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.
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.
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.
Practical work, outdoors if possible, as follows:—
Alternatives according to whether in town or country, indoors or out.
Parade, hoist Union Jack and salute it.
Scouting game: e.g., "Scout Meets Scout." (See page53).
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.
Play an extended Scouting Game. (See "Games," P.51).
Or indoors if wet—"Ju-Jitsu," "Scouts' War Dance," Boxing, Scouts' Chorus and Rally, etc.
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 ispossible, not only what isprobablein 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 outthan 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.
Lord Edward Cecil and Boy Scouts in Mafeking.Lord Edward Cecil and Boy Scouts in Mafeking.
Lord Edward Cecil and Boy Scouts in Mafeking.
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 ofmen 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.
Stamp.Stamp.
Stamp.
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.
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, realmenin 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."
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, andKim 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.
Kim disguising the native spy.Kim disguising the native spy.
Kim disguising the native spy.
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 andsmear 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 knowwhere 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.
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.)
* "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.)
* "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.)
* "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.
1. To be loyal to God and the King.2. To help other people at all times.3. To obey the scout law.
1. To be loyal to God and the King.2. To help other people at all times.3. To obey the scout law.
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 page40), and also the call of your patrol (see page45).
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:—
Woodcraftmeans 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 jungleor 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 page54.]
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 getcomfortable 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.SeePart 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 andsome 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 islikely 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.]
A Boy ScoutA Boy Scout's Necktie.
A Boy Scout's Necktie.
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 oranother get the chance of it if you are prepared to seize the opportunity. That is, you must bepreparedfor 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 takesmuch 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 eyesabove everything elseshe will go on all right. But if you don't dothisthere 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 amuseyourself, 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.)]