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 bevery 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.
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 learnthe 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 foresprit de corpsamong 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 theBirkenhead," "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 asToParents 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 asBox and CoxorArea Belle.
When these performances attain some degree of merit they might be used as a means of gaining funds.
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.Expecta 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.
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.
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 bestnot 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.
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 mustbe 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.
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 oflife 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 theEvening 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 meanbad citizenship.
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.
"Boys of the Street and How to Win Them." By Charles Stelzle. (H. Revell, publisher.)
"The Boy Problem." A study of boys and how totrain 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.
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."
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.
Boom a-ra-ta.Boom a-ra-ta.
Boom a-ra-ta.
Boom a-ra-ta.
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 atthe 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.
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." Theycan 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:
Outpost.Outpost.
Outpost.
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 capturedand brought in 5 marksFor each report or sketch of theposition of the enemy's outposts Up to 5 marksFor each report of movement ofenemy's scouting patrols 2 marks
For each flag or lamp capturedand brought in 5 marksFor each report or sketch of theposition of the enemy's outposts Up to 5 marksFor each report of movement ofenemy's scouting patrols 2 marks
For each flag or lamp capturedand brought in 5 marks
For each flag or lamp captured
and brought in 5 marks
For each report or sketch of theposition of the enemy's outposts Up to 5 marks
For each report or sketch of the
position of the enemy's outposts Up to 5 marks
For each report of movement ofenemy's scouting patrols 2 marks
For each report of movement of
enemy's scouting patrols 2 marks
The side which makes the biggest total wins.
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."
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 differentkindsof food for this competition.
Fire-lighting Race.—To collect material, lay, and light a fire till the log given by umpire is alight.
(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.
Frame of six Scouts' Staves, and an extra joint to lengthen ridge-pole.Frame of six Scouts' Staves, and an extra joint to lengthen ridge-pole.
Frame of six Scouts' Staves, and an extra joint to lengthen ridge-pole.
Frame of six Scouts' Staves, and an extra joint to lengthen ridge-pole.
Six squares of canvas.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.
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.
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.
Boy Scouts' Tent for a Patrol.Boy Scouts' Tent for a Patrol. Four canvas squares make the tent. Two make the ground sheet.
Boy Scouts' Tent for a Patrol. Four canvas squares make the tent. Two make the ground sheet.
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.
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; JudgingDistance,p.197; Finding North, p.197; Dispatch Running, pp.53,205; Arctic Expedition, p.52; Siberian Man Hunt,53.