THE DUST OF THE ROUND-UP SETTLES
★The Round-Up that started along the Old Scouting Trail three months ago is heading for the biggest event of all—the final “branding,” when the “mavericks,” the new boys brought into Scouting this fall, are formally and officially brought into the corral.
The “branding” ceremony, which should be staged in early December, can be one of the most colorful events your Unit ever held. Put it on with all the spirit and zip of a real western event. Use imagination in the staging—a few corral fence rails in the background, a fire “burning” in front, and the investiture team in cowboy togs. Think in western terms when you write the investiture script. Act out the Round-Up and branding with a nice combination of cowboy color and dignity, and your new boys and your public will remember the night of the “branding” ceremony for a long, long time.
When that final ceremony is staged, the “branding” done, we will have time to lean back against the old corral fence and take stock of the results.
What do we see as the dust of our Round-Up settles?How well did we round up the strays? Are there still boys “out there” who should be getting Scouting, and who could be, if we were really on our toes?
Beforeyouhang upyourspurs and lariat, won’t you check up once more on that boy that showed up at two or three meetings and looked as though he wanted to join but somehow didn’t make it.
You might be surprised at what you would find if you called on his folks—so often boys are kept out of Scouting because of misunderstandings which can be so easily cleared up when you talk to the parents. Lots of boys get that close to Scouting before they are shut out. The extra time given to this personal follow-up will be some of the best you ever spent on Scouting.
This may seem like a lot about membership, but remember, all of us who really believe in Scouting’s value to a boy, want to do our part to extend Scouting opportunity to as many boys as we can handle in our Unit.
Membership facts, by the way, are a good measuring rod of our program. When there’s fun and adventure in a Scout Unit most every boy wants to join. When there’s always something new and interesting happening, they want to stay in.
That’s what our membership figures really represent—our ability to provide theopportunity to join, plus theprogram that holds.
Much of this fall’s Round-Up activity has been designed to provide more of theopportunity to join, as well as a good deal of planning forthe program that holds boys. Now we need to follow through on that program. That meanssteady attention to the regular activities, whatever they may be—the Den meetings, the Patrol meetings and weekly Troop or Senior Unit meetings, andspecial attention to the highlightsthat serve to “point up” the boy’s Scouting experience.
What are some of these highlights? In Cub Scouting the monthly Pack meetings are highlight events; each one is different and apparently more interesting than those that have gone before.
Up and coming Boy Scout Troops and Senior Units plan their highlights in a different way. They schedule at intervals through the year a number of events specially chosen to give a lift and a purpose to the week-by-week program. They use these special events as something to look forward to, something to prepare for, and afterward, of course, to look back on with happy memories.
Well, it’s time to boost ourselves off that old corral post and get going. There’s things to do around this ranch and now’s the time to be doing them!