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.
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 travellerwas 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.
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.
Perseverance: Frogs in the Milk.Perseverance: Frogs in the Milk.
Perseverance: Frogs in the Milk.
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. Howcan 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 hemustgive 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
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 theCornhill 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.
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 theworking 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.
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.
The Knights Hospitallers of St. John—Boy Heroes and Girl Heroines—Life-Saving Medals.
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 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 thecase 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, youget 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 gotthem 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.
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.
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 Italianhemp. 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.
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 amongchildren 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.
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.Andromedawas 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 ofhow to do your dutyAT ONCEwithout 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.
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 whichto 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.
Dragging Insensible Man: Both heads down near the floor.Dragging Insensible Man: Both heads down near the floor.
Dragging Insensible Man: Both heads down near the floor.
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 inThe 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, andhe 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 ofthe 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 toBe 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 peopledo, 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.
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 itinto the empty one. Stanley died of his burns two days later, but Smith, though badly burnt himself, recovered to wear the Albert Medal.
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.
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.
"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.)