177 different kinds of birds in Great Britain. Here are some
of the commoner birds which a scout should know by sight and sound:
Wood pigeon Heron Jackdaw
Pheasant Wren Rook
Partridge Wagtail Crow
Grouse Swallow Raven
Cuckoo Martin Thrush
Skylark Woodpecker Blackbird
Snipe Gull Tit
Wild duck Tern Finch
Plover Owl Woodcock
Wild goose Hawk Curlew
Robin Falcon Kingfisher
Starling Moorhen
A good deal of natural history can even be studied by keeping birds in
your houses, or watching them in your neighbourhood, especially if you
feed them daily in winter. It is interesting to note, for instance,
their different ways of singing, how some sing to make love to the hen
birds, while others, like the barndoor cock, crow or sing to challenge
another to fight. A herring gull makes an awful ass of himself, when he
tries to sing and to show himself off to the ladies, and an old crow is
not much better. Then it is interesting to watch how the young birds
hatch out; some appear naked with no feathers and their eyes shut and
their mouths open. Others, with fluffy kind of feathers all over them,
are full of life and energy. Young moorhens, for instance, swim as soon
as they come out of the egg; young chickens start running about and
hunting flies within a very few minutes; while a young sparrow is
useless for days, and has to be fed and coddled by his parents.
There are over forty different kinds of birds which visit England from
abroad, especially from India and Africa, at certain times of the year,
chiefly in April, such as the sand martin, swallow, house martin,
nightingale, hobby falcon, cuckoo, corncrake, and swift.
A good many birds are almost dying out in Great Britain, because so many
boys bag all their eggs when they find their nests.
Birds'-nesting is very like big game shooting--you look out in places
that, as a hunter, you know are likely places for the birds you want;
you watch the birds fly in and out and you find the nest. But do not
then go and destroy the nest and take all the eggs. If you are actually
a collector, take one egg and leave the rest, and, above all, don't pull
the nest about, otherwise the parent birds will desert it, and all those
eggs which might have developed into jolly young birds will be wasted.
Far better than taking the eggs is to take a photo or make a sketch of
the hen sitting on her nest, or to make a collection of pictures of the
different kinds of nests, made by the different kinds of birds.
Aberdeen in Scotland is supposed to be specially well off for skylarks,
for the following reason.
A few years ago there came a very severe gale and snowstorm late in
March--and all the high ground inland was so buried under snow and ice,
that the birds were all driven to the lower land near the coast. The
fields by the seashore were covered with them.
Numbers of people went out to catch them with bird-lime, nets, snares,
and guns. Large numbers were taken alive to be sent to market in London
and other towns.
One gentleman found a man selling a big cage full of them. They were
crowded up to a fearful extent and all fluttering with terror at their
imprisonment, struggling over each other in their frantic desire to
escape. He felt so sorry for them that he bought the whole lot and took
them to his warehouse where he was able to give them plenty of room and
food and water.
Then he offered to buy all the larks that were being captured for the
market at market prices. In this way he received over a thousand--and
these he put in a big room where they had comparative freedom and plenty
of food. It is said that the noise of their singing in the morning was
almost deafening and crowds of birds used to gather over the house to
hear them.
At last the bad weather passed off, the sun shone out again and the
fields became green and bright, and then the kind man who had housed the
birds opened the windows of the room and all the birds flew out in a
happy crowd chirping and singing as they mounted into the bright warm
air or fluttered off to the adjoining fields and woods. And there they
build their nests and hatched out their young so that to-day the song of
the lark is to be heard everywhere round Aberdeen.
Through ignorance of natural history many keepers and others see no
difference between sparrow-hawks, merlins, and kestrels, and destroy all
of them as mischievous to game. Sparrow-hawks and merlins do, no doubt,
kill young game, but a kestrel hardly ever, if ever. He lives
principally on field mice. You can tell him by his flight--he spends
much of his time hovering in the air looking out with his sharp eyes for
a mouse upon which to swoop down. The sparrow-hawk flits in and out
round rocks and over fences hoping thus to come on prey by surprise. The
merlin is a very small but very plucky little hawk and hunts down his
prey by fast flying.
REPTILES AND FISHES.
The more usual reptiles in Great Britain are:
Grass Snake.
Viper.
Frog.
Toad.
Lizard.
The commoner fishes are:
Trout.
Grayling.
Perch.
Roach.
Dace.
Chub.
Bream.
Pike.
Minnow.
Salmon.
and a number of sea fish.
Every scout ought to be able to fish in order to get food for himself. A
tenderfoot who starved on the bank of a river full of fish would look
very silly, yet it might happen to one who had never learnt to catch
fish.
And fishing brings out a lot of the points in scouting, especially if
you fish with a fly. To be successful you must know a lot about the
habits and ways of the fish, what kind of haunt he frequents, in what
kind of weather he feeds, and at what time of day, which kind of food he
likes best, how far off he can see you, and so on. Without knowing these
you can fish away until you are blue in the face and never catch one.
A fish generally has his own particular haunt in the stream and when
once you discover a fish at home you can go and creep near and watch all
that he does.
Then you have to be able to tie very special knots with delicate
gut--which is a bit of a puzzler to any boy whose fingers are all
thumbs.
And you have to have infinite patience; your line gets caught up in
bushes and reeds, or your clothes--or when it can't find any other body
it ties itself up in a knot round itself. Well, it's no use getting
angry with it. There are only two things to do--the first is to grin a
smile, and the second is to set to work, very leisurely, to undo it.
Then you will have loads of disappointments in losing fish through the
line breaking, or other mishaps; but remember those are what happen to
everybody when they begin fishing and are the troubles that in the end
make it so very enjoyable when you have got over them.
And when you catch your fish, do as I do--only keep those you specially
want for food or as specimens; put back the others the moment you have
landed them. The prick of the hook in their leathery mouth does not hurt
them permanently, and they swim off quite happily to enjoy life in their
water again.
If you use a dry fly, that is keeping your fly sitting on top of the
water instead of sunk under the surface, you have to really stalk your
fish just as you would deer or any other game, for a trout is very
sharp-eyed and shy.
You can also catch fish by netting, or, as scouts often have to do, by
spearing them with a very sharp three-pronged spear. I have done it many
a time, but it requires practice to be successful.
A scout, of course, has to look at animals of all sorts, partly with an
eye to their being useful to him sometime or another for food. Reptiles
don't look tempting as food but, once you have tasted frogs legs nicely
cooked, you will want more of them.
I believe that fried snake, like fried eel, is not half bad.
I have eaten the huge kind of lizard called an iguana. He had his head
and tail cut off to enable him to go into the cooking pot, and when he
was boiled and put on the table he looked exactly like a headless baby
with his arms and legs and little hands. And when we ate him he tasted
just like a baby too. Well--you know what a baby tastes like--sort of
soft chicken flavoured with violet-powder!
[Illustration: A Viper (or Adder) has this marking on his head and neck;
other snakes have none--in Great Britain.]
As far as snakes go, there are not, fortunately, many poisonous ones in
England--only the viper is poisonous. It is differently marked from
other snakes having a black V or arrow-head mark on its head and a dark
zig-zag line along its back. It is generally dark brown in colour. The
viper is sometimes called adder.
Of course a scout ought to know about snakes because in almost all wild
countries you come across plenty of them and many of them dangerous.
They have a horrid knack of creeping into tents and under blankets, or
into boots. You will always notice an old hand in camp before he turns
in at night look very carefully through his blankets, and in the morning
before putting on his boots he will carefully shake them out. I even
find myself doing it now in my bedroom at home, just from habit.
Snakes don't like crawling over anything rough as a rule; so in India
you often construct a kind of path made of sharp jagged stones all round
a house to prevent snakes crawling into it from the garden.
And on the prairie hunters sometimes lay a hair rope on the ground in a
circle round their blankets.
A hair rope has so many tiny spikes sticking out of it that it tickles
the snake's tummy to such an extent he cannot go over it.
I used to catch snakes when I was at school, by using a long stick with
a small fork at the end of it. When I saw a snake I stalked him, jammed
the fork down on his neck, and then tied him up the stick with strips of
old handkerchief, and carried him back to sell to anybody who wanted a
pet. But they are not good things to make pets of as a rule because so
many people have a horror of them, and it is not fair, therefore, to
have them about in a house where servants or others might get frightened
by them.
Poisonous snakes carry their poison in a small kind of bag inside their
mouths. They have two fangs or long pointed teeth, which are on a kind
of hinge; they lie flat along the snake's gums till he gets angry and
wants to kill something; then they stand on end, and he dives his head
forward and strikes them into his enemy. As he does so the poison passes
out of the poison bag, or gland as it is called, into the two holes in
your skin made by the fangs. This poison then gets into the veins of the
man who has been bitten and is carried by the blood all over the body in
a few seconds, unless steps are at once taken to stop it by sucking the
wound and binding the veins up very tightly.
INSECTS.
Insects are very interesting animals to collect, or to watch, or to
photograph.
Also for a scout who fishes, or studies birds, or reptiles, it is most
important that he should know a certain amount about the insects which
are their favourite food at different times of the year or different
hours of the day.
The usual insects about which a scout ought to know something, are:
Moths.
Gnats.
Beetles.
Grasshoppers.
Ants.
Spiders.
Glow-worms.
Butterflies.
Lice.
Bees and wasps.
About bees alone whole books have been written--for they have wonderful
powers in making their honeycomb, in finding their way for
miles--sometimes as far as six miles--to find the right kind of flowers
for giving them the sugary juice for making honey, and getting back with
it to the hive.
They are quite a model community, for they respect their Queen and kill
their unemployed.
Then some insects are useful as food. Ants make a substitute for salt.
Locusts--a big kind of grasshopper--are eaten in India and South Africa.
We were very glad to get a flight or two of them over Mafeking. When
they settled on the ground we went, and with empty sacks, beat them down
as they tried to rise. They were then dried in the sun and pounded up
and eaten.
HINTS FOR INSTRUCTOR.
_PRACTICES._
_Set your scouts to find out by observation, and to report on such
points as these:_
IN COUNTRY: _How does a wild rabbit dig his hole? When a lot of rabbits
are alarmed does a rabbit merely run because the others do, or does he
look round and see what is the danger before he goes, too?_
_Does a woodpecker break the bark away to get at insects on a tree
trunk, or does he pick them out of holes, or how does he get at them?_
_Does a trout when disturbed by people passing along the bank, go up or
down stream? Does he go away altogether, or return to his place? How
long does he stay away? etc._
IN TOWN: _Make your scouts go out and report if they see a lame horse or
one with collar gall or sore mouth or tight bearing-rein._
_Patrol to make a beehive or two, and put in queen bees or swarms, and
start bee-farming for profit._
_Scouts make lures, traps, snares, etc., and set them (not on preserved
ground) to catch birds and animals for food._
HONOURS.
The following marks can be gained in this section by First Class Scouts
towards Badge of Honour.
For drawing correctly the foot-tracks of twelve different animals or
birds, 3 marks.
Name twelve different kinds of fish and describe the points by which
they may be recognised, up to 2 marks. The same illustrated by drawings,
or models in clay, up to 4 marks.
Photos or sketches from life of twelve wild animals, birds, reptiles,
&c., with short description of about twenty words each. Taken and
developed, or drawn by the scout himself, up to 5 marks.
LION HUNTING.
A lion is represented by one scout who goes out with tracking irons on
his feet, and a pocketful of corn or peas, and six tennis balls. He is
allowed half an hour's start, and then the patrol go after him,
following his spoor, each armed with one tennis ball with which to shoot
him, when they find him. The lion may hide or creep about or run just as
he feels inclined, but whenever the ground is hard or very grassy, he
must drop a few grains of corn, every few yards to show the trail.
If the hunters fail to come up to him neither wins the game. When they
come near to his lair the lion fires at them with his tennis balls, and
the moment a hunter is hit he must fall out dead and cannot throw his
tennis ball. If the lion gets hit by a hunting tennis ball he is
wounded, and if he gets wounded three times he is killed.
Tennis balls may only be fired once; they cannot be picked up and fired
again in the same fight.
Each scout must collect and hand in his tennis balls after the game. In
winter if there is snow, this game can be played without tracking irons,
and using snowballs instead of tennis balls.
BOOKS TO READ.
"Every Boy's Book of British Natural History." by W. P. Westall. (Pub.
Religious Tract Society, London.)
"With Flashlight and Rifle in East Africa," by Schilling.
"Duty," by S. Smiles. (Chap. XIII., XIV.) 2s. 6d.
"A Year with Nature," by Westall. Giving the habits of animals and birds
of the British Isles according to the months.
"Beasts of the Field" by William J. Luy. (Pub. Ginn & Co.).
"Countryside," weekly, Illustrated, 1d.
"Wild Sports of the Highlands," by C. St. John. (Murray.)
"I Go A-walking Through Lanes and Meadows." Photos and short accounts of
English birds. Rev. C. Johns. (Foulis.)
* "The Jungle Book," by Rudyard Kipling.
"Jock of the Bushveld," by Sir Percy Fitz Patrick. A story of big game
hunting in S. Africa, and the active part that "Jock" the terrier played
in it.
PLAY.
"The Wild Animal Play." By Mrs. E. Thompson Seton. A musical play in
which the parts of Lobo, Waahb, and Vixen are taken by boys and girls.
Price 6d. Published by Doubleday, Page & Co., 133 East 16th Street, New
York City, U.S.A.
CAMP-FIRE YARN.--No. 10.
PLANTS.
Trees and their leaves--Eatable Plants--Practices and games
connected with Plants--Books about Plants.
TREES.
Although they are not animals, trees are things about which scouts
should know something. Very often a scout has to describe country which
he has seen, and if he says it is "well-wooded" it would often be of
great importance that the reader of his report should know what kind of
trees the woods were composed of.
For instance, if the wood were of fir or larch trees it would mean you
could get poles for building bridges; if it were palm trees you know you
could get cocoa-nuts (or dates if they were date palms), and the palm
juice for drinking. Willow trees mean water close by.
Or if pine woods or sugar bush or gum-trees it would mean lots of good
fuel. And he must know a poplar tree by sight, so as not to use poplar
wood in camp if there are any old scouts present--they have a
superstition that poplar brings bad luck.
A scout should, therefore, make a point of learning the names and
appearances of the trees in his country.
He should get hold of a leaf of each kind and compare it with the leaf
on the tree.
[Illustration: Oak.]
[Illustration: Elm.]
[Illustration: Poplar.]
[Illustration: Plane.]
[Illustration: Sycamore.]
[Illustration: Ash.]
[Illustration: Spanish Chestnut.]
Horse chestnut is not so called because horses like the chestnuts, but
because it has on the bark of its smaller branches small marks like
horse-shoes with all the nails in them; and then get to know the general
shape and appearance of each kind of tree, so as to be able to recognise
it at a distance, and not only in summer, but also in winter.
The common trees in Great Britain which a scout should know by sight
are:
Oak Poplar Holly Beech
Elm Pine Horse Birch
Plane Sycamore Chestnut Spanish
Cedar Larch Ash Chestnut
Fir Willow Lime Walnut
PLANTS.
But especially you ought to know which kinds of plants are useful to you
in providing you with food. Supposing you were out in a jungle without
any food, as very often happens; if you knew nothing about plants you
would probably die of starvation, or of poisoning, from not knowing
which fruit or roots were wholesome and which dangerous to eat.
There are numbers of berries, nuts, roots, barks, and leaves that are
good to eat.
The same with crops of different kinds of corn and seed, vegetable
roots, and even grasses and vetches. Seaweed is much eaten in Ireland
(Sloke) and Scotland. Certain kinds of moss are also used as food.
HINTS FOR INSTRUCTOR.
_PRACTICES._
_Take out scouts to get specimens of leaves, fruits, or blossoms of
various trees, shrubs, etc., and observe the shape and nature of the
tree both in summer and in winter._
_Collect leaves of different trees; let scouts make tracings of them and
write the name of the tree on each._
_In the country make scouts examine crops in all stages of their growth
so that they know pretty well by sight what kind of crop is coming up._
_Start gardens, if possible, either a patrol garden or individual
scout's garden. Let them grow flowers and vegetables for profit to pay
for their equipment, etc._
_Show all the wild plants which may be made use of for food._
_COMPETITIONS AND GAMES._
_Marks towards a Badge of Honour may be awarded to first-class scouts
for collection of not less than twenty-five kinds of leaf--pressed, with
names neatly written against them. Marks, 3; or the leaves may be drawn
on paper. Marks awardable, 4._
_Prize for best window-box of flowers planted and grown by the scout
himself._
GAMES.
PLANT RACE.
Start off your scouts, either cycling or on foot, to go in any direction
they like, to get a specimen of any ordered plant, say a sprig of yew, a
shoot of ilex, a horseshoe mark from a chestnut-tree, a briar rose, or
something of that kind, whichever you may order, such as will tax their
knowledge of plants and will test their memory as to where they noticed
one of the kind required, and will also make them quick in getting there
and back.
BOOKS TO READ.
"School Gardening," by W. E. Watkins, 2s. (Philip & Son.)
PLAY.
THE DIAMOND THIEF.
(Best performed in the open air and in dumbshow.)
A party of prospectors have been out into the wild country in South
Africa, and have found a magnificent diamond. They are now making their
way back to civilization with it. Horse-sickness has killed off their
horses, and so they are doing the journey on foot, carrying their
blankets, food, and cooking pots.
As the heat of the day comes on they camp for the day, meaning to push
on again at night. They rig up blanket-tents and light fires and cook
their food, weave mattresses, sing songs of home, play cards, etc. The
diamond is taken out of the sardine tin in which it is kept for all to
look at and admire. It is then put carefully back. The box is placed out
in the open where it can be seen and one man is told off as a sentry to
guard it. The remainder have their food, and then gradually lie down to
sleep. When the camp is all still, the sentry gets tired of standing and
presently sits down and begins to nod.
While he is dozing the diamond thief sneaks into sight, creeps near to
the camp, and crouches, watching the sleeping man; when the sentry wakes
up for a moment with a start the thief crouches flat.
Eventually the sentry reclines and goes to sleep. Inch by inch the thief
creeps up, till he stealthily removes the sentry's gun (or pistol) out
of his reach; then he swiftly glides up to the diamond-box, seizes it,
and sneaks quickly away, without being discovered, dodges about, walks
backward, and wipes out his tracks as he goes in order to confuse
pursuers.
The leader wakes with a yawn, and, when looking round, starts when he
sees there is no sentry standing about. He springs up, rushes to the
sleeping sentry, shakes him up, and asks him where is the diamond.
Sentry wakes up confused and scared. Remainder wake and crowd angrily
together threatening and questioning the sentry.
When one suddenly sees the footprints of the thief he follows in jerks
of a few paces; along the trail the rest follow and help to pick it up,
first one and then another finding it till they go off the scene. The
leader is about to follow them when he stops, and waves them onward, and
then turns back to the sentry who is standing stupefied. He hands him a
pistol and hints to him that having ruined his friends by his
faithlessness, he may as well shoot himself. The leader then turns to
follow the rest, looking about for them. A shout is heard in the
distance just as the guilty sentry is putting the pistol to his
head--the leader stops him from shooting himself. And both stand
listening to shouts in the distance.
Remainder of the men return bringing in with them the thief and the
diamond all safe.
They then sit round in a semicircle, the leader on a mound or box in the
centre with the diamond in front of him. The thief standing with arms
bound, is tried and condemned to be shot. He goes away a few paces and
sits down with his back to the rest and thinks over his past life.
They then try the sentry, and condemn him as a punishment for his
carelessness to shoot the thief.
All get up. They start to dig a grave. When ready, the thief is made to
stand up, his eyes are bound. The sentry takes a pistol and shoots him.
Remainder then bring a blanket and lift the dead man into it and carry
him to the grave--to the opposite side from the audience so that
everyone can see the "body" lowered into the grave. They then withdraw
the blanket, fill in the grave, and trample the earth down. All shake
hands with the sentry to show that they forgive him.
Pack up camp, put out fire, and continue their journey with the diamond.
N.B.--The grave is managed thus: A hole must be previously prepared
rather near to the edge of the scena. Then a tunnel must be made by
which the "corpse" can creep out of the grave and get away underground.
This is done by digging a trench and roofing it with boards or hurdles
and covering it over with earth and turf again, so that the audience
will not notice it. The grave, too, is made in the same way, but
shallower and partly filled up with sods; the diggers remove the top
earth, then, hidden by the rest crowding round, they remove the board
and pile up the sods on the surface. As soon as the corpse is lowered
into the grave he creeps away down the tunnel, and so goes off the scene
The diggers throw in some earth, jump down and trample it, then pile up
the sods on top till they make a nice, looking grave.
The whole thing wants careful rehearsing beforehand, but is most
effective when well done, especially if accompanied by sympathetic
music.
It is a good thing to use for an open air show to attract a crowd when
raising funds for your troop.
SCOUTING FOR BOYS.
PART III.
will be published on February 12th, 1908,
at FOURPENCE.
_CONTENTS_--
Chapter IV.--CAMP LIFE.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 11.--PIONEERING.
" " " NO. 12.--CAMPING.
" " " NO. 13.--COOKING.
PRACTICES, GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAY.
BOOKS ON CAMP LIFE.
Chapter V.--CAMPAIGNING;
or, Work in the Woods and Plains.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 14.--LIFE IN THE OPEN.
" " " NO. 15.--PATHFINDING.
" " " NO. 16.--INFORMATION BY
SIGNAL.
PRACTICES. GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAY.
BOOKS ON CAMPAIGNING.
Published by HORACE COX, Windsor House,
Bream's Buildings, London, E.C.
CONTENTS OF THE PARTS.
PART I.
SCOUTCRAFT AND SCOUT LAW, giving the
Duties of Boy Scouts, their Secret Signs,
Laws, Badges, War Dance, etc.
PART II.
OBSERVATION AND TRACKING.
WOODCRAFT AND KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMALS.
PART III.
CAMPAIGNING AND CAMP LIFE.
PIONEERING AND RESOURCEFULNESS.
PART IV.
ENDURANCE AND HEALTH.
CHIVALRY AND BRAVE DEEDS.
DISCIPLINE.
PART V.
SAVING LIFE AND FIRST-AID.
PATRIOTISM AND LOYALTY.
PART VI.
SCOUTING GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAYS.
WORDS TO INSTRUCTORS.
Part III. FORTNIGHTLY. Price 4d. net.
SCOUTING
FOR BOYS
LIEUT GEN.
BADEN POWELL C.B.
PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,
BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.
Scouting for Boys.
A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTION
IN
GOOD CITIZENSHIP,
BY
Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
_All communications should be addressed to_--
LIEUT.-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL,
BOY SCOUTS' OFFICE,
GOSCHEN BUILDINGS,
HENRIETTA STREET,
LONDON, W.C.
_by whom Scouts will be enrolled, and from where
all further information can be obtained._
Copyrighted by Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
1908.
_All rights reserved._
PART III
CONTENTS: CHAPTER IV.
CAMP LIFE.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
11.--PIONEERING: Knot-tying; Hut-making; Felling Trees; Bridging;
Measurements; Handicrafts.
12.--CAMPING: Comfort in Camp; Camp Fires; Tidiness; Camp Orders.
13.--COOKING: Cooking; Bread-making; Driving Cattle; Cleanliness; Water.
PRACTICES, GAMES, COMPETITIONS, Etc.
BOOKS TO READ ON CAMP LIFE.
CONTENTS: CHAPTER V.
(_Commences on page 172._)
CAMPAIGNING.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
14.--LIFE IN THE OPEN: On the Veldt; Exploring; Boating; Watermanship;
Mountaineering; Patrolling; Night Work; Weather Wisdom.
15.--PATHFINDING: Finding the Way; Judging Heights and Distances;
Finding the North.
16.--SIGNALLING INFORMATION: Hidden Information; Signalling; Whistle and
Flag Signals.
PRACTICES, GAMES, and COMPETITIONS IN CAMPAIGNING.
BOOKS ON CAMPAIGNING.
CHAPTER IV.
CAMP LIFE.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 11.
PIONEERING.
Knot-tying--Hutmaking--Felling
Trees--Bridging--Measurements--Handicrafts.
Pioneers are men who go ahead to open up a way in the jungles or
elsewhere for those coming after them.
When I was on service on the West Coast of Africa I had command of a
large force of native scouts, and, like all scouts, we tried to make
ourselves useful in every way to our main army. So not only did we look
out for the enemy and watch his moves, but we also did what we could to
improve the road for our own army, since it was merely a narrow track
through thick jungle and swamps. That is, we became pioneers as well as
scouts. In the course of our march, we built nearly two hundred bridges
of timber over streams. But when I first set the scouts to do this most
important work I found that, out of the thousand men, a great many did
not know how to use an axe to cut down the trees, and, except one
company of about sixty men, none knew how to make knots--even bad knots.
So they were quite useless for building bridges, as this had to be done
by tying poles together.
So every scout ought to be able to tie knots.
To tie a knot seems to be a simple thing, and yet there are right ways
and wrong ways of doing it, and scouts ought to know the right way. Very
often it may happen that lives depend on a knot being properly tied.
The right kind of knot to tie is one which you can be certain will hold
under any amount of strain, and which you can always undo easily if you
wish to.
[Illustration: Pioneering Scouts in Ashanti.]
A bad knot, which is called a "granny," is one which slips away when a
hard pull comes on it, or which gets jammed so tight that you cannot
untie it.
The following are useful knots which every scout ought to know, and
ought to use whenever he is tying string or rope, etc.
[Illustration: 1.--Reef Knot, for tying ropes together.]
[Illustration: 2.--Sheet Bend, for tying two rope ends together.]
[Illustration: 3.--Clove Hitch, for fastening a rope to a pole.]
[Illustration: 4.--Two Half-Hitches to make a rope fast to a pole with a
sliding loop.]
5.--Bowline, for making a loop that will not slip, such at you tie round
a man when you want to rescue him from fire, etc.
[Illustration: First step in the bowline.]
[Illustration: Second step in the bowline.]
[Illustration: 6.--Overhand Knot.]
[Illustration: 7.--Middleman's Knot.]
[Illustration: NOTE.--In the above diagrams this means the end of the
rope.]
[Illustration: This means the continuation of the rope.]
[Illustration: Rope.]
We had no rope with us in West Africa, so we used the strong creeping
plants, and also used thin withes or long whippy sticks which we made
still more pliant or bendable by holding one end under foot and twisting
the other round and round with our hands. The best wood for withes in
England is willow or hazel. You see them used for binding faggots of
wood together. You cannot tie all knots with them as with rope--but they
can generally make a timber hitch; or this withe knot.
HUT BUILDING.
To live comfortably in camp a scout must know how to make a bivouac
shelter for the night, or a hut if he is going to be for a long time in
camp.
It all depends on the country and weather as to what sort of shelter you
put up.
In making your roof, whether of branches of fir-trees, or of grass or
reeds, etc., put them on as you would do tiles or slates, beginning at
the bottom so that the upper overlap the lower ones and thus run off the
rain without letting it through.
Notice which direction the wind generally blows from and put the back of
your shelter that way with your fire in front of it.
The simplest shelter is to plant two forked sticks firmly in the ground,
and rest a cross bar on them as ridge-pole. Then lean other poles
against it, or a hurdle or branches, and thatch it with grass, etc.
Or another good way, and quicker, is to cut one pole only and lean it
against a tree, binding its end there; then thatch it with branches or
brushwood, etc.
Where you have no poles available you can do as the South African
natives do--pile up a lot of brushwood, heather, etc., into a small wall
made in semi-circle to keep out the cold wind; and make your fire in the
open part.
If your tent or hut is too hot in the sun, put blankets or more straw,
etc., over the top. The thicker the roof the cooler is the tent in
summer. If it is too cold, make the bottom of the walls thicker, or
build a small wall of sods about a foot high round the foot of the wall
outside. Never forget to dig a good drain all round your hut, so that if
heavy rain comes in the night your floor will not get flooded from
outside.
[Illustration: Framework of a Bivouac Shelter, to be thatched with
brushwood or grass. A second lean-to roof on opposite side of ridge pole
will then make a hut.]
Zulus make their huts by planting in the ground a circle of long whippy
sticks standing upright, then they bend the tops all down towards the
centre and tie them together, then they weave more whippy sticks round
in and out of the uprights horizontally until they have made a kind of
circular bird-cage, this they then cover with a straw mat or thatch, or
with straw woven into the sticks. Sometimes a small hole is left at the
top where all the sticks join, to act as a chimney.
[Illustration: Hut.]
The Red Indians make their "Tee Pee" with several poles tied together in
the form of a pyramid, and over these they pass a piece of canvas, which
at a little distance looks like a bell tent.
FELLING TREES.
A scout must know how to use an axe or bill-hook for chopping down small
trees and branches.
The way to cut down a tree is first to chop out a chunk of wood near the
bottom of the stem on that side to which you want the tree to fall, then
go round to the other side, and chop away on the opposite side of the
stem a few inches above the first cut until the tree topples over. It is
a matter of practice to become a wood-cutter, but you have to be very
careful at first lest in chopping you miss the tree and chop your own
leg.
HOW TO MAKE BRIDGES.
As I told you before, my scouts in Ashanti, when also acting as
pioneers, had to build nearly two hundred bridges--and they had to make
them out of any kind of material that they could find on the spot.
There are many ways of making bridges. In the Army they are generally
made of poles lashed together. In India, in the Himalaya Mountains the
natives make bridges out of three ropes stretched across the river and
connected together every few yards by V-shaped sticks, so that one rope
forms the footpath and the other two make the handrail on each side.
They are jumpy kind of bridges to walk across, but they take you over;
and they are easily made.
[Illustration: How to Fell a Tree.]
The simplest way for bridging a narrow, deep stream is to fell a tree,
or two trees side by side, on the bank, so that they fall across the
stream. With an adze you then flatten the topside; put up a hand-rail,
and there you have a very good bridge.
Rafts, too, can be used. You build your raft alongside the bank, in the
water if the river is shallow; on the bank if deep. When it is finished
you hold on to the down stream end, push the other out from the bank and
let the stream carry it down into position.
[Illustration: Rope Bridge.]
SELF MEASURES.
Every pioneer should know his exact personal measurement in the
following details (of which I give the average man's measure):
Nail joint of forefinger, or breath of 1 inch.
thumb
Span of thumb and forefinger 8 inches.
Span of thumb and little finger or other 9 inches.
finger
(This also gives you the length of your
foot).
Wrist to elbow 10 inches.
Elbow to tip of forefinger (called 17 inches.
"cubit")
Middle of kneecap to ground 18 inches.
Extended arms, from finger-tip to finger-tip, is called a fathom and
nearly equals your height.
Pulse beats about 75 times a minute: each beat is a little quicker than
a second.
Pace: A pace is about 2-1/2 feet: about 120 paces equal 100 yards. Fast
walking paces are shorter than when going slow.
Fast walking you walk a mile in 16 minutes, or nearly four miles an
hour.
THE SCOUT IS ALWAYS A HANDY-MAN.
Pioneers are always "handy-men." In the Army the Regimental Pioneers are
the men who in war make bridges and roadways for the troops to get
along; they destroy the enemy's bridges and railways so that he cannot
get away; and they blow up his fortifications so that the rest of the
soldiers can rush in and capture the place, and so on. In peace-time the
pioneers do all the useful jobs in barracks, such as carpentering, doing
plumbers' and painters' work, bricklaying and metal work, making chairs,
tables, bookshelves, etc. So scouts, if they want to be handy pioneers,
should also learn this kind of work; and it will always be useful to
them afterwards.
Also scouts must know how to mend and even to make themselves clothes
and boots. I have made myself boots as well as shoes out of all sorts of
materials, but always wished I had, while a boy, learned to do a bit of
boot-mending from a cobbler.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_Start a carpentry class, or instruction in electricity, or plumbing,
elementary engineering, etc., with a view to teaching the boys
handicrafts that may be of real use to them in their future life. If you
do not know enough about it yourself, get a friend to come and
demonstrate with models or instruments for a few evenings._
_Get leave to take the scouts over a factory to study the engines, etc._
_Teach the boys to chop firewood. If they learn to chop up old packing
cases, etc., and make the billets into bundles for the trade, they can
earn a good deal towards their funds._
_Teach them to make wooden mechanical toys, (from one or two penny ones
as models.) Thereby teaching them elementary mechanics, and handiness
with tools._
_PRACTICES._
_Knot-tying should be practised against time, by knot-tying races
between scouts in heats, the losers to pair off again for further heats
till the slowest knot-tyer is found. In this way (which should be used
in other branches of instruction also) the worst performers get the most
practice--and the emulation is just as great to avoid being the worst,
as it would be in striving to be the best, and win a prize._
_Knot-tying races should also be carried out in the dark, the instructor
turning out the light for a few seconds on naming the knot to be tied._
_Hurdle-making by planting a row of upright stakes and weaving in
withes._
_Make models of bridges with scouts' staves, cords, planks out of old
packing cases._
BOOKS TO READ.
"Manual of Military Engineering": War Office Publication.
"Active Service Pocket Book," by Mr. Bertrand Stewart, 3s. 6d. (Clowes
and Son.)
"Romance of Engineering and Mechanism," 5s. (Published by Seely and Co.)
"How it Works." Showing how such things work as steam engines, motors,
vacuum brakes, telephones, telegraphs, etc.
1s. books on Carpentering, Joinery, Engine-driving, etc.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 12.
CAMPING.
Comfort in Camp--Useful Tricks and Dodges--Camp Fires and all about
them--Tidiness.
COMFORT IN CAMP.
Some people talk of "roughing it" in camp. Those people are generally
"tenderfoots"; an old backwoodsman doesn't rough it, he knows how to
look after himself and to make himself comfortable by a hundred little
dodges. For instance if there are no tents he doesn't sit down to shiver
and grouse, but at once sets to work to rig up a shelter or a hut for
himself. He chooses a good spot for it where he is not likely to be
flooded out if a storm of rain were to come on. Then he lights up a camp
fire and makes himself a comfortable mattress of ferns or straw. An old
scout is full of resource, that is he can find a way out of any
difficulty or discomfort. He is full of "dodges," like the boy who had
to rap on the door with the knocker which he could not reach. He showed
resourcefulness.
A bivouac is a halt without tents and generally is not meant to last for
many hours; a camp generally means a resting place with tents or huts to
live in.
There are many ways of making a comfortable bed in camp, but always if
possible have some kind of covering over the ground between your body
and the earth, especially after wet weather. Cut grass or straw or
bracken are very good things to lay down thickly where you are going to
lie, but if you cannot get any of these and are obliged to lie on the
ground, do not forget before lying down to make a small hole about the
size of a tea-cup in which your hip joint will rest when you are lying
on your side; it makes all the difference for sleeping comfortably. A
very comfortable bed, almost a spring mattress, is made in Canada by
cutting a large number of tops of the fir-tree branches and planting
them upright in the ground as close together as possible, like bristles
in a brush, so close that when you lie down on them they form a
comfortable and springy couch.
[Illustration: Resourcefulness in Doing a Good Turn.]
Remember when sleeping in camp the secret of keeping warm is to have as
many blankets _underneath_ you as you have above you. If a patrol were
sleeping round a fire you would all lie with your feet towards it like
the spokes of a wheel. If your blankets do not keep you sufficiently
warm, put straw or bracken over yourselves and newspapers if you have
them. It is also a good tip in cold weather, if you have not
sufficiently warm clothing, to put a newspaper under your coat or
waistcoat up your back and round your body, it will be as good as a
great-coat in giving you extra warmth.
To make a bed, cut four poles--two of seven feet, two of three--lay them
on the ground so as to form the edges.
[Illustration: Bed.]
Cut four pegs, two feet long, and sharpen, drive them into the ground at
the four corners to keep the poles in place.
Cut down a fir tree; cut off all branches and lay them overlapping each
other like slates on a roof till a thick bed of them is made; the
outside ones underlapping the poles. Cover with a blanket.
To make a mattress you first set up a camp loom (see "Hints to
Instructors," page 163) and weave a mattress out of bracken, ferns,
heather, straw, or grass, etc., six feet long and two feet nine inches
across.
With this same loom you can make grass or straw mats, with which to form
tents, or shelters, or walls, or carpets, etc.
Camp candlesticks can be made by bending a bit of wire into a small
spiral spring; or by using a cleft stick stuck in the wall; or a glass
candle shade can be made by cutting the bottom off a bottle and sticking
it upside down in the ground with a candle stuck into the neck.
[Illustration: Camp Candlesticks.]
The bottom of the bottle may be cut off either by putting about an inch
or an inch and a half of water into the bottle and then standing it in
the embers of the fire till it gets hot and cracks at the water-level.
Or it can be done by passing a piece of string round the body of the
bottle, and drawing it rapidly to and fro till it makes a hot line round
the bottle which then breaks neatly off with a blow or on being immersed
in cold water.
Camp forks can also be made out of wire sharpened at the points.
It is something to know how to sit down in a wet camp. You "squat"
instead of sitting. Natives in India squat on their heels, but this is a
tiring way if you have not done it as a child; though it comes easy if
you put a sloping stone or chock of wood under your heels.
[Illustration: Camp Fork.]
Boers and other camp men squat on one heel. It is a little tiring at
first.
Buttons are always being lost in camp, and it adds greatly to your
comfort to know how to make buttons out of bootlaces or string. This
will be shown to you. Scouts should also be able to carve collar studs
out of wood, bone, or horn.
A great secret of sleeping comfortably in camp is to have a canvas bag
about two feet long by one foot wide into which you pack odds and
ends--or carry empty and fill up with grass or underclothing to form
your pillow at night.
CAMP FIRES.--THE RIGHT WAY OF MAKING THEM.
Before lighting your fire remember always to do as every backwoodsman
does, and that is to cut away or burn all bracken, heather, grass, etc.,
round the fire to prevent its setting light to the surrounding grass or
bush. Many bad bush-fires have been caused by young tenderfoots fooling
about with blazes which they imagined to be camp fires. In burning the
grass for this purpose, (or "ring-burning" as it is called) burn only a
little at a time and have branches of trees or old sacks ready with
which you can beat it out again at once when it has gone far enough.
Scouts should always be on the look-out to beat out a bush-fire that has
been accidentally started at any time as a "good turn" to the owner of
the land or to people who may have herds and crops in danger.
It is no use to learn how to light a fire by hearsay, the only way is to
pay attention to the instructions given you, and then practise laying
and lighting a fire yourself.
In the book called "Two Little Savages," instructions for laying a fire
are given in the following rhyme:
First a curl of birch bark as dry as it can be,
Then some twigs of soft wood dead from off a tree,
Last of all some pine knots to make a kettle foam,
And there's a fire to make you think you're sitting right at home.
[Illustration: Star Fire Ready to Light.]
Remember to begin your fire with a small amount of very small chips or
twigs of really dry dead wood lightly heaped together and a little straw
or paper to ignite it; about this should be put little sticks leaning
together in the shape of a pyramid, and above this bigger sticks
similarly standing on end. When the fire is well alight bigger sticks
can be added, and, finally, logs of wood. A great thing for a cooking
fire is to get a good pile of red hot wood ashes, and if you use three
large logs they should be placed lying on the ground, star-shaped, like
the spokes of a wheel, with their ends centred in the fire. A fire made
in this way need never go out, for as the logs burn away you keep
pushing them towards the centre of the fire, always making fresh red hot
ashes there. This makes a good cooking fire, and also one which gives
very little flame or smoke for the enemy to detect from a distance.
To leave your fire alight at night, cover it over with a heap of ashes
and it will smoulder all night ready for early use in the morning, when
you can easily blow it into a glow.
[Illustration: Camp Grate.]
If you want to keep a fire going all night to show or to warm you, put
good-sized logs end to end star shaped--and one long one reaching to
your hand so that you can push it in from time to time to the centre
without trouble of getting up to stoke the fire.
If coals or wood are difficult to get for making fires at home, don't
forget that old boots which you often find lying about on dustheaps,
make very good fuel.
You can do a good turn to any poor old woman in winter time by
collecting old boots and giving them to her for firing.
Another way to make a good cooking fire is one they use in America.
Drive two stout stakes into the ground about four feet apart, both
leaning a bit backwards. Cut down a young tree with a trunk some fifteen
feet high and ten inches thick; chop it into five-foot lengths; lay
three logs, one on top of another, leaning against the upright stakes.
This forms the back of your fireplace. Two short logs are then laid as
fire-dogs, and a log laid across them as front bar of the fire. Inside
this "grate" you build a pyramid-shaped fire, which then gives out great
heat. The "grate" must, of course, be built so that it faces the wind.
Tongs are useful about a camp-fire, and can be made from a rod of beech
or other tough wood, about four feet long and one inch thick. Shave it
away in the middle to about half its proper thickness, and put this part
into the hot embers of the fire for a few moments, and bend the stick
over till the two ends come together. Then flatten away the inside edges
of the ends so that they have a better grip--and there are your tongs.
A besom is also useful for keeping the camp clean, and can easily be
made with a few sprigs of birch bound tightly round a stake.
DRYING CLOTHES.--You will often get wet through on service, and you will
see recruits remaining in their wet clothes until they get dry again; no
old scout would do so, as that is the way to catch fever and get ill.
When you are wet, take the first opportunity of getting your wet clothes
off and drying them, even though you may not have other clothes to put
on, as happened to me many a time. I have sat naked under a waggon while
my one suit of clothes was drying over a fire. The way to dry clothes
over a fire is to make a fire of hot ashes, and then build a small
beehive-shaped cage of sticks over the fire, and then to hang your
clothes all over this cage, and they will very quickly dry. Also, in hot
weather it is dangerous to sit in your clothes when they have got wet
from your perspiration. On the West Coast of Africa I always carried a
spare shirt, hanging down my back, with the sleeves tied round my neck;
so soon as I halted I would take off the wet shirt I was wearing and put
on the dry, which had been hanging out in the sun on my back. By these
means I never got fever when almost everyone else went down with it.
TIDINESS.
The camp ground should at all times be kept clean and tidy, not only (as
I have pointed out) to keep flies away, but also because if you go away
to another place, and leave an untidy ground behind you, it gives so
much important information to enemy's scouts. For this reason scouts are
always tidy, whether in camp or not, as a matter of habit. If you are
not tidy at home you won't be tidy in camp; and if you're not tidy in
camp you will be only a tenderfoot and no scout.
[Illustration: Right Shoe laced in the Scout's Way.]
[_One end of the lace is knotted under the lowest outside hole, and the
lace is brought through and threaded downwards through the opposite
hole; it is then taken up to the top. The dotted part of the lace is the
part which lies underneath the shoe and is not visible._]
A scout is tidy also in his tent or room, because he may yet be suddenly
called upon to go off on an alarm, or something unexpected: and if he
does not know exactly where to lay his hand on his things he will be a
long time in turning out, especially if called up in the middle of the
night. So on going to bed, even when at home, practise the habit of
folding up your clothes and putting them where you can at once find them
in the dark and get into them quietly.
A scout even ties his shoe laces neatly--in fact they are not tied, but
are wove through the eyelet holes from top of the boot downwards, and so
need no tying.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_CAMP ORDERS._
_In going into camp it is essential to have a few "Standing Orders"
published, which can be added to from time to time if necessary. These
should be carefully explained to patrol leaders, who should then be held
fully responsible that their scouts carry them out exactly._
_Such orders might point out that each patrol will camp separately from
the others, and there will be a comparison between the respective
cleanliness and good order of tents and surrounding ground._
_Patrol leaders to report on the good work or otherwise of their scouts,
which will be recorded in the scoutmaster's book of marks._
_Rest time for one hour and a half in middle of day._
_Bathing under strict supervision to prevent non-swimmers getting into
dangerous water._
_"Bathing piquet of two good swimmers will be on duty while bathing is
going on, and ready to help any boy in distress. This piquet will be in
the boat (undressed) with greatcoats on. They may only bathe when the
general bathing is over and the last of the bathers has left the
water."_
_Orders as what is to be done in case of fire alarm._
_Orders as to boundaries of grounds to be worked over, damages to
fences, property, etc._
[Illustration: Latrine, with screens across.]
CAMP LATRINES.--_A simple trench should be dug, one foot wide, two and a
half feet deep, for the user to squat astride. Straw mats or canvas
screens to be put up across the trench every four feet to secure
privacy_ _between the users. (N.B.--This is an important point in
education.) Side screens to hide the latrine from outside view._
_PRACTICES._
TO MAKE A CAMP LOOM.--Plant a row of five stakes, 2ft. 6in., firmly in
the ground; opposite to them, at a distance of 6ft. to 7ft., drive in a
row of from two to five stakes. Fasten a cord or gardener's twine to the
head of each stake in No. 1 row and stretch it to the corresponding
stake in No. 2 and make it fast there, then carry the continuation of it
back over No. 1 row for some 5ft. extra, and fasten it to a loose
crossbar or "beam" at exactly the same distances apart from the next
cord as it stands at the stakes. This beam is then moved up and down at
slow intervals by one scout, while the remainder lay bundles of fern or
straw, etc., in layers alternately under and over the stretched strings,
which are thus bound in by the rising or falling on to them.
[Illustration: Camp Loom, for making Mats and Mattresses.]
If in camp, practise making different kinds of beds.
If indoors, make camp candlesticks, lamps, forks, tongs, buttons,
besoms.
If outdoors, practise laying and lighting fires.
Make scouts lace shoes neatly on the principle given.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 13.
CAMP LIFE.
Cooking, Right Ways and Wrong Ways--Bread-making--Driving
Cattle--Cleanliness--Water.
COOKING.
Every scout must, of course, know how to cook his own meat and
vegetables and to make bread for himself without regular cooking
utensils. For boiling water a scout would usually have his tin "billy,"
and in that he can boil vegetables or stew his meat, and often he will
want it for drinking and will cook his meat in some other way. This
would usually be done by sticking it on sharp sticks and hanging it
close to the fire so that it gets broiled; or the lid of an old biscuit
tin can be used as a kind of frying-pan. Put grease or water in it to
prevent the meat getting burnt before it is cooked.
Meat can also be wrapped in a few sheets of wet paper or in a coating of
clay and put in the red-hot embers of the fire, where it will cook
itself. Birds and fish can also be cooked in this manner, and there is
no need to pluck the bird before doing so if you use clay, as the
feathers will stick to the clay when it hardens in the heat, and when
you break it open the bird will come out cooked, without its feathers,
like the kernel out of a nutshell.
Another way is to clean out the inside of the bird, get a pebble about
the size of its inside, and heat it till nearly red-hot, place it inside
the bird, and put the bird on a gridiron or on a wooden spit over the
fire.
Birds are most easily plucked immediately after being killed.
Don't do as I did once when I was a tenderfoot. It was my turn to cook,
so I thought I would vary the dinner by giving them soup. I had some
pea-flour, and I mixed it with water and boiled it up, and served it as
pea-soup; but I did not put in any stock or meat juice of any kind. I
didn't know that it was necessary or would be noticeable. But they
noticed it directly--called my beautiful soup a "wet peas-pudding," and
told me I might eat it myself--not only told me I _might_, but they
jolly well _made_ me eat it. I never made the mistake again.
[Illustration: Camp Kitchen.]
To boil your "billy" or camp kettle you can either stand it on the logs
(where it often falls over unless care is taken), or, better, stand it
on the ground among the hot embers of the fire, or else rig up a
triangle of three green poles over the fire, tying them together at the
top and hanging the pot by a wire or chain from the poles. But in making
this tripod do not, if there is an old scout in camp, use poplar sticks
for poles, because, although they are easy to cut and trim for the
purpose, old-fashioned scouts have a fancy that they bring bad luck to
the cooking. Any other kind of wood will do better.
This is as good a kind of camp kitchen as any, it is made with two lines
of sods, bricks, stones, or thick logs, flattened at the top, about six
feet long, slightly splayed from each other, being four inches apart at
one end and eight inches at the other--the big end towards the wind.
Another way, when there are several "billies" to cook, is to put them in
two lines a few inches apart, one end of the line facing towards the
wind. Lay your fire of small wood between the two lines, and put a third
row of "billies" standing on top of the first two rows--so that a small
tunnel is made by the "billies." In the windward end of this tunnel
start your fire; the draught will carry its heat along the tunnel, and
this will heat all the pots. The fire should be kept up with small split
chunks of wood.
When boiling a pot of water on the fire, do not jam the lid on too
firmly, as when the steam forms inside the pot it must have some means
of escape or it will burst the pot.
To find out when the water is beginning to boil, you need not take off
the lid and look, but just hold the end of a stick, or knife, etc., to
the pot, and if the water is boiling you will feel it trembling.
_Kabobs._--Cut your meat up into a slice about half or three-quarters of
an inch thick; cut this up into small pieces about one to one and a half
inches across. String a lot of these chunks on to a stick or iron rod,
and plant it in front of the fire, or suspend it over the hot embers for
a few minutes till the meat is roasted.
_Hunter's Stew._--Chop your meat into small chunks about an inch or one
and a half inches square.
Scrape and chop up any vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, onions,
etc., and put them into your "billy."
Add clean water or soup till it is half full.
Mix some flour, salt, and pepper together, and rub your meat well in it,
and put this in the "billy."
There should be enough water just to cover the food--no more.
Let the "billy" stand in the embers and simmer for about one hour and a
quarter.
The potatoes take longest to cook. When these are soft (which you try
with a fork) enough not to lift out, the whole stew is cooked.
BREAD MAKING.
To make bread, the usual way is for a scout to take off his coat, spread
it on the ground, with the inside uppermost (so that any mess he makes
in it will not show outwardly when he wears his coat afterwards); then
he makes a pile of flour on the coat and scoops out the centre until it
forms a cup for the water which he then pours in hot; he then mixes the
dough with a pinch or two of salt, and of baking-powder or of Eno's
Fruit Salt, and kneads and mixes it well together until it forms a lump
of well-mixed dough. Then with a little fresh flour sprinkled over the
hands to prevent the dough sticking to them, he pats it and makes it
into the shape of a large bun or several buns.
Then he puts it on a gridiron over hot ashes, or sweeps part of the fire
to one side, and on the hot ground left there he puts his dough, and
piles hot ashes round it and lets it bake itself.
Only small loaves like buns can be made in this way.
If real bread is required, a kind of oven has to be made, either by
using an old earthenware pot or tin box, and putting it into the fire
and piling fire all over it, or by making a clay oven, lighting a fire
inside it, and then when it is well heated raking out the fire and
putting the dough inside, and shutting up the entrance tightly till the
bread is baked.
Another way is to cut a stout club, sharpen its thin end, peel it and
heat it in the fire. Make a long strip of dough, about two inches wide
and half an inch thick: wind it spirally down the club; then plant the
club close to the fire and let the dough toast itself, just giving the
club a turn now and then.
_Ration Bags._--Very often on service they serve you out with a double
handful of flour instead of bread or biscuits, a bit of meat, a spoonful
of salt, one of pepper, one of sugar, one of baking-powder, and a
handful of coffee or tea. It is rather fun to watch a tenderfoot get
this ration and see how he carries it away to his bivouac.
How would you do it?
Of course you could put the pepper into one pocket, the salt into
another, the sugar into another, the flour into your hat, and carry that
in one hand, the bit of beef in the other hand, and the coffee in the
other.
Only if you are in your shirt sleeves, as you generally are, you haven't
many pockets, and if, like some people, you have only two hands, it is a
difficult job.
The old campaigner, therefore, always has his three "ration bags,"
little bags which he makes himself out of bits of shirt tails or
pocket-handkerchiefs, or other such luxuries; and into one he puts the
flour and baking-powder, into No. 2 his coffee and sugar, into No. 3 his
salt and pepper.
Very often just after we had got our rations we would have to march at
once. How do you suppose we made our flour into bread in one minute?
We just mixed it with a lot of water in a mug and drank it! It did just
as well in the end.
CATTLE-DRIVING AND SLAUGHTERING.
Before you cook your hare you've got to catch him. So with mutton or
beef--you have to bring the sheep or ox to the place where you want him.
Then you have to kill him and cut him up before you can cook him and eat
him.
Scouts ought to know how to drive sheep and cattle and horses.
Tenderfoots always forget to send someone in front of the herd to draw
them on.
Sheep are apt to crowd up too much together so that those in the middle
of the flock soon get half suffocated in dust and heat, and then they
faint. It is often therefore, advisable for one driver to keep moving in
the centre of the flock to make an occasional opening for air, and it
keeps the whole flock moving better. If you come to an obstacle like a
stile or wall with sheep, lift one or two over it and the rest will soon
follow, but they should not be too hurried.
Scouts should also know how to kill and cut up their cattle.
Cattle are generally poleaxed, or a spike is driven into the forehead
with a mallet, or a shot or blank cartridge is fired into the forehead,
or a big sharp knife is driven into the spine just behind the horns, the
animal's head having first been securely tied down to a cart wheel or
fence.
Sheep are generally killed either by being laid on their side and having
their head drawn back and throat cut with a big sharp knife, or by being
shot in the forehead with a revolver or blank cartridge of a rifle.
The animal should then be gutted by having the belly slit open and the
inside taken out, liver and kidneys being kept.
To skin the beast, lay the carcase on its back and slit the skin down
the centre with a sharp knife, slit up the inside of the legs, and pull
the skin off, helping it with the knife where it sticks to the body,
first one side and then the other down to the back bone.
The carcase is split in half in the case of a big beast; with a sheep it
is cut into two, and the fore quarters and hind quarters are then again
divided into joints.
A scout should know how to milk a cow or a goat, else he may go thirsty
when there is lots of milk available. A goat is not so easy to milk as
you might think. You have to keep hold of its head with one hand, its
hind leg with the other, and milk it with the other if you had a third.
The way a native does it is to catch hold of its hind leg between his
big toe and the next, and thus he has a hand to spare to milk with.
CLEANLINESS.
One thing to remember in camp is that if you get sick you are no use as
a scout, and are only a burden to others, and you generally get ill
through your own fault. Either you don't change into dry clothes when
you get wet, or you let dirt get into your food, or you drink bad water.
So, when cooking your food, always be careful to clean your cooking
pots, plates, forks, etc., very thoroughly.
Flies are most dangerous, because they carry about seeds of disease on
their feet, and if they settle on your food they will often leave the
poison there for you to eat--and then you wonder why you get ill. Flies
generally live best where there is dirt, and scraps of food are left
lying about.
For this reason you should be careful to keep your camp very clean, so
that flies won't come there. All slops and scraps should be thrown away
into a properly-dug hole, where they can be buried, and not scattered
about all over the place. Patrol leaders must be very careful to see
that this is always done.
WATER.
Good drinking water is one of the most important of all things in
campaigning, in order to make sure of your being healthy.
All water has a large number of tiny animals floating about in it, too
small to be seen without the help of a microscope. Some of them are
poisonous, some are not; you can't tell whether the poisonous ones are
there, so the safest way is to kill them all before you drink any water;
and the way to kill them is to boil the water, and let it cool again
before drinking it. In boiling the water don't let it merely come to a
boil and then take it off, but let it boil fully for a quarter of an
hour, as these little beasts, or microbes as they are called, are very
tough customers, and take a lot of boiling before they get killed.
For the same reason it is very dangerous to drink out of streams, and
especially out of ponds, when you feel thirsty, for you may suck down
any amount of poison in doing so. If a pond is your only water-supply,
it is best to dig a small well, three feet deep, about ten feet away
from the pond, and the water will ooze through into it, and will be much
more healthy to drink.
We did this in Mafeking, when the Boers cut off our regular
water-supply, and so had no sickness from bad water.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_Practise in mixing dough and baking; it is useful. If possible, get a
baker to give a lesson. But let each scout mix his own dough with the
amount of water he thinks right. Let him make his mistakes at first to
get experience._
_A visit to a slaughter-house and butcher's shop to see the cutting up
is useful for boys._
_Get scouts to make their own linen ration bags._
_Issue raw rations, and let each scout make his own fire and cook his
own meal._
CAMP GAMES.
Hockey, Rounders, Football, Basket Ball, which is practically football
played only with the hands, with a basket seven feet above ground as
goal. A small bit of ground or a room or court will do for the game.
"Bang the Bear" (from Mr. Seton Thompson's "Birchbark of the Woodcraft
Indians.") One big boy is bear, and has three bases, in which he can
take refuge and be safe. He carries a small air balloon on his back. The
other boys are armed with clubs of straw rope twisted, with which they
try to burst his balloon while he is outside the base. The bear has a
similar club, with which he knocks off the hunters' hats. The hat
represents the hunter's life. A good game for introducing strange or shy
boys to each other.
Songs, recitations, small plays, etc., can be performed round the camp
fire, and every scout should be made to contribute something to the
programme, whether he thinks he is a performer or not. A different
patrol may be told off for each night of the week to provide for the
performance; they can thus prepare it beforehand.
BOOK TO READ.
"Woodcraft." By Nessmuk. 2s. (Pub.: Forest and Stream, New York.)
CHAPTER V.
CAMPAIGNING.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 14.
LIFE IN THE OPEN.
Outdoor Training--Exploration--Boat
Cruising--Watermanship--Mountaineering--Patrolling--Nightwork--Weather
Wisdom.
The native boys of the Zulu and Swazi tribes learn to be scouts before
they are allowed to be considered men, and they do it in this way: when
a boy is about fifteen or sixteen he is taken by the men of his village,
stripped of all clothes and painted white from head to foot, and he is
given a shield and one assegai or small spear, and he is turned out of
the village and told that he will be killed if anyone catches him while
he is still painted white. So the boy has to go off into the jungle and
mountains and hide himself from other men until the white paint wears
off, and this generally takes about a month; so that all this time he
has to look after himself and stalk game with his one assegai and kill
it and cut it up; he has to light his fire by means of rubbing sticks
together in order to cook his meat; he has to make the skin of the
animal into a covering for himself; and he has to know what kind of wild
root, berries, and leaves are good for food as vegetables. If he is not
able to do these things, he dies of starvation, or is killed by wild
animals. If he succeeds in keeping himself alive, and is able to find
his way back to his village, he returns when the white paint has worn
off and is then received with great rejoicings by his friends and
relations, and is allowed to become a soldier of the tribe since he has
shown that he is able to look after himself.
It is a pity that all British boys cannot have the same sort of training
before they are allowed to consider themselves men--and the training
which we are now doing as scouts is intended to fill that want as far as
possible. If every boy works hard at this course and really learns all
that we try to teach him, he will, at the end of it, have some claim to
call himself a scout and a man, and will find if ever he goes on
service, or to a colony, that he will have no difficulty in looking
after himself and in being really useful to his country.
There is an old Canadian scout and trapper, now over eighty years of
age, still living, and, what is more, still working at his trade of
trapping. His name is Bill Hamilton. In a book which he lately wrote,
called "My Sixty Years in the Plains," he describes the dangers of that
adventurous line of life. The chief danger was that of falling into the
hands of the Red Indians. "To be taken prisoner was to experience a
death not at all to be desired. A slow fire is merciful beside other
cruelties practised by the Indians. I have often been asked why we
exposed ourselves to such danger? My answer has always been that there
was a charm in the open-air life of a scout from which one cannot free
himself after he has once come under its spell. Give me the man who has
been raised among the great things of Nature; he cultivates truth,
independence, and self-reliance; he has generous impulses; he is true to
his friends, and true to the flag of his country."
I can fully endorse what this old scout has said, and, what is more, I
find that those men who come from the furthest frontiers of the Empire,
from what we should call a rude and savage life, are among the most
generous and chivalrous of their race, especially towards women and
weaker folk. They become "gentle men" by their contact with nature.
Mr. Roosevelt, the President of the United States of America, also is
one who believes in outdoor life, and he indulges in it himself on every
possible occasion when his duties allow. He writes:
"I believe in outdoor games, and I do not mind in the least that they
are rough games, or that those who take part in them are occasionally
injured. I have no sympathy with the overwrought sentiment which would
keep a young man in cotton wool. The out-of-doors man must always prove
the better in life's contest. When you play, play hard; and when you
work, work hard. But do not let your play and your sport interfere with
your study."
I knew an old Boer who after the war said that he could not live in the
country with the British, so he went off to take service with the German
troops which were at that time fighting in the neighbouring district of
South West Africa. But after some months he came back and said that
after all he preferred to be with the British.
He said that one of his reasons for disliking the British was that when
they arrived in the country they were so 'stom' as he called it--_i.e._
so utterly stupid when living on the veldt that they did not know how to
look after themselves, to make themselves comfortable in camp, to kill
their food or to cook it, and they were always losing their way on the
veldt; he allowed that after six months or so the English soldiers got
to learn how to manage for themselves fairly well. But when he went to
the Germans he found that they were even more 'stom' than the British,
with the great difference that they went on being 'stom,' no matter how
long they remained in the country. He said they were 'stom' till they
died, and they generally died through blundering about at the business
end of a mule.
The truth is that, being brought up in a civilised country like England,
soldiers and others have no training whatever in looking after
themselves out on the veldt, or in the backwoods, and the consequence is
that when they go out to a colony or on a campaign they are for a long
time perfectly helpless and go through a lot of hardship and trouble
which would not occur had they learnt, while boys, how to look after
themselves both in camp and when on patrol. They are just a lot of
"Tenderfoots."
They have never had to light a fire, or to cook their own food; that has
always been done for them. At home, if they wanted water they merely had
to turn on the tap, and had no idea of how to set about finding water in
a desert place by looking at the grass, or bush, or by scratching at the
sand till they began to find signs of dampness; and if they lost their
way, or did not know the time, they merely had to "ask a policeman."
They had always found houses to shelter them, and beds to lie in. They
had never to manufacture these for themselves, nor to make their own
boots or clothing. That is why a "tenderfoot" talks of "roughing in
camp"; but living in camp for a scout who knows the game is by no means
"roughing it." He knows how to make himself comfortable in a thousand
small ways, and then when he does come back to civilisation, he enjoys
it all the more for having seen a contrast; and even there he can do
very much more for himself than the ordinary mortal who has never really
learned to provide for his own wants. The man who has had to turn his
hand to many things, as the scout does in camp, finds that when he comes
into civilisation he is more easily able to obtain employment, because
he is ready to turn his hand to whatever kind of work may turn up.
EXPLORATION.
A good form of scout work can be got in Great Britain by scouts going
about either as patrols on an exploring expedition, or in pairs like
knight-errants of old on a pilgrimage through the country to find people
wanting help and to help them. This can equally well be done with
bicycles, or, in the winter, by skating along the canals.
Scouts in carrying out such a tramp should never, if possible, sleep
under a roof--that is to say, on fine nights they would sleep in the
open wherever they may be, or, in bad weather, would get leave to occupy
a hay loft or barn.
You should on all occasions take a map with you, and find your way by
it, as far as possible, without having to ask the way of passers-by. You
would, of course, have to do your daily good turn whenever opportunity
presented itself, but besides that, you should do good turns to farmers
and others who may allow you the use of their barns, and so on, as a
return for their kindness.
As a rule, you should have some object in your expedition, that is to
say, if you are a patrol of town boys, you would go off with the idea of
scouting some special spot, say a mountain in Scotland or Wales, or a
lake in Cumberland, or, possibly, some old castle, or battle-field, or a
sea-side beach. Or you may be on your way to join one of the larger
camps.
If, on the other hand, you are a patrol from the country, you can make
your way up to London, or to a big town, with the idea of going to see
its buildings, and its Zoological Gardens, circuses, museums, etc. And
you should notice everything as you go along the roads, and remember, as
far as possible, all your journey, so that you could give directions to
anybody else who wanted to follow that road afterwards. And make a map.
Explorers, of course, keep a log or journal giving a short account of
each day's journey, with sketches or photos of any interesting things
they see.
BOAT CRUISING.
Instead of tramping or cycling, it is also an excellent practice for a
patrol to take a boat and make a trip in that way through the country;
but none should be allowed in the boat who is not a good swimmer,
because accidents are pretty sure to happen, and if all are swimmers, it
does not matter; in fact, it is rather a good experience than otherwise.
I once made such a cruise with two of my brothers. We took a small
folding-up canvas boat, and went as far up the Thames as we could
possibly get till it became so narrow and small a stream that we were
continually having to get out and pull our boat over fallen trees and
stopped up bits of river. Then we took it on the Avon, which rises near
the source of the Thames, but flows to the westward, and here, again, we
began where the river was very small, and gradually worked our way down
until it developed into a big stream, and so through Bath and Bristol on
to the Severn. Then across the Severn, and up the Wye into Wales. We
carried with us our tent, stores, and cooking apparatus, so that we were
able to live out independent of houses the whole time. A more enjoyable
trip could not be imagined, and the expense was very small.
WATERMANSHIP.
It is very necessary for a scout to be able to swim, for he never knows
when he may have to cross a river, to swim for his life, or to plunge in
to save someone from drowning, so those of you that cannot swim should
make it your business to begin at once and learn; it is not very
difficult.
Also, a scout should be able to manage a boat, to bring it properly
alongside the ship or pier, that is, either by rowing it or steering it
in a wide circle so that it comes up alongside with its head pointing
the same way as the bow of the ship or towards the current. You should
be able to row one oar in time with the rest of the boat's crew, or to
scull a pair of oars, or to scull a boat by screwing a single oar over
the stern. In rowing, the object of feathering or turning the blade of
the oar flat when it is out of the water, is to save it from catching
the wind and thereby checking the pace of the boat. You should know how
to throw a coil of rope so as to fling it on to another boat or wharf,
or how to catch and make fast a rope thrown to you. Also you should know
how to make a raft out of any materials that you can get hold of, such
as planks, logs, barrels, sacks of straw, and so on, for often you may
want to cross a river with your food and baggage where no boats are
available, or you may be in a shipwreck where nobody can make a raft for
saving themselves. You should also know how to throw a lifebuoy to a
drowning man. These things can only be learnt by practice.
As a scout you must know how to fish, else you would find yourself very
helpless, and perhaps starving, on a river which is full of food for you
if you were only able to catch it.
MOUNTAINEERING.
A good deal of interesting mountaineering can be done in the British
Isles if you know where to go; and it is grand sport, and brings out
into practice all your scout-craft to enable you to find your way, and
to make yourself comfortable in camp.
You are, of course, continually losing your direction because, moving up
and down in the deep gullies of the mountain side, you lose sight of the
landmarks which usually guide you, so that you have to watch your
direction by the sun, and by your compass, and keep on estimating in
what direction your proper line of travel lies.
Then, again, you are very liable to be caught in fogs and mists, which
are at all times upsetting to the calculations even of men who know
every inch of the country. I had such an experience in Scotland last
year when, in company with a Highlander who knew the ground, we got lost
in the mist. But supposing that he knew the way, I committed myself
entirely to his guidance, and after going some distance I felt bound to
remark to him that I noticed the wind had suddenly changed, for it had
been blowing from our left when we started, and was now blowing hard on
our right cheek. However, he seemed in no way nonplussed, and led on.
Presently I remarked that the wind was blowing behind us, so that either
the wind, or the mountain, or we ourselves were turning round; and
eventually it proved as I suggested, that it was not the wind that had
turned, or the mountain, it was ourselves who had wandered round in a
complete circle, and were almost back at the point we started from
within an hour.
Then scouts working on a mountain ought to practise the art of roping
themselves together, as mountaineers do on icy slopes to save themselves
from falling into holes in the snow and slipping down precipices. When
roped together in this way supposing that one man falls, the weight of
the others will save him from going down into the depths.
When roped together each man has about 14ft. between himself and the
next man. The rope is fastened round his waist by a loop or bowline, the
knot being on his left side. Each man has to keep back off the man in
front of him so as to keep the rope tight all the time; then if one
falls or slips the others lean away from him with all their weight and
hold him up till he regains his footing. A loop takes up about 4ft. 6in.
of rope and should be a "bowline" at the ends of the rope, and an
"overhead knot" or a "middleman's loop" for central men on the rope.
PATROLLING.
Scouts generally go about scouting in pairs, or sometimes singly; if
more go together they are called a patrol. When they are patrolling the
scouts of a patrol hardly ever move close together, they are spread out
so as to see more country and so that if cut off or ambuscaded by an
enemy they will not all get caught, some will get away to give
information. A patrol of six scouts working in open country would
usually move in this sort of formation: in the shape of a kite with the
patrol leader in the centre, if going along a street or road the patrol
would move in a similar way, but in this formation keep close to the
hedges or walls. No. 2 scout is in front, Nos. 3 and 4 to the right and
left, No. 5 to the rear, and No. 6 with the leader (No. 1) in the
centre.
Patrols when going across open country where they are likely to be seen
by enemies or animals should get over it as quickly as possible, _i.e._,
by moving at the scout's pace, walking and running alternately from one
point of cover to another. As soon as they are hidden in cover they can
rest and look round before making the next move. If as leading scout you
get out of sight of your patrol, you should, in passing thick bushes,
reeds, etc., break branches or stems of reed and grass every few yards,
making the heads point _forward_ to show your path, for in this way you
can always find your way back again, or the patrol or anyone coming
after you can easily follow you up and they can judge from the freshness
of the grass pretty well how long ago it was you passed that way. It is
also useful to "blaze" trees--that means take a chip out of the bark
with your axe or knife, or chalk marks upon walls, or make marks in the
sand, or lay stones, or show which way you have gone by the signs which
I have given you.
[Illustration: Patrol in the Open, or on a Road or Street.]
NIGHT WORK.
Scouts must be able to find their way equally well by night as by day.
In fact, military scouts in the Army work mostly by night in order to
keep hidden, and lie up during the day.
But unless they practise it frequently, fellows are very apt to lose
themselves by night, distances seem greater, and landmarks are hard to
see. Also, you are apt to make more noise than by day, in walking along,
by accidently treading on dry sticks, kicking stones, etc.
If you are watching for an enemy at night you have to trust much more to
your ears than to your eyes, and also to your nose, for a scout who is
well-practised at smelling out things and who has not damaged his sense
of smell by smoking, can often smell an enemy a good distance away. I
have done it many times myself and found it of the greatest value.
When patrolling at night, scouts keep closer together than by day, and
in very dark places, such as woods, etc., they should keep touch with
each other by each catching hold of the end of the next scout's staff.
When working singly the scout's staff is most useful for feeling the way
in the dark, and pushing aside dry branches, etc.
Scouts working apart from each other in the dark keep up communication
by occasionally giving the call of their patrol-animal. Any enemy would
thus not be made suspicious.
All scouts have to guide themselves very much by the stars at night.
WEATHER WISDOM.
WEATHER.--Every scout ought to be able to read signs of the weather,
especially when going mountaineering or cruising, and to read a
barometer.
He should remember the following points:
Red at night shepherd's delight (_i.e._, fine day coming).
Red in morning is the shepherd's warning (_i.e._, rain).
Yellow sunset means wind.
Pale yellow sunset means rain.
Dew and fog in early morning means fine weather.
Clear distant view means rain coming or just past.
Red dawn means fine weather--so does low dawn.
High dawn is when sun rises over a bank of clouds;
high above the horizon means wind.
Soft clouds, fine weather.
Hard edged clouds, wind.
Rolled or jagged, strong wind.
"When the wind's before the rain,
Soon you may make sail again;
When the rain's before the wind,
Then your sheets and halyards mind."
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_PRACTICES._
_Practise roping scouts together for mountain climbing. Practise (if
boats available) coming alongside, making fast, sculling, punting,
laying oars, coiling ropes, etc., and other details of boat management.
Read barometer._
_GAMES IN LIFE IN THE OPEN._
NIGHT PATROLLING.
_Practise scouts to hear and see by night by posting some sentries, who
must stand or walk about, armed with rifles and blank cartridges, or
with whistles. Other scouts should be sent out as enemies to stalk and
kill them. If a sentry hears a sound he fires, calls, or whistles.
Scouts must at once halt and lie still. The umpire comes to the sentry
and asks which direction the sound came from, and, if correct, the
sentry wins. If the stalker can creep up within 15 yards of the sentry
without being seen, he deposits some article, such as a handkerchief, on
the ground at that point, and creeps away again. Then he makes a noise
for the sentry to fire at, and when the umpire comes up, he can explain
what he has done._
GAMES.
A WHALE HUNT.
The whale is made of a big log of wood with a roughly shaped head and
tail to represent a whale. Two boats will usually carry out the whale
hunt, each boat manned by one patrol--the patrol leader acting as
captain, the corporal as bowman or harpooner, the remainder of the
patrol as oarsmen. Each boat belongs to a different harbour, the two
harbours being about a mile apart. The umpire takes the whale and lets
it loose about halfway between the two harbours, and on a given signal,
the two boats race out to see who can get to the whale first. The
harpooner who first arrives within range of the whale drives his harpoon
into it, and the boat promptly turns round and tows the whale to its
harbour. The second boat pursues, and when it overtakes the other, also
harpoons the whale, turns round, and endeavours to tow the whale back to
its harbour. In this way the two boats have a tug-of-war, and eventually
the better boat tows the whale, and, possibly, the opposing boat into
its harbour. It will be found that discipline and strict silence and
attention to the captain's orders are very strong points towards winning
the game. It shows, above all things, the value of discipline. The game
is similar to one described in E. Thompson Seton's "Birchbark of the
Woodcraft Indians."
[Illustration: A Whale Hunt.]
MOUNTAIN SCOUTING.
This has been played by tourists' clubs in the Lake District, and is
very similar to the "Spider and Fly" game. Three hares are sent out at
daybreak to hide themselves about in the mountains; after breakfast a
party of hounds go out to find them before a certain hour, say 4 p.m. If
they find them, even with field glasses, it counts, provided that the
finder can say definitely who it was he spotted. Certain limits of
ground must be given, beyond which anyone would be out of bounds, and
therefore disqualified.
BOOKS ON LIFE IN THE OPEN.
"A Woman Tenderfoot," by Mrs. Ernest Thompson Seton. 5s. (Published by
Doubleday.) A book of outdoor adventures and hints for camping for women
and girls.
"Two Little Savages," by Ernest Thompson Seton. 6s. (Published by A.
Constable & Co.)
"Mountaineering." Badminton Library Series.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 15.
PATHFINDING.
Finding the Way--Judging Distances--Finding the North.
Among the Red Indian scouts the man who was good at finding his way in a
strange country was termed a "Pathfinder," which was with them a name of
great honour, because a scout who cannot find his way is of very little
use.
Many a tenderfoot has got lost in the veldt or forest, and has never
been seen again, through not having learned a little scouting, or what
is called "eye for a country," when a boy. I have known many instances
of it myself.
In one case a man got off a coach, which was driving through the bush in
Matabeleland, for a few minutes, while the mules were being changed. He
apparently walked off a few yards into the bush, and when the coach was
ready to start they called for him in every direction, and searched for
him, but were unable to find him; and at last, the coach being unable to
wait any longer, pursued its journey, leaving word for the lost man to
be sought for. Full search was made for him; his tracks were followed as
far as they could be, in the very difficult soil of that country, but he
was not found for weeks afterwards, and then his dead body was
discovered nearly fifteen miles away from where he started, and close to
the road.
It often happens that when you are tramping along alone through the
bush, or even in a town, you become careless in noticing what direction
you are moving in; that is, you frequently change it to get round a
fallen tree, or some rocks, or some other obstacle, and having passed
it, you do not take up exactly the correct direction again, and a man's
inclination somehow is to keep edging to his right, and the consequence
is that when you think you are going straight, you are really not doing
so at all; and unless you watch the sun, or your compass, or your
landmarks, you are very apt to find yourself going round in a big circle
after a short time.
In such a case a tenderfoot, when he suddenly finds himself out of his
bearings, and lost alone in the desert or forest, at once loses his head
and gets excited, and probably begins to run, when the right thing to do
is to force yourself to keep cool and give yourself something useful to
do--that is, to track your own spoor back again; or, if you fail, start
getting firewood for making signal fires to direct those who are looking
for you.
The main point is not to get lost in the first instance.
Every old scout on first turning out in the morning notices which way
the wind is blowing.
When you start out for a walk or on patrol, you should notice which
direction, by the compass, you start in, and also notice which direction
the wind is blowing, as that would be a great help to you in keeping
your direction, especially if you have not got a compass, or if the sun
is not shining.
Then you should notice all landmarks for finding your way, that is, in
the country notice any hills or prominent towers, steeples, curious
trees, rocks, gates, mounds, bridges, and so on; any points, in fact, by
which you could find your way back again, or by which you could instruct
anyone to go the same line which you have gone. If you notice your
landmarks going out you can always find your way back by them, but you
should take care occasionally to look back at them after passing them,
so that you get to know their appearance for your return journey. The
same holds good when you are in a town, or when you arrive in a new town
by train; the moment you step out from the station notice where the sun
is, or which way the smoke is blowing. Also notice your landmarks, which
would be prominent buildings, churches, factory chimneys, names of
streets and shops, etc., so that when you have gone down numerous
streets you can turn round and find your way back again to the station
without any difficulty. It is wonderfully easy when you have practised
it a little, yet many people get lost when they have turned a few
corners in a town which they do not know.
The way to find which way the wind is blowing if there is only very
light air is to throw up little bits of dry grass, or to hold up a
handful of light dust and let it fall, or to suck your thumb and wet it
all round and let the wind blow on it, and the cold side of it will then
tell you which way the wind is blowing. When you are acting as scout to
find the way for a party you should move ahead of them and fix your
whole attention on what you are doing, because you have to go by the
very smallest signs, and if you get talking and thinking of other things
you are very apt to miss them. Old scouts are generally very silent
people, from having got into this habit of fixing their attention on the
work in hand. Very often you see a "tenderfoot" out for the first time,
thinking that the leading scout looks lonely, will go and walk or ride
alongside of him and begin a conversation, until the scout shows him by
his manner or otherwise that he does not particularly want him there. On
Thames steamers you see a notice, "Don't speak to the man at the wheel,"
and the same thing applies with a scout who is guiding a party. When
acting as scout you must keep all your thoughts on the one subject, like
Kim did when Lurgan tried to mesmerise him.
JUDGING HEIGHTS AND DISTANCES.
Every scout must be able to judge distance from an inch up to a mile and
more. You ought, first of all, to know exactly what is the span of your
hand and the breadth of your thumb, and the length from your elbow to
your wrist, and the length from one hand to the other with your arms
stretched out to either side, and also the length of your feet; if you
remember these accurately they are a great help to you in measuring
things. Also it is useful to cut notches on your staff, showing such
measurements as one inch, six inches, one foot, and one yard. These you
can measure off with a tape measure before you use your staff, and they
may come in very useful.
Judging the distance of objects from you is only gained by practice, and
judging the distance of a journey is generally estimated by seeing how
long you have been travelling, and at what rate; that is to say,
supposing you walk at the rate of four miles an hour, if you have been
walking for an hour and a half you know that you have done about six
miles.
Distance can also be judged by sound; that is to say, if you see a gun
fired in the distance, and you count the number of seconds between the
flash and the sound of the explosion reaching you, you will be able to
tell how far off you are from the gun.
Sound travels at the rate of 365 feet in a second; that is, as many feet
as there are days in the year.
A scout must also be able to estimate heights, from a few inches up to
two or three thousand feet or more; that is to say, he ought to be able
to judge the height of a fence, the depth of a ditch, or the height of
an embankment, of a house, tree, of a tower, or hill, or mountain. It is
easy to do when once you have practised it for a few times, but it is
very difficult to teach it by book.
You must also know how to estimate weights, from a letter of an ounce,
or a fish, or a potato of one pound, or a sack of bran, or a cartload of
coals; and also the probable weight of a man from his appearance--these,
again, are only learnt by practice, but as a scout you should take care
to learn them for yourself.
Also you should be able to judge of numbers; that is to say, you should
be able to tell at a glance _about_ how many people are in a group, or
on a 'bus, or in a big crowd, how many sheep in a flock, how many
marbles on a tray, and so on. These you can practise for yourself at all
times in the street or field.
In the German Army instructions for judging distance are given as
follows:
At fifty yards, mouth and eyes of the enemy can be clearly seen.
At 100 yards, eyes appear as dots; 200 yards, buttons and details of
uniform can still be seen. At 300 yards, face can be seen; at 400 yards,
the movement of the legs can be seen; at 500 yards the colour of the
uniform can be seen.
For distances over these, think out for yourself which point is halfway
to the object. Estimate how far this may be from you, and then double it
to obtain the distance. Or another way is to estimate the furthest
distance that the object can be away, and then the very nearest it could
be, and strike a mean between the two.
Objects appear nearer than they really are: First, when the light is
bright and shining on the object; secondly, when looking across water or
snow, or looking uphill or down. Objects appear further off when in the
shade; across a valley; when the background is of the same colour; when
the observer is lying down or kneeling; when there is a heat haze over
the ground.
FINDING THE NORTH.
Every sailor boy knows the points of the compass by heart and so should
a scout. I have talked a good deal about the north, and you will
understand that it is a most important help to a scout in pathfinding to
know the direction of the north.
If you have not a compass the sun will tell you by day where the north
is, and the moon and the stars by night.
At six o'clock in the morning the sun is due east, at nine o'clock he is
south-east, at noon he is south, at three o'clock in the afternoon he is
south-west, and at six o'clock he is due west. In winter he will have
set long before six o'clock, but he will not have reached due west when
he is set.
The Phoenicians who sailed round Africa in ancient times noticed that
when they started the sun rose on their left-hand side--they were going
south. Then they reported that they got to a strange country where the
sun got up in the wrong quarter, namely, on their right-hand. The truth
was that they had gone round the Cape of Good Hope and were steering
north again up the east side of Africa.
[Illustration: Directions.]
To find the south at any time of day by the sun--hold your watch flat,
face upwards, so that the sun shines on it. Turn it round till the hour
hand points at the sun. Then, without moving the watch, lay the edge of
a piece of paper or a pencil across the face of the watch so that it
rests on the centre of the dial and points out halfway between the
Figure XII. and the hour hand. The line given by that pencil will be the
true south and north line.
(_Instructor should make each boy find the south for himself with a
watch_).
THE STARS.--The stars appear to circle over us during the night, which
is really due to our earth turning round under them.
There are various groups which have got names given to them because they
seem to make some kind of pictures or "sky-signs" of men and animals.
The "Plough" is an easy one to find, being shaped something like a
plough. And it is the most useful one for a scout to know, because in
the northern part of the world it shows him exactly where the north is.
The Plough is also called the "Great Bear," and the four stars in the
curve make its tail. It is the only bear I know of that wears a long
tail.
[Illustration: Great Bear.]
The two stars in the Plough called the "Pointers" point out where the
North or Pole Star is. All the stars and constellations move round, as I
have said, during the night, but the Pole Star remains fixed in the
north. There is also the "Little Bear" near the Great Bear, and the last
star in his tail is the North or Pole Star.
The sky may be compared to an umbrella over you. The pole star is where
the stick goes through the centre of it.
A real umbrella has been made with all the stars marked on it in their
proper places. If you stand under it and twist it slowly round you see
exactly how the stars quietly go round, but the Pole Star remains steady
in the middle.
Then another set of stars or "constellation," as it is called,
represents a man wearing a sword and belt, and is named "Orion." It is
easily recognised by the three stars in line, which are the belt, and
three smaller stars in another line, close by which are the sword. Then
two stars to right and left below the sword are his feet, while two more
above the belt are his shoulders, and a group of three small stars
between them make his head.
Now the great point about Orion is that by him you always can tell which
way the north or Pole Star lies, and which way the south, and you can
see him whether you are in the south or the north part of the world. The
Great Bear you only see when you are in the north, and the Southern
Cross when you are in the south.
If you draw a line, by holding up your staff against the sky, from the
centre star of Orion's belt through the centre of his head, and carry
that line on through two big stars till it comes to a third, that third
one is the North or Pole star.
Then if you draw a line the other way, beginning again with the centre
star of the belt, and passing through the centre star of the sword your
line goes through another group of stars shaped like the letter L. And
if you go about as far again past L, you come to the South Pole, which
unfortunately is not marked by any star.
Roughly, Orion's sword--the three small stars--points north and south.
The Zulu scouts call Orion's belt and sword the "Ingolubu," or three
pigs pursued by three dogs. The Masai in East Africa say that the three
stars in Orion's belt are three bachelors being followed by three old
maids. You see scouts all know Orion, though under different names.
[Illustration: Orion and his sword always point North and South.]
On the south side of the world, that is in South Africa, South America,
and Australia, the Plough or Great Bear is not visible, but the Southern
Cross is seen. The Southern Cross is a good guide as to where the exact
south is, which, of course, tells a scout just as much as the Great Bear
in the north pointing to the North Star.
[Illustration: Southern Cross.]
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_PRACTICES IN PATHFINDING._
_Teach the boys to recognise the Great Bear and the Pole Star, and
Orion; to judge time by the sun; find the south by the watch. Practise
map reading and finding the way by the map; and mark off roads by
blazing, broken branches, and signs drawn on the ground. Practise
judging distance, heights and weights, and numbers._
_The way to estimate the distance across a river is to take an object X,
such as a tree or rock on the opposite bank; start off at right angles
to it from A, and pace, say, ninety yards along your bank; on arriving
at sixty yards, plant a stick or stone, B; on arriving at C, thirty
yards beyond that, that is ninety from the start, turn at right angles
and walk inland, counting your paces until you bring the stick and the
distant tree in line; the number of paces that you have taken from the
bank C D will then give you the half distance across A X._
[Illustration: Distance.]
[Illustration: Height.]
_To find the height of an object, such as a tree (A X), or a house, pace
a distance of, say, eight yards away from it, and there at B plant a
stick, say, six feet high; then pace on until you arrive at a point
where the top of the stick comes in line C with the top of the tree;
then the whole distance A C from the foot is to A X, the height of the
tree, the same as the distance B C, from the stick, is to the height of
the stick; that is if the whole distance A C is thirty-three feet, and
the distance B C from the stick is nine (the stick being six feet high),
the tree is twenty-two feet high._
Mr. G. L. Boundy, of Exeter, has been practising his boys in judging
distances in the following manner:
_He has a board put up on which are given the actual distances and
heights and measurements of the various streets and buildings round
about with which they are well acquainted. This gives the boys a
standard to work upon, and they then go out and guess heights and
distances, and other objects given to them by Mr. Boundy, who has
previously ascertained their correct measurements by inquiry or
otherwise. In this way they are able to learn a good deal of the subject
in the immediate neighbourhood in the middle of the town._
_It is often useful for the instructor, if he has a bicycle, to measure
a number of distances beforehand by running over them and counting the
revolutions of his wheel. He can then make the boys guess those
distances, and can check them, knowing the correct distance himself._
GAMES IN PATHFINDING.
Instructor takes a patrol in patrolling formation into a strange town or
into an intricate piece of strange country, with a cycling map. He then
gives instructions as to where he wants to go to, makes each scout in
turn lead the patrol, say for seven minutes if cycling, fifteen minutes
if walking. This scout is to find the way entirely by the map, and marks
are given for ability in reading, that is to say, each scout is given
ten marks on starting, and one is deducted for every mistake that he
makes. If he makes no mistake at all throughout the exercise, his ten
small marks will count as one real scout mark towards a badge "of
merit."
STAR-GAZING.--Take out the scouts on clear nights and post them
separately, and let each find the North Star and Orion, etc., and point
them out to you as you come round.
JUDGING DISTANCE.--Take a patrol and station its members about in
different directions and with different background, according to the
colour of their clothes; then take another patrol to judge distance of
these points. Two competitors are sent in turn to three different
points. At the first point they are merely given the compass bearing of
the next one, which is some three hundred yards distant, and so on in
succession. At each point each pair of scouts notices regarding the
enemy--first, how many visible; second, how far off; third, what is
their compass direction; fourth, how they are clothed. The best answers
win provided they are within the specified time. The time allowed should
be one minute for observation at each station, and half a minute for
each bit of running.
FIND THE NORTH.--Scouts are posted thirty yards apart, and each lays
down his staff on the ground pointing to what he considers the exact
north (or south), without using any instrument. The umpire compares each
stick with the compass; the one who guesses nearest wins. This is a
useful game to play at night or on sunless days as well as sunny days.
OTHER GAMES.--For further games in "Pathfinding," see Appendix, Part VI.
BOOKS TO READ.
"Guide to the Umbrella Star Map," by D. MacEwan, member of the British
Astronomical Association, 1s. "The Umbrella Star Map," made by Reid &
Todd, 215, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. (An ordinary umbrella with all
the stars in their proper places on the inside. This map can be
correctly set for any day in the year and any hour, showing the
approximate positions of the stars.)
"The Science Year Book," by Major Baden-Powell. 5s. King, Sell & Olding,
27, Chancery Lane.
"An Easy Guide to the Constellations," by the Rev. James Gall. 1s. (Gall
& Inglis.) Contains diagrams of the constellations.
"Astronomy for Everybody," by Simon Newcomb. 6s. (Publisher, Isbister.)
Also books on astronomy by Professors Ball, Heath, Maunder, and
Flammarion.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 16.
INFORMATION BY SIGNAL.
Hidden Despatches--Signalling--Whistle and Flag-Signals.
Scouts have to be very clever at passing news secretly from one place to
another, or signalling to each other; and if it should ever happen that
an enemy got into England, the Boy Scouts would be of greatest value if
they have practised this art.
Before the siege of Mafeking commenced, I received a secret message from
some unknown friend in the Transvaal, who sent me news of the Boers'
plans against the place, and the numbers that they were getting together
of men, horses, and guns. This news came to me by means of a very small
letter which was rolled up in a little ball, the size of a pill, and put
inside a tiny hole in a rough walking stick, and plugged in there with
wax. The stick was given to a native, who merely had orders to come into
Mafeking and give me the stick as a present. Naturally, when he brought
me this stick, and said it was from another white man, I guessed there
must be something inside it, and soon found this very important letter.
Also I received another letter from a friend, which was written in
Hindustani language, but in English writing, so that anybody reading
would be quite puzzled as to what language it was written in; but to me
it was all as clear as daylight.
Then when we sent letters out from Mafeking, we used to give them to
natives, who were able to creep out between the Boer outposts, and once
through the line of sentries, the Boers mistook them for their own
natives, and took no further notice of them. They carried their letters
in this way. The letters were all written on thin paper in small
envelopes, and half a dozen letters or more would be crumpled up tightly
into a little ball, and then rolled up into a piece of lead paper, such
as tea is packed in. The native scout would carry a number of these
little balls in his hand, and hanging round his neck loosely by strings.
Then, if he saw he was in danger of being captured by a Boer, he would
drop all his balls on the ground, where they looked exactly like so many
stones, and he would notice landmarks from two or three points round
about him, by which he would be able again to find the exact spot where
the letters were lying; then he would walk boldly on until accosted by
the Boer, who, if he searched him, would have found nothing suspicious
about him. He would then wait about for perhaps a day or two until the
coast was clear, and come back to the spot where the landmarks told him
the letters were lying.
"Landmarks," you may remember, mean any objects, like trees, mounds,
rocks, or other details which do not move away, and act as signposts for
a scout who notices and remembers them.
SIGNALLING.
Captain John Smith was one of the first to make use of signals to
express regular words, three hundred years ago.
He was then fighting on the side of the Austrians against the Turks. He
thought it wicked for Christian men to fight against Christians if it
could possibly be avoided, but he would help any Christian, although a
foreigner, to fight against a heathen; so he joined the Austrians
against the Turks.
He invented a system of showing lights at night with torches, which when
held in certain positions with each other meant certain words.
Several officers in the Austrian forces practised these signals till
they knew them.
On one occasion one of these officers was besieged by the Turks. John
Smith brought a force to help him, and arrived on a hill near the town
in the night. Here he made a number of torch signals, which were read by
the officer inside, and they told him what to do when Smith attacked the
enemy in the rear; and this enabled the garrison to break out
successfully.
In the American Civil War, Captain Clowry, a scout officer, wanted to
give warning to a large force of his own army that the enemy were going
to attack it unexpectedly during the night, but he could not get to his
friends, because there was a flooded river between them which he could
not cross, and a storm of rain was going on.
What would you have done if you had been him?
A good idea struck him. He got hold of an old railway engine that was
standing near him. He lit the fire, and got up steam in her, and then
started to blow the whistle with short and long blasts--what is called
the Morse alphabet. Soon his friends heard and understood, and answered
back with a bugle. And he then spelt out a message of warning to them,
which they read and acted upon. And so their force of 20,000 men was
saved from surprise.
Lieutenant Boyd-Alexander describes in his book "From the Niger to the
Nile," how a certain tribe of natives in Central Africa signal news to
each other by means of beats on a drum. And I have known tribes in the
forests of the West Coast of Africa who do the same.
[Illustration: Morse and Semaphore Codes.]
[Illustration: Morse and Semaphore Codes.]
Every scout ought to learn the "dot and dash" or Morse method of
signalling, because it comes in most useful whenever you want to send
messages some distance by flag signalling, as in the Army and Navy, and
it is also useful in getting you employment as a telegraphist. It is not
difficult to learn if you set about it with a will. I found it most
useful once during the Boer War. My column had been trying to get past a
Boer force who was holding a pass in the mountains. Finding they were
too strong for us, we gave it up late in the evening, and leaving a lot
of fires alight as if we were in camp in front of them, we moved during
the night by a rapid march right round the end of the mountain range,
and by daylight next day we were exactly in rear of them without their
knowing it. We then found a telegraph line evidently leading from them
to their headquarters some fifty miles further off, so we sat down by
the telegraph wire and attached our own little wire to it and read all
the messages they were sending, and they gave us most valuable
information. But we should not have been able to do that had it not been
that some of our scouts could read the Morse code.
Then the semaphore signalling, which is done by waving your arms at
different angles to each other, is most useful and quite easy to learn,
and is known by every soldier and sailor in the service. Here you have
all the different letters, and the different angles at which you have to
put your arms to represent those letters, and though it looks
complicated in the picture, when you come to work it out, you will find
it is very simple.
For all letters from A to G the right arm only is used, making a quarter
of a circle for each letter in succession. Then from H to N (except J),
the right arm stands at A, while the left moves round the circle again
for the other letters. From O to S the right arm stands at B, and the
left arm moves round as before. For T, V, Y, and the "annul" the right
arm stands at C, the left moving to the next point of the circle
successively.
The letters A to K also mean figures 1 to 9, if you first make the sign
=Y= to show that you are going to send numbers.
If you want to write a despatch that will puzzle most people to read,
use the Morse or Semaphore letters in place of the ordinary alphabet. It
will be quite readable to any of your friends who understand signalling.
Also if you want to use a secret language in your patrol you should all
set to work to learn "Esperanto." It is not difficult, and is taught in
a little book costing one penny. This language is being used in all
countries so that you would be able to get on with it abroad now.
WHISTLE AND FLAG SIGNALS.
Each patrol leader should provide himself with a whistle and a lanyard
or cord for keeping it. The following commands and signals should be at
your finger ends, so that you can teach them to your patrol, and know
how to order it properly.
WORDS OF COMMAND.
"Fall in" (in line).
"Alert" (stand up smartly).
"Easy" (stand at ease).
"Stand easy" (sit or lie down without leaving the ranks).
"Dismiss" (break off).
"Right" (or left); (each scout turns accordingly).
"Patrol right" (or left); (each patrol with its scouts in line
wheels to that hand).
"Quick march" (walk smartly, stepping off on the left foot).
"Double" (run at smart pace, arms hanging loose).
"Scouts' Pace" (walk fifty yards and run fifty yards alternately).
SIGNALS AND SIGNS.
When a scoutmaster wants to call his troop together he makes his bugler
sound the "The Scout's Call."
Patrol leaders thereupon call together their patrols by sounding their
whistles, followed by their patrol (animal) war cry. Then they double
their patrol to the scoutmaster.
Whistle Signals are these: One long blast means: "Silence;" "Alert;"
"Look out for my next signal."
1. A succession of long slow blasts means: "Go out;" "Get further
away;" or "Advance;" "Extend;" "Scatter."
2. A succession of short, sharp blasts means: "Rally;" "Close in;"
"Come together;" "Fall in."
3. A succession of short and long blasts alternately means: "Alarm;"
"Look out;" "Be ready;" "Man your alarm posts."
4. Three short blasts followed by one long one, from scoutmaster
calls up the patrol leaders--_i.e._ "Leaders come here!"
Any whistle signal must be instantly obeyed at the double as fast as
ever you can run--no matter what other job you may be doing at the time.
Hand Signals, which can also be made by patrol leaders with their patrol
flags when necessary.
Hand waved several times across the face from side to side, or flag
waved horizontally from side to side opposite the face means: "No; Never
mind; As you were."
Hand or flag held high, and waved very slowly from side to side at full
extent of arm, or whistle a succession of slow blasts means: "Extend; Go
further out; Scatter."
Hand or flag held high and waved quickly from side to side at full
extent of arm, or whistle a succession of short, quick blasts means:
"Close in; Rally; Come here."
Hand or flag pointing in any direction means: "Go in that direction."
Hand or flag jumped rapidly up and down several times, means: "Run."
Hand or flag held straight up over head, means: "Stop;" "Halt."
When a leader is shouting an order or message to a scout who is some way
off, the scout, if he hears what is being said, should hold up his hand
level with his head all the time. If he cannot hear he should stand
still making no sign. The leader will then repeat louder or beckon to
the scout to come in nearer.
The following signals are made by a scout with his staff when he is sent
out to reconnoitre within sight of his patrol, and they have the
following meanings: Staff held up horizontally, that is flat with both
hands above the head, means "a few enemy in sight."
The same, but with staff moved up and down slowly, means "a number of
enemy in sight, a long way off."
The same, staff moved up and down rapidly means "a number of enemy in
sight, and close by."
The staff held straight up over the head means "no enemy in sight."
PRACTICES IN SIGNALLING.
Practice laying, lighting, and use of signal fires of smoke or flame.
Practice whistle and drill signals.
Teach Semaphore and Morse Codes; also Esperanto if feasible.
Encourage competitive ingenuity in concealing despatches on the person.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_In all games and competitions, it should be arranged as far as possible
that all the scouts should take part, because we do not want to have
merely one or two brilliant performers, and the others no use at all.
All ought to get practice, and all ought to be pretty good. In
competitions where there are enough entries to make heats, ties should
be run off by losers instead of the usual system of by winners, and the
game should be to find out which are the worst instead of which are the
best. Good men will strive just as hard not to be worst, as they would
to gain a prize, and this form of competition gives the bad man most
practice._
MARKS TOWARDS BADGES OF HONOUR IN CAMPAIGNING.
Making a complete model bridge. Up to four marks.
Lay and light the following fires separately, using only six matches for
the whole: First, cooking fire, and cook a bannock. Second, flame signal
fire and make signals. Third, smoke signal fire and make signals. Marks
up to three.
To measure without instruments, within ten per cent. of correctness,
three different widths of river, or impassable ground, without crossing
it. Heights of three different trees or buildings. Number of sheep in a
flock, stones on a table, etc. Weights of four different things from one
ounce up to one hundred pounds. Four distances between one inch and one
mile. Marks up to five for the whole lot.
DISPATCH RUNNING.
A scout is given a dispatch to take to the headquarters of a besieged
town, which may be a real town (village, farm, or house), and he must
return with a receipt for it. He must wear a coloured rag 2ft. long
pinned on to his shoulder. He must start at least four miles away from
the town he is going to. Besiegers who have to spot him can place
themselves where they like, but must not go nearer to the headquarters'
building than three hundred yards. (Best to give certain boundaries that
they know or can recognise.) Anyone found within that limit by the
umpire will be ruled out as shot by the defenders at headquarters. The
dispatch runner can use any ruse he likes, except dressing up as a
woman, but he must always wear the red rag on his shoulder. To catch
him, the enemy must get the red rag from him. Ten hours may be allowed
as the limit of time, by which the dispatch runner should get his
message to headquarters and get back again to the starting-point with
the receipt. This game may also be made a life-and-death venture, in
which case any scout who volunteers to risk his life (_i.e._ his scout's
badge) in getting through with a dispatch, gains the badge "For Merit"
if he wins; but if he fails, he loses his scout's badge (fleurs-de-lis),
and cannot get it again, although he may still remain a member of the
corps. The enemy win three marks each if they spot him, and lose three
marks if he succeeds. To win a badge of merit there must be not less
than two patrols out against him. A similar game can be played in a
city, but requires modifications to suit the local conditions.
For Exploration Practice, see Appendix, Part VI., for imitating
exploring expedition in Africa, Arctic regions, etc.
DISPLAY.
Act a scene of castaways on a desert island. They make camp fire: pick
seaweed, grass, roots, etc., and cook them: Make pots, etc., out of
clay: Weave mats out of grass: Build raft, and if water is available get
afloat in it: put up a mast and grass mat sail, etc.: and punt or sail
away, or can be rescued by sighting ship and making smoke signals or
getting a boat's crew of sailors to come and fetch them.
SCOUTING FOR BOYS.
CONTENTS OF PARTS IV., V., and VI.
PART IV.
ENDURANCE AND HEALTH.
CHIVALRY AND BRAVE DEEDS.
DISCIPLINE.
PART V.
SAVING LIFE AND FIRST-AID.
PATRIOTISM AND LOYALTY.
PART VI.
SCOUTING GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAYS.
WORDS TO INSTRUCTORS.
WHAT PARTS I. and II. CONTAIN.
Part I.--SCOUTCRAFT.
SPECIAL FOREWORD FOR INSTRUCTORS.--The Boy
Scouts scheme and its easy application _to all existing
organisations_.
SCOUTCRAFT.--Its wide uses and wide interest.
SUMMARY OF SCOUT'S COURSE OF INSTRUCTION,
showing the scope of Scout's work.
ORGANISATION.--Dress, secret signs, scouts' songs,
and tests for badges of honour.
SCOUTS' LAW AND SCOUTS' HONOUR under the
guiding motto "Be Prepared."
SCOUTING GAMES AND PRACTICES for indoors and
out of doors, in town and in country.
Part II.--TRACKING and WOODCRAFT.
OBSERVATION and its value; how to use your eyes,
nose, and ears, and how to follow a night trail.
SPOORING.--Tracks of men and animals and games
in tracking.
READING "SIGN" and making deductions from it.
WOODCRAFT.--How to stalk and how to hide properly.
ANIMALS.--How to stalk and know them--a better
game than stamp collecting.
BIRDS, FISHES, AND INSECTS all scouts should know.
PLANTS AND TREES.
GAMES AND COMPETITIONS in Tracking, Stalking, and
Woodcraft.
Part IV. FORTNIGHTLY. Price 4d. net.
SCOUTING
FOR BOYS
(LIEUT. GEN. BADEN POWELL C.B.)
[Illustration: The Boy Scout in Action.]
PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.
Scouting for Boys.
A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTION
IN
GOOD CITIZENSHIP,
by
Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
_All communications should be addressed to_--
LIEUT.-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL,
BOY SCOUTS' OFFICE,
GOSCHEN BUILDINGS,
HENRIETTA STREET,
LONDON, W.C.
_by whom Scouts will be enrolled, and from where
all further information can be obtained._
Copyrighted by Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
1908.
PART IV.
CONTENTS: CHAPTER VI.
ENDURANCE FOR SCOUTS;
Or, How to be Strong.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS for Helping in a Great National Work.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
17.--HOW TO GROW STRONG: Endurance for Scouting; Body Exercises;
Care of the Body, Nose, Ears, Eyes, Teeth, etc.
18.--HEALTH-GIVING HABITS: Keep Clean; Don't Smoke; Don't Drink;
Avoid Self-Abuse; Rise Early; Laugh and Grow Fat.
19.--PREVENTING DISEASE: Camp Doctoring; Fighting the Microbes;
Proper Food; Clothing; Use of Drill.
PRACTICES, GAMES, AND BODY EXERCISES. BOOKS ON HEALTH.
CONTENTS: CHAPTER VII.
(_Commences on page 240._)
CHIVALRY of the KNIGHTS.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
20.--CHIVALRY TO OTHERS: Knight Errantry; Helpfulness; Courtesy.
21.--SELF-DISCIPLINE: Honour; Obedience; Courage; Cheeriness.
22.--SELF-IMPROVEMENT: Religion; Thrift; How to get on.
PRACTICES, GAMES, DISPLAYS, ETC., IN CHIVALRY.
BOOKS TO READ.
ENDURANCE FOR SCOUTS.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
HOW TO HELP IN A GREAT NATIONAL WORK.
_Recent reports on the deterioration of our race ought to act as a
warning to be taken in time before it goes too far._
_One cause which contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire was the
fact that the soldiers fell away from the standard of their forefathers
in bodily strength._
_Our standard of height in the Army was 5ft. 6in. in 1845; it was_ FOUR
INCHES _less in 1895. In 1900 forty-four men in every thousand recruits
weighed under 7st. 12lbs.; in 1905 this deficiency had increased to
seventy-six per thousand._
_This year our recruits were two inches below the standard height of men
of their age_, viz., _eighteen to nineteen, and six pounds under the
average weight_.
_Three thousand men were sent home from the South African War on account
of bad teeth._
_Reports on school children, made by the London County Council, show
that out of 700 examined only twenty had sound teeth, 323 had more than
five teeth decayed._
_Out of 1,521 examined for adenoids in the throat 29 per cent. had
enlargements, 10 per cent. required operation. Out of 1,000 boys of
thirteen, sons of rich or well-to-do persons, examined by Dr. Clement
Dukes, 526 had knock-knees, 445 had curvature of the spine, 329 flat
feet, 126 pigeon-breasts--all preventable deformities. In this case,
however, the teeth were well cared for._
_Deafness from adenoids and weak eyesight are also very prevalent among
them._
_Dr. Wright Thomson, in the "British Medical Journal," September 14th,
1907, shows how town children suffer greatly from defective sight, which
might be, to a great extent, remedied by special exercises for the eyes
and by good feeding._
_The report [see Blue Book C. D. 3637] last year on the school children
of Glasgow showed their average weight and height were very much below
the standard; and these varied almost exactly according to the number of
rooms occupied by the family, that is, according to the air space
available._
_These and the many similar reports show that much_ PREVENTABLE
_deterioration is being allowed to creep in among the rising
generation_.
_Then there is also prevalent a great amount of illness resulting from
self-abuse and venereal disease, as well as from drink. Also much pauper
over-population due to want of self-restraint on the part of men and
women._
_The training of Boy Scouts would be therefore incomplete if it did not
endeavour to help in remedying these evils. Some idea is much needed
among boys of their personal hygiene. It has been stated on good
authority that half our losses in the Boer War from sickness might have
been avoided had our men and officers had any knowledge of personal care
of their health._
_No doubt it is the same in peace time, as numbers of men are thrown out
of work by sickness, which might be avoided if they knew how to look
after themselves, and took reasonable precautions._
_Since most of these causes of physical decay are preventable, they open
to instructors a field for doing a work of national value._
_For these reasons the following chapter suggests the instruction of
boys in being PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for their own Strength, Health and
Sanitary Surroundings._
CHAPTER VI.
ENDURANCE for SCOUTS;
or,
How to be Strong.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 17.
HOW TO GROW STRONG.
Need for Scouts to be strong--Exercises--Care of
Body--Nose--Ears--Eyes--Teeth--Practices.
A SCOUT'S ENDURANCE.
A scout lay sick in hospital in India with that most fatal disease
called cholera. The doctor told the native man in attendance on him that
the only chance of saving his life was to violently warm up his feet and
keep the blood moving in his body by constantly rubbing him. The moment
the doctor's back was turned the native gave up rubbing and squatted
down to have a quiet smoke. The poor patient, though he could not speak,
understood all that was going on--and he was so enraged at the conduct
of his native attendant, that he resolved then and there that he would
get well if only to give the native a lesson. Having made up his mind to
get well he _got_ well.
A scout's motto is "Never say die till you're dead"--and if he acts up
to this it will pull him out of many a bad place when everything seems
to be going wrong for him. It means a mixture of pluck, patience, and
strength, which we call "Endurance."
The great South African hunter and scout, F. C. Selous, gave a great
example of scout's endurance when on a hunting expedition in Barotseland
north of the Zambesi River some years ago. In the middle of the night
his camp was suddenly attacked by a hostile tribe who fired into it at
close range and charged in.
He and his small party of natives scattered at once into the darkness
and hid themselves away in the long grass. Selous himself had snatched
up his rifle and a few cartridges and got safely into the grass. But he
could not find any of his men, and seeing that the enemy had got
possession of his camp and that there were still a few hours of darkness
before him in which to make his escape, he started off southward, using
the stars of the Southern Cross as his guide.
He crept past an outpost of the enemy whom he overheard talking, and
then swam across a river and finally got well away, only dressed in a
shirt, and shorts and shoes. For the next few days and nights he kept
walking southward, having frequently to hide to avoid hostile natives.
He shot deer for food.
But one night going into what he thought was a friendly village he had
his rifle stolen from him, and was again a fugitive without any means of
protecting himself or of getting food. However, he was not one to give
in while there was a chance of life left, and he pushed on and on till
at length he reached a place where he met some of his men who had also
escaped, and after further tramping they got safely back into friendly
country.
But what a terrible time they must have had!
Three weeks had passed since the attack, and the great part of that time
Selous had been alone--hunted, starving, and bitterly cold at night, and
in sweltering heat by day.
None but a scout with extraordinary endurance could have lived through
it, but then Selous is a man who as a lad had made himself strong by
care and exercise; and he neither drinks nor smokes. And he kept up his
pluck all the time.
It shows you that if you want to get through such adventures safely when
you are a man you must train yourself up to be strong, healthy, and
active as a lad.
EXERCISES AND THEIR OBJECT.
There is a great deal of nonsense in fashion in the way of bodily
exercises; so many people seem to think that their only object is to
make huge muscle. But to make yourself strong and healthy it is
necessary to begin with your inside and to get the blood into good order
and the heart to work well; that is the secret of the whole thing, and
physical exercises should be taken with that intention. This is the way
to do it:
(_a_) MAKE THE HEART STRONG, in order to pump the blood properly to
every part of the body and so to build up flesh, bone, and muscle.
_Exercise_: The "Struggle" and "Wrist Pushing." See Page 219.
(_b_) MAKE THE LUNGS STRONG, in order to revive the blood with fresh
air.
_Exercise_: "Deep breathing." See Page 227.
(_c_) MAKE THE SKIN PERSPIRE, to get rid of the dirt from the blood.
_Exercise_: Bath, or dry rub with a damp towel every day.
(_d_) MAKE THE STOMACH WORK, to feed the blood.
_Exercise_: "Cone," or "Body Bending," and "Twisting." See Page 237.
(_e_) MAKE THE BOWELS ACTIVE, to remove the remains of food and dirt
from the body.
EXERCISE: "Body Bending" and "Kneading the Abdomen." Drink plenty of
good water. Regular daily "rear."
(_f_) WORK MUSCLES IN EACH PART OF THE BODY, to make the blood
circulate to that part, and so increase your strength.
_Exercise_: Running and walking, and special exercises of special
muscles, such as "Wrist Pushing," etc.
The secret of keeping well and healthy is to keep your blood clean and
active. These different exercises will do that if you will use them
everyday. Someone has said, "If you practise body exercises every
morning you will never be ill: and if you also drink a pint of hot water
every night you will never die."
The blood thrives on simple good food, plenty of exercise, plenty or
fresh air, cleanliness of the body both inside and out, and proper rest
of body and mind at intervals.
The Japs are particularly strong and healthy, as was shown in the late
war with Russia. There was very little sickness among them and those who
were wounded generally very quickly recovered because their skin was
clean and their blood was in a healthy, sound condition. They are the
best example that we can copy. They keep themselves very clean by having
two or three baths every day.
They eat very plain food, chiefly rice and fruit, and not much of it.
They drink plenty of water, but no spirits. They take lots of exercise.
They make themselves good-tempered and do not worry their brain. They
live in fresh air as much as possible day and night. Their particular
exercise is "Ju-Jitsu," which is more of a game than drill and is
generally played in pairs. And pupils get to like the game so much that
they generally go on with it after their course of instruction has
finished.
By Ju-Jitsu, the muscles and body are developed in a natural way in the
open air as a rule. It requires no apparatus, and once the muscles have
been formed by it they do not disappear again when you cease the
practices as is the case in ordinary gymnastics.
Admiral Kamimura, the great Admiral of our friends the Japanese,
strongly recommends all young men and lads to practise Ju-Jitsu, as it
not only makes them strong, but also quick in the mind.
THE NOSE.
A scout must be able to smell well in order to find his enemy by night.
If he always breathes through the nose and not through the mouth this
helps him considerably. But there are other reasons more important than
that for always breathing through the nose. Fifty years ago, Mr. Catlin
in America wrote a book called "Shut your mouth and save your life," and
he showed how the Red Indians for a long time had adopted that method
with their children to the extent of tying up their jaws at night to
ensure their only breathing through their nose.
Breathing through the nose prevents germs of disease getting from the
air into the throat and stomach, it also prevents a growth in the back
of the throat called "adenoids" which are apt to stop the breathing
power of the nostrils, and also to cause deafness.
For a scout nose-breathing is also specially useful.
By keeping the mouth shut you prevent yourself from getting thirsty when
you are doing hard work. And also at night if you are in the habit of
breathing through the nose it prevents snoring, and snoring is a
dangerous thing if you are sleeping anywhere in an enemy's country.
Therefore practise keeping your mouth shut and breathing through your
nose at all times.
EARS.
A scout must be able to hear well. Generally the ears are very delicate
and once damaged are apt to become incurably deaf. People are too apt to
fiddle about with their ears in cleaning them by putting the corners of
handkerchiefs, hairpins and so on into them, and also stuffing them up
with hard cotton wool, all of which are dangerous with such a delicate
organ as the ear, the drum of the ear being a very delicate,
tightly-stretched skin which is easily damaged. Very many children have
had the drums of their ears permanently injured by getting a box on the
ear.
EYES.
A scout, of course, must have particularly good eyesight; he must be
able to see anything very quickly and to see at a long way off. By
practising your eyes in looking at things at a great distance they will
grow stronger. While you are young you should save your eyes as much as
possible, or they are not strong when you get older: therefore avoid
reading by lamplight as much as possible and also sit with your back or
side to the light when doing any work during the day; if you sit facing
the light it strains your eyes.
The strain of the eyes is a very common failure with growing boys,
although very often they do not know it, and headaches come most
frequently from the eyes being strained; frowning on the part of a boy
is very generally a sign that his eyes are being strained.
A scout, besides having good eyesight, must be able to tell the colour
of things which he sees. Colour blindness is a great infliction which
some boys suffer from. It takes away a pleasure from them, and it also
makes them useless for certain trades and professions.
For instance, a railway signalman or engine-driver or a sailor would not
be much good if he couldn't tell the difference between red and green.
It can very often be cured, and a simple way of doing this, if you find
you are rather colour blind, is to get a collection of little bits of
wool, or paper, of every different kind of colour, and pick out which
you think is red, blue, yellow, green, and so on, and then get someone
to tell you where you were right and where wrong. Then you go at it
again, and in time you will find yourself improving, until you have no
difficulty in recognising the right colours. It is better still to
practise by looking at coloured lights at night in chemists' shops,
railway signals, etc.
TEETH.
A would-be recruit came up to the recruiting officer to be enlisted
during the Boer War. He was found to be a sufficiently strong and
well-made man but when they came to examine his teeth they found that
these were in bad condition, and he was told that he could not be
accepted as a soldier. To this he replied: "But, sir, that seems hard
lines. Surely we don't have to eat the enemy when we've killed them, do
we?"
A scout with bad teeth is no use at all for scouting work, because he
has to live on hard biscuits and hard meat which he cannot possibly eat
or digest if his teeth are not good, and good teeth depend upon how you
look after them when you are young, it means that you should keep them
very carefully clean. At least twice a day they should be brushed, when
you get up in the morning and when you go to bed, both inside and out,
with a tooth brush and tooth powder; and should be rinsed with water if
possible after every meal but especially after eating fruit or acid
food.
Scouts in the jungle cannot always find tooth brushes, but they make
substitutes out of dry sticks which they fray out at the end and make an
imitation of a brush.
Three thousand men had to be sent away from the war in South Africa
because their teeth were so bad that they could not chew the hard
biscuits, etc., on which they had to live there.
[Illustration: Camp Toothbrush.]
"Out West," in America, cowboys are generally supposed to be pretty
rough customers, but they are in reality peace scouts of a high order.
They live a hard life doing hard and dangerous work far away from towns
and civilisation--where nobody sees them. But there is one civilised
thing that they do--they clean their teeth every day, morning and
evening.
Years ago I was travelling through Natal on horseback, and I was anxious
to find a lodging for the night, when I came across a hut evidently
occupied by a white man, but nobody was about. In looking round inside
the hut, I noticed that though it was very roughly furnished there were
several tooth-brushes on what served as a wash-hand stand, so I guessed
that the owner must be a decent fellow, and I made myself at home until
he came in, and I found that I had guessed aright.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_PRACTICES IN DEVELOPING STRENGTH._
MEASUREMENT OF THE BOY.
_It is of paramount importance to teach the young citizen to assume
responsibility for his own development and health._
_Physical drill is all very well as a disciplinary means of development,
but it does not give the lad any responsibility in the matter._
_It is therefore deemed preferable to tell each boy, according to his
age, what ought to be his height, weight, and various measurements (such
as chest, waist, arm, leg, etc.). He is then measured, and learns in
which points he fails to come up to the standard. He can then be shown
which exercises to practise for himself in order to develop those
particular points. Encouragement must afterwards be given by periodical
measurements, say every three months or so._
_Cards can be obtained from the "Boy Scouts" Office, Henrietta Street,
London, W.C., which, besides giving the standard measurements for the
various ages, give columns to be filled in periodically showing the
boy's re-measurements and progress in development. If each boy has his
card it is a great incentive to him to develope himself at odd times
when he has a few minutes to spare._
_Teach how to make camp tooth brushes out of sticks. "Dragon-root"
sticks for cleaning teeth can be got at chemists' shops as samples._
GAMES TO DEVELOP STRENGTH.
BOXING, wrestling, rowing, skipping, cock-fighting, are all valuable
health aids to developing strength.
OLD SPOTTY-FACE (To develop eyesight).--Prepare squares of cardboard
divided into about a dozen small squares. Each scout should take one,
and should have a pencil and go off a few hundred yards, or, if indoors,
as far as space will allow. The umpire then takes a large sheet of
cardboard, with twelve squares ruled on it of about three inch sides if
in the open, or one and a half to two inches if indoors. The umpire has
a number of black paper discs (half an inch diameter) and pins ready,
and sticks about half a dozen on to his card, dotted about where he
likes. He holds up his card so that it can be seen by the scouts. They
then gradually approach, and as they get within sight they mark their
cards with the same pattern of spots. The one who does so at the
farthest distance from the umpire wins. Give five points for every spot
correctly shown, deduct one point for every two inches nearer than the
furthest man. This teaches long sight.
[Illustration: "Spotty-face" for Strengthening the Eyesight.]
"QUICK SIGHT" can also be taught with the same apparatus, by allowing
the scouts to come fairly close, and then merely showing your card for
five seconds, and let them mark their cards from memory. The one who is
most correct wins.
"THE STRUGGLE."--Two players face each other about a yard apart, stretch
arms out sideways, lock fingers of both hands, and lean towards each
other till their chests touch, push chest to chest, and see who can
drive the other back to the wall of the room or on to a goal line. At
first a very short struggle is sufficient to set their hearts pumping,
but after practice for a few days the heart grows stronger and they can
go on for a long time.
[Illustration: The "Struggle" for Strengthening the Heart.]
"WRIST PUSHING" by one man alone. Stand with both your arms to the front
about level with the waist, cross your wrists so that one hand has
knuckles up, the other knuckles down. Clench the fists.
Now make the lower hand press upwards and make the upper hand press
downwards.
Press as hard as you can with both wrists gradually, and only after
great resistance let the lower push the upper one upwards till opposite
your fore-head, then let the upper press the lower down, the lower one
resisting all the time.
These two exercises, although they sound small and simple, if carried
out with all your might, develop most muscles in your body and
especially those about the heart. They should not be carried on too long
at a time, but should be done at frequent intervals during the day for a
minute or so.
"WRIST PUSHING" can also be played by two boys half facing each other,
each putting out the wrist nearest to his opponent, at arm's length;
pressing it against the other's wrist and trying to turn him round
backwards.
BOOKS TO READ.
"Cassell's Physical Educator," by E. Miles (Cassell & Co.). A complete
compendium of all kinds of Physical Training for boys and girls.
"Ju-jitsu." Price 6d. (Published by Richard Fox.)
"School Games," by T. Chesterton. (Educational Supply Association.)
"Boxing," by A. J. Newton, 1s. (C. A. Pearson Ltd.)
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 18.
HEALTH-GIVING HABITS.
Keep Clean--Don't Smoke--Don't Drink--Avoid Self-Abuse--Rise
Early--Laugh and Grow Fat.
HOW TO KEEP HEALTHY.
All the great peace-scouts who have succeeded in exploring or hunting
expeditions in wild countries have only been able to get on by being
pretty good doctors themselves; because diseases, accidents, and wounds
are always being suffered by them or their men, and they don't find
doctors and chemists' shops in the jungles to cure them. So that a scout
who does not know something about doctoring would never get on at all;
he might just as well stay at home for all the good he will be.
Therefore, practise keeping healthy yourself, and then you will be able
to show others how to keep themselves healthy too.
In this way you can do many good turns.
David Livingstone, the great missionary and peace-scout, endeared
himself to the natives by his cleverness as a doctor.
Also, if you know how to look after yourself you need never have to pay
for medicines. The great English poet, Dryden, in his poem, "Cymon and
Iphigenia," wrote that it was better to trust to fresh air and exercise
than to pay doctors' bills to keep yourself healthy:
Better to hunt in fields for health unbought
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught;
The wise, for cure, on exercise depend;
God never made his work for man to mend.
KEEP YOURSELF CLEAN.
In the war in South Africa we lost an enormous number of men dying from
disease as well as from wounds. The Japs, in their war, lost very few
from sickness, and a very small proportion of those who were wounded.
What made the difference? Probably a good many things. Our men were not
so particular as to what water they drank as the Japs were, and they ate
more meat than the Japs; but, also, they did not keep themselves or
their clothes very clean--it was often difficult to find water. The
Japs, on the other hand, kept themselves very clean, with baths every
day.
If you cut your hand when it is dirty it is very likely to fester, and
to become very sore; but if your hand is quite clean and freshly washed
no harm will come of it, it heals up at once. It was the same with
wounds in the war; they became very bad in the case of men who had not
kept themselves clean.
Cleaning your skin helps to clean your blood. The Japs say that half the
good of exercise is lost if you do not have a bath immediately after it.
It may not be always possible for you to get a bath every day, but you
can at any rate rub yourself over with a wet towel, or scrub yourself
with a dry one, and you ought not to miss a single day in doing this if
you want to keep fit and well.
You should also keep clean in your clothing, both your underclothing as
well as that which shows. Beat it out with a stick every day before
putting it on.
And to be healthy and strong you must keep your blood healthy and clean
inside you. This is done by breathing in lots of pure, fresh air, by
deep breathing, and by clearing out all dirty matter from inside your
stomach, which is done by having a "rear" daily, without fail; many
people are the better for having it twice a day. If there is any
difficulty about it one day, drink plenty of good water, both morning
and evening, and practise body-twisting exercises, and all should be
well.
Never start work in the morning without some sort of food inside you, if
it is only a cup of hot water.
Never bathe in deep water very soon after a meal, it is very likely to
cause cramp, which doubles you up, and so you get drowned.
SMOKING.
A scout does not smoke. Any boy can smoke; it is not such a very
wonderful thing to do. But a scout will not do it because he is not such
a fool. He knows that when a lad smokes before he is fully grown up it
is almost sure to make his heart feeble, and the heart is the most
important organ in a lad's body. It pumps the blood all over him to form
flesh, bone, and muscle. If the heart does not do its work the body
cannot grow to be healthy. Any scout knows that smoking spoils his
eyesight, and also his sense of smell, which is of greatest importance
to him for scouting on active service.
[Illustration: The boy who apes the man by smoking will never be much
good.]
[Illustration: A strong and healthy boy has the ball at his feet.]
Sir William Broadbent, the great doctor, and Professor Sims Woodhead
have both told us what bad effects tobacco smoking has on the health of
boys. Numerous well-known sportsmen and others in all kinds of
professions have given up the use of tobacco as they find they can do
better without it. Lord Roberts and Lord Wolseley as soldiers, Lord
Charles Beresford as a sailor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the judge,
Sir William Grantham, all do not smoke, nor do Dr. Grace the cricketer,
Mr. Noble and seven of the chief Australian cricketers, Mr. Eustace
Miles the champion tennis player, Basset the football player, Hanlon the
sculler, Weston the pedestrian, Taylor the golf player, Burnham the
scout, Selous the hunter, and very many other celebrated men. They are
all non-smokers.
The railway and post office authorities in America will not employ boys
who smoke. I know one big employer who not only does not smoke, but will
not employ a boy who does. So with a great many other employers in Great
Britain. In Japan no boy under twenty is allowed to smoke, and if he
does his parents are taken up and fined.
Professor Osler, in speaking against tobacco, said it would be a good
thing if all the beer and spirits in England could be thrown into the
sea one day, and if, on the second day, you dumped all the tobacco there
too it would be very good for everyone in England--although unhealthy
for the fish.
No boy ever began smoking because he liked it, but generally because
either he feared being chaffed by the other boys as afraid to smoke, or
because he thought that by smoking he would look like a great man--when
all the time he only looks like a little ass.
So don't funk, but just make up your own mind for yourself that you
don't mean to smoke till you are grown up; and stick to it. That will
show you to be a man much more than any slobbering about with a
half-smoked cigarette between your lips. The other fellows will in the
end respect you much more, and will probably in many cases secretly
follow your lead. If they do this you will already have done a good
thing in the world, although you are only a boy. From that small start
you will most probably go on and do big things as you grow up.
DRINKING.
A priest in the East End of London has lately stated that out of a
thousand cases of distress known to him only two or three were not
caused by drink.
A soldierly-looking man came up to me one night and brought out his
discharge certificates, showing that he had served with me in South
Africa. He said he could get no work, and he was starving. Every man's
hand was against him, apparently because he was a soldier. My nose and
eyes told me in a moment another tale, and that was the real cause of
his being in distress.
A stale smell of tobacco and beer hung about his clothes, his
finger-tips were yellow with cigarette smoke, he had even taken some
kind of scented lozenge to try and hide the whisky smell in his breath.
No wonder nobody would employ him, or give him more money to drink with,
for that was all that he would do with money if he got it.
Very much of the poverty and distress in this country is brought about
by men getting into the habit of wasting their money and time on drink.
And a great deal of crime, and also of illness, and even madness is due
to the same habit of drinking too much. Liquor--that is beer or
spirits--is not at all necessary to make a man strong and well. Quite
the contrary. The old saying, "Strong drink makes weak men," is a very
true one.
Yet £166,400,000 were spent last year alone on drink in the United
Kingdom--enough to have made every family in the country better off by
£15 if they had drunk water. And this £15 would be increased to £22 if
the men gave up tobacco.
It would be simply impossible for a man who drinks to be a scout. Keep
off liquor from the very first, and make up your mind to have nothing to
do with it. Water, tea, or coffee are quite good enough drinks for
quenching your thirst or for picking you up at any time, or if it is
very hot lemonade or a squeeze of lemon are much better refreshment.
A good scout trains himself pretty well to do without liquid. It is very
much a matter of habit. If you keep your mouth shut when walking or
running, or chew a pebble (which also makes you keep your mouth shut),
you do not get thirsty like you do when you go along with your mouth
open sucking in the air and dry dust. But you must also be in good, hard
condition. If you are fat from want of exercise you are sure to get
thirsty and want to drink every mile. If you do not let yourself drink
the thirst wears off after a short time. If you keep drinking water on
the line of march, or while playing games, it helps to tire you and
spoils your wind.
It is often difficult to avoid taking strong drinks when you meet
friends who want to treat you, but they generally like you all the
better if you say you don't want anything, as then they don't have to
pay for it; if they insist you can take a gingerbeer or something quite
harmless. But it is a stupid fashion when, in order to prove that you
are friends, you have to drink with each other. Luckily it is dying out
now; the best men do not do it because they know it does them no good.
Wasters like to stand about a bar talking and sipping--generally at the
other fellow's expense, but they are wasters, and it is as well to keep
out of their company, if you want to get on and have a good time.
EARLY RISING.
The scout's time for being most active is in the early morning, because
that is the time when wild animals all do their feeding and moving
about; and also in war the usual hour for an attack is just before dawn,
when the attackers can creep up unseen in the dark, and get sufficient
light to enable them to carry out the attack suddenly while the other
people are still asleep.
So a scout trains himself to the habit of getting up very early; and
when once he is in the habit it is no trouble at all to him, like it is
to some fat fellows who lie asleep after the daylight has come.
The Emperor Charlemagne, who was a great scout in the old days, used
always to get up in the middle of the night.
The Duke of Wellington, who, like Napoleon Bonaparte, preferred to sleep
on a little camp bed, used to say, "When it is time to turn over in bed
it is time to turn out?"
Many men who manage to get through more work than others in a day, do so
by getting up an hour or two earlier. By getting up early you also can
get more time for play.
If you get up one hour earlier than other people you get thirty hours a
month more of life than they do; while they have twelve months in the
year you get 365 extra hours, or thirty more days--that is, thirteen
months to their twelve.
The old rhyme has a lot of truth in it when it says,
"Early to bed and early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise."
SMILE.
Want of laughter means want of health. Laugh as much as you can: it does
you good; so whenever you can get a good laugh on. And make other people
laugh too, when possible, as it does them good.
If you are in pain or trouble make yourself smile at it: if you remember
to do this, and force yourself, you will find it really does make a
great difference.
If you read about great scouts like Captain John Smith, the
"Pathfinder," and others, you will generally find that they were pretty
cheery old fellows.
The ordinary boy is apt to frown when working hard at physical
exercises, but the boy scout is required to smile all the time: he drops
a mark off his score whenever he frowns.
HOW TO KEEP HEALTHY.
_PRACTICES._
DEEP BREATHING.--Deep breathing is of the greatest importance for
bringing fresh air into the lungs to be put into the blood, and for
developing the size of the chest, but it should be done carefully,
according to instructions, and not overdone, otherwise it is liable to
strain the heart. The Japs always carry on deep breathing exercise for a
few minutes when they first get up in the morning, and always in the
open air. It is done by sucking air in through the nose until it swells
out your ribs as far as possible, especially at the back; then, after a
pause, you breathe out the air slowly and gradually through the mouth
until you have not a scrap of air left in you, then after a pause draw
in your breath again through the nose as before.
Singing, if carried out on a system like that of Mr. Tomlin's, develops
simultaneously proper breathing and development of heart, lungs, chest,
and throat, together with dramatic feeling in rendering the song.
[Illustration: "Japanese Cock Fighting" to Strengthen the Legs.]
For instance, his method of "Hooligan Taming" is to get a large crowd of
wild lads together, and to start shouting a chorus to piano
accompaniment--say, "Hearts of Oak." He shouts the suggestion of a story
as they go along with it; how they are marching boldly to attack a fort
which they mean to carry in style for the glory of themselves and their
country, when suddenly they become aware that the enemy does not know of
their approach, so they must creep and crawl, "in a whisper," as they
stealthily get nearer to the fort. Closer and closer they come with
gradually increasing tone. Now charge on up the hill, through shot and
shell, a scramble, a rush and a fight, and the fort is theirs. But there
are wounded to be picked up tenderly, and the dead to be laid out
reverently with quiet and measured song, solemn and soft.
[Illustration: "Body Twisting" for Stomach Muscles.]
And then they pick up their arms again, and with the prisoners and
spoils of war they march gaily away in triumph, at the full power of
their lungs.
Old English Morris Dances, too, are excellent practice for winter
evenings, with their quaint music and movements.
BOOKS TO READ.
"What's the Harm in Smoking?" By B. McCall Barbour, 1d. (Published by S.
W. Partridge.)
"In My Youth." Same series. Practical Hints on Purity. (B. M. Barbour,
37 Chambers Street, Edinburgh.)
"What a Young Boy ought to Know." By Sylvanus Stall. 4s. Giving
information and warning to boys regarding the organs of reproduction.
"A Note for Parents." By J. H. Bradley. 3d. (Ballantyne Press, London.)
Suggestions for teaching children about reproduction.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 19.
PREVENTION OF DISEASE.
Camp doctoring--Microbes and how to fight them--Proper
food--Clothing--Use of drill and exercise.
CAMP DOCTORING.
Some years ago, when I was in Kashmir, Northern India, some natives
brought to me a young man on a stretcher who they said had fallen off a
high rock and had broken his back and was dying. I soon found that he
had only dislocated his shoulder and had got a few bruises, and seemed
to think that he ought to die.
So I pulled off my shoe, sat down alongside him facing his head, put my
heel in his arm-pit, got hold of his arm, and pulled with all my force
till the bone jumped into its socket. The pain made him faint and his
friends thought I really had killed him. But in a few minutes he
recovered and found his arm was all right. Then they thought I must be
no end of a doctor, so they sent round the country for all the sick to
be brought in to be cured; and I had an awful time of it for the next
two days. Cases of every kind of disease were carried in and I had
scarcely any drugs with which to treat them, but I did the best I could,
and I really believe that some of the poor creatures got better from
simply _believing_ that I was doing them a lot of good.
But most of them were ill from being dirty and letting their wounds get
poisoned with filth; and many were ill from bad drainage, and from
drinking foul water, and so on.
This I explained to the headmen of the villages, and I hope that I did
some good for their future health.
At any rate, they were most grateful, and gave me a lot of help ever
afterwards in getting good bear-hunting and in getting food, etc.
If I had not known a little doctoring I could have done nothing for
these poor creatures.
MICROBES AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM.
Disease is carried about in the air and in water by tiny invisible
insects called "germs" or "microbes," and you are very apt to breathe
them in through the mouth or to get them in your drink or food and to
swallow them, and then they breed disease inside you. If your blood is
in really good order it generally does not matter, no harm results; but
if your blood is out of order from weakness or constipation--that is,
not going regularly to the "rear"--these microbes will very probably
make you ill. A great point is, therefore, to abolish the microbes if
possible. They like living in dark, damp, and dirty places. And they
come from bad drains, old dustbins, and rotting flesh, etc.; in fact,
generally where there is a bad smell. Therefore, keep your room, or your
camp, and your clothes clean, dry, and as sunny as possible and well
aired; and keep away from places that smell badly. Before your meals you
should always wash your hands and finger-nails, for they are very apt to
harbour microbes which have come from anything that you may have been
handling in the day.
You frequently see notices in omnibuses and public places requesting you
not to spit. The reason for this is that many people spit who have
diseased lungs and from their spittle the microbes of their diseases get
in the air and are breathed by healthy people into their lungs, and they
become also diseased. Often you may have a disease in you for some years
without knowing it and if you spit you are liable to communicate that
disease to sound people; so you should not do it for their sake.
But you need not be afraid of diseases if you breathe through your nose
and keep your blood in good order. It is always well on coming out of a
crowded theatre, church or hall, to cough and blow your nose in order to
get rid of microbes which you might have breathed in from other people
in the crowd. One in every thirty of people that you meet has got the
disease of consumption on him--and it is very catching. It comes very
much from living in houses where the windows are kept always shut up.
The best chance of getting cured of it if you get the disease is to
sleep always out of doors.
A scout has to sleep a great deal in the open air, therefore when he is
in a house he sleeps with the windows as wide open as possible,
otherwise he feels stuffy; and also if he gets accustomed to sleeping in
warm atmosphere he would catch cold when he goes into camp, and nothing
could be more ridiculous or more like a tenderfoot than a scout with a
cold in his head. When once he is accustomed to having his windows open
he will never catch cold in a room.
FOOD.
A good many illnesses come from over-eating or eating the wrong kind of
food.
A scout must know how to take care of himself, else he is of no use. He
must keep himself light and active. Once he has got the right kind of
muscles on he can remain fit without further special exercising of those
muscles, provided that he eats the right kind of food.
Eustace Miles, the tennis and racket champion, does not go into training
before he plays his matches; he knows he has got his muscles rightly
formed, and he simply lives on plain, light food always, and so is
always fit to play a hard game. He never eats meat.
In the siege of Mafeking, when we were put on short commons, those of
the garrison who were accustomed to eat very little at their meals did
not suffer like some people, who had been accustomed to do themselves
well in peace time; these became weak and irritable. Our food there
towards the end was limited to a hunk of pounded-up oats, about the size
of a penny bun, which was our whole bread-supply for the day, and about
a pound of meat and two pints of "sowens," a kind of stuff like
bill-stickers' paste that had gone wrong.
English people as a rule eat more meat than is necessary, in fact they
could do without it altogether if they tried, and would be none the
worse. It is an expensive luxury. The Japanese are as strong as us, but
they do not eat any meat, and only eat small meals of other things.
The cheapest and best foods are Dried Peas, 2d. per lb; Flour, 1s. 4d.
per stone; Oatmeal, 2d. per lb.; Potatoes, 1/2d. per lb.; Hominy,
1-1/2d. per lb.; Cheese at 6d. per lb. Other good foods are fruit,
vegetables, fish, eggs, nuts, rice, and milk, and one can live on these
perfectly well without meat; bananas are especially good food, they are
cheap, have no seeds nor pips to irritate your inside, their skin
protects them from germs of disease and their flesh is of a wholesome
kind and satisfying.
The natives of the West Coast of Africa eat very little else all their
lives and they are fat and happy.
If you have lots of fresh air you do not want much food, if on the other
hand you are sitting indoors all day much food makes you fat and sleepy,
so that in either case you are better for taking a little; still,
growing boys should not starve themselves but, at the same time, they
need not be like that little hog at the school-feast who, when asked,
"Can't you eat any more?" replied, "Yes, I could _eat_ more, but I've no
room to _swallow_ it."
A great cause of illness nowadays is the amount of medicine which
fellows dose themselves with when there is no reason for taking any
medicine at all. The best medicine is open-air and exercise and a big
cup of water in the early morning if you are constipated, and a pint of
hot water on going to bed.
CLOTHING.
A scout's clothing should be of flannel or wool as much as possible,
because it dries easily. Cotton next the skin is not good unless you
change it directly it gets wet--it is so likely to give you a chill, and
a scout is no use if he gets laid up.
One great point that a scout should take care about, to ensure his
endurance and being able to go on the march for a long time, is his
boots.
A scout who gets sore feet with much walking becomes useless.
You should therefore take great care to have good, well-fitting, roomy
boots, and fairly stout ones, and as like the natural shape of your bare
feet as possible with a straighter edge on the inside than bootmakers
usually give to the swagger boot. Scouts have no use for swagger boots.
The feet should be kept as dry as possible; if they are allowed to get
wet the skin is softened and very soon gets blistered and rubbed raw
where there is a little pressure of the boot.
Of course they get wet from perspiration as well as from outside wet.
Therefore to dry this it is necessary to wear good woollen socks.
If a man wears thin cotton or silk socks you can tell at once that he is
no walker. A fellow who goes out to a Colony for the first time is
called a "Tender-foot" because he generally gets sore feet until by
experience he learns how to keep his feet in good order. It is a good
thing to soap or grease your feet and the inside of your socks before
putting them on.
If your feet always perspire a good deal it is a useful thing to powder
them with powder made of boric acid, starch, and oxide of zinc in equal
parts. This powder should be rubbed in between the toes so as to prevent
soft corns forming there. Your feet can be hardened to some extent by
soaking them in alum and water, or salt and water.
Keep your boots soft with lots of grease, mutton fat, dubbin, or castor
oil--especially when they have got wet from rain, etc. Wash the feet
every day.
PRACTICES.
DRILL.
Scouts have to drill to enable them to be moved quickly from one point
to another in good order. Drill also sets them up, and makes them smart
and quick.
It strengthens the muscles which support the body and by keeping the
body upright the lungs and heart get plenty of room to work, and the
inside organs are kept on the proper position for proper digestion of
food and so on.
A slouching position on the other hand depresses all the other organs
and prevents them doing their work properly, so that a man in that
position is generally weak and often ill.
Growing lads are very apt to slouch and should therefore do all they can
to get out of the habit by plenty of physical exercises and drill.
Stand upright when you are standing and when you are sitting down sit
upright with your back well into the back part of the chair. Alertness
of the body whether you are moving, standing, or sitting means alertness
of mind and it is a paying thing to have because many an employer will
select an alert-looking boy for work and pass over a sloucher. When you
have to stoop over writing at a table or even tying a boot-lace do not
round your back but tuck in the small of your back which thus helps to
strengthen your body.
[Illustration: How not to sit.]
[Illustration: How to sit.]
DRILL.--On the word "Alert" the scout stands upright with both feet
together, hands hanging naturally at the sides, fingers straight, and
looking straight to his front.
On the word "Easy" he carries the right foot away six inches to the
right, and clasps his hands behind his back, and can turn his head
about. At the word "Sit Easy" he squats down on the ground in any
position he likes. "Sit Easy" should usually be given whenever you don't
want the boys to be at the "Alert," provided that the ground is dry.
On the command "Quick March," boys move off with the left foot leading,
at a smart pace, swinging the arms freely, as this gives good exercise
to the body and muscles and interior organs.
[Illustration: Walking for Exercise.]
At the command "Double" boys run at a jog-trot with short sharp steps,
hands swinging loosely, not tucked up at the side.
On the command "Scout Pace" the boys march at the quick march for fifty
paces then double fifty paces, and so on alternately running and
walking, until the word is given "Quick March" or "Halt."
"Right turn" each boy turns to the right.
"Follow Your Leader." "Leader Right Turn"--the leading man turns to his
right, the remainder move up to the place where he turned and then
follow after him.
"Front Form" (when "following the leader"). Those in rear run up and
form in line alongside the leader on his left.
"CONE EXERCISES."--Standing at the "Alert" raise both hands as high as
possible over the head, and link fingers, lean backwards, then sway the
arms very slowly round in the direction of a cone so that the hands make
a wide circle above and round the body, the body turning from the hips,
and leaning over to one side then to the front, then to the other side
and then back; this is to exercise the muscles of the waist and stomach,
and should be repeated say six times to either hand. With the eyes you
should be trying to see all that goes on behind you during the movement.
[Illustration: "Body-bending" or "Cone" Exercise.]
"TOUCH THE TOES."--From the position of "Alert" raise the hands above
the head then bend slowly forward and touch the toes with the fingers,
or knuckles of clenched fists, then slowly rise to the original position
and continue the motion a dozen times, the knees not to be bent in
performing this exercise. This makes the body supple, and strengthens
the back and legs.
"SQUATTING EXERCISE."--From the position of the "Alert" bend the knees
and slowly lower the body into a squatting position, the back being kept
upright; after a momentary pause slowly rise to the standing position
again, repeat this a dozen times standing on the toes throughout. The
hands may be resting on the hips or held out straight to the front in
line with the shoulders. This exercise strengthens the leg and feet
muscles.
"LEG RAISING FROM THE BACK."--Lie on your back and slowly raise the legs
till they are upright above you, then slowly lower them almost to the
ground and raise them again, several times in succession. This
strengthens the stomach muscles.
GAMES.
"Ju-jitsu"--contains numerous interesting games to teach grips and
holds, and development of muscles.
"Doctoring"--each scout in turn acts as an explorer or missionary, with
a few simple remedies. Three patients are brought to him in succession
to be treated, each having a different disease or injury. He has to
advise or show what treatment should be carried out.
All ordinary boys' games, where all are players and none lookers-on, are
good for health and cheerfulness--"Leap-frog," "Rounders,"
"Squash-football," "Tip-and run."
BOOKS TO READ.
"Japanese Physical Training," by Irving Hancock. (Pub. Putnam.)
"How to be well and strong," by W. Edwards. 4d. (Melrose.)
"Walking," by C. Lang Neil. 1s. (C. A. Pearson Ltd.) Useful hints on
walking, training, mountain-climbing, food, etc.
"Modern Physical Culture," by C. Lang Neil. 1s. (C. A. Pearson Ltd.)
Gives summary of various systems: Curative exercises; hints on food, on
organs of the body, etc.
"Health and Strength." Monthly Journal. 2d.
CHIVALRY OF THE KNIGHTS.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_One aim of the Boy Scouts scheme is to revive amongst us, if possible,
some of the rules of the knights of old, which did so much for the moral
tone of our race, just as the Bushido of the ancient Samurai Knights has
done, and is still doing, for Japan. Unfortunately, chivalry with us
has, to a large extent, been allowed to die out, whereas in Japan it is
taught to the children, so that it becomes with them a practice of their
life, and it is also taught to children in Germany and Switzerland with
the best results. Our effort is not so much to discipline the boys, as
to teach them to discipline themselves._
_It is impossible in so short a space as I have at my disposal to do
more than touch upon subjects which the instructor may elaborate for
himself. The different qualities which the Knight's Code demanded are
here grouped under the three heads_:
1.--_Chivalry to Others._
2.--_Discipline of Self._
3.--_Self Improvement._
CHAPTER VII.
CHIVALRY of the KNIGHTS.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 20.
CHIVALRY TO OTHERS.
Knights Errant--Helpfulness to Others--Courtesy to Women.
"In days of old, when knights were bold" it must have been a fine sight
to see one of these steel-clad horsemen come riding through the dark
green woods in his shining armour, with shield and lance and waving
plumes, bestriding his gallant war-horse, strong to bear its load, and
full of fire to charge upon an enemy. And near him rode his squire, a
young man, his assistant and companion, who would some day become a
knight.
Behind him rode his group, or patrol of men-at-arms--stout, hearty
warriors, ready to follow their knight to the gates of death if need be.
They were the tough yeomen of the old days, who won so many of her fine
fights for Britain through their pluck and loyal devotion to their
knights.
In peace time, when there was no fighting to be done, the knight would
daily ride about looking for a chance of doing a good turn to any
wanting help, especially woman or child who might be in distress. When
engaged in thus doing good turns he was called a "Knight Errant." His
patrol naturally acted in the same way as their leader, and a
man-at-arms was always equally ready to help the distressed with his
strong right arm. The knights of old were the patrol leaders of the
nation, and the men-at-arms were the scouts.
You patrol leaders and scouts are therefore very like the knights and
their retainers, especially if you keep your honour ever before you in
the first place and do your best to help other people who are in trouble
or who want assistance. Your motto is, "Be Prepared" to do this, and the
motto of the knights was a similar one, "Be Always Ready."
Chivalry--that is, the order of the knights--was started in England some
1500 years ago by King Arthur.
On the death of his father, King Uther Pendragon, he was living with his
uncle, and nobody knew who was to be King. He did not himself know that
he was son of the late King.
Then a great stone was found in the churchyard, into which a sword was
sticking, and on the stone was written:
"Whosoever pulleth this sword out of this stone is the rightwise King
born of all England."
All the chief lords had a try at pulling it out, but none could move it.
That day there was a tournament at which Arthur's cousin was to fight,
but when he got to the ground he found he had left his sword at home,
and he sent Arthur to fetch it. Arthur could not find it, but
remembering the sword in the churchyard he went there and pulled at it,
and it came out of the stone at once; and he took it to his cousin.
After the sports he put it back again into the stone; and again they all
tried to pull it out, but could not move it, but when he tried he drew
it out quite easily. So he was proclaimed King.
He afterwards got together a number of knights, and used to sit with
them at a great round table, and so they were called the "Knights of the
Round Table." The table is still to be seen at Winchester.
ST. GEORGE.
They had as their patron saint St. George, because he was the only one
of all the saints who was a horseman. He is the patron saint of cavalry
and scouts all over Europe.
St. George is the special saint of England. The battle-cry of the
knights used to be, "For Saint George and Merrie England!"
St. George's Day is 23rd April, and on that day all good scouts wear a
rose in his honour and fly their flags. Don't forget it on the next 23rd
April.
THE KNIGHTS' CODE.
The laws of the knights were these:
"_Be Always Ready_, with your armour on, except when you are taking
your rest at night.
Defend the poor, and help them that cannot defend themselves.
Do nothing to hurt or offend anyone else.
Be prepared to fight in the defence of England.
At whatever you are working try and win honour and a name for
honesty.
Never break your promise.
Maintain the honour of your country with your life.
Rather die honest than live shamelessly.
Chivalry requireth that youth should be trained to perform the most
laborious and humble offices with _cheerfulness_ and grace; and to
do good unto others."
These are the first rules with which the old knights started, and from
which the scout laws of to-day come.
A knight (or scout) is at all times a gentleman. So many people seem to
think that a gentleman must have lots of money. That does not make a
gentleman. A gentleman is anyone who carries out the rules of chivalry
of the knights.
A London policeman, for instance, is a gentleman, because he is well
disciplined, loyal, polite, brave, good-tempered, and helpful to women
and children.
UNSELFISHNESS.
Captain John Smith, the old English adventurer of three hundred years
ago, was a pretty tough customer to deal with, as he had fought in every
part of the world and had been wounded over and over again; but he also
had a good, kind heart within him. He was as good a type of scout as you
could find anywhere. One of his favourite expressions was, "We were
born, not for ourselves, but to do good to others," and he carried this
out very much in his life, for he was the most unselfish of men.
SELF-SACRIFICE.
King Richard I., who was one of the first of the Scouts of the Empire,
left his kingdom, his family, and everything to go and fight against the
enemies of the Christian religion, and very nearly lost his kingdom by
doing so, for he was absent for some years, and in the meantime his
brother tried to usurp his place. On his way home from the wars in
Palestine he was caught by the King of Austria, and was put by him in
prison, where he lingered for twelve months. He was discovered by his
minstrel, Blondel, who knowing that he must have been captured somewhere
went about Europe singing his favourite songs outside the prisons until
he was answered from inside; and so he found him and procured his
release.
(See "The Talisman," by Sir Walter Scott.)
But self-sacrifice is also to be found among us to-day. Only the other
day a lad of eighteen named Currie saw a little girl playing on the
railway line at Clydebank in front of an approaching train. He tried to
rescue her, but he was lame from an injury he had got at football, and
it delayed him in getting her clear. The train knocked both of them
over, and both were killed.
But Currie's gallant attempt is an example of chivalry for scouts to
follow. It was sacrifice of himself in the attempt to save a child.
KINDNESS.
"Kindness and gentleness are great virtues," says an old Spanish
proverb, and another says, "Oblige without regarding whom you oblige,"
which means be kind to anyone, great or small, rich or poor.
The great point about a knight was that he was always doing kindnesses
or good turns to people. His idea was that everyone must die, but you
should make up your mind that before your time comes you will do
something good. Therefore, do it at once, for you never know when you
may be going off.
So, with the scouts, it has been made one of our laws that we do a good
turn to somebody every day. It does not matter how small that good turn
may be, if it were only to help an old woman lift her bundle, or to
guide a child across a crowded street, or to put a halfpenny in the
poor-box. Something good ought to be done each day of your life, and you
should start to-day to carry out this rule, and never forget it during
the remaining days of your life. Remember the knot in your necktie and
on your scout's badge--they are reminders to you to do a good turn. And
do your good turn not only to your friends, but to strangers and even to
your enemies.
When the Russians were besieged in Port Arthur by the Japanese in 1905,
the Japs got close up to their forts by digging long, deep trenches,
into which the Russians were not able to shoot. On one occasion they
were so close that a Russian soldier was able to throw a letter into the
Japanese trench. In this letter he said that he wanted to send a message
to his mother in Russia, as she was very anxious about him; but as Port
Arthur was now cut off from all communication he begged that the Japs
would send the message for him; and he inclosed a note for his mother
and a gold coin to pay the cost.
The Japanese soldier who found the note, instead of tearing up the
letter and keeping the money, did what every scout would do, took it to
his officer, and the officer telegraphed the Russian's message to his
mother, and threw a note back into the enemy's fort to tell him that he
had done so.
This, with other instances of chivalry on both sides, is described in
Mr. Richmond Smith's book, "The Siege and Fall of Port Arthur."
GENEROSITY.
Some people are fond of hoarding up their money and never spending it.
It is well to be thrifty, but it is also well to give away money where
it is wanted; in fact, that is part of the object of saving up your
money. In being charitable, be careful that you do not fall into the
mistake of false charity. That is to say, it is very easy and comforting
to you to give a penny to a poor beggar in the street, but you ought not
to do it. That poor beggar is ninety-nine times out of a hundred an
arrant old fraud, and by giving your penny you are encouraging him and
others to go on with that trade. There may be, probably are, hundreds of
really poor and miserable people hiding away, whom you never see and to
whom that penny would be a godsend. The Charity Organisation Society
knows where they are, and which they are, and if you give your penny to
them, they will put it into the right hands for you.
You need not be rich in order to be charitable. Many of the knights were
poor men. At one time some of them wore as their crest two knights
riding on one horse, which meant that they were too poor to afford a
horse apiece.
TIPS.
Then "tips" are a very bad thing.
Wherever you go, people want to be tipped for doing the slightest thing
which they ought to do out of common good feeling. A scout will never
accept a tip, even if it is offered him. It is often difficult to
refuse, but for a scout it is easy. He has only to say, "Thank you very
much, but I am a scout, and our rules don't allow us to accept anything
for doing a good turn."
"Tips" put you on a wrong footing with everyone.
You cannot work in a friendly way with a man if you are thinking how
much "tip" you are going to get out of him, or he is thinking how much
he'll have to "tip" you. And all scouts' work for another ought to be
done in a friendly way.
Of course, proper pay that is earned by your work is another thing, and
you will be right to accept it.
FRIENDLINESS.
The great difference in a Colonial bushman and a stay-at-home Briton is
that the Colonial is in shirt-sleeves while the other is buttoned up in
his coat, and their characters are much the same. The Colonial is open
and cheery with everybody at once, while the Briton is rather inclined
to shut himself up from his neighbours inside his coat, and takes a deal
of drawing out before he becomes friendly. The free, open-air,
shirt-sleeve habits of the Colonial do away with this, and life becomes
much more pleasant to everybody all round. A boy scout should remember
that he is like the Colonial, and, like Kim, the "friend of all the
world."
But don't let your friendliness lead you into that foolery that is too
common in England, namely, throwing away your hard-earned savings in
"standing treat" to your friends.
POLITENESS.
One of the stories that the knights used to tell as an example of
politeness was that Julius Cæsar, when he was entertained to supper by a
poor peasant, was so polite that when the man gave him a dish of pickles
to eat, thinking they were the sort of vegetables that a high-born
officer would like, Cæsar ate the whole dish, and pretended to like
them, although they burnt his mouth and disagreed with him considerably.
In Spain you ask a man the way--he does not merely point it out, but
takes off his hat, bows, and says that it will be a great pleasure to
him to show it, and walks with you till he has set you properly upon it.
He will take no reward.
A Frenchman will take off his hat when he addresses a stranger, as you
may often see him do in London, even when he asks a policeman the way.
The Dutch fishermen, big and brawny as they are, take up the whole
street when walking down it; but when a stranger comes along they stand
to one side, and smilingly take off their caps to let him pass.
A lady told me that when in one of the far west Canadian townships she
met a group of wild-looking cowboys walking down the street, she felt
quite alarmed. But as they got near they stood to one side, and took off
their hats with the greatest respect, and made way for her.
COURTESY TO WOMEN.
The knights of old were particularly attentive in respect and courtesy
to women.
Sir Nigel Loring in "The White Company" is a type of a chivalrous knight
of the old times. Although very small, and half blind by reason of some
lime which an enemy had thrown in his eyes early in his career, he was
an exceedingly brave man, and at the same time very humble, and very
helpful to others.
But above all things he reverenced women. He had a big, plain lady as
his wife, but he always upheld her beauty and virtue, and was ready to
fight anybody who doubted him.
Then with poor women, old or young, he was always courteous and helpful.
And that is how a scout should act.
King Arthur, who made the rules of chivalry, was himself chivalrous to
women of whatever class.
One day a girl rushed into his hall crying for help. Her hair was
streaming and smeared with mud, her arms were torn with brambles, and
she was dressed in rags. She had been ill-treated by a band of robbers
who roved the country, doing all the harm they could. When he heard her
tale King Arthur sprang on to his horse and rode off himself to the
robbers' cave, and even at the risk of his own life he fought and
defeated them, so that they could no more trouble his people.
When walking with a lady or a child, a scout should always have her on
his left side, so that his right is free to protect her.
This rule is altered when walking in the streets: then a man will walk
on the side of her nearest to the traffic, to protect her against
accident, or mud-splashes, etc.
In meeting a woman or a child, a man should, as a matter of course,
always make way for her, even if he has to step off the pavement into
the mud.
So also in riding in a crowded tram or railway carriage no man worthy of
the name will allow a woman or a child to stand up if he has a seat. He
will at once give it up to the woman and stand himself. As a scout, you
should set an example in this by being the first man in the carriage to
do it. And in doing so, do it cheerfully, with a smile, so that she may
not think you are annoyed at having to do it.
When in the street always be on the look out to help women and children.
A good opportunity is when they want to cross a street, or to find the
way, or to call a cab or 'bus. If you see them, go and help them at
once--and don't accept any reward.
The other day I saw a boy help a lady out of a carriage, and as he shut
the door after her, she turned to give him some money, but he touched
his cap, and smilingly said, "No, thank you, Marm; it's my duty," and
walked off. So I shook hands with him, for I felt that although he had
not been taught, he was a scout by nature.
This is the kind of courtesy one wants to see more amongst boys of
to-day. Only the other day in London, a girl who had been robbed ran
after a thief and pursued him till he dashed down into a narrow alley,
where she could not follow, but she waited for him; so did the crowd.
And when he came out again, she collared him and struggled to prevent
him escaping; but not one of the crowd would help her, although there
were men and boys present there. They must have been a poor lot not to
help a girl!
Of course, in accidents men and boys will always see that the women and
children are safely got out of danger, before they think of going
themselves. In two wrecks which occurred in 1906 on the south coast of
England, viz., the _Jebba_, and the _Suevic_, it was very noticeable how
carefully arrangements were made for saving the women and children and
old people, before any idea was given as to how the men were to be
rescued. You should carry your courtesy on with ladies at all times. If
you are sitting down and a lady comes into the room, stand up, and see
if you can help her in any way before you sit down.
Don't lark about with a girl whom you would not like your mother or
sister to see you with.
Don't make love to any girl unless you mean to marry her.
Don't marry a girl unless you are in a position to support her, and to
support some children.
PRACTICES.
Other ways of doing good turns, are such small things as these: sprinkle
sand on a frozen road where horses are liable to slip; remove orange or
banana skins from the pavement, as they are apt to throw people down;
don't leave gates open, and don't injure fences or walk over crops in
the country; help old people in drawing water or carrying fuel, etc., to
their homes; help to keep the streets clean by removing scraps of paper.
[Illustration: A Scout looking out ready to help others.]
SCOUT'S UNIFORM.--_Scout hat; Handkerchief (not a white one) round neck;
Shirt (not white); Belt, with pouch; Shorts, with hip pocket; Stockings,
with coloured garters; Boots or Shoes, with good nails; Long Stick for
feeling way; Whistle; Haversack, with food; Coat rolled, with dry socks
and vest inside in pockets._
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_HOW TO PRACTISE CHIVALRY._
_Make each scout tie a knot in his necktie every morning as a reminder
to carry out his idea of doing a good turn every day, till it becomes a
habit with him._
_Take your boys to an armoury, such as the Tower of London or South
Kensington Museum, and explain to them the armour and weapons of the
knights._
_Make a scout bring in a boy, who is a total stranger, as his guest for
the evening to play in club games, and hear camp yarns, etc._
GAMES.
"KNIGHT ERRANTRY."--Scouts go out singly, or in pairs, or as a patrol.
If in a town, to find women or children in want of help, and to return
and report, on their honour, what they have done. If in the country call
at any farms or cottages and ask to do odd jobs--for nothing. The same
can be made into a race called a "Good Turn" race.
PLAY.
"King Arthur and the Round Table." See Part VI.
Also other stories of chivalry, as in "Stories of King Arthur."
BOOKS TO READ.
"Ivanhoe," by Sir Walter Scott.
"Stories of King Arthur." Cutler. 3s. 6d.
"The White Company," by Sir Conan Doyle, 1s.
"The Broad Stone of Honour," by Kenelm Digby.
"Fifty-two stories of Chivalry."
"Puck of Pook's Hill," by Rudyard Kipling.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 21.
SELF-DISCIPLINE.
Honour--Obedience--Courage--Cheeriness.
TO INSTRUCTORS.
_The self-disciplined man is described by Browning as_:
One who never turned his back but marched breast forward;
Never doubted clouds would break;
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph;
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep--to wake.
_Lycurgus said that the wealth of a state lay not so much in money as in
men who were sound in body and mind, with a body fit for toil and
endurance, and with a mind well disciplined, and seeing things in their
proper proportions._
HONOUR.
The true knight placed his honour before all things. It was sacred, and
he will never do a dishonourable action, such as telling an untruth or
deceiving his superiors or employers. A man who is honourable is always
to be trusted, and always commands the respect of his fellow men. His
honour guides him in everything that he does. A captain sticks to the
ship till the last, in every wreck that was ever heard of. Why? She is
only a lump of iron and wood; his life is as valuable as that of any of
the women and children on board, but he makes everybody get away safely
before he attempts to save his more valuable life. Why? Because the ship
is his ship, and he has been taught that it is his duty to stick to it,
and he considers it would be dishonourable in him to do otherwise; so he
puts honour before safety. So also a scout should value his honour most
of anything.
FAIR PLAY.--Britons, above all other people, insist on fair play.
If you see a big bully going for a small or weak boy, you stop him
because it is not "fair play."
And if a man, in fighting another, knocks him down, he must not hit or
kick him while he is down; everybody would think him an awful beast if
he did. Yet there is no law about it; you could not get him imprisoned
for it. The truth is that "fair play" is an old idea of Chivalry that
has come down to us from the knights of old, and we must always keep up
that idea.
Other nations are not all so good.
Often we hear of wounded men being again shot and killed in battle when
they are lying helpless on the ground. In the South African War, when
Major MacLaren, now our Manager in the Boy Scouts, was lying helpless,
with his thigh broken by a bullet and his horse shot on top of him, a
Boer came up and finding him alive, fired two more shots into him.
Luckily he recovered and is alive to-day. But that Boer had no Chivalry
in him.
HONESTY.--Honesty is a form of Honour. An honourable man can be trusted
with any amount of money or other valuables with the certainty that he
will not steal it.
Cheating at any time is a sneaking, underhand thing to do.
When you feel inclined to cheat in order to win a game, or feel very
distressed when a game in which you are playing is going against you,
just say to yourself, "After all, it is only a game. It won't kill me if
I do lose. One can't win always, though I will stick to it in case of a
chance coming."
If you keep your head in this way, you will very often find that you win
after all from not being over-anxious or despairing.
And don't forget, whenever you _do_ lose a game, if you are a true
scout, you will at once cheer the winning team or shake hands with and
congratulate the fellow who has beaten you.
This rule will be carried out in _all_ games and competitions among Boy
Scouts.
LOYALTY.--Loyalty was, above all, one of the distinguishing points about
the knights. They were always devotedly loyal to their King and to their
country, and were always ready and eager to die in their defence. In the
same way a follower of the Knights should be loyal not only to the King
but also to everyone who is above him, whether his officers or
employers, and he should stick to them through thick and thin as part of
his duty.
He should also be equally loyal to his own friends and should support
them in evil times as well as in good times.
Loyalty to duty was shown by the Roman soldier of old who stuck to his
post when the city of Pompeii was overwhelmed with ashes and lava from
the volcano Vesuvius. His remains are still there, with his hand
covering his mouth and nose to prevent the suffocation which in the end
overcame him.
His example was followed at some manoeuvres not long ago by a cadet of
Reigate Grammar School who when posted as sentry was accidentally left
on his post when the field day was over. But though night came on and it
was very cold--in November last--the lad stuck to his post till he was
found in the middle of the night, half-perished with cold, but alive and
alert.
OBEDIENCE AND DISCIPLINE.
Discipline and obedience are as important as bravery for scouts and for
soldiers.
The _Birkenhead_ was a transport-ship carrying troops. She had on board
630 soldiers with their families and 130 seamen. Near the Cape of Good
Hope one night, she ran on to some rocks, and began to break up. The
soldiers were at once paraded on deck. Some were told off to get out the
boats, and to put the women and children into them, and others were told
off to get the horses up out of the hold, and to lower them overboard
into the sea in order that they might have a chance of swimming ashore.
When this had all been done it was found that there were not enough
boats to take the men, and so the men were ordered to remain in their
ranks. Then the ship broke in half and began to go down. The Captain
shouted to the men to jump over and save themselves, but the Colonel,
Colonel Seaton, said "No, keep your ranks." For he saw that if they swam
to the boats and tried to get in they would probably sink them too. So
the men kept their ranks and as the ship rolled over and sank they gave
a cheer and went down with her. Out of the whole 760 on board, only 192
were saved, but even those would probably have been lost had it not been
for the discipline and self-sacrifice of the others.
Last year a British Training Ship, the _Fort Jackson_, full of
boy-sailors was run into by a steamer, but just as on the _Birkenhead_
there was no panic or crying out. The boys fell in quickly on parade,
put on their lifebelts, and faced the danger calmly and well. And not a
life was lost.
DISCIPLINE.--Gibraltar is a great big fortified rock which belongs to
England, down on the South Coast of Spain. One hundred and twenty years
ago it was besieged by the Spanish and French armies together.
The Spanish Army attacked Gibraltar on the land side, while the French
attacked it by sea, but though they fought hard and with greatest
endurance for over three years, the British troops defending the place
were a match for them and held out successfully until they were relieved
by the Fleet from home.
General Elliot, who had been a Cavalry officer in the 15th Hussars,
commanded the troops at Gibraltar, and it was largely owing to his
strict discipline that the Garrison succeeded in holding out. Every man
had learnt to obey orders without any hesitation or question.
One day a man disobeyed an order, so General Elliot had him up before
him and explained that for a man to be insubordinate at such a time
showed that he could not be in his right senses; he must be mad. So he
ordered that his head should be shaved and that he should be blistered,
bled, and put into a strait-waistcoat and should be put in the cells,
with bread and water, as a lunatic, and should also be prayed for in
church!
HUMILITY.--Humility or being humble was one of the things which was
practised by the knights, that is to say that, although they were
generally superior to other people in fighting or campaigning, they
never allowed themselves to swagger about it. So Don't Swagger.
And don't imagine that you have got rights in this world except those
that you earn for yourself. You've got the right to be believed if you
earn it by always telling the truth, and you've got the right to go to
prison if you earn it by thieving; but there are lots of men who go
about howling about their rights who have never done anything to earn
any rights. Do your duty first and you will get your rights afterwards.
FORTITUDE.--Then the knights were men who never said "Die" till they
were dead; they were always ready to stick it out till the last
extremity, but it is a very common fault with men to give in to trouble
or fear long before there is any necessity. They often give up working
because they don't get success all at once, and probably if they stuck
to it a little longer, success would come. A man must expect hard work
and want of success at first.
COURAGE.
Very few men are born brave, but any man can make himself brave if he
tries--and especially if he begins trying when he is a boy.
The brave man dashes into danger without any hesitation, when a less
brave man is inclined to hang back. It is very like bathing. A lot of
boys will come to a river to bathe, and will cower shivering on the
bank, wondering how deep the water is, and whether it is very cold--but
the brave one will run through them and take his header into the water,
and will be swimming about happily a few seconds later.
The thing is, when there is danger before you, don't stop and look at
it--the more you look at it the less you will like it--but take the
plunge, go boldly in at it, and it won't be half so bad as it looked,
when you are once in it.
In the late war between Japan and Russia some Japanese pioneers had been
ordered to blow up the gate of a Russian fort so that the attackers
could get in. After nearly all of them had been shot down, a few of them
managed to get to the gate with their charges of powder. These had to be
"tamped" or jammed tight against the door somehow, and then fired. The
Japs "tamped" them by pushing them against the door with their chests;
they then lit their matches, fired the charge, and blew up the gates,
but blew up themselves in doing so. But their plucky self-sacrifice
enabled their comrades to get in and win the place for the Emperor.
GOOD TEMPER AND CHEERINESS.
The knights laid great stress on being never out of temper. They thought
it bad form to lose their temper, and to show anger. Captain John Smith,
of whom I spoke just now, was himself a type of a cheerful man. In fact,
towards the end of his life two boys (and he was very fond of boys) to
whom he told his adventures, wrote them down in a book, but they said
that they found great difficulty in hearing all that he said, because he
roared with laughter so over his own descriptions of his troubles. But
it is very certain, that had he not been a cheery man, he never could
have got through half the dangers with which he was faced at different
times in his career.
Over and over again he was made prisoner by his enemies--sometimes
savage enemies--but he managed always to captivate them with his
pleasant manner and become friends with them, so that often they let him
go, or did not trouble to catch him when he made his escape.
If you do your work cheerfully, your work becomes much more of a
pleasure to you, and also if you are cheerful it makes other people
cheerful as well, which is part of your duty as a scout. Mr. J. M.
Barrie writes: "Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others, cannot
keep happiness from themselves," which means, if you make other people
happy, you make yourself happy.
If you are in the habit of taking things cheerfully, you will very
seldom find yourself in serious trouble, because if a difficulty or
annoyance or danger seems very great, you will, if you are wise, force
yourself to laugh at it, although I will allow it is very difficult to
do so at first. Still, the moment you do laugh, most of the difficulty
seems to disappear at once, and you can tackle it quite easily.
Good temper can be attained by a boy who wants to have it, and it will
help him in every game under the sun, and more especially in difficulty
and danger, and will often keep him in a situation where a
short-tempered fellow gets turned out, or leaves in a huff.
Bad language and swearing are generally used, like smoking, by boys who
want to try and show off how manly they are, but it only makes them look
like fools. Generally, a man who swears is a man easily upset, and loses
his head in a difficult situation, and he is not, therefore, to be
depended upon. You want to be quite undisturbed under the greatest
difficulties; and so when you find yourself particularly anxious or
excited, or angry, don't swear, force yourself to smile, and it will set
you right in a moment.
Captain John Smith, who neither smoked nor swore, had a way of dealing
with swearers, which is also adopted by our scouts. He says in his diary
that when his men were cutting down trees, the axes blistered their
tender fingers, so that at about every third blow, a loud oath would
drown the echo of the axe. To remedy this he devised a plan of having
every man's oath noted down, and at night, for every oath, he had a can
of water poured down the swearer's sleeve, "with which an offender was
so washed, that a man would scarce hear an oath in a week."
BOOKS TO READ.
"Courage." By Charles Wagner. (Published by T. Fisher Unwin, London.)
"Golden Deeds." (Macmillan.)
"Parents and Children." Miss Charlotte Mason.
"Duty." By Samuel Smiles, 2s. (Murray.) (Published by Kegan Paul.)
PRACTICE IN SELF-DISCIPLINE.
Practice unselfishness by a picnic to which all contribute what they are
able to, according to their means. No remarks to be allowed on the
amounts given.
GAMES.
Call for volunteers for some dangerous enterprise, such as "Dispatch
Running," or some other game made dangerous by the condition that if the
scout selected to do the dangerous job fails he will lose his life; that
is, will forfeit his scout's badge permanently. If he succeeds he may
get up to 15 marks towards a badge of merit.
Any games such as football, basketball, etc., where rules are strictly
enforced, are good for teaching discipline and unselfishness.
Ju-jitsu has many excellent points, too, in that direction.
"Bowmanship."--Crossbow shooting. Scouts should, if possible, make their
own crossbows.
"Longbowmanship" as by the archers of the Middle Ages. Scouts to make
their own bows and arrows if possible. Read Aylward's doings in "The
White Company."
"Quarter Staff Play" with scouts' staves, as played by the yeomen and
apprentices in old days.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 22.
SELF-IMPROVEMENT.
Religion--Thrift--How to get on.
TO INSTRUCTORS.
_This camp fire yarn opens to instructors a wide field for the most
important work of all in this scheme of Boy Scouts, and gives you an
opportunity for doing really valuable work for the nation._
_The prevailing want of religion should be remedied by a practical
working religion rather than a too spiritual one at first._
SELF-EMPLOYMENT.--_A great amount of poverty and unemployedness results
from boys being allowed to run riot outside the school walls as loafers,
or from being used early in life as small wage-earners, such as errand
boys, etc., and then finding themselves at the commencement of manhood
without any knowledge of a trade to go on with, and unable to turn their
hand to any work out of their one immediate line. They are helpless and
unemployable. It is here that as instructor you can do invaluable work
for the boy, by getting each in turn to talk privately over his future,
and to map out a line for himself, and to start preparing himself for
it. Encourage him to take up "hobbies" or handicrafts._
_The suggestions offered here are, owing to the want of space, very
limited in number, but your own experience or imagination will probably
provide many more._
DUTY TO GOD.
An old British chieftain, some thirteen hundred years ago, said:
Our life has always seemed to me like the flight of a sparrow
through the great hall, when one is sitting at meals with the
log-fire blazing on the hearth, and all is storm and darkness
outside. He comes in, no one knows from where, and hovers for a
short time in the warmth and light, and then flies forth again into
the darkness. And so it is with the life of a man; he comes no one
knows from where; he is here in the world for a short time till he
flies forth again, no one knows whither. But now you show us that if
we do our duty during our life we shall not fly out into darkness
again when life is ended, since Christ has opened a door for us to
enter a brighter room, a Heaven where we can go and dwell in peace
for ever.
This old chief was speaking for all the chiefs of northern England when
King Edwin had introduced to them a knowledge of the Christian religion;
and they adopted it then and there as one more comforting to them than
their old Pagan worship of heathen gods; and ever since those days the
Christian religion has been the one to rule our country.
Religion is a very simple thing:
1st. To believe in God.
2nd. To do good to other people.
The old knights, who were the scouts of the nation, were very religious.
They were always careful to attend church or chapel, especially before
going into battle or undertaking any serious difficulty. They considered
it was the right thing always to Be Prepared for death. In the great
church of Malta you can see to-day where the old knights used to pray,
and they all stood up and drew their swords during the reading of the
Creed, as a sign that they were prepared to defend the gospel with their
swords and lives. Besides worshipping God in church, the knights always
recognised His work in the things which He made, such as animals,
plants, and scenery. And so it is with peace scouts to-day that wherever
they go they love the woodlands, the mountains, and the prairies, and
they like to watch and know about the animals that inhabit them and the
wonders of the flowers and plants. No man is much good unless he
believes in God and obeys His laws. So every scout should have a
religion.
There are many kinds of religion such as Roman Catholics, Protestants,
Jews, Mohammedans, and so on, but the main point about them is that they
all worship God, although in different ways. They are like an army which
serves one king, though it is divided into different branches, such as
cavalry, artillery, and infantry, and these wear different uniforms. So,
when you meet a boy of a different religion from your own, you should
not be hostile to him, but recognise that he is like a soldier in your
own army, though in a different uniform, and still serving the same king
as you.
In doing your duty to God, always be grateful to Him. Whenever you enjoy
a pleasure or a good game, or succeed in doing a good thing, thank Him
for it, if only with a word or two, just as you say grace after a meal.
And it is a good thing to bless other people. For instance, if you see a
train starting off, just pray for God's blessing on all that are in the
train and so on.
In doing your duty towards man, be helpful and generous and also always
be grateful for any kindness done to you, and be careful to show that
you are grateful.
Remember that a present given to you is not yours until you have thanked
for it. While you are the sparrow flying through the Hall, that is to
say, while you are living your life on this earth, try and do something
good which may remain after you. One writer says:
I often think that when the sun goes down the world is hidden by a
big blanket from the light of Heaven, but the stars are little holes
pierced in that blanket by those who have done good deeds in this
world. The stars are not all the same size; some are big, some
little, and some men have done great deeds and others have done
small deeds, but they have made their hole in the blanket by doing
good before they went to Heaven.
Try and make your hole in the blanket by good work while you are on the
earth.
It is something to _be_ good, but it is far better to _do_ good.
THRIFT.
It is a funny thing that out of you boys who now read these words, some
of you are certain to become rich men, and some of you may die in
poverty and misery. And it just depends on your own selves which you are
going to do.
And you can very soon tell which your future is going to be.
The fellow who begins making money as a boy will go on making it as a
man. You may find it difficult to do at first, but it will come easier
later on; but if you begin and if you go on, remember, you are pretty
certain to succeed in the end--especially if you get your money by hard
work.
If you only try to make it by easy means--that is by betting, say, on a
football match or a horse-race--you are bound to lose after a time.
Nobody who makes bets ever wins in the end; it is the book-maker, the
man who receives the bets, that scores over it. Yet there are thousands
of fools who go on putting their money on because they won a bit once or
hope to win some day.
Any number of poor boys have become rich men--but in nearly every case
it was because they meant to do so from the first; they worked for it,
and put every penny they could make into the bank to begin with.
So each one of you has the chance if you like to take it. The great
owner of millions of pounds, J. Astor, began his career as a poor
boy-pedlar with seven German flutes as his stock-in-trade. He sold them
for more than he gave and went on increasing his business.
The knights of old were ordered by their rules to be thrifty, that is to
save money as much as possible, not to expend large sums on their own
enjoyment, but to save it in order that they might keep themselves and
not be a burden to others, and also in order that they might have more
to give away in charity; and if they had no money of their own, they
were not allowed to beg for it, they must work and make it in one way or
another. Thus money-making goes with manliness, hard work, and sobriety.
Boys are not too young to work for money.
Mr Thomas Holmes, the police-court missionary, tells us how hundreds of
poor boys in London are working pluckily and well at making their
living, even while doing their school work. They get up early, at
half-past four in the morning, and go round with milk or bakers' barrows
till about eight, and after that off to school; back in the afternoon to
the shop to clean the pails and cans. They save up their money every
day; those who have mothers, hand it over to them; those who have not,
store it up or bank it. They are regular men before they are twelve
years of age, and good examples to other boys wherever they may be.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY.
There are many ways by which a scout, or a patrol working together, can
make money, such as:
CARPENTERING.--Making arm-chairs, recovering old furniture, etc., is a
very paying trade. Fretwork and carving, picture-frames, birdcages,
cabinets, carved pipe-bowls, can be sold through a shop.
Get permission to cut certain sticks in hedges or woods and trim them
into walking-sticks, after hanging them with weights attached to
straighten and dry them. Breeding canaries, chickens, rabbits, or dogs
pays well. Beekeeping brings in from £1 to £2 a year per hive, after you
have paid for hive and queen bee or swarm.
You can make novel sets of buttons out of bootlaces. Collect old packing
cases and boxes and chop them into bundles of firewood. Make nets,
besoms, etc., for gardeners. Keeping goats and selling their milk will
pay in some places. Basket making, pottery, book-binding, etc., all
bring money. Or a patrol working together can form themselves into a
corps of messenger-boys in a country town, or they can get an allotment
garden and work it for selling vegetables and flowers, or they can make
themselves into a minstrel troupe, or perform scouting displays or
pageants, etc., like those shown in this book, and take money at the
doors.
[Illustration: HOW TO MAKE BUTTONS OUT OF BOOTLACES. 1.]
[Illustration: 2.]
[Illustration: 3.]
[Illustration: 4. Continue till you have the whole knot doubled or
trebled.]
[Illustration: 5. The loop for attaching the button is moved from its
original position to hang from the centre of the knot.]
[Illustration: 6. Pull all tight, cut off loose end, and the button is
complete.]
These are only a few suggestions; there are loads of other ways of
making money which you can think out for yourselves, according to the
place you are in.
But in order to get money you must expect to work. The actor, Ted Payne,
used to say in one of his plays, "I don't know what is wrong with me, I
eat well, I drink well, and I sleep well, but somehow whenever anybody
mentions the word 'Work' to me I get a cold shudder all over me." That
is what happens to a great many men in England, I am afraid. There are a
good many other chicken-hearted fellows, who, when any work faces them
"get a cold shudder all over them"; or when trouble comes, they go and
take to drink, instead of facing it and working it off.
Start a money-box, put any money you can make into that, and when you
have got a fair amount in it, hand it over to a bank, and start an
account for yourself. As a scout, you have to have a certain amount in
the savings bank before you can become entitled to wear a badge. Save
your pence and you'll get pounds.
(_Scouts' Money Boxes can be obtained from Manager Boy Scouts, Henrietta
Street, London, W.C._)
HOW TO GET ON.
A few years ago the American Government was at war with rebels in the
island of Cuba. (_Point out on map._)
America, as you know, is ruled by a President and not by a King. The
late President, McKinley, wanted to send a letter to Garcia, the chief
of the rebels in Cuba, but did not know how to get it taken to him, as
the rebels were a savage lot inhabiting a wild and difficult country.
When he was talking it over with his advisers, someone said: "There's a
young fellow called Rowan who seems to be able to get anything done that
you ask him. Why not try him?"
So Rowan was sent for, and when he came in the President explained why
he had sent for him, and, putting the letter in his hand, said: "Now, I
want that letter sent to Garcia."
The lad simply smiled and said, "I see," and walked out of the room
without saying another word.
Some weeks passed and Rowan appeared again at the President's door and
said, "I gave your letter to Garcia, sir," and walked out again. Of
course, Mr. McKinley had him back and made him explain how he had done
it.
It turned out that he had got a boat and sailed away in her for some
days; had landed on the coast of Cuba, and disappeared into the jungle;
in three weeks' time he reappeared on the other side of the island
having gone through the enemy and found Garcia, and given him the
letter.
He was a true scout, and that is the way a scout should carry out an
order when he gets it. No matter how difficult it may seem he should
tackle it, with a smile; the more difficult it is the more interesting
it will be to carry out.
Most fellows would have asked a lot of questions--first as to how they
were to set about it, how they could get to the place, where were they
to get food from, and so on; but not so Rowan: he merely learnt what
duty was wanted of him, and _he_ did the rest without a word; any fellow
who acts like that is certain to get on.
We have a lot of good scouts already in England among the District
Messenger Boys in London. These lads, from having difficult jobs
frequently given them and being _expected_ to carry them out
successfully, take them on with the greatest confidence in themselves;
and, without asking a lot of silly questions, they start off in a
businesslike way, and do them.
That is the way to deal with any difficulty in life. If you get a job or
a trouble that seems to you to be too big for you, don't shirk it:
smile, think out a way by which you might get successfully through with
it, and then go at it.
Remember that "a difficulty is no longer a difficulty when once you
laugh at it--and tackle it."
Don't be afraid of making a mistake. Napoleon said "Nobody ever made
anything who never made a mistake."
MEMORY.--Then practise remembering things. A fellow who has a good
memory will get on because so many other people have bad memories from
not practising them.
At the Olympic Theatre, Liverpool, the forgetfulness on the part of the
people in the audience gradually made it necessary for the manager to
keep a special room and ledgers for all lost articles left behind in the
theatre after each performance. But the happy idea struck him of putting
a notice on the curtain by means of a bioscope lantern a few minutes
before the end of the performance saying, "Please look under your seat
before leaving."
This has made a great difference in the number of things left behind.
People used to leave every kind of thing, even medicine bottles, and
false teeth; and once a cheque for £50 was left.
LUCK.--A great coral island is build up of tiny sea insects blocking
themselves together; so also great knowledge in a man is built up by his
noticing all sorts of little details and blocking them together in his
mind by _remembering_ them.
If you want to catch a tramcar when it is not at a stopping station you
don't sit down and let it run past you and then say, "How unlucky I am";
you run and jump on. It is just the same with what some people call
"luck"; they complain that luck never comes to them. Well, luck is
really the chance of getting something good or of doing something great;
the thing is to look out for every chance and seize it--run at it and
jump on--don't sit down and wait for it to pass you. Opportunity is a
tramcar which has very few stopping places.
CHOOSE A CAREER.--"Be Prepared" for what is going to happen to you in
the future. If you are in a situation where you are earning money as a
boy what are you going to do when you finish that job? You ought to be
learning some proper trade to take up; and save your pay in the
meantime, to keep you going till you get employment in your new trade.
And try to learn something of a second trade in case the first one fails
you at any time, as so very often happens.
If you want to serve your King and Country there is the Royal Navy open
to you, a fine service with its grand traditions, its splendid ships,
guns, and seamen. It takes you across the seas to our great Colonies and
to foreign lands, from the frozen Arctic to the tropical coasts of
Africa.
Or there is the Army, with cavalry, infantry, artillery, engineers, and
other branches, in which you can wear the uniform of your country and do
good work in every climate under the sun.
In either service a good and honourable career is open to you--for you
have everything found for you, food, housing, clothing, and hospital,
with good pay and the certainty of promotion and pension for the rest of
your life if you make up your mind to serve loyally, steadily, and well.
In such a career you have plenty of adventure and you are among good
comrades and friends. And if you start early to save your pay, and not
to throw it away as too many do, you can easily put by £25 a year in the
bank.
[_The instructor should similarly give advice on other trades and
professions, especially those in the neighbourhood._]
PRACTICES IN SELF-IMPROVEMENT.
MARKET GARDENING.--The patrol or troop can work an allotment or other
garden and sell the produce for their fund.
FOR A TROOP OR A NUMBER OF TROOPS.--Offer a good prize for the best
article made by a scout with materials which have not cost more than 2s.
Entrance fee to competition 3d.
Have an exhibition of these, coupled with displays and scenes, etc., by
the scouts, and take money at the doors.
At the end sell the articles by auction: the articles which fetch the
highest prices win the prizes.
INSTRUCTION CLASSES in Esperanto, Bookkeeping, Mechanics, Electricity,
and, especially, Shorthand.
ARMY CLASS.--At the Home Office School, Stoke Farm, boys are put through
the same examination as in the Army Schools for promotion certificates.
They thus know their classification should they then go into the Army.
MEMORIZING.--Read something to the boys, a line or two at a time, to see
who can repeat it best. To concentrate the mind and develop memory.
Mr. G. L. Boundy of Exeter has had great success in developing
intelligence amongst his lads by taking parties of them round to see the
different factories in Exeter. They all take notes and rough drawings as
they go along and reproduced them the following meeting, and report on
what they have seen.
INFORMATION ON PROFESSIONS, ETC.
Conditions of service in the Royal Navy, Army, Post, Telegraph, or
Police can be obtained at the nearest Post Office or Police Station.
Conditions of service in the Mercantile Marine or Training for it can be
obtained from the Navy League: Lancashire Sea Training Home for boys
from 13-1/2 to 15-1/2., 28 Chapel Street, Liverpool.
Post Office Savings Bank, Penny Banks and Benefit Societies exist in all
leading towns and will give full information. As an example:
National Deposit Friendly Society, 37 Queen Square, Southampton Row,
London. Payments for children from 6d. a month, adults 2s. 3d. and
entitles them to sick pay, pension, funeral expenses, in addition to
their own cash capital.
So soon as it becomes possible organise an employment agency for getting
your boys in touch with employers, etc.
BOOKS TO READ.
"Thrift," by Samuel Smiles. 2s. (John Murray.)
"One Hundred and One Ways of Making Money." 1s. (Sell & Odling, London.)
"Do It Now," by Peter Keary. 1s. (C. A. Pearson Ltd.)
"Rabbits for Profit," by J. Brod. 1s.
"The Secrets of Success," by Peter Keary. 1s. (C. A. Pearson Ltd.)
"Bees for Pleasure and Profit," by Swanson. 1s.
"Esperanto for the Million." 1d. (Stead, 39 Whitefriars Street, London,
E.C.)
"Cassell's Handbooks." 1s. 6d. each. Joinery, Pottery, Painters' Work,
etc.
"Work Handbooks" series. 1s. each. On Harness-making, Tinplate, Pumps,
Bookbinding, Signwriting, Beehives, etc.
"How to Make Baskets," by Miss White. 1s.
"Rafia Work," by M. Swannell. 2s. (Geo. Philip & Son, Fleet Street.)
["Rafia" or "Bast" is the inner bark of a tree and is used for making
baskets, mats, hats, etc.]
"Self Help," by S. Smiles. 2s. (John Murray.)
See also "Papers on Trades for Boys" in Boys Brigade Gazette.
CONTENTS OF PARTS V. and VI.
PART V.
SAVING LIFE AND FIRST-AID.
PATRIOTISM AND LOYALTY.
PART VI.
SCOUTING GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAYS.
WORDS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_So great has been the success of this Handbook, "Scouting for Boys,"
that Lt.-Gen. Baden-Powell has decided to complete it with Part 6, and
make arrangements instead for a weekly penny paper for young men, to be
entitled_:
_THE SCOUT_,
_in order to get into quicker touch with the numerous scouting patrols
being formed_.
_Full particulars will be given later. Meanwhile all communications
should be addressed to Messrs. C. Arthur Pearson Ltd., 17-18 Henrietta
Street, Strand, London, W.C., who will be the publishers._
WHAT PARTS I., II., and III. CONTAIN.
Part I.--SCOUTCRAFT.
SPECIAL FOREWORD FOR INSTRUCTORS.--The BOY SCOUTS scheme and its easy
application _to all existing organisations_.
SCOUTCRAFT.--Its wide uses and wide interest.
SUMMARY OF SCOUT'S COURSE OF INSTRUCTION, showing the scope of Scout's
work.
ORGANISATION.--Dress, secret signs, scouts' songs, and tests for badges
of honour.
SCOUTS' LAW AND SCOUTS' HONOUR under the guiding motto "Be Prepared."
SCOUTING GAMES AND PRACTICES for indoors and out of doors, in town and
in country.
Part II.--TRACKING and WOODCRAFT.
OBSERVATION and its value; how to use your eyes, nose, and ears, and how
to follow a night trail.
SPOORING.--Tracks of men and animals and games in tracking.
READING "SIGN" and making deductions from it.
WOODCRAFT.--How to stalk and how to hide properly.
ANIMALS.--How to stalk and know them--a better game than stamp
collecting.
BIRDS, FISHES, AND INSECTS all scouts should know.
PLANTS AND TREES.
GAMES AND COMPETITIONS in Tracking, Stalking, and Woodcraft.
Part III.--LIFE IN THE OPEN.
CAMPS AND CAMPAIGNING.
PIONEER DODGES.--How to make huts, knots, and bridges.
CAMP COMFORT HINTS.--Right ways to make fires and to keep the camp
straight and clean.
COOKING.--How to use your cooking-tin; ideas for camp games.
OPEN AIR LIFE.--Water games; weather reading; exploration at home; night
work.
PATHFINDING.--How to find your way; methods of signalling by code,
whistle, smoke, flame, and flag; some good games.
Part V. FORTNIGHTLY. Price 4d. net.
SCOUTING FOR BOYS
BY
B-P
PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,
BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.
Scouting for Boys.
A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTION
IN
GOOD CITIZENSHIP.
BY
Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
_All communications should be addressed to_--
LIEUT.-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL,
BOY SCOUTS' OFFICE,
GOSCHEN BUILDINGS,
HENRIETTA STREET,
LONDON, W.C.
_by whom Scouts will be enrolled, and from where
all further information can be obtained._
Copyrighted by Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
1908.
_All rights reserved._
CONTINUATION OF PART IV.--Sobriety: Practise Observation; Fortitude;
Notes to Instructors.
PART V.
CONTENTS: CHAPTER VIII.
(_Commences on page 279._)
SAVING LIFE;
or, How to Deal with Accidents.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
23.--BE PREPARED FOR ACCIDENTS: The Knights Hospitallers of St.
John; Boy Heroes; Girl Heroines; Life-Saving Medals.
24.--ACCIDENTS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM: Panic; Fire; Drowning;
Horses; Mad Dog; Miscellaneous.
25.--AID TO THE INJURED: First Aid; Prevention of Suicide.
PRACTICES, GAMES, and DISPLAYS IN LIFE-SAVING.
BOOKS TO READ.
CONTENTS: CHAPTER IX.
(_Commences on page 309_).
PATRIOTISM;
or, Our Duties as Citizens.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
26.--OUR EMPIRE: How it Grew; How it must be Maintained.
27.--CITIZENSHIP: Duties of Scouts as Citizens; Duties as Citizen
Soldiers; Marksmanship; Helping the Police.
28.--UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL: Our Flag; Our Navy and Army;
Our Government; Our King.
BOOKS TO READ.
CONTINUATION OF PART IV.
SOBRIETY.
Remember that drink never yet cured a single trouble; it only makes
troubles grow worse and worse the more you go on with it. It makes a man
forget for a few hours what exactly his trouble is, but it also makes
him forget everything else. If he has wife and children it makes him
forget that his duty is to work and help them out of the difficulties
instead of making himself all the more unfit to work.
A man who drinks is generally a coward--and one used to see it very much
among soldiers. Nowadays they are a better class and do not drink.
Some men drink because they like the feeling of getting half stupid, but
they are fools, because once they take to drink no employer will trust
them, and they soon become unemployed and easily get ill, and finally
come to a miserable end. There is nothing manly about getting drunk.
Once a man gives way to drink it ruins his health, his career, and his
happiness, as well as that of his family. There is only one cure for
this disease, and that is--never to get it.
PRACTISE OBSERVATION.
A well-known detective, Mr. Justin Chevasse, describes how with a little
practice in observation you can tell pretty accurately a man's character
from his dress.
He tells the story of a Duke who used to dress very shabbily. One day
this nobleman was travelling by train with a friend of his, Lord A. A
commercial traveller who was in the carriage got into conversation with
them. At one station the Duke got out, and after he was gone the
commercial traveller asked "Who is the gentleman who has just got out?"
"Oh," said Lord A, "that is the Duke of X." The commercial traveller was
quite taken aback and said, "Fancy that! Fancy him talking so affably to
you and me. I thought all the time that he must be a gardener."
I expect that that commercial traveller had not been brought up as a
scout and did not look at people's boots: if he had he would probably
have seen that neither the Duke's nor Lord A's were those of a gardener.
The boots are very generally the best test of all the details of
clothing. I was with a lady the other day in the country, and a young
lady was walking just in front of us. "I wonder who she is" said my
friend. "Well," I said, "I should be inclined to say I wonder whose maid
she is." The girl was very well dressed but when I saw her boots I
guessed that the dress had belonged to someone else, had been given to
her and refitted by herself--but that as regards boots she felt more
comfortable in her own. She went up to the house at which we were
staying--to the servants' entrance--and we found that she was the maid
of one of the ladies staying there.
Dr. Gross relates the story of a learned old gentleman who was found
dead in his bedroom with a wound in his forehead and another in his left
temple.
Very often after a murder the murderer, with his hands bloody from the
deed and running away, may catch hold of the door, or a jug of water to
wash his hands.
In the present case a newspaper lying on the table had the marks of
three blood-stained fingers on it.
The son of the murdered man was suspected and was arrested by the
police.
But careful examination of the room and the prints of the finger-marks
showed that the old gentleman had been taken ill in the night--had got
out of bed to get some medicine, but getting near the table a new spasm
seized him and he fell, striking his head violently against the corner
of the table and made the wound on his temple which just fitted the
corner. In trying to get up he had caught hold of the table and the
newspaper on it and had made the bloody finger-marks on the newspaper in
doing so. Then he had fallen again, cutting his head a second time on
the foot of the bed.
The finger-marks were compared with the dead man's fingers, and were
found to be exactly the same. Well, you don't find two men in
64,000,000,000,000 with the same pattern on the skin of their fingers.
So it was evident there had been no murder, and the dead man's son was
released as innocent.
FORTITUDE.
In Japan, whenever a child is born, the parents hang up outside the
house either a doll or a fish, according as the child is a girl or boy.
It is a sign to the neighbours: the doll means it is a girl, who will
some day have children to nurse; the fish means it is a boy, who, as he
grows into manhood, will, like a fish, have to make his way against a
stream of difficulties and dangers. A man who cannot face hard work or
trouble is not worth calling a man.
[Illustration: Perseverance: Frogs in the Milk.]
Some of you may have heard the story of the two frogs. If you have not,
here it is:
Two frogs were out for a walk one day and they came to a big jug of
cream. In looking into it they both fell in.
One said: "This is a new kind of water to me. How can a fellow swim in
stuff like this? It is no use trying." So he sank to the bottom and was
drowned through having no pluck.
But the other was a more manly frog, and he struggled to swim, using his
arms and legs as hard as he could to keep himself afloat; and whenever
he felt he was sinking he struggled harder than ever, and never gave up
hope.
At last, just as he was getting so tired that he thought he _must_ give
it up, a curious thing happened. By his hard work with his arms and legs
he had churned up the cream so much that he suddenly found himself
standing all safe on a pat of butter!
So when things look bad just smile and sing to yourself, as the thrush
sings: "Stick to it, stick to it, stick to it," and you will come
through all right.
DUTY BEFORE ALL.--You have all heard of "Lynch-Law," by which is meant
stern justice by hanging an evil-doer.
The name came from Galway in Ireland where a memorial still commemorates
the act of a chief magistrate of that city named Lynch who in the year
1493 had his own son Walter Lynch executed for killing a young Spaniard.
The murderer had been properly tried and convicted. His mother begged
the citizens to rescue her son when he was brought out from the jail to
suffer punishment, but the father foreseeing this had the sentence
carried out in the prison, and young Lynch was hanged from the prison
window.
The elder Lynch's sense of duty must have been very strong indeed to
enable him to make his feelings as a father give way to his conscience
as a magistrate.
General Gordon sacrificed his life to his sense of duty. When he was
besieged at Khartum he could have got away himself had he liked, but he
considered it his duty to remain with the Egyptians whom he had brought
there although he had no admiration for them. So he stuck to them and
when at last the place was captured by the enemy he was killed.
NOTES TO INSTRUCTORS
RELIGION.
CHARLES STELZLE, in his "Boys of the Streets and How to Win Them," says:
Sometimes we are so much concerned about there being enough religion
in our plans for the boy that we forget to leave enough boy in the
plans. According to the notions of some, the ideal boys' club would
consist of prayer meetings and Bible classes, with an occasional
missionary talk as a treat, and perhaps magic lantern views of the
Holy Land as a dizzy climax.
Religion can and ought to be taught to the boy, but not in a
milk-and-watery way, or in a mysterious and lugubrious manner; he is
very ready to receive it if it is shown in its heroic side and as a
natural every-day quality in every proper man, and it can be well
introduced to boys through the study of Nature; and to those who believe
scouting to be an unfit subject for Sunday instruction, surely the study
of God's work is at least proper for that day. There is no need for this
instruction to be dismal, that is, "all tears and texts." Arthur Benson,
writing in the _Cornhill Magazine_, says there are four Christian
virtues, not three. They are--Faith, Hope, Charity--and Humour. So also
in the morning prayer of Robert Louis Stevenson:
The day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns
and duties. Help us to play the man--help us to perform them with
laughter and kind faces. Let cheerfulness abound with industry. Give
us to go blithely on our business all this day. Bring us to our
resting beds weary and content and undishonoured, and grant us in
the end the gift of sleep.
THRIFT.
A very large proportion of the distress and unemployedness in the
country is due to want of thrift on the part of the people themselves;
and social reformers, before seeking for new remedies, would do well to
set this part of the problem right in the first place; they would then
probably find very little more left for them to do. Mr. John Burns, in a
recent speech, pointed out that there is plenty of money in the country
to put everyone on a fair footing, if only it were made proper use of by
the working man. In some places, it is true, there is thrift--workmen
save their pay and buy their own houses, and become prosperous,
contented citizens in happy homes. It is estimated that £500,000,000 of
working-men's money is invested in savings banks and friendly societies.
But there is a reverse to the medal. This great balance represents
savings of many years, whereas it could be doubled in two or three years
were men to give up drinking and smoking.
Where we deposit £4 per head per annum in savings banks, other countries
deposit far more, although earning lower wages, and in Denmark such
deposits amount, on an average, to £19 per head.
£166,000,000 were spent last year on drink, and £25,000,000 on tobacco.
This alone would be enough, if divided amongst our thirty-five millions
of poor, to give £22 a year to each family; and we know that this is
only part of the extravagance of the nation. From £8000 to £10,000 a
week is estimated to go into the pockets of the bookmakers at Liverpool
and its surrounding towns at football. Holiday, or "Going Off" clubs,
are common in Lancashire, where workers save up money to spend on their
holidays. In Blackburn alone £117,000 was thus expended last year. At
Oldham £25,000 was saved to be expended in festivities at the "Wakes."
The wastefulness in Great Britain is almost inconceivable, and ought to
be made criminal. Men draw big wages of £3 and £4 on Saturday nights,
but have nothing to show for it by Monday night. If they had thrift a
large majority of our working-men and their families might be in
prosperous circumstances to-day, but they have never been taught what
thrift may be, and they naturally do as their neighbours do. If the
rising generation could be started in the practice of economy, it would
make a vast difference to the character and prosperity of the nation in
the future.
In Manchester the school children are encouraged to save up their money
by means of money-boxes, and 44,000 of them now have deposits in the
savings banks. It has been found a very successful way of encouraging
thrift. For this reason we have instituted money-boxes for Boy Scouts.
POLITENESS.
An instance of politeness in war occurred at the Battle of Fontenoy,
when we were fighting against the French.
The Coldstream Guards coming up over a hill suddenly found themselves
close up to the French Guards. Both parties were surprised, and neither
fired a shot for a minute or two.
In those days when gallant men quarrelled, they used to settle their
differences by fighting duels with pistols. At a duel both combatants
were supposed to fire at the same moment when the word was given, but it
often happened that one man, in order to show how brave he was, would
tell his adversary to fire first. And so in this case. When both parties
were about to fire, the officer commanding the British Guards, to show
his politeness and fearlessness, bowed to the French commander, and
said, "You fire first, sir."
When the French Guards levelled their rifles to fire, one of the
soldiers of the Coldstreams exclaimed, "For what we are going to receive
may the Lord make us truly thankful." In the volley that followed, a
great number of our men fell, but the survivors returned an equally
deadly volley, and immediately charged in with the bayonet, and drove
the French off the field.
CHAPTER VIII.
SAVING LIFE;
or,
How to Deal with Accidents.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 23.
BE PREPARED FOR ACCIDENTS.
The Knights Hospitallers of St. John--Boy Heroes and Girl
Heroines--Life-Saving Medals.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_The subjects in this chapter should not only be explained to the
scouts, but should also, wherever possible, be demonstrated practically,
and should be practised by each boy himself in turn._
_Theoretical knowledge in these points is nothing without practice._
THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN.
The knights of old days were called Knights Hospitallers, because they
had hospitals for the treatment of the sick poor and those injured in
accidents or in war. They used to save up their money to keep these
hospitals going, and they used to act as nurses and doctors themselves.
The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem especially devoted themselves to
this work 800 years ago, and the St. John's Ambulance Corps is to-day a
branch which represents those knights. Their badge is an eight-pointed
white cross on a black ground, and when worn as an Order it has a black
ribbon.
Explorers and hunters and other scouts in out-of-the-way parts of the
world have to know what to do in the case of accident or sickness,
either to themselves or their followers, as they are often hundreds of
miles away from any doctors. For these reasons boy scouts should, of
course, learn all they can about looking after sick people and dealing
with accidents.
My brother was once camping with a friend away in the bush in Australia.
His friend was drawing a cork, holding the bottle between his knees to
get a better purchase. The bottle burst, and the jagged edge of it ran
deeply into his thigh, cutting an artery. My brother quickly got a stone
and wrapped it in a handkerchief to act as a pad, and he then tied the
handkerchief round the limb above the wound, so that the stone pressed
on the artery. He then got a stick, and, passing it through the loop of
the handkerchief, twisted it round till the bandage was drawn so tight
that it stopped the flow of blood. Had he not known what to do, the man
would have bled to death in a few minutes. As it was, he saved his life
by knowing what to do, and doing it at once.
[_Demonstrate how to bind up an artery, and also the course taken by the
arteries, viz., practically down the inside seam of sleeves and
trousers._]
Accidents are continually happening, and Boy Scouts will continually
have a chance of giving assistance at first aid. In London alone during
the past year 212 people were killed and 14,000 were injured in street
accidents.
We all think a great deal of any man who at the risk of his own life
saves someone else's.
He is a hero.
Boys especially think him so, because he seems to them to be a being
altogether different from themselves. But he isn't; every boy has just
as much a chance of being a life-saving hero if he chooses to prepare
himself for it.
It is pretty certain that nearly every one of you scouts will some day
or another be present at an accident where, if you know what to do, and
do it promptly, you may win for yourself the life-long satisfaction of
having rescued or helped a fellow-creature.
Remember your motto, "BE PREPARED." Be prepared for accidents by
learning beforehand what you ought to do in the different kinds that are
likely to occur.
Be prepared to do that thing the moment the accident does occur.
I will explain to you what ought to be done in the different kinds of
accidents, and we will practise them as far as possible.
But the great thing for you scouts to bear in mind is that wherever you
are, and whatever you are doing, you should think to yourself, "What
accident is likely to occur here?" and, "What is my duty if it occurs?"
You are then prepared to act.
And when an accident does occur, remember always that as a scout it is
your business to be the first man to go to the rescue; don't let an
outsider be beforehand with you.
Suppose, for instance, that you are standing on a crowded platform at a
station, waiting for the train.
You think to yourself, "Now, supposing someone fell off this platform on
to the rails just as the train is coming in, what shall I do? I must
jump down and jerk him off the track on to the far side into the
six-foot way--there would be no time to get him up on to the platform
again. Or if the train were very close the only way would be to lie flat
and make him lie flat too between the rails, and let the train go over
us both."
Then, if this accident happened, you would at once jump down and carry
out your idea, while everybody else would be running about screaming and
excited and doing nothing, not knowing what to do.
Such a case actually happened last year. A lady fell off the platform at
Finsbury Park Station just as the train was coming in; a man named
Albert Hardwick jumped down and lay flat, and held her down, too,
between the rails, while the train passed over both of them without
touching them. The King gave him the Albert Medal for it.
When there is a panic among those around you, you get a momentary
inclination to do as the others are doing. Perhaps it is to run away,
perhaps it is to stand still and cry out "Oh!" Well, you should check
yourself when you have this feeling. Don't catch the panic, as you see
others do; keep your head and think what is the right thing to do, and
do it at once.
Then last year that disgraceful scene occurred on Hampstead Heath, where
a woman drowned herself before a whole lot of people in a shallow pond,
and took half-an-hour doing it, while not one of them had the pluck to
go in and bring her out. One would not have thought it possible with
Englishmen that a lot of men could only stand on the bank and chatter,
but so it was--to their eternal disgrace.
It was again a case of panic. The first man to arrive on the scene did
not like going in, and merely called another. More came up, but finding
that those already there did not go in, they got a sort of fear of
something uncanny, and would not go in themselves, and so let the poor
woman drown before their eyes.
Had one Boy Scout been there, there would I hope have been a very
different tale to tell. It was just the opportunity for a Boy Scout to
distinguish himself. He would have remembered his training.
Do your duty.
Help your fellow-creature, especially if it be a woman.
Don't mind if other people are funking.
Plunge in boldly and look to the object you are trying to attain, and
don't bother about your own safety.
Boys have an idea that they are too young and too small to take any but
an outside part in saving life. But this is a great mistake. In the
Boys' Brigade last year nine boys got the Cross for saving life, eight
of them for saving other people from drowning. All aged between 13 and
16.
Cyril Adion (13) and Newlyn Elliott (17) also saved lives from drowning
last year, and a small boy only nine years old, David Scannell, was
given a silver watch at St. Pancras for saving a child's life at a fire.
In addition to this, a boy named Albert Abraham was recommended for the
highest honour that any man can get for saving life, and that is the
Albert Medal.
Three boys were climbing up some cliffs from the seashore, when one of
them fell to the bottom and was very badly hurt. Another climbed up the
rest of the cliff and ran away home, but told nobody for fear of getting
into trouble. The third one, Albert Abraham, climbed down again to the
assistance of the boy who had fallen, and he found him lying head
downwards between two rocks, with his scalp nearly torn off and his leg
broken.
Abraham dragged him up out of reach of the tide, for where he had fallen
he was in danger of being drowned, and then replaced his scalp and bound
it on, and also set his leg as well as he could, and bound it up in
splints, having learned the "First Aid" duties of the St. John's
Ambulance Society. Then he climbed up the cliff and gathered some ferns
and made a bed for the injured boy.
He stayed with him all that day, and when night came on he still
remained with him, nor did he desert him even when a great seal climbed
on to the rocks close to him and appeared to be rather aggressive. He
drove it off with stones.
Parties went out and eventually rescued both boys, but the injured one
died soon after, in spite of the efforts that Albert Abraham had made to
save him.
In talking of boys I may as well state that the same remark applies to
women and girls, that they are not only capable of doing valuable work
in saving life, but they have done so over and over again.
For the Albert Medal a small girl aged nine has been recommended. Kate
Chapman endeavoured to rescue two small children from being run over by
a runaway cart. She succeeded in doing so, but was herself run over and
badly injured in the attempt.
Mrs. Ann Racebottom was awarded the Albert Medal in 1881 for rescuing
some school children when the roof of the schoolhouse had fallen in upon
them and she got them out by crawling in under the falling ruins at the
greatest risk to her own life.
Doris Kay, of Leytonstone, is only eight years old, but she was awarded
the diploma for life saving by the Royal Humane Society last year.
LIFE-SAVING MEDALS.
In war, as you know, the Victoria Cross is awarded to soldiers for
performing acts of valour.
So, in peace, a decoration is given to anybody who distinguishes himself
by bravery in saving life at the risk of his own.
The Albert Medal is the highest of these rewards.
The Royal Humane Society also give medals or certificates.
The Edward Medal is granted for gallantry in accidents which so
frequently happen in mines.
In the Boys' Brigade medals are given for acts of daring and
self-sacrifice in saving life or marked courage in the face of danger.
In the Boy Scouts we have a medal for gallantry, which is granted for
similar acts.
But of all these the Albert Medal and the Edward Medal are the most
valued, being given by the King himself, and only in very special cases.
So let every Boy Scout prepare himself to win one of these. Some day,
most probably, an accident will happen before you to give you your
chance. If you have learnt beforehand what to do, you can step forward
at once and do the right thing; you may find yourself decorated with the
medal. In any case, you will have what is far greater than a mere
medal--you will have the satisfaction of having helped a fellow-creature
at the risk of your own life.
PRACTICE FOR LIFE SAVING.
FLINGING THE SQUALER.
The squaler is a piece of cane, 19 inches long, loaded at the butt with
1-3/4lb. of lead, and having attached to it at the other end a
life-saving line of six-thread Italian hemp. The target is a crossbar
and head, life-size, representing the head and arms of a drowning man,
planted in the ground twenty yards away. Each competitor throws in turn
from behind a line drawn on the ground; he may stand or run to make the
throw. Whoever throws the furthest wins, provided that the line falls on
some part of the dummy, so that it could be caught by the drowning man.
Or have heats to find out who is the worst thrower.
Practise throwing a life-belt in the same way.
Practise making two lines of bucket-men, for full and empty buckets.
Each line to relieve the other frequently by exchanging duties.
Practise carrying, unrolling, and rolling up hose. Joining up lengths.
Affixing to hydrants. Throwing on water, and directing its fall.
Practise use of ladders, poles, ropes, lowering people from window by
ropes or bed-clothes. Jumping sheet and shoot-escape; how to rig, hold,
and use carpets or double blankets, but not flimsy ones or sheets.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 24.
ACCIDENTS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM.
Panic--Fire--Drowning--Runaway Horse--Mad Dog--Miscellaneous.
PANICS.
Every year numbers of lives are lost by panics, which very often are due
to the smallest causes, and which might be stopped if only one or two
men would keep their heads. One evening, two years ago, on board a
ferry-boat in New York, a man who had been catching some crabs thought
it would be a good joke to let one of them loose on board the boat. This
crab caught hold of the ship's cat and made it squeal, and it jumped
into the middle of a crowd of schoolgirls, who at once scattered
screaming. This started a panic among the hundreds of passengers on
board; they rushed in every direction, and in a moment the railings
broke and eight people fell overboard, and before anything could be done
they were swept away by the tide and drowned.
In Germany, a girl who was bathing suddenly pretended to be drowning,
just for fun. Three men sprang into the river to rescue her, but one
began to sink, and another went to his help, and both were drowned. And
only last September a tobacconist in a town in Russia, on opening his
shop in the morning, saw a big black bomb lying on the counter. He
rushed out into the street to get away from it, and a policeman seeing
him running mistook him for a thief, and when he would not stop he fired
at him. The bullet missed him, but hit another man who was a Jew; the
remainder of the Jews immediately collected and made a riot, and many
lives were lost. After it was over, the tobacconist went back to his
shop and found the bomb still on his counter, but it was not a bomb, it
was only a black water-melon!
Only the other day occurred a case of panic among children in a theatre
at Barnsley, when a crush and panic occurred from no cause at all except
overcrowding, and eight children were crushed to death. More lives would
certainly have been lost had not two men kept their heads and done the
right thing. One man named Gray called to a number of the children in a
cheery voice to come another way, while the man who was working a
lantern-slide show threw a picture on the screen and so diverted the
attention of the rest, and prevented them catching the panic. That is
the great point in a panic. If only one or two men keep their heads and
do the right thing on the spur of the moment, they can often calm
hundreds of people and thus save many lives.
This is a great opportunity for a Boy Scout. Force yourself to keep calm
and not to lose your head. Think what is the right thing to do and do it
at once.
RESCUE FROM FIRE.
Instances of gallant rescues of people from burning houses are frequent.
One sees them every day in the newspapers, and scouts should study each
of these cases as they occur, and imagine to themselves what they would
have done under the circumstances, and in this way you begin to learn
how to deal with the different accidents. An instance occurred only the
other day where a young sailor named George Obeney stationed at Chatham
in H.M.S. _Andromeda_ was walking along the Kingsland Road, when he
suddenly saw a house on fire, and a woman on the second storey was
screaming that she had some children there who could not get out. The
sailor rushed from his friends and somehow scrambled up the face of the
wall till he reached the window on the first storey and broke in that
window so that he could obtain room to stand. The woman at the window
above was then able to lower a child so that he could catch it, and he
again passed it down to the ground. Child after child was thus handed
down till he passed six of them to the ground, and finally two women,
and then he, overcome by smoke himself, fell insensible, but was caught
by the people below. His act was an example to you of how to do your
duty AT ONCE without thinking of dangers or difficulties.
In January, 1906, at Enfield Hospital, the Children's Ward caught fire
in the middle of the night, and a number of children would probably have
been burnt before the firemen arrived on the spot had it not been that
the matron, Miss Eardley, rushed over from her house in her nightdress
and fixed up the fire-hose and played it on the flames while the two
night nurses set to work and rescued twenty children out of the burning
building.
The Boys' Life Brigade have taken up the instruction of boys in what to
do in cases of fire.
DIRECTIONS.
These are some of their directions:
If you discover a house on fire you should
1st. Alarm the people inside.
2nd. Warn the nearest policeman or fire brigade station.
3rd. Rouse neighbours to bring ladders, mattresses, carpets, to
catch people jumping.
After arrival of fire engines the best thing boys can do is to help the
police in keeping back the crowd out of the way of the firemen, hose,
etc.
The Boys' Life Brigade are taught a certain drill called "Scrum" for
keeping back the crowd. They form a line or double line, and pass their
arms round each other's waists, and shove, head down, into the crowd,
and so drive it back.
If it is necessary to go into a house to search for feeble or insensible
people, the thing is to place a wet handkerchief or worsted stocking
over your nose and mouth and walk in a stooping position, or crawl along
on your hands and knees quite near the floor, as it is here that there
is least smoke or gas. Also, for passing through fire and sparks, if you
can, get hold of a blanket and wet it, and cut a hole in the middle
through which to put your head, it forms a kind of fireproof mantle with
which you can push through flames and sparks. [_Practise this._]
When a fire occurs anywhere near the Boy Scouts should assemble their
patrols as quickly as possible, and go off at scouts' pace to the fire,
guided by the glare or the smoke. Then the patrol leader should report
to the police or firemen, and offer the help of his patrol either to
keep the crowd back or to run messages or guard property or to help in
any way.
If you find a person with his clothes on fire, you should throw him flat
on the floor, because flames only burn upwards, then roll him up in the
hearthrug or carpet, coat or blanket, and take care in doing so that you
don't catch fire yourself. The reason for doing this is that fire cannot
continue to burn when it has no air. Then pour water over the patient to
put out all sparks.
[Illustration: Dragging Insensible Man: Both heads down near the floor.]
When you find an insensible person (and very often in their fright they
will have hidden themselves away under beds and tables, etc.), you
should either carry him out on your shoulder, or what is often more
practicable in the case of heavy smoke, gas fumes, etc., harness
yourself on to him with sheets or cords, and drag him out of the room
along the floor, crawling on all fours yourself.
[_Practise this by tying a bowline round the patient's waist,
another round his ankles, and another round your own neck. Turn your
back to him, go on all fours with the rope underneath you, and thus
drag him out. Also practise the "Fireman's Lift" for getting an
insensible person on to your shoulders._]
RESCUE FROM DROWNING.
The list of Boys' Brigade heroes shows you what a large proportion of
accidents are due to not knowing how to swim. It is therefore most
important that every boy should learn to swim, and having done so to
learn how to save others from being drowned.
Mr. Holbein, the great Channel swimmer, writing in _The Boys' Own
Paper_, points out that a boy, when learning to swim, should learn first
how to get in and out of a boat, _i.e._, by climbing in over the stern.
Secondly, how to support himself on an oar or plank, _i.e._, by riding
astride on it, or by catching hold of one end and pushing it before him
and swimming with his legs. Thirdly, how to get into a floating
lifebuoy, _i.e._, by shoving the nearest side of it down under water and
capsizing it over his head and shoulders, so that he is inside it when
it floats. Fourthly, how to save life.
[_Practise these at swimming baths or bathing parade._]
A moderate swimmer can save a drowning man if he knows how, and has
practised it a few times with his friends. The popular idea that a
drowning person rises three times before he finally sinks is all
nonsense. He often drowns at once, unless someone is quick to help him.
The important point is not to let the drowning person catch hold of you,
or he will probably drown you too. Keep behind him always. If you find
yourself clutched by the wrist, turn your wrist against his thumb, and
force yourself free. Your best way in helping a drowning man is to keep
behind and hold him up by the hair, or by the back of the neck, or by
putting your arms under his armpits, and telling him to keep quiet and
not to struggle; if he obeys, you can easily keep him afloat; but
otherwise be careful that in his terror he does not turn over and catch
hold of you. If he should seize you by the neck, Holbein says, "Scrag
him, and scrag him quickly. Place your arm round his waist, and the
other hand, palm upwards, under his chin, with your finger-tips under
his nose. Pull and push with all your might, and he must perforce let
go." But you will never remember this unless you practise it frequently
with other boys first, each taking it in turns to be the drowning man
rescuer.
[_Practise this._]
Among the innumerable cases of saving life from drowning, Mr. Scullion
was recommended for the Albert Medal. He sprang into the river to save a
boy from drowning who had fallen between the wharf and the ship's side.
When he got hold of the boy there was no room for him to swim in that
narrow space, and the tide was very strong, so he dived down, taking the
boy with him, under the ship's bottom, and came up in open water on the
other side of the ship, and then easily swam to a boat and thus rescued
him. Had he not kept his head and dived under the ship, it is probable
that both would have been drowned.
Any of you who cannot swim as yet, and who fall into the water out of
your depth, remember that you need not sink if you can remember to do
the following things. First, keep your mouth upwards by throwing the
head well back. Secondly, keep your lungs full of air by taking in long
breaths, but breathe out very little. Thirdly, keep your arms under
water. To do this you should not begin to shout, which will only empty
your lungs, and you should not throw your arms about or beckon for help,
else you will sink.
[_Practise this position._]
If you see a person fall into the water and begin to drown, and you
yourself are unable to swim, you must throw him a rope, or an oar, or
plank right over him, so that when he comes up again he may clutch at it
and hold it. If a person falls through ice, and is unable to get out
again because of the edges breaking, throw him a rope, and tell him not
to struggle. This may give him confidence until you can get a long
ladder or pole which will enable him to crawl out, or will allow you to
crawl out to catch hold of him.
RESCUE FROM RUNAWAY HORSES.
Accidents are continually recurring from runaway horses running over
people. In fact, on an average, the number of runaway horses that are
stopped by policemen during the year amounts to over two hundred; and it
is well that everybody should know how to stop a runaway horse, and thus
to save numerous accidents and injuries.
Private Davies, of the 16th Lancers, was awarded the Albert Medal, at
Aldershot, for stopping the horses of an artillery wagon, which had
become unmanageable and run away. The driver, who was riding one of
them, had been thrown off, and the horses were careering down hill
towards the married quarters of the cavalry barracks, where a number of
children were at play, when Private Davies, seeing the danger to the
children, ran to the horses, and seizing the off horse with his right
hand, held on to the shaft with his left, and endeavoured to stop the
waggon. He was dragged in that position for some yards when the chain
fastening the shafts to the waggon gave way and let the shafts fall,
bringing Davies also to the ground.
The waggon passed over his legs, and very severely injured him, and,
though he did not actually succeed in stopping the horses, he so
diverted them from their course that time was given for the children to
be saved from being run over.
Not long ago a lady was being run away with by her horse in Hyde Park.
The animal was tearing along quite mad with fright, and though she was a
good rider and kept her head, she had no control over him whatever.
The danger was that the road on which he was galloping, though straight
for a good distance, turned at the end very sharply, and was bounded by
a high iron railing. Now a horse when he is thoroughly frightened seems
to lose his sight as well as his wits; he will run over a cliff or into
a wall without trying to stop, and on this occasion it seemed most
likely that he would charge into the great iron railings at the end of
the road, and the consequences to the girl on his back would have been
too awful to think of.
In front of her as she came thundering along were two gentlemen riding
quietly along talking together, heading in the same direction that she
was going. One of them--it was the Hon. George Wyndham, at that time
Chief Secretary for Ireland--turned his head to see what was happening
behind him, and in one moment he grasped the whole situation, saw what
to do, and did it. He saw that a girl was being rushed to her death by
the maddened horse if something were not done to stop it, or to make it
turn round the corner at the end of the road which was now not far away.
Now what would any of you have done had you been in Mr. Wyndham's place?
He saw that to put his horse across her path would be easy, but if he
did so it would probably throw both horses down, and possibly kill both
riders; so what he did was to put his own horse at once into a gallop,
and for a moment it looked as if he were running away, with the lady
chasing him at full speed. But it soon became evident what he was doing.
He gradually let the lady's horse overtake him until its head was
abreast of him and close alongside him, then he gradually turned his own
horse for taking the corner, and, pressing all the time against the
shoulder of the lady's horse, forced it also gradually to turn with him
till it was safely directed away from the railings and into the new
direction of the road, and here, while still keeping partly ahead of it,
he got hold of its reins, and in a short time succeeded in pulling it up
and bringing it to its senses.
This is a lesson to everyone to BE PREPARED, even at most ordinary
moments of strolling along, talking to a friend, to spring at once to
the assistance of a fellow-creature who is in danger.
The other day I myself found a horse and cab running away over
Westminster Bridge, but I stopped it without any difficulty. The way to
stop a runaway horse is not to run out in front of it and wave your
arms, as so many people do, but to try and race alongside it, catch hold
of the shaft to keep yourself from falling, and seize the reins with the
other hand, and drag the horse's head round towards you, and so turn him
until you can bring him up against a wall or house, or otherwise compel
him to stop. But, of course, for a boy, with his light weight, this is a
very difficult thing to do. The share he would have in such an accident
would probably be to look after the people injured by the runaway horse.
MISCELLANEOUS ACCIDENTS.
One cannot go through the whole list of accidents that might come under
your notice, but the point is that a scout should always remember to
keep his head, and think what is the right thing to do at the moment,
and be the man to do it, even under the most unexpected circumstances.
Police-Sergeant Cole was awarded the Albert Medal some years ago for
removing a dynamite bomb, which he found in Westminster Hall. It was
already lit for exploding, and instead of running away and taking cover
himself he snatched it up and rushed out of the place and flung it away,
and very nearly lost his life in the explosion which followed
immediately after. Had he hesitated to think what would be the best
thing to do he would probably have lost his own life, and have allowed
the place to be smashed up.
A man named John Smith was awarded the Albert Medal, because one day,
when at his work in a steel-casting factory, a great, red-hot steel
ingot, weighing 26 tons, was about being hoisted out of a casting-pit,
when one of the workmen named Stanley slipped, and fell into the pit,
which was fifteen feet deep, alongside the ingot in a space of about two
feet, which existed between the ingot and the wall of the pit. John
Smith immediately got a ladder and ran down into the next pit, from
which there was a passage communicating into the first one, and in this
way he managed to get into the lower part of the ingot pit and drag
Stanley out of it into the empty one. Stanley died of his burns two days
later, but Smith, though badly burnt himself, recovered to wear the
Albert Medal.
MAD DOG.
A dog that is mad runs along snapping at everybody in his path. Every
scout should know what to do when there is a mad dog about, and should
be prepared to do it.
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton was one day out for a ride when his dog, which
was running with him, went mad, and started to run through the town.
Sir Thomas edged him off the road and drove him into a garden. He then
jumped off his horse, ran at the dog, and succeeded in grabbing him by
the neck without getting bitten. Then followed a tremendous struggle
between man and dog.
At last the gardener came and brought a chain which Sir Thomas then
clipped on, and only when the other end had been securely fastened to a
tree he let go his hold of the dog. The dog was then raving mad and tore
at his chain so badly that it was in danger of breaking, when Sir Thomas
went at him again with a second and stronger chain, and pinning him down
by the neck with a pitchfork he fastened it on to him. When this was
done and the pitchfork removed the dog sprang at him with such force
that it burst the old chain. Luckily the new one held. And soon after
the dog died.
The way to prevent a dog biting you is to hold a stick, or even a
handkerchief, in your two hands across your front, and the dog will
generally try to paw it down before he actually bites you, and you may
thus get a chance of landing him a kick under the jaw.
PRACTICES IN LIFE-SAVING.
Practise scrum for keeping back crowd at fire.
Practise holding and wrestling with drowning men.
How to prevent a man shooting another with pistol.
Make ladders out of poles, twine, and cross sticks.
Instruct scouts to know the position of neighbouring fire plugs and
hydrants, police points, fire alarms, fire stations, ambulances,
hospitals, etc.
BOOKS TO READ.
"Manual of Boys' Life Brigade": Life-saving Drill. Price 2d. (56 Old
Bailey, London.)
"Manual of Fire Drill" of London County Council. 1s. (P. King and Son, 9
Bridge Street, Westminster.)
"Swimming." By Prof. Holbein. 1s. (A. Pearson, Ltd.)
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 25.
HELPING OTHERS.
Rendering First Aid--Suicides--How to Carry a Patient.
RENDERING FIRST AID.
[NOTE TO INSTRUCTOR.--_It is impossible in the short space at one's
disposal to give all the details of First Aid. These can be found in any
of the books mentioned at the end of this Camp Fire Yarn._]
In an accident when you are alone with the injured person, if he is
unconscious lay him on his back with his head a little raised and on one
side so that he does not choke, and so that any vomit or water, etc.,
can run out of his mouth. Loosen the clothing about his neck and chest.
See where he is injured and treat him according to what you are taught
in learning "First Aid."
If you have found the man lying insensible you should carefully examine
the ground round him for any "sign," and take note of it and of his
position, etc., in case it should afterwards appear that he had been
attacked by others.
[_Practise above, one boy as patient, the other to find him. Make
"sign" round the patient._]
If you are out with a patrol and an accident happens, or you find an
injured man, the patrol leader should direct one scout to go for a
doctor; he himself will attend to the patient with one scout to help
him. The corporal will use the other scouts in assisting by getting
water or blankets, or making a stretcher, or keeping the crowd back.
As a rule, it is best to keep the patient quite quiet at first; unless
it is necessary, do not try to move him; and don't bother him with
questions until he recovers a bit.
[_Practise above._]
[Illustration: Artificial Breathing: Schäfer System.]
ARTIFICIAL BREATHING.--To restore anyone who is apparently drowned, it
is necessary at once to clear the water out of his lungs, for which
purpose therefore you should incline him face downwards and head
downwards, so that the water may run out of his mouth, and to help it
you should open his mouth and pull forward his tongue; take off the wet
clothing and wrap him in blankets if possible, and rub and move his
limbs as much as possible to get back the circulation of the blood.
After running the water out of the patient, place him on his side with
his body slightly hanging down, and keep the tongue hanging out. If he
is breathing let him rest; if he is not breathing, you must at once
endeavour to restore breathing artificially. Lay him flat on his front
with his arm bent and placed under his forehead to keep his nose and
mouth on the ground. Put a folded coat or pillow under his chest and let
his head hang down. In this way his tongue will not block his throat,
and any water or slime can run out. Then either stand astride of him or
kneel alongside him, and, placing both your hands on his lower ribs,
press steadily down and forwards to drive any air out of his body for
three or four seconds, and then ease up to let the air come in again
through the throat, then press down again. Continue this pressing and
easing, counting four to each movement, until the patient begins to
breathe again. Sometimes this doesn't happen till you have been trying
for an hour or even more.
This is called the Schafer method, and can be used equally well for
drowned people or for those overcome with smoke or gas fumes.
[_Make the scouts, in pairs, practise above._]
SMOKE OR FUMES.--Accidents are continually occurring from escapes of gas
in mines, sewers, and houses.
In endeavouring to rescue a person, keep your nose and month well
covered with wet rags, and get your head as close to the floor as
possible, and drag the insensible person out as I have suggested in case
of a fire. Drag your patient as quickly as possible into the fresh
air--(I say as quickly as possible, because if you delay about it you
are very apt to be overcome by the noxious gas yourself)--then loosen
all his clothing about the neck and chest, dash cold water in his face
and apply burnt feathers under his nose. If you find that he is no
longer breathing, then treat him as you would a drowned person, and try
and work back the breath into his body.
BURNS.--In treating a man who has been burnt, remove his clothes, not by
peeling them off, but by cutting them with a SHARP knife or scissors. If
any part of the dress sticks to the skin from having been burnt there,
do not tear it away but cut the cloth round it, then as quickly as
possible protect the burnt parts from the air which causes intense pain.
The best way to protect them is by dusting them with powdered chalk or
flour, or by laying strips of lint well soaked in sweet oil or linseed
oil, and covering the whole with cotton wool. Keep the patient warm, and
give warm drinks, such as hot tea, hot milk, or spirits and water.
Major John Garroway, M.D., strongly recommends, instead of flour or oil
to stop the pain of a burn, to put a piece of paper firmly over the
wound, and the pain will be relieved in a few seconds.
ACID BURNING.--A case occurred only the other day of a woman throwing
vitriol over a man's face. This is an awful acid which burns and eats
away the flesh wherever it touches. Fortunately a policeman happened to
be on the spot at the time and knew what to do. He at once applied water
to wash off the acid, and then applied flour or whitening to protect the
wound from the air and ease the pain.
BROKEN LIMBS.--You may get persons with broken limbs or stunned. In the
case of broken limbs you would learn what to do in passing your
ambulance course, which every boy scout ought to pass before he can be
considered to be fully trained. You would there learn how to know when a
limb was broken, and how to tie it up between splints made of pieces of
wood, rolls of newspaper or rushes, bundles of twigs, walking sticks, or
any other articles that will make a straight support for the limb.
[_Practise this._]
[Illustration: Pulling in a Dislocated Shoulder--an actual experience of
mine in India.]
BLEEDING.--When a man is bleeding badly from a wound, squeeze the wound
or the flesh just above it--that is between the wound and the
heart--press it hard with your thumb to try and stop the blood running
in the artery. Then make a pad with something like a flat rounded
pebble, and bind it over the wound. If bleeding violently, tie a
handkerchief loosely round the limb above the wound and twist it tight
with a stick. [_Demonstrate this._] Keep the wounded part raised above
the rest of the body if possible. Apply cold water, or ice if possible,
wet rags, etc.
FAINTING.--If your patient faints and is pale--fainting comes from too
little blood in the head--let him lie flat down with head on the ground.
If his face is flushed raise the head--there is too much blood in it, as
in apoplexy or sunstroke.
FITS.--A man cries out and falls, and twitches and jerks his limbs
about, froths at the mouth, he is in a fit. It is no good to do anything
to him but to put a bit of wood or cork between his jaws, so that he
does not bite his tongue. Let him sleep well after a fit.
POISONING.--If a person suddenly falls very ill after taking food, or is
known to have taken poison, the first thing to do is to make him swallow
some milk or raw eggs. These seem to collect all the poison that is
otherwise spread about inside him. Then, if the mouth is not stained or
burnt by the poison, make him sick if possible by giving him salt and
warm water, and try tickling the inside of his throat with a feather.
Then more milk and eggs and weak tea. If the poison is an acid that
burns, the patient should not be made to vomit, but milk or salad oil
should be given. The patient should be kept awake if he gets drowsy.
BLOOD-POISONING.--This results from dirt being allowed to get into a
wound. Swelling, pain, red veins appear. Fomenting with hot water is the
best relief.
CHOKING.--Loosen collar; hold the patient's nose with one hand and with
the forefinger of the other, or with the handle of a spoon try and pull
out whatever is stuck in his throat. By pressing down the root of the
tongue you may make him sick and throw out the obstruction. For slight
choking make patient bend head well back and swallow small pills made of
bread, and sip of water. Sometimes a good hard smack on the back will do
him good.
SNAKE BITE.
Fortunately poisonous snakes are uncommon in England, but if you travel
in a colony you are sure to come across them, and you ought always to
know how to deal with bites from them. The same treatment does also for
wounds from poisoned arrows, mad dogs, etc. Remember the poison from a
bite gets into your blood and goes all through your body in a very few
beats of your pulse. Therefore, whatever you do must be done
immediately. The great thing is to stop the poison rushing up the veins
into the body. To do this bind a cord or handkerchief immediately round
the limb above the place where the patient has been bitten, so as to
stop the blood flying back to the heart with the poison. Then try and
suck the poison out of the wound, and, if possible, cut the wound still
more, to make it bleed, and run the poison out. The poison, when sucked
into the mouth, does no harm unless you have a wound in your mouth. The
patient should also be given stimulants, such as coffee or spirits, to a
very big extent, and not allowed to become drowsy, but should be walked
about and pricked and smacked in order to keep his senses alive.
[_Practise this process in make-believe._]
GRIT IN THE EYE.
Do not let your patient rub the eye; it will only cause inflammation and
swelling, and so make the difficulty of removing the grit all the
greater.
If the grit is in the lower eyelid, draw down the lid as far as you can,
and gently brush it out with the corner of a moistened handkerchief, or
with a paintbrush, or feather.
If it is under the upper lid, pull the lid away from the eyeball and
push the underlid up underneath the upper one. In this way the eyelashes
of the lower lid will generally clean the inside of the upper one.
Another way, which every scout must practise, is to seat your patient
and stand behind him yourself with the back of his head against your
chest. Lay a card, match, or any flat substance under your own thumb on
the upper part of the upper eyelid and then catch hold of the edge of
the eyelid and draw it upwards over the match so that it turns inside
out; gently remove the grit with a feather or wet handkerchief, and roll
the eyelid down again.
If the eye is much inflamed, bathe it with lukewarm weak tea.
If the grit is firmly embedded in the eye, drop a little oil (olive or
castor oil) into the lower lid; close the eye and bandage it with a soft
wet pad and bandage, and get a doctor to see it.
[_Practise above._]
SUICIDES.
I was once travelling in the train in Algeria, a part of North Africa
which belongs to the French, and there was with me only one other
passenger in the carriage, a French farmer, with whom I got into
conversation. He became very communicative, and told me that if I had
not come into the carriage he would by this time have been a dead man,
as he had got into the train with the intention of killing himself. So I
asked him about his troubles, and, as he unfolded them to me, I was able
to tell him various remedies which promised success for him in the
future, for he was chiefly upset over his recent failures in farming.
After we had been going on for some time, he quite cheered up, and told
me that he was going to get out at the next station, and go back and set
to work in the way suggested.
You may have opportunities of saving people who are thinking of killing
themselves. The newspapers give cases of suicides almost every day, and
go into details of them, because they know that so many people have a
foolish love of reading horrors.
Most people at one time or the other of their lives get a feeling that
they will kill themselves; as a rule they get over it in a day or two,
and find that it comes from nothing worse than an attack of indigestion,
liver, or influenza, or from disappointment, or over-anxiety; but there
are others with weaker minds, who read these newspaper accounts, and
brood over them till they can think of nothing else. They hug the idea
to themselves, although with horror, and get panic-stricken. They think
too much of their own trouble, without thinking how the rest of the
world is doing.
It only needs a sympathising friend to come along and take command of
the would-be suicide, and to give him something else to think about and
to do. You can point out that suicide does no good to anybody; that it
generally comes from something wrong with the bodily health, which makes
the patient hysterical; that he has only got to command his own mind
firmly, and the attack will pass off again. Then, if possible, try to
get a Salvation Army officer to see him; he will probably set him right.
In this way you may be able to save lives.
[_The Salvation Army have now a department which gives advice to people
who are feeling inclined to kill themselves. This past year 1125 men and
90 women have applied to their London office alone; and of these
probably three-quarters would have killed themselves if it had not been
for the sympathy and advice of the officers who reasoned with them, and
found for them ways out of their difficulties. The official returns of
suicides for the past year show a much smaller number than usual._]
Where a man has gone so far as to attempt suicide, a scout should know
what to do with him. In the case of a man cutting his throat, the great
point is to stop the bleeding from the artery, if it be cut. The artery
runs from where the collarbone and breast-bone join, up to the corner of
the jaw, and the way to stop bleeding is to press hard with the thumb on
the side of the wound nearest to the heart, and pressure should be kept
up as hard as possible until assistance arrives. [_Demonstrate this._]
In a case where the would-be suicide has taken poison, give milk and
make him vomit, which is done by tickling the inside of the throat with
the finger or a feather, or pouring down his throat a tumbler of water
mixed with a tablespoon of mustard or salt.
In the case of hanging, cut down the body at once, taking care to
support it with one arm while cutting the cord. Cut the noose, loosen
all tight clothing about the neck and chest. Let the patient have as
much fresh air as possible, throw cold water on the face and chest, or
cold and hot water alternately. Perform artificial breathing as in the
case of apparently drowned people.
A tenderfoot is sometimes inclined to be timid about handling an
insensible man or a dead man, or even of seeing blood. Well, he won't be
much use till he gets over such nonsense; the poor insensible fellow
can't hurt him, and he must force himself to catch hold of him; when
once he has done this his fears will pass off. And if he visits a
butcher's slaughterhouse he will soon get accustomed to the sight of
blood.
At Reading, not long ago, two men were severely reprimanded by the
coroner for being afraid to go and cut down a man who had hanged
himself--they only ran and fetched someone else, and so he was killed.
What would you have done had you been one of the men?
HOW TO CARRY A PATIENT.
(See National Health Society's Manual.)
TO CARRY SINGLE-HANDED AN UNCONSCIOUS PERSON.--Turn patient on his face.
Raise him into a kneeling posture. Kneel, and place yourself across and
under him, so that his stomach rests on your right shoulder. Pass your
right arm between his thighs and behind his right thigh. With your left
arm draw his left hand forwards under your left, and grasp the wrist
with your right hand; then raise yourself to an erect position.
[_Make scouts practise this in pairs._]
[Illustration: Lifting Insensible Man.]
WITH TWO HELPERS TO CARRY A CONSCIOUS PERSON. (See Manual.)
STRETCHERS may be arranged in some of the following ways:
(a) A hurdle, shutter, door, gate, covered well with straw, hay,
clothing, sacking.
(b) A piece of carpet, blanket, sacking, tarpaulin, spread out, and two
stout poles rolled up in the sides. Put clothes for a pillow.
(c) Two coats, with the sleeves turned inside out; pass two poles
through the sleeves; button the coats over them.
(d) Two poles passed through a couple of sacks, through holes at the
bottom corners of each.
[Illustration: Carrying Insensible Man.]
In carrying a patient on a stretcher be careful that he is made quite
comfortable before you start. Let both bearers rise together; they must
walk _out of step_, and take short paces. It should be the duty of the
hinder bearer to keep a careful watch on the patient.
[_Practise these different methods._]
HOW TO PRACTISE.
_In practising First Aid it is a great thing to bespatter the patient
with blood to accustom the rescuer to the sight of it, otherwise it will
often unnerve him in a real accident. Sheep's blood can be got from the
butcher's shop._
_Prepare a heavy smoke fire in a neighbouring room or building (if
possible on the first floor), while you are lecturing in the club room.
Secretly arrange with two or three boys that if an alarm of fire is
given they should run about frightened and try to start a panic._
_Have the alarm given either by getting someone to rush in and tell you
of the fire, or by having some explosive bombs fired. Then let a patrol,
or two patrols, tackle the fire under direction of their patrol leaders.
They should shut windows and doors. Send scouts into different parts of
the building to see if the fire is spreading, and to search for people
in need of rescue._
_These scouts should have wet handkerchiefs over their months and noses.
"Insensible" people (or sack dummies) should be hidden under tables,
etc._
_Scouts rescue them by shouldering or dragging them out and getting them
down to the ground. Use jumping sheet, shoot, etc._
_Other parties lay and connect the hose, or make lines for passing fire
buckets._
_Another party revive the rescued by restoring animation. Another party
form "scrum" to help the police and fire brigade by keeping the crowd
back._
GAMES.
"DRAGGING RACE." A line of patients of one patrol are laid out at one
hundred yards distance from start. Another patrol, each carrying a rope,
run out, tie ropes to the patients, and drag them in. Time taken of last
in. Patrols change places. The one which completes in shortest time
wins. Knots must be correctly tied, and patients' coats laid out under
their heads.
BOOKS TO READ.
"Aid to the Injured or Sick." H. W. Gell, M.B. Twopence. (Published by
G. Gill & Sons, 13, Warwick Lane, London, E.C.)
National Health Society's Booklets, one penny, on hygiene and
sanitation. Same publishers.
CHAPTER IX.
PATRIOTISM;
or,
Our Duties as Citizens.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 26.
OUR EMPIRE.
How it Grew--How it Must be Held.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_The use of a large Map of the Empire is very desirable for illustrating
this. The Arnold Forster or the Navy League or the League of the Empire
Map are very good, and we hope to issue one specialty designed for the
Boy Scouts._
_Look up the local history of your neighbourhood, and give your scouts
the more interesting and dramatic bits of it, on the actual scene of the
events if possible._
OUR EMPIRE.
Any of you who have travelled much about this country by train, going
for your holidays and so on, know how two or three hours will take you a
good long distance and six or eight hours will take you to the other end
of England.
Well, if instead of hours you travelled for as many days, even six or
eight days would take you a very little way over our Empire. It would
get you into Canada, but you would want several more days--not hours--to
get you across that country. Eighteen days' hard travelling day and
night would get you to India or South Africa, but either of these are
little more than half way to Australia. And all that distance off,
across the seas, on the other side of the world, we have a British
country into which you could put nine Great Britains and Irelands.
9 United Kingdoms = 1 Australia.
10 " = 1 Canada.
6 " = 1 India and Burma.
5 " = East Africa, Uganda,
and Soudan.
5 " = South Africa.
1 " = New Zealand.
1-1/2 " = Nigeria.
Then there are numbers of smaller Colonies or Dependencies, such as
Guiana (nearly as big as the United Kingdom), North Borneo, New Guinea,
Somaliland, Straits Settlements, Gold Coast, West Indies, Tasmania,
etc., and numbers of islands in ever sea all over the world.
Our Colonies together are something like forty times the size of the
United Kingdom at home.
Our fellow-subjects amount to four hundred millions, and comprise almost
every known race. Almost every known species of wild animal occurs in
British territory.
It is a magnificent Empire over which the Union Jack flies, but it is
still only at the beginning of its development. The territories are
there, but the people are only coming. The white population of all these
Colonies only amounts to a little over a quarter of the population of
our crowded little island. We have nearly forty-four millions here; they
have among the colonies a little over eleven millions.
Many of you scouts, as you grow up, will probably become scouts of the
nation, and will find your way to some of the Colonies to help to push
them up into big prosperous countries. Your scout's training will come
in very useful to you there. But when you go there you must be prepared
to work, and to work hard, and to turn your hand to any kind of job.
HOW OUR EMPIRE GREW.
All those vast Colonies did not come to England of themselves. They were
got for us by the hard work and the hard fighting of our forefathers.
AMERICA.--When we first got to America it took Sir Walter Raleigh,
Captain John Smith, and other great pioneers four or five months to get
there in their little cockleshells of ships, some of them only 30 tons
measurement--no bigger than a Thames barge. Nowadays you can get there
in five or six days, instead of months, in steamers of 30,000 tons.
Think of the pluck of those men tackling a voyage like that, with very
limited supply of water and salt food. And, when they got to land with
their handful of men, they had to overcome the savages, and in some
cases other Europeans, like the Dutch, the Spaniards, and the French;
and then they had hard work to till the ground, to build settlements,
and to start commerce.
Hard sailoring, hard soldiering, hard colonising by those old British
sea-dogs, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Hawkins, Frobisher,
and, best of all to my mind, Captain John Smith.
He left Louth Grammar School in Lincolnshire to become a clerk in an
office, but he soon went off to the wars. After two years' fighting he
returned home.
He admitted he had gone out as a "tenderfoot," and had not properly
prepared himself as a boy for a life of adventure; so he set to work
then and there to learn scouting. He built himself a hut in the woods,
and learnt stalking game, and killing and cooking it for himself; he
learnt to read maps and to draw them, and also the use of weapons; and
then, when he had made himself really good at scoutcraft, he went off to
the wars again.
He afterwards became a sailor, fought in some very tough sea-fights, and
eventually, in 1607, he went with an expedition to colonise Virginia in
America. They sailed from London in three ships, the biggest of which
was only 100 tons, the smallest 30 tons. But they got there after five
months, and started a settlement on the James River.
Here John Smith was captured by the Red Indians one day when out
shooting (as you have seen by the play in Chapter I.), and they were
proceeding to kill him when the King's daughter, Pocahontas, asked for
him to be spared. After this the Red Indians and the Whites got on good
terms with each other. Pocahontas became a Christian, and married
Smith's lieutenant, Rolfe, and came to England. After many strange and
exciting adventures in America, John Smith got much damaged by an
accidental explosion of gunpowder, and came home ill. He eventually died
in London.
He was a splendid character--and always did his duty in spite of all
temptations to let it slide. He was a tremendous worker, very keen, and
very brave. He was never defeated by any difficulty however great,
because he was always cheery under the worst of circumstances. His motto
was, "We were born not for ourselves, but to do good to others," and he
acted up to it.
IN SOUTH AFRICA we had to drive out the Dutch and then fight the natives
for our foothold, which once gained we never let go--and though it has
cost us thousands of lives and millions of money we have got it now.
AUSTRALIA was got by our sailor-adventurers, like Captain Cook,
outstripping all other nations in their plucky navigation of immense
unknown oceans.
INDIA was practically in possession of the French when Clive and
Wellesley drove them out, and then in turn had to fight the hordes of
fighting natives of the interior, and gradually, foot by foot, by dint
of hard fighting, we have won that country for our Empire.
EAST AFRICA, Uganda, and the Soudan beyond Egypt, and Somaliland have
also been fought for and won in quite recent times.
And now in all of these we are spreading the blessings of peace and
justice, doing away with slavery and oppression, and developing
commerce, and manufactures, and prosperity in those countries.
Other nations could formerly only look on and wonder, but now they too
are pressing forward in the race for empire and commerce, so that we
cannot afford to sit still or let things slide.
We have had this enormous Empire handed down to us by our forefathers,
and we are responsible that it develops and goes ahead, and above all
that we make ourselves fit and proper men to help it to go ahead. It
won't do so of itself, any more than it would have become ours of
itself. If we don't do this some other nation will take it from us.
If our island of England were attacked and taken, down comes our Empire
like a house built of cards.
We have had this danger always, even before our Empire was a paying one
and worth taking. Nowadays it is much more tempting for other people to
take. We defeated determined attacks of the Dutch upon us in the old
days. The Spaniards with their Armada attempted to invade us, when,
largely thanks to a storm, we defeated them utterly. Then the French,
after a long struggle to best us, had their invasion stopped by Nelson's
victory at Trafalgar, and their harmfulness ended by Wellington at
Waterloo. The French Emperor had been so sure of success that he had had
medals got ready to commemorate the capture of England. And since
helping in the defeat of the Russians in the Crimea we have been at
peace with our Continental neighbours.
Let us hope that this peace will remain permanent.
HOW THE EMPIRE MUST BE HELD.
Peace cannot be certain unless we show that we are always fully prepared
to defend ourselves in England, and that an invader would only find
himself ramming his head against bayonets and well-aimed bullets if he
tried landing on our shores.
The surest way to keep peace is to be prepared for war. Don't be
cowards, and content yourselves by merely paying soldiers to do your
fighting and dying for you. Do something in your own self-defence.
You know at school how if a swaggering ass comes along and threatens to
bully you, he only does so because he thinks you will give in to him;
but if you know how to box and square up to him he alters his tone and
takes himself off. And it is just the same with nations.
It is much better that we should all be good friends--and we should all
try for that--no calling each other names, or jeering; but if one of
them comes along with the idea of bullying us, the only way to stop him
is to show him that you _can_ hit and _will_ hit if he drives you to it.
Every boy should prepare himself, by learning how to shoot and to drill,
to take his share in defence of the Empire, if it should ever be
attacked. If our enemies saw that we were thus prepared as a nation,
they would never dare to attack, and peace would be assured.
Remember that the Roman Empire 2000 years ago was comparatively just as
great as the British Empire of to-day. And though it had defeated any
number of attempts against it, it fell at last, chiefly because the
young Romans gave up soldiering and manliness altogether; they paid men
to play their games for them, so that they themselves could look on
without the fag of playing, just as we are doing in football now. They
paid soldiers to fight their battles for them instead of earning the use
of arms themselves; they had no patriotism or love for their grand old
country, and they went under with a run when a stronger nation attacked
them.
Well, we have got to see that the same fate does not fall upon our
Empire. And it will largely depend upon you, the younger generation of
Britons that are now growing up to be the men of the Empire. Don't be
disgraced like the young Romans, who lost the Empire of their
forefathers by being wishy-washy slackers without any go or patriotism
in them.
Play up! Each man in his place, and play the game! Your forefathers
worked hard, fought hard, and died hard, to make this Empire for you.
Don't let them look down from heaven, and see you loafing about with
hands in your pockets, doing nothing to keep it up.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
Teach the words and choruses of:
"The Maple Leaf" (Canada), "The Song of Australia," and other
Colonial songs.
"God Bless the Prince of Wales."
"Rule Britannia."
"Hearts of Oak."
"The Flag of Britain."
"God Save the King."
(J. S. Maddison, 32 Charing Cross.)
Apply to Secretary, League of the Empire, Caxton Hall, Westminster, S.W.
Explore Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Temple Church,
etc., with following books:
BOOKS TO READ.
"St. Paul's Cathedral" and "Westminster Abbey," both by Mrs. Frewen
Lord, 1s. (Published by Clowes and Son, Charing Cross.)
(Excellent short histories of our famous men and their deeds.)
"Travels of Captain John Smith," by Dr. Rouse. 6d. (Blackie.)
"The Story of Captain Cook." Edited by John Lang. 1s. 6d.
"Deeds that Won the Empire," by Fitchett.
"Heroes of Pioneering" (in America, India, Africa), by Sanderson.
(Seeley.) 2s. 6d.
Excellent Lantern Slide Lectures can be got on hire from the League of
the Empire, Caxton Hall, Victoria Street, London, on the history of our
Colonies and Empire.
DISPLAY.
John Nicholson was one of the finest among many fine Britons who helped
to rule India. On one occasion he had a meeting of a number of chiefs at
a time when they were beginning to show some signs of mutiny. The most
important one of these chiefs was called Mehtab Singh, and just before
the meeting he told the others that he for one was not afraid of the
Englishman, and that he meant to swagger into the room with his shoes
on. (It is the custom in India for natives to take off their shoes on
entering the presence of a superior just as in England you take off your
hat on coming in.) And he did so. He walked in before them all with his
shoes on.
Nicholson did not appear to take any notice of it and went on with the
meeting; but at the end of it, just as they were all leaving, he
suddenly stopped Mehtab Singh, and ordered the others to wait. He then
reprimanded him for his insolence, and ordered him to take off his shoes
then and there and to walk out with them in his hand before all the
other chiefs. And so he had to go, hanging his head with shame,
disgraced and humbled by the firmness of the British ruler.
This makes a good subject for a display.
Scene in a great tent or hall in India.
Nicholson (with a black beard), in a dark suit, sitting on a throne in
the centre, with several British and native officers in red tunics
grouped behind him. Native princes, seated in chairs in semi-circle to
either side of him, all with white socks or bare feet, except Mehtab
Singh, who has black shoes on, put out well before him for all to see.
Nicholson rises, signs to the chiefs that they may go.
All rise and bow to him, with both hands to the forehead.
As they turn to go he stops them.
"Stay, gentlemen, one moment. I have a matter with you, Mehtab Singh!
Thou camest here intent to show contempt for me, who represent your
Queen. But you forget that you are dealing with a Briton--one of that
band who never brooks an insult even from an equal, much less from a
native of this land. Were I a common soldier it would be the same; a
Briton, even though alone, amongst a thousand of your kind, shall be
respected, though it brought about his death. That's how we hold the
world. To plot against your master brings but trouble on yourself. Take
off those shoes."
[Illustration: Mehtab Singh.]
[Mehtab starts, draws himself up, and glares at Nicholson angrily.]
Nicholson [very quietly and deliberately]--"Take--off--those--shoes."
[Points at them.]
A pause. Mehtab looks round as if for help, takes a step towards
Nicholson, but catches his eye, and stops. He sinks slowly on one knee,
head down, and slowly takes off his shoes.
Rises, keeping his head down, slowly turns--Nicholson still
pointing--and walks slowly out, shoes in hand.
[If a longer scene is required Nicholson might then address the chiefs
on the might of Britain, which, though a small country, is all powerful
for good of the world, and so he, as representing her, stands one among
them for the good of the whole. And that if they want peace and
prosperity they themselves must be loyal and true to the hand that is
arranging it. Nicholson's words are splendidly rendered in the poem by
Henry Newbolt.]
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 27.
CITIZENSHIP.
Duties of Scouts as Citizens--Duties as Citizen
Soldiers--Marksmanship--Helping the Police.
SCOUT'S DUTY AS A CITIZEN.
There are two ways by which every good Briton ought to be prepared to
keep up our Empire.
The first is by peaceful means as a citizen.
If every citizen of the Empire were to make himself a really good useful
man, our nation would be such a blessing to the civilised world, as it
has been in the past, that nobody would wish to see it broken up by any
other nation. No other nation would probably wish to do it. But to hold
that position we must be good citizens and firm friends all round among
ourselves in our country.
A house divided against itself cannot stand. If a strong enemy wants our
rich commerce and Colonies, and sees us in England divided against each
other, he would pounce in and capture us.
For this you must begin, as boys, not to think other classes of boys to
be your enemies. Remember, whether rich or poor, from castle or from
slum, you are all Britons in the first place, and you've got to keep
England up against outside enemies. You have to stand shoulder to
shoulder to do it.
If you are divided among yourselves you are doing harm to your country.
You must sink your differences.
If you despise other boys because they belong to a poorer class than
yourself you are a snob; if you hate other boys because they happen to
be born richer and belong to higher class schools than yourself, you are
a fool.
We have got, each one of us, to take our place as we find it in this
world and make the best of it, and pull together with the others around
us.
We are very like bricks in a wall, we have each our place, though it may
seem a small one in so big a wall. But if one brick gets rotten, or
slips out of place, it begins to throw an undue strain on others, cracks
appear, and the wall totters.
Don't be too anxious to push yourself on to good billets. You will get
disappointments without end if you start that way.
Work for the good of the State, or of the business in which you are
employed, and you will find that as you succeed in doing this you will
be getting all the promotion and all the success that you want.
Try and prepare yourself for this by seriously taking up the subjects
they teach you at school, not because it amuses you, but because it is
your duty to your country to improve yourself. Take up your mathematics,
your history, and your language--learning in that spirit, and you'll get
on.
Don't think of yourself, but think of your country and your employers.
Self-sacrifice pays all round.
DUTIES AS CITIZEN-SOLDIER.
A cuttle-fish is an animal with a small, round body and several
enormously long arms which reach out in every direction to hold on to
rocks to enable it to keep its position and to get food.
Great Britain has been compared to a cuttle-fish, the British Isles
being the body and our distant Colonies the arms spread all over the
world.
When anyone wants to kill a cuttle-fish he does not go and lop off one
of its arms; the other arms would probably tackle him and hold him for
the cuttle-fish to eat. No, the way to kill a cuttle-fish is to suddenly
stab him in the heart, and then his arms fall helpless and dead.
Well, we have many powerful enemies round about us in Europe who want
very much to get hold of the trade in our great manufacturing towns, and
of the vast farm-lands in our Colonies. If they tried to lop off one of
our Colonies it would be like trying to lop off one of the arms of the
cuttle-fish. All the rest would tackle him at once, as happened in the
last war in South Africa.
Their only way--and they know it--is to stab suddenly at the heart of
the Empire, that is to attack England. If they succeeded, the whole of
the Empire must fall at once, because the different parts of it cannot
yet defend themselves without help from home.
For this reason every Briton who has any grit in him will BE PREPARED to
help in defending his country.
When Mafeking was attacked by the Boers, the boys of the town made
themselves into a Cadet Corps, and did very useful work in the defence.
It is quite likely that England will some day be attacked just as
Mafeking was, unexpectedly, by a large number of enemies.
[Illustration: Cuttle Fish.]
If this happens, every boy in the country should be prepared to take his
place and help in the defence like those Mafeking boys did.
We don't think much of a fellow who is no good at cricket or football,
and who only loafs about trying (without success) to look like a man by
smoking cheap cigarettes. But we ought really not to think too much of
any boy, even though a cricketer and footballer, unless he can also
_shoot_, and _can drill_ and _scout_.
That is the fellow who is going to be useful if England is attacked.
I hope that before long every eleven, whether football or cricket, will
also make itself a good eleven for shooting and scouting and therefore
useful for defence of our King and country when needed.
In the Colonies boys think more of their shooting than of their games,
because the shooting is for their _country_, the games for _themselves_.
Mr. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, writes:
"The qualities that make a good scout are, in large part, the qualities
that make a good hunter. Most important of all is the ability to shift
for one's self--the mixture of hardihood and resourcefulness which
enables a man to tramp all day in the right direction, and, when night
comes, to make the best of whatever opportunities for shelter and warmth
may be at hand. Skill in the use of the rifle is another trait;
quickness in seeing game, another; ability to take advantage of cover,
yet another; while patience, endurance, keenness of observation,
resolution, good nerves, and instant readiness in an emergency, are all
indispensable to a really good hunter."
Roosevelt is not, like certain men I know of, a man who pays others to
do his fighting for him, but, when America went to war with Spain about
Cuba, he went to the front as a soldier--like many good Britons did in
South Africa--and was of greatest value to his side because he had begun
life as a scout.
So make yourselves good scouts and good rifle shots in order to protect
the women and children of your country if it should ever become
necessary.
MARKSMANSHIP.
Lord Roberts, who has seen more of war than almost anybody alive, knows
how terrible a thing it would be if war came into England, and he urges
everybody to join in preventing it by becoming a good marksman with the
rifle. Thanks to him, all those who have patriotism in them are taking
it up everywhere.
The value of non-smoking again comes in rifle shooting. I used to smoke
myself as a youngster, but I had to do some rifle shooting, and when in
training I found my eyesight was better when I did not smoke. So I gave
up smoking altogether, and am very glad I did.
The boys of the International Anti-Cigarette League bind themselves not
to smoke, in order to make themselves better men for their country--that
is the best reason for doing it.
I heard another reason given the other day for not smoking, and that was
that St. Paul did not smoke. I don't suppose he did. Tobacco wasn't
invented in his time.
[Illustration: Boer Boys Shooting with Crossbows.]
The Boers are all good shots, and so are the Swiss. In both countries
the boys begin learning marksmanship at an early age by using crossbows.
They have much the same action for the firer as the rifle, since they
are aimed from the shoulder and fired by pulling a trigger when the aim
is taken. Boys trained with the crossbow have no difficulty in shooting
accurately with a rifle directly it is put in their hands.
To be able to shoot well, a great secret is to hold your rifle properly;
if it leans over a little bit to one side or the other the bullet will
fly low over to that side. Keep your left arm well underneath the rifle
to support it, and hold it well into the shoulder with your left hand.
The right hand should have the thumb on the top of the stock, and the
forefinger as far round the trigger as you can get it; then in firing
don't give a pull with your forefinger or you will pull the aim off the
target just as you fire; you should squeeze the woodwork of the rifle
between your thumb and forefinger, and that will fire it with
steadiness.
Then when your rifle has gone off, don't throw up the muzzle in a hurry,
but do like all old scouts, continue to look along your sights after
firing to see how much you have jumped off your aim in firing, and try
and correct it next time.
Shooting at a fixed target is only a step towards shooting at a moving
one like a man. Firing at moving objects is, of course, more difficult,
but more real, because you will not find a deer or an enemy as a rule
kind enough to stand still while you shoot at him, he will be running
and dodging behind cover, so you have to get your aim quick and to shoot
quick.
The very best practice for this is always to be aiming at moving objects
with your staff, using it as if it were a rifle.
Aim first at the man, then moving the muzzle a little faster than he is
moving, and fire while moving it when it is pointing where he will be a
second or two later, and the bullet will just get there at the same time
as he does and will hit him.
HELPING POLICE.
Boy Scouts can be of special use in assisting the police in towns. In
the first place every Boy Scout ought to know where the fixed police
points are--that is, where a constable is always stationed, apart from
the policemen on their beats. He ought also to know where to find the
fire alarm; also where is the nearest fire brigade station, and the
nearest hospital or ambulance station, and chemist.
On seeing an accident, if you cannot help at it you should run and
inform the nearest policeman, and ask him how you can help him, whether
you can call a doctor, a cab, and so on. If you hear a policeman's
whistle sounding, run and offer to help him, it is your duty, as he is a
King's servant. If you should happen to see a door or window left open
and unguarded at night, it is as well to inform a policeman on that
beat, but you should on no account attempt to do detective work by
watching people or playing the spy.
If you find a lost child, or lost dog, or any lost property, you should
take them at once to the police station.
Sir H. Poland, K.C., had his watch snatched by a pickpocket the other
day. The thief darted away down the street; but a small boy jumped on to
a bike and followed him, crying, "Stop thief!" till he was caught--with
the watch on him.
Not only can boys help the police, but girls also. Within the last few
months I have noticed three cases of girls going to the assistance of
constables who were in difficulties with violent men. In each case the
girl got the policeman's whistle and blew it for him until assistance
arrived. These heroines were Miss Edith Harris at Southampton, Miss
Bessie Matthews in Clerkenwell, and Mrs. Langley at Brentford.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
Marksmanship can be taught indoors with the Blanchette Air Gun Tube.
Price four guineas with Air Rifle. Targets 10d. per 100.
CROSSBOW.--Scouts can make their own crossbows and learn marksmanship
with them.
Get leave to use, or join, a Miniature Rifle Club range.
GAMES.
"SHOOT OUT."--Two patrols compete. Targets: Bottles or bricks set up on
end to represent the opposing patrol. Both patrols are drawn up in line
at about 20 to 25 yards from the targets. At the word "fire" they throw
stones at the targets. Directly a target falls the umpire directs the
corresponding man of the other patrol to sit down--killed. The game goes
on, if there are plenty of stones, till the whole of one patrol is
killed. Or a certain number of stones can be given to each patrol, or a
certain time limit, say one minute.
"French and English," or "Tug of War."--One patrol against another.
THE STORMING OF BADAJOZ.--One patrol (French) mounts on a very strong
kitchen-table, or bank, and holds it against all comers. The British
attack, and try to gain possession of the fortress by pulling the
defenders off. Defenders may have half their number on the ground behind
the "rampart." If the defenders pull a Briton over the rampart on to the
ground behind he is dead. No hitting or kicking allowed.
[Badajoz was a Spanish fortress held by 5,000 French and Spaniards. It
was attacked, and stormed, and taken by the British, who lost 3,500 in
the assault, on March 17th, 1812.]
BOOKS TO READ.
"The Boys' Book of Bravery." By Power Berry. (C. A. Pearson.)
"The Boys' Book of Battles." By Herbert Cadett. (C. A. Pearson.)
"Rules for Miniature Rifle Clubs." Secretary National Rifle Association,
Bisley, Surrey.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 28.
UNITED WE STAND. DIVIDED WE FALL.
Our Fleet and Army--Our Union Jack--Our Government--Our King.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_Hoist the flag and salute it every morning when in camp, and on special
days get up a show, or sports, or competitions, etc., on such as King's
Birthday, Empire Day, May 24th, annually, or on the day of the Patron
Saint of your Country: St. George, April 23rd; St. Patrick, March 17th;
St. David, March 1st; St. Andrew, Nov. 30th._
_Get up tableaux or small pageants by the scouts to illustrate scenes
from history of your town, or of Britain, or of Greater Britain._
_These interest the boys and impress the incident upon them, and they
educate spectators, and bring in money for your funds._
_Take scouts to see meeting of town council and how business is carried
out._
_If in London, take your boys to the Museum of the Royal United Service
Institution, Whitehall, and show them the models of Waterloo and
Trafalgar; the gun which we manufactured in Mafeking; the medals of
different campaigns; and a hundred other interesting relics._
_Take your scouts round and explain each statue in your town._
_Hold debates on questions of the day._
OUR NAVY AND ARMY.
The British Navy and Army have made our Empire for us, and if it had not
been for their help the Empire would have been broken up by our enemies
long ago.
So we must be careful to keep those Services supplied with good men who,
like the scouts, must BE PREPARED to give their lives for their country
at any time.
There are always members of Parliament who try to make the Navy and Army
smaller, so as to save money. They only want to be popular with the
voters in England so that they and the party to which they belong may
get into power. These men are called "politicians." They do not look to
the good of the county. Most of them know and care very little about our
Colonies. If they had had their way before, we should by this time have
been talking French; and if they are allowed to have their way in the
future we may as well learn German or Japanese, for we shall be
conquered by these.
But fortunately there are other better men in Parliament, who are called
"statesmen"; these are men who look out for the welfare of the country,
and do not mind about being popular or not so long as they keep the
country safe.
THE BRITISH NAVY.--Every British boy should study the Navy as much as
possible, and learn the history of the different ships, and their power
and guns, etc. A collection of postcard portraits of all His Majesty's
ships is a very interesting one to make.
You should know the badges of rank of the officers, because it is the
duty of a scout to salute officers of His Majesty's service.
Badges of rank on the sleeve or shoulder-strap are these.
[Illustration: Admiral, Captain, Lieutenant, Sub-Lieutenant.]
Perhaps you may like to know some facts about the dress of the sailors.
The reason they wear that flap collar on their back is a relic of the
time when they wore their hair in pig-tails. The grease used to come off
and spoil their jackets, so they wore big linen flaps, which could be
easily taken off and washed.
They wear a black silk tie round their neck as a mark of mourning for
the death of Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar.
They wear three lines of white braid to commemorate Nelson's naval
victories, The Nile, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar.
They wear baggy trousers so that they can easily roll them up above
their knees when they want to wade.
Soldiers and sailors tattoo their arms with the idea that when they are
killed in battle they can be identified the more easily.
THE BRITISH ARMY.--The Army is made up of--
The Regulars or Active Army, which includes infantry, cavalry,
artillery, engineers, and many other branches of both white and native
soldiers.
The Militia at home are to help the Regulars in time of war.
The Militia exist also in most of our Colonies for their own defence.
The Territorial Force is made up of volunteers to protect the British
Isles in case of the Active Army being called away for war in other
parts.
In the Army, field-marshals and generals (including major-generals and
lieutenant-generals) wear cocked hats, with long white cock's feather
plumes, and red tunics or black frock-coats. Their swords are curved
scimitars, with ivory handles. Colonels wear the uniform of their
regiment with crown and star on the shoulder strap, or, in khaki, on the
cuff; majors, one crown; captains, three stars; lieutenants, two stars.
You can tell what wars soldiers or sailors have been in by the colours
of their medal ribbons. These I will show you later on.
OUR FLAG.
Scouts will always salute the colours (or standard) of a regiment when
they pass. There are generally two such standards, one the "King's
Colour," the other the "Regimental Colour."
Men-of-war carry a pennant, _i.e._, a long thin flag like a whip lash.
You may remember that the Dutch fleet under Van Tromp, after defeating
ours, carried a broom at their mastheads to show that they had swept us
off the seas. But when we shortly after defeated them we put up a whip
at the masthead to show that we had whipped the enemy, and this whip has
been carried ever since by men-of-war.
The Royal Navy fly the White Ensign; no one else is allowed to except
yachts belonging to the Royal Yacht Squadron. The White Ensign is a
white flag with the Red Cross of St. George on it and a Union Jack in
the corner. It is flown at the stern of the ship, a small Union Jack at
the bow.
The mercantile navy flies the Red Ensign; or if the captain of the ship
belongs to the Royal Reserve, the ship flies a Blue Ensign.
The Army and Government buildings fly the Union Jack. Private houses and
individuals should only fly the Red Ensign.
The Royal Standard, which shows the Lions of England, the Harp of
Ireland, and the Lion of Scotland, is only flown when the King is
present.
The Union Jack is the national flag of England, and is made up
originally of the flag of St. George, a red cross on a white ground. In
1606 King James I. added to it the banner of Scotland, which was a blue
flag with a white St. Andrew's Cross diagonal, that is from corner to
corner.
In 1801 the Banner of St. Patrick of Ireland was added to the flag; St.
Patrick's Cross was a red diagonal cross on a white ground, so that the
flag now means the union of England, Ireland, and Scotland.
But there is a right way and a wrong way of putting it up, which all of
you ought to know and understand, because so very frequently one sees it
hoisted the wrong way up, which literally means that you are in
distress; but people put it that way by mistake or from ignorance. You
will notice that the red diagonal arms of the flag have a narrow white
band on one side of them and a broad one on the other. Well, the broad
one should be to the top of the flag on the side nearest to the
flagpost, that is the "hoist" of the flag, and towards the bottom of the
flag in the loose end, or, as it is called, the "fly" of the flag. (See
picture, Part 1, page 29.)
It was called a "Jack," either from "Jacques," the nickname of King
James I., who first started it; or, more probably, from the "jack" or
"jacket," which the knights used to wear over their armour to show which
nation they belonged to. The English knights wore a white Jack with the
red cross of St. George upon it. This was also their flag.
If the flag is flown upside down it is a signal of distress. If it is
half-mast it is a sign of mourning.
On going on board a man-of-war, when you reach the quarter-deck--that is
the upper stern deck--always salute the ensign.
In the Navy, flags are hoisted at eight o'clock and saluted. With the
Boy Scouts when in camp the same practice will be observed.
Of course you will always rise and salute or take off your hat on
hearing the National Anthem played.
The 24th of May, the birthday of the great Queen Victoria, is "Empire
Day," and we all hoist the flag and salute in special honour of the
Empire on that occasion.
Remember it is going to be the business of everyone of you to keep the
old flag flying, even if you have to bleed for it--just as your
forefathers did before you.
We have all got to die some day; a few years more or less of our own
lives don't make much matter in the history of the world, but it is a
very great matter if by dying a year or two sooner than we should
otherwise do from disease we can help to save the flag of our country
from going under.
Therefore think it over--BE PREPARED to die for your country if need be;
so that when the moment arrives you may charge home with confidence, not
caring whether you are going to be killed or not.
If your enemy sees that you are bent on either killing or being killed,
the probability is that he won't wait to oblige you.
Don't merely talk, like some gas-bags do, about shedding the last drop
of your blood for your country--the difficulty with them, when the time
comes, is to get them to shed the FIRST drop of their blood.
The Union Jack stands for something more than only the Union of England,
Ireland, and Scotland--it means the Union of Great Britain with all our
Colonies across the seas; and also it means closer comradeship with our
brothers in those Colonies, and between ourselves at home. We must all
be bricks in the wall of that great edifice--the British Empire--and we
must be careful that we do not let our differences of opinion on
politics or other questions grow so strong as to divide us. We must
still stick shoulder to shoulder as Britons if we want to keep our
position among the nations; and we must make ourselves the best men in
the world for honour and goodness to others so that we may DESERVE to
keep that position.
Unite the Empire; make it stand compact,
Shoulder to shoulder let its members feel
The touch of British Brotherhood, and act
As one great nation--strong and true as steel.
OUR GOVERNMENT.
Of all the different kinds of government in the world, ours is the
easiest and fairest for everybody.
Some countries have kings who make their laws for them whether the
people like the laws or not; other countries make their own laws, but
have not a king or a head who can carry on dealings on equal terms with
other foreign countries.
With us the wants of the people are made known through Parliament. The
House of Commons is made up of men chosen by the people to make known
their wants and to suggest remedies, and the House of Lords sees whether
these are equally good for all and for the future of the country; and
what they recommend the King makes into law.
When you grow up you will become voters and have a share in putting
members into the House of Commons.
And you will many of you be inclined to belong to Conservative or
Liberal or Radical or other parties, whichever your father or friends
belong to. I should not if I were you. I should hear what each party has
to say. If you listen to one party you will certainly agree that that is
the only right one, the rest must all be wrong. But if you go and listen
to another you will find that after all that one is quite right, and the
first one wrong.
The thing is to listen to them all and don't be persuaded by any
particular one, for they all tell fibs; they each want to get into
power. And then be a man, make up your mind and decide for yourself
which you think is best for the country and future of the Empire--not
for some two-penny-halfpenny little local question--and vote for that
one so long as it works the right way, namely, for the good of the
country.
Many people get led away by some new politician with some new extreme
idea. Never believe in one man's idea till it has been well considered
from all points of view. Extreme ideas are seldom much good; if you look
them up in history you will see almost always they have been tried
before somewhere. The Socialists are right in wishing to get money more
evenly distributed so that there would be no millionaires and no
paupers, but everyone pretty well off.
But they go the wrong way to work; they want to fight all other people
to get themselves up, instead of joining in with everybody in doing a
great thing for the whole country by a way which is fair and good for
all. They do not read history, which shows that their plans have been
tried before, and failed, because they made life a kind of slavery for
everybody, and left the country an easy prey to another stronger one.
More thrift rather than change of government will bring money to all.
And a strong united Empire, where all are helpful and patriotic will
bring us power, peace, and prosperity such as no Socialistic dream could
do.
OUR KING.
The word Empire comes from an old Roman word "Imperium," which means
"well-ordered rule."
And the title Emperor, or ruler of the Empire, comes from the Roman word
"Imperator." The King signs himself "R. I.," which means "Rex," or King
of England, and "Imperator" or Emperor of India and the Colonies.
Imperator comes from two Roman words, "Im" and "Parere," which together
mean "To prepare for"--that is, to BE PREPARED. An Emperor is one who
has to be prepared to face any difficulty or danger that may threaten
the country.
Scouts have in the same way to BE PREPARED to _help_ their country in
any difficulty or danger; and, therefore, we are all working to back up
our King.
GOD SAVE THE KING.
BOOKS TO READ.
"The Union Jack and How It Was Made." By F. Wintour. One penny. (St.
Dunstan's Road, West Kensington, London, W.)
Leaflets at one penny from the Empire Day Association, 83, Lancaster
Gate, London, W.
"History of the British Empire." By Arnold Forster. (Cassell.)
_So great has been the success of this Handbook, "Scouting for Boys,"
that Lt.-Gen. Baden-Powell has decided to complete it with Part 6, and
make arrangements instead for a weekly penny paper for young men, to be
entitled_:
_THE SCOUT._
_It will be first published on April 14th, and every Thursday
following._
_It will, primarily, be a paper for young men between the ages of
fourteen and twenty-five. It will not be planned or conducted as a boys'
paper. It will appeal to the Imperialistic spirit of the young men of
Great Britain and will endeavour to educate them in a pleasant, easy,
anecdotal way towards their future responsibilities in life as the head
of a family and as good citizens._
_The founder of "THE SCOUT" is Lt.-Gen. Baden-Powell, who will write in
its pages each week. For three months Lt.-Gen. Baden-Powell has been
lecturing in every great town in the Kingdom on the subject of Scouting
for Boys, and at the present moment something between 500,000 and
700,000 young men are interested in his scheme, which will come into
full swing about April._
_Fuller particulars of_
_THE SCOUT_
_will be given later. Meanwhile all communications should be addressed
to_
_Messrs. C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.,
17-18 Henrietta Street,
Strand, London, W.C._,
_who will be the publishers_.
Part VI. Price 4d. net.
SCOUTING
FOR BOYS
BY B-P (LIEUT. GEN. BADEN POWELL C.B.)
PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,
BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.
NOTES for INSTRUCTORS.
SUMMARY.
_The Empire wants your help._
_Bad citizenship, which ruined the Roman Empire, is creeping in among us
to-day._
_The future of our Empire will much depend on the character of the
rising generation. For this too little is at present being done in the
way of development._
_Peace Scouting is suggested as an attractive means towards developing
character and good citizenship._
_Can be carried out by young men of all kinds without expense, each
training a few boys._
_Experiment has already been successful._
_Hints to would-be instructors for carrying out the training._
_Books to read on the subject._
PLAY THE GAME: DON'T LOOK ON.
Every Briton who is worth his salt would like to help his country:
Firstly, if he thought it was wanted.
Secondly, if he saw a way by which he could do it.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE WANTS YOUR HELP.
Our great Empire is to-day to the rest of the world very much what the
Roman Empire was two thousand years ago. But the Roman Empire, great as
it was, fell.
"The same causes which brought about the fall of the great Roman Empire
are working to-day in Great Britain."
These words were lately spoken by one of our best-known democratic
politicians, and they have been confirmed in a recent lecture at
Cambridge by Mr. Warde Fowler, as also in various pamphlets and
writings. That they are true is practically admitted by those who have
studied and compared the general conditions of both countries.
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE WAS DUE TO BAD CITIZENSHIP.
[Illustration: Instruction of Boy Scouts. "Boyhood of Raleigh," after
Sir J. Millais. From such instruction was a great character formed.]
The main causes of the downfall of Rome is similar to that which
resulted in the downfall of other great empires, such as the Babylonian,
Egyptian, Greek, Spanish, and Dutch, and that cause may be summed up in
each case as the decline of good citizenship and the want of energetic
patriotism. Each nation, after climbing laboriously to the zenith of its
power, seemed then to become exhausted by its effort, and sit down in a
state of repose, relapsing into idleness, studiously blind to the fact
that other nations were gradually pushing up to destroy it. It is easy
to push historical parallels too far, and whether or not these parallels
are real or exaggerated, they give us food for reflection. The main
point is for us to take the lesson to heart, and see, before it is too
late, that our Empire also be not undermined by these defects.
I am not so pessimistic myself as to think with some people that we are
already so far on the downward grade as to be in a hopeless condition.
On the contrary, I think that we are only near to the parting of the
ways where it becomes incumbent upon everyone of us who has the
slightest patriotism in him to earnestly help, in however small a way,
to turn the rising generation on the right road for good citizenship.
The aim may seem too big to attain, but most big things are only got by
combination of small efforts. A coral island is erected by the work of
myriads of sea-insects, the Pyramids of Egypt were the result of
co-operation of thousands of workers.
BAD CITIZENSHIP IS BECOMING APPARENT IN THIS COUNTRY TO-DAY.
One form of bad citizenship among many is evident around us on the part
of the people themselves, who, not having been taught to think of the
future, or of their country, allow themselves to come under the despotic
power of a few professional agitators whose living depends on agitating
(whether it is needed or not); and, blinded by the talk of these men,
they attack the hand that finds the money, till they force employers to
spend fortunes, either in devising machinery that will take their place
and not go on strike, or in removing their business to other countries,
leaving the agitators fat and happy, and a mass of people unemployed and
starving, and unable to provide for the crowds of children they continue
improvidently to bring into the world.
FOOTBALL.
One of the causes of the downfall of Rome was that the people, being fed
by the State to the extent of three-quarters of the population, ceased
to have any responsibility for themselves or their children, and
consequently became a nation of unemployed wasters. They frequented the
circuses, where paid performers appeared before them in the arena, much
as we see the crowds now flocking to look on at paid players playing
football.
Football in itself is a grand game for developing a lad physically and
also morally, for he learns to play with good temper and unselfishness,
to play in his place and "play the game," and these are the best of
training for any game of life. But it is a vicious game when it draws
crowds of lads away from playing the game themselves to be merely
onlookers at a few paid performers. I yield to no one in enjoyment of
the sight of those splendid specimens of our race, trained to
perfection, and playing faultlessly; but my heart sickens at the reverse
of the medal--thousands of boys and young men, pale, narrow-chested,
hunched-up, miserable specimens, smoking endless cigarettes, numbers of
them betting, all of them learning to be hysterical as they groan or
cheer in panic unison with their neighbours--the worst sound of all
being the hysterical scream of laughter that greets any little trip or
fall of a player. One wonders whether this can be the same nation which
had gained for itself the reputation of being a stolid, pipe-sucking
manhood, unmoved by panic or excitement, and reliable in the tightest of
places.
Get the lads away from this--teach them to be manly, to play the game
whatever it may be, and not be merely onlookers and loafers.
Indifferent citizenship is, and always has been, the progeny of
indifferent government. With it there arises a crop of doctors to
suggest remedies: faddists on feeding, faddists on Socialism, faddists
like myself on scouting, and so on. Some may be right, some wrong; all
mean well. A certain class of Socialist, for instance, has come to the
fore lately. As a matter of fact we are all Socialists in that we want
to see the abolition of the existing brutal anachronism of war, and of
extreme poverty and misery shivering alongside of superabundant wealth,
and so on; but we do not quite agree as to how it is to be brought
about. Some of us are for pulling down the present social system, but
the plans for what is going to be erected in its place are very hazy. We
have not all got the patience to see that improvement is in reality
gradually being effected before our eyes.
We have a parallel in London just now in the several railway stations,
which, having been found to be out of date and inadequate for their
increased traffic, are being reconstructed. The Man in the Street has
demanded that they should be pulled down at once, and that afterwards
something better should be devised and built up. But the management have
been wiser; they have recognised the defects of the old, but before
pulling down they have seen that it would be fatal to stop traffic
during the alterations, and have therefore laid the new foundations
outside the old; they have erected the new buildings over the effete
ones, and have then pulled these away piecemeal, without interrupting
the public convenience, trade, or routine for a moment.
It is easy to pull down; the difficulty is to do so without damage to
the country. We ought to begin by building up on a sounder foundation
before destroying the old.
OUR FUTURE CITIZENS.
That foundation seems to me to be in the rising generation. If the whole
of our youth were taken in hand and taught good citizenship, we should
have a solid foundation on which our nation could stand for a long time
to come. But it does not exist at present.
We have at the present time in Great Britain two million boys, of whom
one-quarter to one-half a million are under good influences outside
their school walls.
(See Sir John Gorst's "Children of the Nation" and Dr. Macnamara's
Report.)
2,000,000 boys.
270,000 under good influence.
----------
Remainder = 1,730,000 independent of such.
The remainder are drifting towards "hooliganism" or bad citizenship for
want of hands to guide them the right way towards being useful.
It is this remainder, nearly two million boys, that we want to tackle
and reduce.
They are boys, full of spirit and enthusiasm, approaching the
cross-road, where they take the turn, either to good or evil. In spite
of the improved school teaching and of the good work of Boys' and Church
Lads' Brigades, Y.M.C.A., and kindred associations, a large proportion
of them are drifting, owing to their environments, to evil, that is, to
becoming "hooligans" and ultimately "wasters" for the natural term of
their lives; no good to themselves, worse than no good to their country,
just from want of a guiding hand or two at the turning point of their
career.
Cannot we find these guiding hands amongst us?
PEACE-SCOUTING.
Here is one suggestion, at any rate, for a remedy by which every young
man can help his country. I believe that under the attractive term and
practice of "Scouting," a large number of boys might be taken in hand in
a practical way, by every young man, without expense in time or money.
By "scouting" I do not mean the military work as carried on on active
service. The scouting we are considering has nothing to do with this.
There is another form, which one might term "peace-scouting," such as is
usual with frontiersmen of our Empire in every corner of the world. The
pioneers of civilisation in Central Africa; the ranchmen, cowboys, and
trappers of the West; the drovers and bushmen of Australia; the
explorers of the Arctic and Asiatic regions; the hunters and prospectors
of South Africa; missionaries in all parts of the uncivilised world; and
the constabularies of North-West Canada, South Africa, etc., are all
"peace-scouts," men accustomed to live on their own resources, taking
their lives in their hands, brave and loyal to their employers,
chivalrous and helpful to each other, unselfish and reliable; MEN, in
fact, of the best type. These are the peace-scouts of the Empire, and
there is no reason why we should not train a large number of boys to
follow in their footsteps as regards character and manliness.
A small book which I published a short time ago on the subject of
scouting for soldiers has been so freely taken up by schools and boys'
clubs in England that I am encouraged to think a system organised for
the special purpose of teaching boys would be acceptable, and I am still
further encouraged in the idea by the fact that a somewhat similar
organisation founded by Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton in America has had a
full and widespread success.
MILITARISM.
Two or three prominent authorities have written deprecating my attempt
to "foster among the boys of Britain a bloodthirsty and warlike spirit."
I can only fear that either these gentlemen have not read the handbooks
very carefully, or that I have expressed myself very badly. The whole
intention of the Boy Scouts' training is for peaceful citizenship.
Even if I had advocated training the lads in a military way (which I
have not done), I am impenitent enough to see no harm in it. I have not
noticed that ex-soldiers are more inclined than other people to commit
murders; all that I see in them, as a rule, is that they have been
taught self-discipline, to sacrifice themselves, if need be, for others,
to obey orders, to be sober, clean, and active, to make the best of
things as they find them, to be loyal to themselves and their officers.
All of which appear to me to be valuable assets in character for a
citizen, whatever may be his grade or trade.
The fact that industrial employers now prefer ex-soldiers in very many
of their departments speaks to the peace value of a military training.
But when an eminent public man wrote to me that I ought not to teach
boys soldiering because, as he puts it, "he hates war like the devil," I
felt bound to reply that had he actually seen anything of war himself,
he would, like most soldiers, hate it _worse_ than the devil. It is for
that very reason that officers almost without exception urge upon their
fellow countrymen to be prepared to defend their country. It is not that
they wish to make the men bloodthirsty, but it is that they may avert
from our own land that worst of all modern anachronisms--the horrors of
war, brought on to our own homes, our women and children.
Those who preach shutting our eyes to what is quite patent to all who
dare to look out will themselves be guilty of tempting the enemy on, of
bringing war upon our country, and of the blood and ruin which will
assuredly follow--if there is any truth in history.
With our rising generation brought up as good citizens, sensible of
their responsibilities and duties in return for the benefits which they
enjoy in a free country, there would be no danger for the State; but
without manliness and good citizenship we are bound to fall.
Manliness can only be taught by men, and not by those who are half men,
half old women.
HOW TO TEACH SCOUTING.
The first point is to get men to take up the instruction of the boys in
the art of peace-scouting. The men I have in my mind as the best
qualified and able to do this are schoolmasters, clergymen, members of
the Y.M.C.A., Legion of Frontiersmen, officers of Cadet Corps, Boys' and
Church Lads' Brigades, Rifle Clubs, country squires, ex-army officers,
telegraph-masters, etc. These could carry out the training of a few boys
apiece, with very little expense of time or money, by devoting, say,
Saturday afternoons and Sundays to the work, which, I can promise them,
they will find a pleasure rather than a labour in practice.
My suggestion to them would be for each to select a party of six or
eight youths or smart boys, and carefully instruct them in the details
of peace-scouting. These boys could then act as assistant instructors or
"patrol leaders" in training each five or six more in the same art in
the progressive course of instruction in this handbook.
The instruction is designed for boys of every class.
To help the lowest from drifting into hooliganism and to give them
health, character, and aims.
To teach the middle class how to work well, and to be patriotic
first and political second.
To teach the wealthier to be chivalrous and sympathetic with their
less-favoured brothers, and ultimately to help in spreading the
training.
One wants to bring all classes more in touch with each other, to break
down the existing barriers, which are only artificial after all, and to
teach them to give and take in the common cause instead of being at
snarls of class against class, which is snobbery all round and a danger
to the State.
The training is applicable to town or country, indoors as well as out.
NOT IN OPPOSITION TO EXISTING ORGANISATIONS FOR BOYS.
The scheme is not in any way intended to be in opposition to any
existing organisation. On the contrary, we want amalgamation rather than
rivalry, and scouting is only intended to be used as an additional
attraction by those in charge of boys' organisations of any kind. If
scouting is taken up by several it may prove a bond between all. Where
such organisations do not already exist it can supply a particularly
simple and effective one for catching a number of boys who would
otherwise have no hand to guide them.
EXPERIMENTAL CAMP.
I have already made a preliminary trial of the scheme with a camp of
boys of all sorts, from Eton as well as from the streets, and the
results were such as to encourage very great hopes as to the
possibilities of the scheme when carried out on a larger scale. A large
island was lent for the purpose by the late Mr. Charles Van Raalte,
Brownsea Island, near Poole.
PATROL SYSTEM.
The troop of boys was divided up into "Patrols" of five, the senior boy
in each being Patrol Leader. This organisation was the secret of our
success. Each patrol leader was given full responsibility for the
behaviour of his patrol at all times, in camp and in the field. The
patrol was the unit for work or play, and each patrol was camped in a
separate spot. The boys were put "on their honour" to carry out orders.
Responsibility and competitive rivalry were thus at once established,
and a good standard of development was ensured throughout the troop from
day to day. The troop was trained progressively in the subjects of
scouting given on page 8. Every night one patrol went on duty as night
picket--that is, drew rations of flour, meat, vegetables, tea, etc., and
went out to some indicated spot to bivouac for the night. Each boy had
his greatcoat and blankets, cooking pot and matches. On arrival at the
spot, fires were lit and suppers cooked, after which sentries were
posted and bivouac formed. The picket was scouted by patrol leaders of
other patrols and myself, at some time before eleven p.m., after which
the sentries were withdrawn and picket settled down for the night.
METHOD OF INSTRUCTION.
We found the best way of imparting theoretical instruction was to give
it out in short instalments with ample illustrative examples when
sitting round the camp fire or otherwise resting, and with
demonstrations in the practice hour before breakfast. A formal lecture
is apt to bore the boys.
The practice was then carried out in competitions and schemes.
For example, take one detail of the subject, "Observation"--namely,
tracking.
1. At the camp fire overnight we would tell the boys some interesting
instance of the value of being able to track.
2. Next morning we would teach them to read tracks by making foot-marks
at different places, and showing how to read them and to deduce their
meaning.
3. In the afternoon we would have a game, such as "deer-stalking," in
which one boy went off as the "deer," with half-a-dozen tennis balls in
his bag. Twenty minutes later four "hunters" went off after him,
following his tracks, each armed with a tennis ball. The deer, after
going a mile or two, would hide and endeavour to ambush his hunters, and
so get them within range; each hunter struck with his tennis ball was
counted gored to death; if, on the other hand, the deer was hit by three
of their balls he was killed.
This was our principle for teaching most of the items.
Discipline was very satisfactory indeed. A "court of honour" was
instituted to try any offenders against discipline, but it was never
needed. In the first place, the boys were put "on their honour" to do
their best; in the second place, the senior boys were made responsible
for the behaviour of the boys forming their patrol. And this worked
perfectly well.
RESULTS OF THE CAMP EXPERIMENT.
Since this experimental camp I am more than ever convinced of the
possibilities which underlie the scouts' training as an educator for
boys of all classes. Prepared as I was for enthusiastic endeavour on the
part of the lads, I was surprised at the effect on their character,
which became visible even in the few days we were at work. I have not
trusted merely to my own observation, but have had reports from all the
parents, bearing out this conclusion, and giving incidentally some very
useful hints from the parents' point of view. That the boys enjoyed the
training is evident from the letters which I have had from them, and
some of them, at any rate, have remembered what they learnt. One of the
boys--a working boy--writes: "The most important thing that a great many
boys need to learn is to look at the bright side of things, and to take
everything by the smooth handle. I myself found that a great lesson, and
I shall never find words enough to thank you for teaching me it. I have
already found it a great help even in everyday life."
AUTHORITIES WHO MIGHT FIND THE SCHEME USEFUL.
LORD MAYORS AND MAYORS.--This scheme might suggest some useful forms of
instruction for the newly-authorised vacation schools.
SCHOOLMASTERS AND TEACHERS.--This scheme may, I hope, supply an
additional means by which to get hold of the more unruly boys and to
continue out of hours the practice of the theory which they have learnt
in school. Unruly boys are often the best, once you have got the right
side of them. A Commission on our schools has recently shown that there
is an excess of book instruction in many of them; possibly if one day a
week were devoted to scouting it would greatly benefit both the teachers
and the scholars mentally and physically.
CLERGYMEN.--Clergymen would, I think, find in scouting a good means of
keeping the wilder spirits among their boys in some kind of order, and
also of arousing the loafers among them into some sort of energy and
interest in life.
PARENTS.--Parents might be apprehensive that this course would lead
their sons to imbibe too much the spirit of adventure and romance, and
those whose sons are wage-earners would fear for their getting unsettled
and wasting their working hours on a useless fad. But to such I would
point out that the course is purposely designed to teach the boys useful
knowledge in a form that will attract them, and it can be carried out
entirely on Saturday afternoons and Sundays as a counter-attraction to
that Sunday loafing which is the ruin of so large a proportion of our
young men.
LADIES.--To ladies interested in the care and education of girls, I
think this scheme might supply a suggestion for an attractive
organisation and valuable training. The experiment of a somewhat similar
camp for factory girls has been such an unqualified success as to lead
one to hope that scouting camps might with advantage be employed for the
rising generation of girls as well as boys.
BOYS' CLUBS AND BRIGADES.--Officers of Boys' Clubs, Boys' Brigades,
Church Lads' Brigades, University and Public Schools Missions, Cricket
Clubs, and Cadet Corps, but most especially officers of Rifle Clubs,
will, I hope, find in this scheme an additional means of attracting
recruits and of maintaining their interest in their corps after the
first glamour of it has worn off.
LEGION OF FRONTIERSMEN.--The Legion includes many an old scout in its
ranks who could at once take up the instruction of a few boys and youths
and do really valuable work for the Empire, while reviving for himself
many a delightful experience of camp and prairie life.
EX-ARMY OFFICERS.--Then there are a number of ex-Army officers, keen and
capable, but without occupation, who would here have a great opportunity
for the exercise of their special gifts and of their prestige among boys
for doing a great national good with very little trouble and expense to
themselves.
COUNTRY SQUIRES.--Members of county families might do much among their
tenants and villagers by making good Englishmen of their lads, somewhat
on the old feudal lines, by means of scouting.
Y.M.C.A.--Everyone recognises the keenness and go-a-head manliness of
the members of the Y.M.C.A. and Polytechnics in all parts of the
kingdom, and I am convinced that if these men could see their way to do
a good turn to the rising generation of their countrymen they would take
it up with ardour, especially since this kind of work is becoming a part
of their policy. It is these gentlemen that I have specially in my eye
in suggesting this scheme, as being the men who can, if they wish, get
hold of practically the whole of the British boyhood by means of
scouting. If every member of the Y.M.C.A. took a friend as his
second-in-command and six boys as pupils, each of them being required to
bring in another recruit, and then acting as leaders and instructors to
further patrols of six, there would at once be the commencement of a
great "snowball" movement for good.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
I do not in these "Hints" propose to teach my grandmother to suck eggs,
and, therefore, I only address them to those who have had no previous
practice in teaching boys. They are merely a few notes from my own
experience in that line, and tend to explain some of the arrangement of
details in the Handbook.
When you are trying to get boys to come under good influence you are as
a fisherman wishful to catch fish.
If you bait your hook with the kind of food that you like yourself it is
probable that you will not catch many--certainly, not the shy, game kind
of fish. You, therefore, use as bait the food that the fish likes.
So with boys, if you try to preach to them what you consider, elevating
matter you won't catch them. Any obvious "goody-goody" will scare away
the more spirited among them, and those are the ones you want to get
hold of. The only way is to hold out something that really attracts and
interests them. And I think you will find that scouting does this.
You can afterwards season it with what you want them to have.
To get hold of your boys you must be their friend; but don't be in too
great a hurry at first to gain this footing until they have got over
their shyness of you. Mr. F. D. How, in his "Book of the Child," sums up
the right course in the following story:
"A man whose daily walk led him down a certain dingy street saw a tiny
boy with grimy face and badly-developed limbs playing with a banana-skin
in the gutter. The man nodded to him--the boy shrank away in terror.
Next day the man nodded again. The boy had decided there was nothing to
be afraid of, and spat at the man. Next day the little fellow only
stared. The day after he shouted 'Hi!' as the man went on. In time the
little fellow smiled back at the greeting which he now began to expect.
Finally the triumph was complete when the boy--a tiny chap--was waiting
at the corner and seized the man's fingers in his dirty little fist. It
was a dismal street, but it became one of the very brightest spots in
all that man's life."
"BE PREPARED."
In this book I suggest as subjects to teach your boys such things as
Observation of Details and consequent ability to read character and
thereby to gain sympathy, the value of patience and cheery good temper,
the duty of giving up some of one's time and pleasure for helping one's
country and fellow men, and the inner meaning of our motto "Be
Prepared."
But as you come to teach these things you will very soon find (unless
you are a ready-made angel) that you have to acquire them yourself
before you can succeed with the boys, and when once this is accomplished
the occupation is intensely interesting and improving.
You must "Be Prepared" yourself for disappointments at first, though you
will as often as not find them outweighed by unexpected successes.
You must from the first "Be Prepared" for the prevailing want of
concentration of mind on the part of boys, and if you then frame your
teaching accordingly I think you will have very few disappointments. Do
not expect them to pay great attention to any one subject for very long
until you have educated them to do so. You must meet them half-way and
not give them too long a dose of one drink--a short, pleasing sip of one
kind and then off to another, gradually lengthening the sips till they
become steady draughts.
Thus a formal lecture on the subject which you want to practise very
soon palls on them, their thoughts begin to wander and they get bored
because they have not learnt the art of switching their mind where they
want it to be and _holding it there_.
This making the mind amenable to the will is one of the important inner
points in our training.
For this reason it is well to think out beforehand each day what you
want to say on your subject and then bring it out a bit at a time as
opportunity offers--at the camp-fire or in intervals of play and
practice, not in one long set address.
The lectures in this book are broken up into sections for this purpose.
Frequent practical demonstrations and practices should be sandwiched in
between the sections of the lectures to hold the attention of the boys
and to drive home your theory.
CLUBROOM.
Half the battle is to get a room lent for certain nights in the week, or
hired as a club for the scouts, even if they only consist of a patrol in
a village.
It must be well lit and well ventilated to prevent depression and
boredom. Pictures of incidents (not landscapes or old portraits) help to
make attraction.
A _bright_ fire in winter.
Interesting illustrated books and magazines.
This can generally be got, furniture, games, etc., being given in the
first instance by well-wishers.
A coffee-bar, commencing on the smallest lines, will generally succeed,
and if carefully managed may develop a regular income for the upkeep of
the clubroom.
The scouts themselves must do the cleaning and decorating, and making
furniture.
Discipline and good order should be kept inside the room, and neatness
insisted on, Patrol leaders being made responsible, Patrols taking it in
turn to be responsible for cleanliness and good order of the room for a
week at a time.
If a bit of ground, even waste ground or a backyard, is available as
club ground so much the better. You want some place where the scouts can
make huts, light fires, play basket-ball, make tracks, etc.
Make the boys themselves manage the club affairs, as far as possible, by
committees, and putting boys in responsible charge of room, equipment,
papers, etc. Sit back yourself and let them make their mistakes at first
till they learn sense and responsibility. Committee and annual meetings
are very useful for giving self-respect and responsibility to a number
of boys.
In America small, self-managed boys' clubs are becoming exceedingly
numerous and popular in all towns and villages. And the education
authorities help them by allowing them the use of classrooms in the
school buildings in the evenings. This might easily be done in England
too.
At the same time, when you can get your own clubroom, no matter how
small, it gives the boys more a sense of proprietorship and
responsibility, especially if they have taken a hand themselves in
making the furniture, putting up pictures, etc.
The clubroom must not be made cosy like a lady's boudoir, as the boys
must be able to romp in it occasionally, or play handball or "Bang the
Bear," etc. So you want furniture that will pack away into a corner,
such as folding wooden chairs, small tables, and a cupboard in which to
put away books, games, etc., when the romp comes on.
The ideal club is one of two rooms--one for quiet games, reading and
talking; the other for romping, gymnastics, etc.
The boys must of course pay subscription towards rent, lighting,
furnishing, etc., and the major expenses must be provided for by means
of some joint work by them, such as garden produce, toys, displays or
bazaars (as described in Appendix).
One penny weekly, paid strictly in advance, is sufficient as a
membership subscription.
A Penny Savings Bank should be started to enable boys to put by money to
pay for outings and eventually to start them in the practice of thrift.
A piano is of great help in a club, if you have some one who can play
it, to help out songs, musical drill, war-dances, etc.
THE HANDBOOK.
The Handbook is merely intended to offer suggestions, not to tie
instructors to one set course.
In such brief space it can only touch sketchily upon subjects whose
detail as instructor you must fill in for yourself, according to your
own imagination and resourcefulness, to suit your particular local
circumstances.
I give with each lecture the titles of books bearing on the subject, to
which you can probably get access in your public library, but you will
also find every day as you read your newspaper fresh things worth
cutting out to use in your lectures. Indeed, if you are ever hard up for
a subject, take the leading news items of the past week, and explain
them in an interesting way with maps, etc.
I have found the value of this also in dealing with grown-ups in men's
clubs, hospitals, etc.
The "History of England" by H. O. Arnold-Forster will at all times give
you useful subjects in most interesting form. For your own information
read "Duty," by Samuel Smiles.
I have endeavoured to make the Handbook readable by the boy himself,
since a boy should be encouraged to read for himself. The worst of it is
that the literature to which as a rule he has access is the cheap and
nasty press with little else than crimes and tragedies and big football
matches to catch his attention.
He thus becomes educated downwards instead of being elevated by good
examples to higher deeds.
The reading of such books as "Golden Deeds," "Deeds that Won the
Empire," and so on, are the best of antidotes, especially if impressed
by means of modern examples, illustrations and lantern slides, and
acting the incidents.
COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.
I suggest the following scheme of work, to be altered according to local
circumstances.
Give a week to each chapter of the book.
On Saturday evening give a lecture with practical demonstrations and,
where possible, _with lantern slides_, on the subject of the following
week's instruction.
Among the worst classes in our slums Sunday is, unfortunately, perhaps
the most unholy day of the week, but by using it for instruction of the
proposed kind I believe that a good proportion of these lads might be
won and led to better things than the loafing and vice which are at
present incidental to the day.
So, for such lads, I advocate using Sunday morning for teaching the
minor practices, and the afternoon for the consequent scouting
exercises.
It is true that this suggestion has been criticised in some quarters,
but it has, in the end, been generally accepted on the plea that it
makes for saving souls, for which work there need be no Sunday closing.
The details thus taught could then be carried out and perfected by the
boys individually in their own time during the week, or by occasional
parades when possible under their patrol leaders, till the following
Saturday afternoon, when you could have a final competition or games on
that subject before starting on the next chapter that evening.
This is only a suggestion on the supposition that you and your boys are
at other work all the week. If you would thus devote eight Saturday
afternoons and Sundays to this work you will have completed a course of
instruction which will guide a number of boys for life, and will take
them from that present school of loafing which is to be found, to our
great disgrace, at the corner of every village street in England on
Sunday afternoon.
If funds are then forthcoming amongst the boys a camp of a week or ten
days, or for two or three week-ends in the summer, would complete their
instruction and put it to a practical test, while serving as a great
reward for good preliminary work. And it need not be very expensive if
the boys work for it and save up, as suggested in Chapter IV.
As I have before remarked, the training laid down in this book is merely
suggestive.
The instructor should use his own knowledge and imagination and enlarge
upon it.
There is much useful technical knowledge which he might incidentally
impart to his boys, either himself or by getting friends to come and
demonstrate (I don't say "lecture") on such points as the principles of
steam or petrol-engines, or electricity; the work of sailors, soldiers,
firemen, police, and so on; pioneer work such as bridging with models,
road making, building, etc., also carpentering, modelling, casting,
plumbing, gardening, etc.
Excursions from town into country, and seeing farm life, mining,
fisheries, etc.; or from country to town and visiting the Zoological
Gardens, interesting portions of museums, picture-galleries, armouries,
etc., would be valuable and popular.
With a carefully-laid programme of such items the scouts' training can
be carried out indefinitely in an interesting way, and on lines that
will be of use to them in their future career.
I even advocate taking the boys to a theatre to see something really
good, as a very great inducement to them to save the money necessary to
pay for their seats. It can be made the first step towards thrift.
METHOD OF INSTRUCTION.
The way to teach a language is not to bore your pupil at first with the
dry bones of elementary grammar, but to plunge into fairly deep water
with phrases and conversation; the grammar will then quickly follow of
itself.
So also with most other subjects of instruction, including scouting. For
instance, take tracking. After preparing the boys' minds with a few good
tracking yarns and showing a few actual tracks and their meaning, don't
wait till they get bored in trying to learn the elementary details, but
take them for a real piece of practical tracking. After they have found
out for themselves how weak they are at it, give them further "sips" of
the elementary part.
IMAGINATION.
Boys are full of romance, and they love "make-believe" to a greater
extent than they like to show.
All you have to do is to play up to this and to give rein to your
imagination to meet their requirements. But you have to treat with all
seriousness the many tickling incidents that will arise: the moment you
laugh at a situation the boys are quick to feel that it is all a farce,
and to lose faith in it forthwith and for ever.
For instance, in instructing a patrol to make the call of its tutelary
animal (page 355), the situation borders on the ridiculous, but if the
instructor remains perfectly serious the boys work at it with the idea
that it is "business"--and once accomplished the call becomes a fetish
for _esprit de corps_ among the members of the patrol.
Bacon said that play-acting was one of the best means of educating
children, and one can quite believe him.
It develops the natural power in them of imitation, and of wit and
imagination, all of which help in the development of character; and at
the same time lessons of history and morality can be impressed on their
minds far better by their assuming the characters and acting the
incidents themselves than by any amount of preaching of the same on the
part of the teacher.
The recent craze for historical pageants is, in reality, one of the best
ideas, educationally, that has come over us of late years. In places
where pageants have been held, both old and young have learnt--and
learnt for the rest of their lives--something of the history of their
forefathers, their town, and their country.
Instructors will similarly find it a genuinely useful practice to make
their scouts act scenes from history or of incidents with which they
desire to impress them. Such, for instance, as "Wilson's last Stand,"
"The Wreck of the _Birkenhead_," "The Sentry at Pompeii," and so on.
For this reason a few suggestions for pageants are given in the
Appendix.
It is also easy to get up real plays, such as _To Parents and Guardians_
(See Messrs. Samuel French's List), for which the organisation,
rehearsals, and performance are all good, useful practice, especially in
the long winter evenings. Begin with a small play first, such as _Box
and Cox_ or _Area Belle_.
When these performances attain some degree of merit they might be used
as a means of gaining funds.
RESPONSIBILITY TO JUNIORS.
The great thing in this scheme is to delegate responsibility--mainly
through the patrol leaders.
Have, if possible, a good Second in Command to yourself to ensure
continuity of instruction should you be unable on occasions to be
present yourself, and to relieve you of many minor details of
administration.
_Give full responsibility and show full confidence in your patrol
leaders._ _Expect_ a great deal from them, and you will get it.
This is the key to success in scout-training.
Foster the patrol spirit and friendly rivalry between patrols and you
will get immediate good results in an improved standard of the whole.
Don't try to do everything yourself or the boys will merely look on, and
the scheme will flag.
DISCIPLINE.
Insist on discipline and strict obedience; let them run riot only when
you give leave for it, which is a good thing to do every now and then.
A nation to be powerful and prosperous must be well disciplined, and you
only get discipline in the mass by discipline in the individual. By
discipline I mean patient obedience to authority and to other dictates
of duty.
This cannot be got by repressive measures, but by educating the boy
first in self-discipline and in sacrificing of self and selfish
pleasures for the benefit of others. This teaching is largely effected
by means of example, and by expecting it of him. There lies our work.
Smiles gives in his book on "Duty" Baron Stoeffel's report comparing the
discipline of the Germans and the French before the war, 1870-71, in
which he foretold the victory of the Germans, on account of their
superior discipline; and, in commenting on this, Mr. Smiles writes:
"Can it be that we are undergoing the same process in England as in
France; that the ever-extending tide of democracy is bearing down the
best points of a very vain-glorious people?
"We are a very vain-glorious people.
"We boast of our wealth, our naval and military strength, and our
commercial superiority. Yet all these may depart from us in a very few
years, and we may remain, like Holland, a rich and yet powerless people.
The nation depends on the individuals who compose it; and no nation can
ever remain distinguished for morality, duty, adherence to the rules of
honour and justice whose citizens, individually and collectively, do not
possess the same traits."
Sir Henry Knyvett, in 1596, warned Queen Elizabeth that the State which
neglects to train and discipline its youth produces not merely rotten
soldiers or sailors, but the far greater evil of equally rotten citizens
for civil life; or, as he words it, "For want of true discipline the
honour and wealth both of Prince and countrie is desperatlie and
frivolouslie ruinated."
Discipline is not gained by punishing a child for a bad habit, but by
substituting a better occupation that will absorb his attention and
gradually lead him to forget and abandon the old one.
RELIGION.
An organisation of this kind would fail in its object if it did not
bring its members to a knowledge of religion--but the usual fault in
such cases is the manner in which this is done. If it were treated more
as a matter of everyday life and quite unsectarian, it would not lose
its dignity and it would gain a hold. It is often the best not to have
religious instruction as a special feature, but to introduce it by
"sips" here and there among other instruction, as I suggest in the
chapter on "Chivalry" and elsewhere in this book.
CONTINENCE.
In the Handbook I have touched on many important items of a boy's
education, but there is scarcely one more important than this, which,
under advice, I have relegated from the body of the book to these "Notes
for Instructors."
The training of the boy would be very incomplete did it not contain some
clear and plain-spoken instructions on the subject of continence.
The prudish mystery with which we have come to veil this important
question is doing incalculable harm.
The very secrecy with which we withhold all knowledge from the boy
prompts him the more readily to take his own line, also secretly, and,
therefore, injuriously.
I have never known a boy who was not the better for having the question
put to him frankly and openly. It can quite well be done without
indelicacy.
You can warn him that "indulgence" or "self-abuse" is a temptation more
likely to assail him than any other vices, such as drinking, gambling,
or smoking, and is more harmful than any of them, since it brings with
it weakness of heart and head, and, if persisted in, idiocy and lunacy.
Show him that it is not even a manly vice, but is everywhere looked down
upon with contempt; and that it can be overcome by determination and
strength of will.
The temptation may arise from physical causes, such as eating rich
foods, sleeping on the back in a soft bed with too many blankets on, or
from constipation, or it may come from suggestion through pictures,
stories, or dirty talk of others.
In any case, knowing their danger, these causes must be avoided, and the
temptation met with a mental determination to fight it by substituting
other thoughts, by washing in cold water, and by exercising the upper
part of the body, with boxing or arm exercises, to draw away the blood,
and so on.
The first occasion will be the difficult one, but once this is
successfully overcome subsequent attacks will be more easy to deal with.
If the boy still finds difficulty about it he should come and speak
quite openly to his officer, who can then advise him what to do.
But for an instructor to let his boys walk on this exceedingly thin ice
without giving them a warning word, owing to some prudish
sentimentality, would be little short of a crime.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
Priggishness or conceit is sure to come to some of your boys as they
find themselves good at various games or branches of their work. These
must be taken down by the skill and patience of the instructors. Don't
get upset by having one or two of these to deal with, but, on the
contrary, take it as a sporting adventure, and treat them as interesting
subjects. It is far more satisfactory to turn one unruly character the
right way than to deal with a dozen milk-and-water cases.
There are also boys who, though with other boys, are not of them. These
need special individual study and special treatment, which will avail in
almost every case.
Boys of rich parents need the training of a scout quite as much as any
poor boy, and should, therefore, be taken in hand by those who are
willing to deal with them.
In "The Boy Problem" it is shown how in the days of chivalry boys were
pages to the esquires in order that they might learn knightly habits,
and then they went to one of the young knight's castles to learn
knightly ideas. In the same way boys of to-day need contact with
chivalrous young men to make them into noble and courtly men.
FORMING CHARACTER.
Keep before your mind in all your teaching that the whole ulterior
object of this scheme is to form character in the boys--to make them
manly, good citizens.
For the individual it is useful, when describing a situation, to stop
narration at the critical point and ask a boy what would be his action
under the circumstances, in order to develop quick decision, and so on.
In the games it is of the greatest importance to so arrange that a boy
imagines himself running a great danger in carrying out the mission
given him. In this way he becomes accustomed to taking risks.
For the mass it is a useful practice frequently to give false alarms to
see what they do and to accustom them to face sudden crises. Such
alarms, for instance, as having smoke blown into the room and a sudden
alarm of fire given, or getting a boy to rush in and report that Johnny
Tomkins has fallen from a tree and hurt himself.
Instruction of the individual is the only really successful form of
instruction.
In teaching your boy to be alert and energetic, teach him also how to be
restful and not to worry.
The physical attitude of the natural man, as one sees it in the savage,
is the one to cultivate in the boy in mind as well as body.
The normal attitude of the natural man is a graceful slackness of body,
but with eyes and ears alert, able on the instant to spring like a cat
from apparent inertness to steel-spring readiness.
Study the individual fads and characteristics of your boys, and, having
found them, encourage their development on these directions; then when
advising the boys as to their future line of life you will be in a
position to direct the square boy to a square hole in the world, and the
round boy to a round one. Don't, as many people do, make him aim for
some sphere for which he is not really fitted. Aim for making each
individual into a useful member of society, and the whole will
automatically come on to a high standard.
One great cause of unemployment--in all walks of life in England--is the
inability of our men to take up any line other than the one they have
first attempted and failed in. We call a sailor the "handy man" with
admiration, because he seems to be the only kind of man among us who can
turn his hand to any kind of job. Well, so can anyone if he only has the
idea put into his head and tries it for himself. Our aim should be,
therefore, to make the boys "handy men."
But most of all we want to raise the lowest to a higher place. "Go for
the worst" is the motto of the Salvation Army in its great work. "Our
mission is to the bottom dog" says Colonel Ruston, Mayor of Lincoln.
Mr. A. J. Dawson, in his very able articles in the _Evening Standard_,
has put the question of the loafer in clear and easy terms.
He points out that the very efficient work of our police in big cities
has stopped thieves, but produced a class of criminally-inclined
loafers.
"On the Canadian prairie," he says, "if a perfectly able-bodied man
without means were deliberately to abstain from work for any
considerable time he would die and would cease to cumber the earth." But
in London it is different; a man can loaf for months, or years, leaning
against a public-house--and they do it by the hundreds. He assigns two
reasons for this:
1. Want of discipline in the lives of those who are not absolute
criminals.
2. Indiscriminate charity.
We want to save lads from drifting into this class of loafer who swells
the ranks of the unemployed. The complaint has recently come from Canada
that "No Englishmen need apply for employment" there. The subsequent
Canadian explanation was to the effect that the average type of
Englishman who came there was unsuitable, because:
1. He had no idea of discipline.
2. He was generally surly and ready to grumble at difficulties.
3. He could not be relied upon to stick to a job the moment he found
it at all distasteful.
These faults are, undoubtedly, very widespread among us, in all classes
of society, owing to want of an education like that of the scouts. They
are the result of putting self in the first place and ignoring duty or
the interests of others; in other words, they mean _bad citizenship_.
CONCLUSION.
I fear I have stated my hints in very long and formidable array, such as
seem to make the instructor's part a very complicated and responsible
one, but it is not so when you come to put them into practice. My hints
are like the rows of oil-valves on a motor-car, they look complicated,
but in reality they are intended to drop their oil automatically and
make the wheels run easily.
I merely offer this scheme as one among many for helping in the vital
work of developing good citizenship in our rising generation.
Every man of the present generation ought as a matter of duty to take a
hand in such work.
This scheme purposes to be one by which any man can do this, since it
requires but little time, expense, or knowledge; and it is one which
attracts the boys and is at the same time interesting and beneficial to
the instructor himself.
If you who read this are a man who has charge of boys in any way, or if
you are one who has so far had nothing to do with them but who has a
desire to see your country keep her place among the nations for the good
of the world, and would take a hand by training half-a-dozen boys and
putting them on the right road for good citizenship, you would be doing
a great thing for your country, for your younger brothers, and for
yourself.
BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT.
"Boys of the Street and How to Win Them." By Charles Stelzle. (H.
Revell, publisher.)
"The Boy Problem." A study of boys and how to train them. By W. B.
Forbush. (Progress Press, Boston, U.S.A.)
"The Teacher's Problem." (Perry, Mason, & Co., Boston, Mass.)
"Duty." By Samuel Smiles.
"The Children of the Nation." By Sir John Gorst.
"The Citizen of To-morrow." By Samuel Keeble. (Kelly.)
"The Canker at the Heart." By L. Cope Cornford.
"The Child Slaves of Britain." By M. Sherard.
"The Abandoned Child." By Bramwell Booth.
Pamphlets (at 3d.) on training of children. Secretary, Moral Education
Committee, 29, Bloomsbury Square, W.C.
Y.M.C.A., Junior Branch, 13 Russell Square, W.C.
National League of Workers with Boys, Toynbee Hall, London, E.C.
National Institution of Apprenticeship. Secretary, J. Ballin.
SCOUTING GAMES, PRACTICES, AND DISPLAYS.
NOTES TO INSTRUCTORS.
_Instruction in scouting should be given as far as possible through
practices, games, and competitions._
_Games should be organised mainly as team matches, where the patrol
forms the team, and every boy is playing, none merely looking on._
_Strict obedience to the rules to be at all times insisted on as
instruction in discipline._
_The rules given in the book should be altered by instructors where
necessary to suit local conditions._
_The ideas given here are merely offered as suggestions, upon which it
is hoped that instructors will develop further games, competitions, and
displays._
_Several of the games given here are founded on those in Mr. Thompson
Seton's "Birchbark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians," called "Spearing the
Sturgeon" (Whale Hunt), "Quick Sight" (Spotty Face), "Spot the Rabbit,"
"Bang the Bear," "Hostile Spy" (Stop Thief), etc._
_A number of non-scouting games are quoted from the book "Social--to
Save."_
SCOUTCRAFT.
PRACTICES AND GAMES.--Kim's Game, p. 54; Morgan's Game, p. 55; Scout's
War Dance, p. 57; Scouts' Rally, p. 44. Teach the scouts to look out
trains in Bradshaw's Railway Guide.
"BOOM-A-TATA."--Kindly supplied by Dr. H. Kingston as a good marching
rally.
[Illustration: Boom a-ra-ta.]
TRACKING.
PRACTICES.--Street Observation, p. 83; Telling Character, p. 84; Scout's
Nose, p. 86; Footmarks, pp. 89, 98, 99; Deduction, pp. 107, 108.
DISPLAY.--The Diamond Thief, p. 140.
GAMES.--Observation, pp. 84, 85, 86; Far and Near, p. 86; Spot the
Thief, p. 99; Smugglers Over the Border, p. 100.
ALARM. "STOP THIEF."--This is similar to the game of "Hostile Spy," in
the "Birchbark Roll of Woodcraft Indians," by Mr. Thompson Seton. A red
rag is hung up in the camp or room in the morning: the umpire goes round
to each scout in turn, while they are at work or play and whispers to
him, "There is a thief in the camp"; but to one he whispers, "There is a
thief in the camp, and you are he--Marble Arch," or some other
well-known spot about a mile away. That scout then knows that he must
steal the rag at any time within the next three hours, and bolt with it
to the Marble Arch. Nobody else knows who is to be the thief, where he
will run to, and when he will steal it. Directly anyone notices that the
red rag is stolen, he gives the alarm, and all stop what they may be
doing at the time, and dart off in pursuit of the thief. The scout who
gets the rag or a bit of it wins. If none succeed in doing this, the
thief wins. He must carry the rag tied round his neck, and not in his
pocket or hidden away.
WOODCRAFT.
GAMES AND PRACTICES.--Scout Hunting, Dispatch Running, Deer Stalking,
Stalking and Reporting, see pp. 114, 115; Observation of Animals, p.
134; Lion Hunting, p. 134; Plant Race, p. 139; Scout meets Scout, p. 53.
"TRACK THE ASSASSIN."--The assassin escapes after having stabbed his
victim, carrying in his hand the dripping dagger. The remainder, a
minute later, start out to track him by the drops of blood (represented
by Indian corn or peas) which fall at every third pace. His confederate
(the umpire) tells him beforehand where to make for, and if he gets
there without being touched by his pursuers, over eight minutes ahead of
them, he wins. If they never reach his confederate, neither side wins.
RELAY RACE.--One patrol pitted against another to see who can get a
message sent a long distance in shortest time by means of relays of
runners (or cyclists). The patrol is ordered out to send in three
successive notes, or tokens (such as sprigs of certain plants), from a
point, say, two miles distant or more. The leader in taking his patrol
out to the spot drops scouts at convenient distances, who will then act
as runners from one post to the next and back. If relays are posted in
pairs messages can be passed both ways.
"SPIDER AND FLY."--A bit of country or section of the town about a mile
square is selected as the web, and its boundaries described, and an hour
fixed at which operations are to cease.
One patrol (or half-patrol) is the "spider," which goes out and selects
a place to hide itself.
The other patrol (or half-patrol) goes a quarter of an hour later as the
"fly" to look for the "spider." They can spread themselves about as they
like, but must tell their leader anything that they discover.
An umpire goes with each party.
If within the given time (say about two hours) the fly has not
discovered the spider, the spider wins. The spiders writes down the
names of any of the fly patrol that they may see; similarly the flies
write down the names of any spiders that they may see and their exact
hiding-place. Marks will be awarded by the umpires for each such report.
The two sides should wear different colours, or be differently dressed
(_e.g._, one side in shirt-sleeves).
"THROWING THE ASSEGAI."--Target, a thin sack, lightly stuffed with
straw, or a sheet of cardboard, or canvas stretched on a frame.
Assegais to be made of wands, with weighted ends sharpened, or with iron
arrow-heads on them.
DISPLAY.--The Diamond Thief. See pp. 140-141.
PLAY.--_Wild Animal Play_, by Mrs. E. Thompson Seton. A musical play, in
which boys and girls take parts. Price 6d. (Publishers, Doubleday, Page,
& Co., 133 East Sixteenth-street, New York.)
"Animal Artisans," by C. J. Cornish. 6s. (Longmans, Green.)
"FLAG RAIDING" (from "Aids to Scouting", 1s. Gale & Polden).
Two or more patrols on each side.
Each side will form an outpost within a given tract of country to
protect three flags (or at night three lanterns two feet above ground),
planted not less than 200 yards (100 yards at night) from it. The
protecting outpost will be posted in concealment either altogether or
spread out in pairs not more than 80 yards apart. It will then send out
scouts to discover the enemy's position. When these have found out where
the outpost is they try and creep round out of sight till they can get
to the flags and bring them away to their own line. One scout may not
take away more than one flag.
This is the general position of a patrol on such an outpost:
[Illustration: Outpost.]
Any scout coming within 50 yards of a stronger party will be put out of
action if seen by the enemy; if he can creep by without being seen it is
all right.
Scouts posted to watch as outposts cannot move from their ground, but
their strength counts as double, and they may send single messengers to
their neighbours or to their own scouting party.
An umpire should be with each outpost and with each scouting patrol.
At a given hour operations will cease, and all will assemble at the
given spot to hand in their reports. The following marks would be
awarded:
For each flag or lamp captured
and brought in 5 marks
For each report or sketch of the
position of the enemy's outposts Up to 5 marks
For each report of movement of
enemy's scouting patrols 2 marks
The side which makes the biggest total wins.
CAMP LIFE.
PRACTICES.--Knot-tying, pp. 146-153; hut building, p. 148; bridging, p.
150; self-measurement, p. 151; hurdle-making, p. 153; models, p. 153;
handicrafts generally; camp furniture, p. 156; camp fires, p. 157; camp
room, p. 163; cooking, p. 165; making ration bags, p. 171; breadmaking,
pp. 167, 171.
"The three B's of life in camp are the ability to cook bannock, beans,
and bacon."
HOW TO MAKE A TENT.
For "Tee pee" or American Indian tent, see Thompson Seton's "Birchbark
Roll," 25 cents. (Doubleday, Page, & Co., New York.)
For light cyclists' tents, see "The Camper's Handbook," by J. H.
Holding; "Boy Scouts'" tent, with canvas and scouts' stoves. This is
made simple and easy by the three pictures showing the different stages.
TO MAKE A LADDER WITH A POLE.--Tie firmly sticks, or tufts of twigs, or
straw, across the pole at intervals to form steps.
HOW TO MAKE A SLEIGH.--See "Camp Life," by Hamilton Gibson. 5s.
(Harper.)
GAME.--_Food_; Name not less than twelve different kinds of wild food,
such as you would find in Great Britain, supposing there were no
supplies available from butchers, bakers, grocers, or greengrocers.
N.B.--A pike or a trout are not considered different _kinds_ of food for
this competition.
FIRE-LIGHTING RACE.--To collect material, lay, and light a fire till the
log given by umpire is alight.
BOOKS TO READ.
(Additional to those mentioned on pp. 153, 171, etc.)
"The Camper's Handbook," by T. H. Holding. 5s. (Simpkin, Marshall, &
Co.)
"The Young Marooners," by F. Goulding. 2s. (Nisbet.) A story of
resourcefulness in camp, including raft-building, shoemaking, first aid,
etc.
"Carpentering and Cabinetmaking," by W. M. Oakwood. 1s. (C. A. Pearson.)
"Models and How to Make Them," by Cyril Hall. 1s. Including
steam-engine, turbine, electric motor, etc.
[Illustration: Frame of six Scouts' Staves, and an extra joint to
lengthen ridge-pole.]
[Illustration: Six squares of canvas, 5ft. 6in. square, with eyelets and
hemmed tube on one side. Each Scout carries one, and can pack his kit in
it if necessary, or use it as a cape in rain.]
[Illustration: Boy Scouts' Tent for a Patrol. Four canvas squares make
the tent. Two make the ground sheet.]
N.B.--Before making a real article, whether tent, or boat, or other
thing, to scale, it is almost always best to make a model on a small
scale first--make an inch of model represent a foot of the real thing.
HOW TO MAKE A BOAT, from "Camp Life," by Hamilton Gibson, 5s. (Harper).
Get two boards, A and B, 12 feet long, 20 inches wide, and 3/4 inch
thick. Cut them both as in Fig. 1.
Nail a plank (C) between them at the centre to hold them in position,
and a second similar plank below it.
Cut solid block of wood (D) to form the stem or bow-piece, and a stern
board about 2 feet long, 10 inches deep.
Join the two bow ends of A and B by screwing them into the block D.
Join the two stern ends by screwing them to each end of the stern board,
and strengthen by screwing stern seat (E) on to both sides and stern
piece.
Turn the boat upside down, and screw on planks F F to form the bottom.
Caulk the seams between these by driving in tow by means of a blunt
chisel and mallet, and paint them with pitch, if necessary, to make them
water-tight. Mark where the seats G G are to come, and nail pieces of
plank to the sides of the boat, reaching to a height of one foot from
the floor, to act as supports to the seats. Put the seats in resting on
these chocks, and screw them to the sides. Screw a pair of strong wooden
pins to each side of the boat (H H) to form rowlocks. Knock out plank C,
and your boat is ready.
CAMPAIGNING AND PATHFINDING.
PRACTICES (see p. 182).--Mountain Climbing, Boat Management, Barometer
and Thermometer Reading, Find the North, pp. 190-194; Judging Heights
and Distances, pp. 187-188, 195, 205; Semaphore and Morse Signalling,
pp. 201-202; Drill Signals, p. 203; Hiding Dispatches, Campaigning
Tests, p. 205; Exploration, pp. 175-176.
GAMES.--Night Patrolling, p. 182; Whale Hunt, p. 183; Mountain Scouting,
p. 183; Star-gazing, p. 196; Judging Distance, p. 197; Finding North, p.
197; Dispatch Running, pp. 53, 205; Arctic Expedition, p. 52; Siberian
Man Hunt, 53.
[Illustration: HOW TO MAKE A BOAT.]
SCOUTING RACE.--Instructor stations three individuals or groups, each
group differently clothed as far as possible, and carrying different
articles (such as stick, bundle, paper, etc.) at distances from 300 to
1,200 yards from starting point. If there are other people about, these
groups might be told to kneel on one knee, or take some such attitude to
distinguish them from passers-by. He makes out a circular course of
three points for the competitors to run, say about 1/4 mile, with a few
jumps if possible.
The competitors start and run to No. 1 point. Here the umpire tells them
the compass-direction of the group they have to report on. Each
competitor on seeing this group writes a report showing--
1. How many in the group.
2. How clothed or how distinguishable.
3. Position as regards any landmark near them.
4. Distance from his own position.
He then runs to the next point and repeats the same on another group,
and so on; and finally he runs with his report to the winning post.
_Marks._--Full marks, 5 for each correct and complete description of a
group--that is an aggregate of 15 marks for the course. One mark
deducted for every ten seconds later than the first boy handing in his
report at the winning post. Marks or half marks deducted for mistakes or
omissions in reports.
ON TREK.--Make a trek through Central Africa--each scout carrying his
kit and food packed in a bundle on his head; walk in single file with
scout 200 yards out in front and find the way; he makes scout signs as
to the road to follow; make bridge over stream or raft over lake:
corduroy or faggots in boggy ground: leave signs and notes for any
parties who may follow by day or night.
To teach your scouts, individually, ideas of time and distance, send
each out in a different direction on some such order as this. "Go two
miles to North-north-east. Write a report to show exactly where you are
(with sketch map if possible, to explain it.) Bring in your report as
quickly as possible."
Then test by ordnance maps or otherwise to see how far he was out of the
distance and direction ordered.
Send out Scouts in pairs, to compete each pair against the other. Each
pair to be started by a different route to gain the same spot, finding
the way by map, and to reach the goal without being seen by the others
on the way.
This develops map reading, eye for country, concealment, look-out, etc.
For judging time. Send out scouts in different directions, each with a
slip of paper, to say how long he is to be away, say seven minutes for
one, ten for another, and so on.
Note down his exact time of starting, and take it again on his return.
Scouts must be put on their honour not to consult watches or clocks.
N.B.--Many of these games and practices can be carried out in town just
as well as in the country.
BOOKS TO READ.--In addition to those mentioned in Chap. V., "Heroes of
Pioneering," E. Sanderson, (Seely & Co.) "Boys' Book of Exploration" by
Tudor Jenks.
ENDURANCE AND HEALTH.
PRACTICES.--Making tooth-brushes, p. 216. Measurement, 217. Deep
breathing, p. 227. Drill, p. 235.
Staff exercises (to music if possible).
"FOLLOW MY LEADER."--With a large number of boys this can be made a very
effective display, and is easy to do--at a jog-trot, and occasional
"knees up," with musical accompaniment. It can also be done at night,
each boy carrying a Chinese lantern on top of his staff. If in a
building, all lights would, of course, be turned down. A usual fault is
that the exercise is kept on too long, till it wearies both audience and
performers. Among the most effective figures are the following:
[Illustration: Follow My Leader: The Spiral.]
[Illustration: Follow My Leader: Turn at the corners, and double
zig-zag.]
[Illustration: Follow My Leader: Windmill.]
"How to Keep Fit" is a little book, costing 3d., by Surgeon-Captain
Waite (Gale & Polden), which tells a man how to look after his health,
and so avoid getting ill. It is much better to study and act upon advice
of this kind than to read the advertisements of patent medicines and
then to fill yourselves up with these drugs. They are often harmless,
but sometimes very bad for you; very seldom are they any good.
BOOKS TO READ in addition to those already suggested:--
"Healthful, Physical Exercises," Swedish system. W. L. Rooper, 2s. 9d.
(Newmann, 84, Newman Street.)
"The Fine Art of Ju Jitsu," by Mrs. Roger Watts, with excellent photos.
(Heinemann).
CHIVALRY.
PRACTICES.--The knot in the necktie to remind the scout to do a good
turn. The money-box to develop thrift and charity.
Archery and quarter-staff play.
Carpentering and other ways of making money, pp. 263-5, 268.
GAMES.--"Knight-Errantry," see p. 250.
"Risking Life," p. 258.
_Further displays, etc., will be published in the "Scout."_
SAVING LIFE AND FIRST AID.
PRACTICES.--Dragging insensible man, p. 289; "scrum," p. 288; rescuing
drowning men, pp. 290-291; fire drill; first aid for all injuries, see
St. John's Handbooks; artificial breathing, p. 298; carrying a patient,
pp. 306-7; fire alarm, p. 308.
How to make eye tweezers for removing a piece of grit from eye. Fold a
piece of paper in two. With a sharp knife cut it to a point at an angle
of 30deg., and slightly moisten the point. Then bring it straight down
over the eyeball of the patient, so that it can nip the obstruction,
which it generally removes at the first attempt.
GAMES.--Dragging Race, see page 308.
Book to read in addition to those mentioned on p. 308. "R.E.P."
Elliman's Handbook. Apart from its advertising, it contains a very
complete _vade mecum_ of First Aid and Sick Room Hints and Massage.
(Apply to Messrs. Elliman, Slough.)
DISPLAYS.--A few ideas for life-saving displays can be taken from
programmes of the Boys' Life Brigade, as suggestions. These displays are
very popular both with performers and with the audience.
PATRIOTISM.
A good map of the Empire is very desirable, as stated on page 309. A
globe is of even more value than a map. Paper globes which can fold up
or open out like an umbrella can be got, which are inexpensive and most
instructive.
PRACTICE: Marksmanship, pp. 322-325.
Flag-flying, p. 331.
Observe Saints' Days: See p. 327.
The visits to museums and armouries (as suggested on p. 327 and
elsewhere) are on the lines of what is regularly done in Germany as part
of the training of the boys while at school. Classes are taken by the
masters to armouries and museums to be taught their National History.
GAMES.--"Shoot out," p. 325; "French and English," p. 326; "Badajoz," p.
326; "The Empire" card game.
"Navigation," 7s. 6d., Newmann, 84, Newman Street; "Separate Cruises,"
3s. 6d.; "Contraband," 6s. 6d., Newmann, 84, Newman Street.
DISPLAYS.--Pageants of incidents in local history.
"PLAY THE GAME."--See p. 380.
"Storming the Kashmir Gate, Delhi."--See p. 382.
SONGS.--"The Maple Leaf For Ever" (Canada). The song of Australia.
BOOKS TO READ in addition to those already suggested:--
"Heroic Deeds Simply Told"; "Heroes and Heroines of Everyday Life as
well as those of War," by Ernest Protheroe. 1s. 11d. (Newmann).
"History of England," by H. O. Arnold-Forster. 3s. 9d. (Cassell).
"Adventures of Beowulf," by C. L. Thomson, 9d. (Marshall).
School Atlas, by H. O. Arnold-Forster. 1s. 11d. (37, Bedford Street.)
"Through the British Empire in a Few Minutes." A short address by Sir
Howard Vincent. (A. K. Johnstone, 7, Paternoster Square.)
A BICYCLE ACCIDENT.--Boys returning from camp. A rash cyclist.
Misfortune. Injuries attended to and patients carried away to hospital
on improvised stretchers.
A GAS EXPLOSION.--Mrs. Coddles and family take a walk. They witness a
terrible railway accident. Mrs. Coddles on her way home meets a friend.
Maria is sent on to light the gas-stove and prepare father's tea. Father
gets back from work and finds the house full of gas. Ambulance squad to
the rescue. "Fireman's lift" and artificial respiration. Constable AOOO
arrives on the scene. How not to look for a gas escape. Sad end of a
gallant but thoughtless policeman.
FIRE DISPLAY.--Evening at No. 5 Suburbi Villas. Fire alarm. Inmates
aroused. Escape by the chute. Arrival of fire section with jumping
sheet. Life-lines and pompier ladders. Rescue of remaining occupants.
SYNOPSIS.--The workmen are engaged in their daily occupation when an
explosion occurs, causing a fire inside the building and an exterior
wall to collapse, which injures a man who happens to be passing at the
time. The uninjured workmen attend to their unfortunate comrades, while
others rush off for help and return with the ambulance and fire
apparatus. Some of the men are rescued from the burning building by
jumping from the tower.
PLAY THE GAME!
POEM BY HENRY NEWBOLT.
_Scene I.: Tableau of boys playing cricket._
RECITATION.
There's a breathless hush in the close to-night
Ten to make and the match to win--
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat
Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,
But his captain's hand on his shoulder smote.
[_Action: The captain steps up to the batsman, puts his hand on his
shoulder, and says to him urgently_--]
"Play up! Play up! And play the game!"
_Scene II.: Tableau. Soldiers in a hard-fought fight retreating--a young
officer among them._
RECITATION.
The sand of the desert is sodden red--
Red with the wreck of the square that broke;
The gatling's jammed and the colonel dead,
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed its banks,
And England's far and Honour a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks.
[_Action: The young officer stands forward pointing his sword to the
enemy, and the retreating soldiers turn ready to charge with him as he
cries_--]
"Play up! Play up! And play the game!"
_Scene III.: A procession of all kinds of men, old ones at the head,
middle-aged in centre, young ones behind--soldiers, sailors, lawyers,
workmen, footballers, etc., etc.--Scotch, Irish, English, Colonial--all
linked hand in hand._
RECITATION.
This is the word that year by year,
While in her place the school is set,
Every one of her sons must hear,
And none that hears it dare forget.
This they all with joyful mind
Bear through life like a torch in flame,
And falling fling to the host behind.
[_Action: The leader flings out a Union Jack, and calls to the rest_--]
"Play up! Play up! And play the game!"
[_One in the centre then calls back to the juniors: "Play up! Play up!
And play the game!" The smallest of the juniors steps forward and cries
to the audience_--]
"PLAY UP! PLAY UP! AND PLAY THE GAME!"
THE STORMING OF DELHI.
[_Scene, ruined drawbridge at Kashmir Gate. Group of officers and
soldiers about to blow in the gate. Description to be read during
the picture._]
Lord Roberts, in "Forty-one Years in India," describes how the Kashmir
Gate of Delhi was captured by the British troops during the Mutiny.
Lieutenants Home and Salkeld, with eight sappers and a bugler of the
52nd Regiment, went forward to blow the gate open for the column to get
into Delhi.
The enemy were apparently so astounded at the audacity of this
proceeding that for a minute or two they offered but slight resistance.
They soon, however, discovered how small the party was and the object
for which it had come, and forthwith opened a deadly fire upon the
gallant little band from the top of the gateway, from the city wall, and
through the open wicket.
The bridge over the ditch in front of the gateway had been destroyed,
and it was with some difficulty that the single beam which remained
could be crossed. Home with the men carrying the powder bags got over
first. As the bags were being attached to the gate, Sergeant Carmichael
was killed, and Havildar (native Sergeant) Madhoo wounded. The rest then
slipped into the ditch to allow the firing party which had come up under
Salkeld to carry out its share of the duty.
While endeavouring to fire the charge Salkeld was shot through the leg
and arm, and handed the slow match to Corporal Burgess. Burgess
succeeded in his task, but fell mortally wounded as he did so.
As soon as the explosion took place, Bugler Hawthorne sounded the
regimental call of the 52nd as a signal to the attacking column to
advance. In this way the troops got in through the Kashmir Gate, and
Delhi was taken.
Lieutenant Home was unfortunately killed within a few weeks by an
accidental explosion of a mine he was firing, otherwise he would have
received the V.C.
"THE MAPLE LEAF FOR EVER."
_Alexander Muir._
In days of yore, from Britain's shore,
Wolfe, the dauntless hero, came
And planted firm Britannia's flag
On Canada's fair domain;
Here may it wave, our boast and pride,
And join in love together,
The Lily, Thistle, Shamrock, Rose entwine
The Maple Leaf for ever.
The Maple Leaf, our emblem dear,
The Maple Leaf for ever,
God save our King, and Heaven bless
The Maple Leaf for ever.
At Queenstown Heights and Lundy's Lane,
Our brave fathers side by side,
For freedom, homes, and loved ones dear,
Firmly stood and nobly died;
And those dear rights which they maintained
We swear to yield them never.
Our watchword evermore shall be,
The Maple Leaf forever.
_Refrain._
Our fair Dominion now extends
From Cape Race to Nootka Sound,
May peace for ever be our lot,
And plenteous store abound;
And may those ties of love be ours,
Which discord cannot sever,
And flourish green o'er Freedom's home,
The Maple Leaf for ever.
_Refrain._
On Merry England's far-famed land
May kind Heaven sweetly smile;
God bless Old Scotland evermore,
And Ireland's Emerald Isle;
Then swell the song both loud and long
Till rocks and forest quiver.
God save our King, and Heaven bless
The Maple Leaf for ever.
The Maple Leaf, our emblem dear,
The Maple Leaf for ever,
God save our King, and Heaven bless
The Maple Leaf for ever.
"THE SONG OF AUSTRALIA."
_Words by Mrs. C. J. Carleton. Music by Herr Carl Linger._
There is a land where summer skies
Are gleaming with a thousand dyes,
Blending in witching harmonies;
And grassy knoll and forest height
Are flushing in the rosy light,
And all above is azure bright,
AUSTRALIA.
There is a land where honey flows,
Where laughing corn luxuriant grows,
Land of the myrtle and the rose.
On hill and plain the clust'ring vine
Is gushing out with purple wine,
And cups are quaffed to thee and thine,
AUSTRALIA.
There is a land where treasures shine,
Deep in the dark unfathomed mine,
For worshippers at mammon's shrine;
Where gold lies hid and rubies gleam,
And fabled wealth no more doth seem
The idle fancy of a dream,
AUSTRALIA.
There is a land where homesteads peep,
From sunny plains and woodlands steep,
And love and joy bright vigils keep;
Where the glad voice of childish glee
Is mingling with the melody
Of Nature's hidden minstrelsy,
AUSTRALIA.
There is a land where floating free,
From mountain top to girdling sea,
A proud flag waves exultingly;
And freedom's sons the banner bear,
No shackled slave can breathe the air--
Fairest of Britain's daughters, fair,
AUSTRALIA.
[NOTE.--When sung, repeat at end of third line in each verse as follows:
"harmonies," "and the rose," "mammon's shrine," "vigils keep,"
"exultingly."]
GOD BLESS THE PRINCE OF WALES.
Among our ancient mountains,
And from our lovely vales,
Oh! let the prayer re-echo,
God Bless the Prince of Wales!
With heart and voice awaken
Those minstrel strains of yore,
Till Britain's name and glory
Resound from shore to shore.
[_Chorus_] Among our ancient mountains,
And from our lovely vales,
Oh! let the prayer re-echo,
God Bless the Prince of Wales
Should hostile bands or danger
E'er threaten our fair Isle,
May God's strong arm protect us,
May Heav'n still on us smile.
Above the Throne of England
May fortune's star long shine!
And round its sacred bulwarks
The olive branches twine.
Among our ancient mountains, etc.
GOD SAVE THE KING.
God save our gracious King,
Long live our noble King,
God save the King!
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the King!
Thy choicest gifts in store,
On him be pleas'd to pour,
Long may he reign.
May he defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the King!
SAMPLE PROGRAMME OF ATHLETIC SPORTS.
Throwing the life line Open.
Patrol drill (demonstration) Curlews.
Fire-lighting competition Wolves _v._ Bulls.
Physical drill or ju jitsu (demonstration) Ravens.
Dragging insensible men race Lions _v._ Curlews.
Basket ball (final ties) Patrols.
Deer-stalking Wolves.
Spotty face Bulls.
Shoot out Ravens _v._ Lions.
Bang the bear Curlews.
Cockfighting Wolves _v._ Ravens.
French and English tug of war Birds _v._ Beasts.
Whale hunt All patrols.
In place of Challenge Cups it is well to have Challenge Banners. Each
scout in the patrol that wins a banner should receive a small copy of
the flag to keep as a memento.
NON-SCOUTING GAMES.
USEFUL FOR EVENINGS IN THE CLUB OR IN CAMP.
NOBODY'S AIRSHIP.--Two patrols sit on two forms facing each other, knees
about a foot from those of opposite side. A small air-balloon is thrown
in, both sides pat it with their hands to keep it up in the air and try
to send it far over the heads of their opponents. If it falls to the
ground behind one party that party loses a point. The game is best of
five points.
"ARTISTS."--Players sit round a table, each with paper and pencil.
The right-hand one draws a picture, in separate firm strokes, of an
ordinary figure or head--putting in his strokes in unusual sequence so
that for a long time it is difficult to see what he is drawing. Each
player looks over to see what the man on his right is drawing and copies
it stroke by stroke. When the right-hand artist has finished his
picture, compare all the rest with it.
"TARGET BALL."--Indoor cricket with a lawn tennis ball, small wooden
bat, and a disc or small target for wicket.
"CIRCLE BALL."--A large circle of players throw lawn tennis ball at one
in the centre.
The object of the player in the centre is to remain "in" as long as
possible without being hit; if he catches the ball in his hands it does
not count as a hit.
Whoever hits him with the ball takes his place.
The player who remains "in" longest wins.
COUNTING THE WORDS.--Let someone read out half a page from a book,
pronouncing the words with moderate rapidity. As he reads, let the
members of the company try to count his words. The persons who comes the
nearest to the truth in his estimate is judged the victor. It is
astonishing how widely these estimates vary.
ANIMATED PORTRAITS.--Over a door drape a curtain, in the centre of which
is hung a frame through which can be thrust the heads of various persons
chosen from those present. These heads are to be attired in such a
fashion as to represent various well-known characters, such as
Christopher Columbus, Queen Victoria, etc. The audience are to be
informed that they are at liberty to make frank criticisms on these
animated pictures for the purpose of causing a smile. In case the
audience is successful in identifying within a certain time, the person
who represents the picture must pay a fine.
TO FIT.--Cut a square opening in a pasteboard, which is placed
prominently in front of the room. Distribute to the members corks of
different sizes. Provide with sharp knives those that are not already
provided. Explain that the task before them is to cut the corks so that
they will fit the square opening, without measuring the opening, judging
entirely by the eye. The one whose cork fits the best wins.
CITY CHAINS.--Place the players in two groups facing each other. Each
group must choose a leader, with whom the members of his side
communicate in whispers. In the centre is an umpire, who, with his
watch, gives each side a quarter of a minute, or less, for their
response.
The leader of one side begins by naming a city, such as New York. Within
the prescribed time the leader of the opposite side must name a city
beginning with the last letter of New York, as Kalamazoo; and so it
proceeds, each leader using the wits of all in his group to assist his
own.
When a leader fails to respond in time, the opposite leader chooses one
player from his opponent's side, and in his turn starts a new chain. The
game can be played also with the names of famous persons, but this is
harder.
A MEMORY GAME.--In order to play this game successfully, it is necessary
that the list of words and sentences given below be in the memory of one
of the players, who acts as leader. This leader, turning to his next
neighbour remarks, "One old owl." He turns to _his_ neighbour, and gives
the same formula. So it passes around the circle till it comes to the
leader again, who repeats it, and adds the formula, "Two tantalising
tame toads."
So again it goes around, and again, and each time the leader adds a new
formula, until the whole is repeated, up to ten. It is safe to say,
however, that no society will ever get that far. All who forget part of
the formula are dropped from the circle. Here is the whole:
One old owl.
Two tantalising tame toads.
Three tremulous, tremendous, terrible tadpoles.
Four fat, fussy, frivolous, fantastic fellows.
Five flaming, flapping, flamingoes fishing for frogs.
Six silver-tongued, saturnine senators standing stentoriously
shouting, "So-so."
Seven serene seraphs soaring swiftly sunward, singing, "Say,
sisters."
Eight elderly, energetic, effusive, erudite, enterprising editors
eagerly eating elderberries.
Nine nice, neat, notable, neighbourly, nautical, nodding nabobs
nearing northern Normandy.
Ten tall, tattered, tearful, turbulent tramps, talking tumultuously
through tin trumpets.
POST.--This game may be played in a large hall, or out of doors on the
lawn. It is especially adapted to the juniors, and may be so played as
to teach them a great deal of geography. The leader either marks with
chalk, or indicates with his fingers, the outlines of some mission
country. Let it be India, for example. A rough triangle is fixed, and
the places of the prominent mission stations are indicated by marks,
sticks, stones, bushes, or trees, and at each of these places one of the
players is stationed. One player might stand at Calcutta, one at Bombay,
one at Madras, one at Madura, one at Delhi, etc.
The leader then takes upon himself the name of some prominent missionary
of India--say Bishop Thoburn; then, declaring that Bishop Thoburn wants
to go from Calcutta to Madras, he attempts to reach one of those
stations while the two occupants thereof are rapidly changing places. If
he succeed in doing this, the player left out has to take his place as
Bishop Thoburn, and in this way the game proceeds.
NUMBER GROUPS.--Give each person present a number, printed in large type
on a card which is pinned conspicuously on the breast. The numbers range
from 10 to 24, and so of course there will be many duplicates. There is
a leader, who begins the game by calling in a loud voice some number,
such as 180. Immediately the players as rapidly as possible arrange
themselves in groups, seeking to form a group the sum of whose numbers
will equal 180. As soon as a group has been thus formed it presents
itself to the leader, and to each member of this successful group is
given a slip of paper.
As soon as one group has thus formed 180 and been rewarded, the
half-formed groups are dissolved, since they do not count anything, and
the leader calls out a new number. After this has been tried a certain
number of times, the person that has received the largest number of
slips is adjudged the winner. If you want to make this game very
difficult, use higher numbers, and attach them to the backs instead of
the fronts, of the members.
THEIR WEIGHT.--This contest will make pleasant material to fill some
interval in your socials. Let the committee previously gather six
articles, as dissimilar as may be in size, shape, and material, but each
weighing a pound. You may take, for instance, a wooden pail, a tin pan,
a piece of lead. Call out different members of the company, and request
them to arrange these six articles in the order of their weight. Of
course, almost every one will think the large article to be the
heaviest.
BASKET BALL.
This is a game something like football, which can be played in a room or
limited space. A small football is used, but it is never to be kicked.
It is only to be thrown or patted with the hands. Kicking or stopping
the ball with the foot or leg is not allowed. The ball may be held in
the hands, but not hugged close to the body, nor may it be carried for
more than two paces. All holding, dashing, charging, shouldering,
tripping, etc., is forbidden; and there is a penalty of a free throw to
the opposite side from the fifteen foot mark at the net, which forms the
goal. The net is hung up about ten feet above the ground on a post,
tree, or wall, so that the ball can be thrown into it. Opposite each
goal a path of fifteen feet long and six feet wide, beginning
immediately under the basket and leading towards the centre of the
ground, is marked out. At the end of this path a circle is drawn of ten
feet diameter. When there is a free throw, the thrower stands inside
this circle, and no player is allowed within it or within the measured
path. Corners, byes, and shies are the same as in Association football;
but in ordinary rooms, with side walls, it is not necessary to have
"out" at the sides. The usual number of players is four or five a side,
and these can be divided into goal-keeper, back, and three forwards. If
there is plenty of room the number of players could be increased. A
referee is required, who throws up the ball at the start of each half of
the game, and also after each goal. When he throws in, the ball must be
allowed to touch the ground before it is played. With four players a
side, 7-1/2 minutes each way is sufficient time; with five a side, ten
minutes is the usual time. A short interval at half time. The net or
basket goal should be about 18 inches diameter at the top and 2 feet
deep.
BOOKS TO READ.
"School Games." By T. Chesterton. (Educational Supply Association.)
"New Games and Sports." By H. Alexander. (George Philip & Son.)
"Industrial Games." By Mrs. Aldrich. (Gale & Polden.)
"Social--to Save." (Published in New York.)
"Finger Problems:" Games with String. (Plumbe & Richardson, Mansfield.)
SUGGESTION FOR A DISPLAY
By two patrols or more, to demonstrate Scoutcraft, bringing in
Drill, Pathfinding, Camping, Pioneering, Life-saving, Hygiene, etc.
Can be performed out of doors or in a big arena.
Improved by incidental music.
Enter advanced scout, left, finding his way by the map, noticing
landmarks, and looking for sign. He crosses the arena and
disappears, right, unless it is a wide, outdoor space, when he
remains at a distance, squatting, on the look-out.
Enter scouts, left, in patrol formation, followed by second patrol
in close formation. Scoutmaster halts them. One scout semaphores to
advanced scout, "We camp here. Keep good look-out." Patrol leaders
drill their patrols at quick, smart drill for about three minutes by
whistle or hand signal, etc. (Page 203.)
Camp: Break off and form camp.
One patrol makes camp-loom (page 163) and weaves a straw mat 4 feet
wide 6 feet long, and makes a lean-to frame (page 148) or tent
frame, with scout staves, and with the mat form a lean-to shelter.
The other patrol makes a camp grate or kitchen (page 159 or 165),
and lights fire. It then makes tent frame of staves (page 371), and
makes tent with canvas squares (page 371).
One patrol commences cooking, making dough in coat, etc. The scouts
of the other give themselves physical exercises, such as
body-twisting (page 229--page 237). Clean teeth with sticks (page
216).
Scouts' War Dance: All fall in and carry out Scouts' War Dance (page
56), combined with Follow My Leader (page 375). Just towards the end
the dance is interrupted by an
Alarm: Shots heard without (right). Alarm signal given by leaders
(page 203). Smoke-fire made, alarm signal sent up by one of the
patrols, while the other throws down tent and shelter, cuts
lashings, and distributes the staves to scouts. One patrol then
doubles out in extended formation (right) towards the firing. Sentry
staggers in, and falls. One scout attends to him. Second patrol
follows the first at a double in close formation. A scout returns
from right carrying a wounded one on his shoulder; bandages him.
Another scout drags in a wounded one (see pages 289 and 306). Firing
ceases; both patrols
Return, cheerful in having driven off the enemy.
One patrol makes stretcher with staves and tent-canvases.
The other tidies camp ground, puts out fire, etc.
Parade and march off. Union Jack in front. Then scoutmaster,
followed by one patrol; second patrol carrying one sick man on
crossed hands, the other on stretcher.
The whole scene should be frequently and thoroughly rehearsed
beforehand.
It must all be carried out as smartly and quickly as possible, without
pauses. Everybody doing something, helping the others, never standing
idle.
It is well to have a short explanatory story on the programme, so that
the public understand what it is all about. Such as this:
THE EXPLORERS.
A troop of scouts, with an advanced scout finding the way, are exploring
a strange country. They halt. A little drill, and then form camp. While
food is preparing they gain an appetite by physical exercise and
indulgence in a war dance.
The alarm is given and signalled. The camp successfully defended. The
wounded cared for, and the expedition continues on its way.
TRUE SCOUTING STORIES.
Interesting examples of the great value of scouting have, of course,
occurred many times. Here are a few--unavoidably omitted from a previous
part of "Scouting for Boys."
Captain Stigand in "Scouting and Reconnaissance in Savage Countries"
gives the following instances of scouts reading important meaning from
small signs.
When he was going round outside his camp one morning he noticed fresh
spoor of a horse which had been walking. He knew that all his horses
only went at a jog-trot, so it must have been a stranger's horse.
So he recognised that a mounted scout of the enemy had been quietly
looking at his camp in the night.
Coming to a village in Central Africa from which the inhabitants had
fled, he could not tell what tribe it belonged to till he found a
crocodile's foot in one of the huts, which showed that the village
belonged to the Awisa tribe, as they eat crocodiles, and the
neighbouring tribes do not.
A man was seen riding a camel over half a mile away. A native who was
watching him said, "It is a man of slave blood." "How can you tell at
this distance." "Because he is swinging his leg. A true Arab rides with
his leg close to the camel's side."
General Joubert, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Boer Army in the Boer
War, 1900, told me (some years before that) that in the previous Boer
War, 1881, it was his wife who first noticed the British troops were
occupying Majuba Mountain. The Boers were at that time camped near the
foot of the mountain, and they generally had a small party of men on the
top as a look-out. On this particular day they had intended moving away
early in the morning so the usual picquet had not been sent up on to the
mountain.
While they were getting ready to start, Mrs. Joubert, who evidently had
the eyes of a scout, looked up and said, "Why, there is an Englishman on
the top of Majuba!" The Boers said "No--it must be our own men who have
gone up there, after all." But Mrs. Joubert stuck to it and said, "Look
at the way he walks, that is no Boer--it is an Englishman." And so it
was; she was right. An English force had climbed the mountain during the
night, but by the stupidity of this man showing himself up on the
sky-line their presence was immediately detected by the Boers who,
instead of being surprised by them, climbed up the mountain unseen under
the steep crags and surprised the British, and drove them off with heavy
loss.
An officer lost his field-glasses during some manoeuvres on the desert
five miles from Cairo and he sent for the native trackers to look for
them.
They came and asked to see the tracks of his horse; so the horse was
brought out and led about so that they could see his footprints. These
they carried in their minds and went out to where the manoeuvres had
been: there, among the hundreds of hoof marks of the cavalry and
artillery, they very soon found those of the officer's horse, and
followed them up wherever he had ridden, till they found the
field-glasses lying where they had dropped out of their case on the
desert.
These trackers are particularly good at spooring camels. To anyone not
accustomed to them the footmark of one camel looks very like that of any
other camel, but to a trained eye they are all as different as people's
faces, and these trackers remember them very much as you would remember
the faces of people you had seen.
About a year ago a camel was stolen near Cairo. The police tracker was
sent for and shown its spoor. He followed it for a long way until it got
into some streets where it was entirely lost among other footmarks. But
the other day, a year later, this police tracker suddenly came on the
fresh track of this camel; he had remembered its appearance all that
time. It had evidently been walking with another camel whose footmark he
knew was one which belonged to a well-known camel thief. So without
trying to follow the tracks when they got into the city he went with a
policeman straight to the man's stable and there found the long-missing
camel.
CORRECTIONS.
Owing to difficulties in getting out this handbook punctually in
fortnightly parts, I am afraid a number of inaccuracies have crept in,
which I hope you will excuse.
These are some of them:
Page 45.--In the colour for the "Wolf" patrol, for "Yellow" read
"Yellow and Black."
" 171.--For "Mr. Seton Thompson" read "Mr. Thompson Seton."
" 188 (line 19).--For "365 feet" read "365 yards."
" 202.--Sign Y read semaphore
" 259.--For "SELF-EMPLOYMENT" read "SELF-IMPROVEMENT."
" 267 (line 19).--Heading "LUCK" should be the heading of the next
paragraph, before the words "If you," etc.
" 281 (line 8).--For "we will" read "you must."
" 296 (last line).--For "Two Scouts in Mafeking" read
"_Marksmanship_." Colonial boys think more of their rifle shooting
than of their games. See page 322.
(Pictures from "Sketches in Mafeking," by the Author. By
permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co.)
" 301 (last line).--For "An actual experience of mine" read "An
incident in Kashmir. See page 230."
" 332 (last line but one).--For "made known" read "remedied."
" 334 (line 21).--After "we are" insert "or should be." After King
add "for the good of our country."
_READY MAY 1st. IN BOOK FORM._
Scouting
for Boys.
A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTION
IN
GOOD CITIZENSHIP
BY
Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
Price 2s. Cloth Bound.
PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,
BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.
Copyrighted 1908. _All rights reserved._
_All communications regarding Boy Scouts should
be addressed to_--
THE QUARTERMASTER,
BOY SCOUTS,
BEDFORD MANSIONS,
HENRIETTA STREET,
LONDON, W.C.
This Part VI. of "Scouting for Boys" is the concluding one of the
Series.
The book has met with unexpected success.
Its work of imparting suggestions and knowledge of Peace-Scouting will
therefore now be continued and amplified in
_THE SCOUT_,
a weekly newspaper, at One Penny, which will appear on 14th April, and
every succeeding Thursday.
"The Scout" is founded by Lieut.-General Baden-Powell, with a view to
keeping touch among the very large number of those already interested in
Boys' Scouting in every part of the country, and also as appealing to
all British young men and lads of honour, grit, and spirit.
The founder will write in its pages each week, and the services of a
number of known writers have been secured.
_THE SCOUT_
will be fully illustrated and up-to-date. Its publication will be in the
hands of
Messrs. C. ARTHUR PEARSON LTD.
Transcriber's Notes:
Archaic and colloquial spelling and punctuation was retained.
Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
Text that was in bold face is enclosed by equals signs (=bold=).
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Scouting for Boys" ***
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