
AIDS TO SCOUTMASTERSHIP

A Guidebook For Scoutmasters
On The Theory of Scout Training

By

LORD BADEN-POWELL OF GILWELL
Founder of the Boy Scout Movement


Note: Spelling in this file is as in the original text.
      Page numbers in contents also from original text.
      feel free to share this file with anyone.
      If you have problems, comments, or questions.
      Contact:      Andrew J. Heath (heatha@yvax.byu.edu)
		    Box 745   -    Provo, UT  84603



 







CONTENTS

THE SCOUTMASTER                                          3
	His Qualities                                    3
	His Duty                                         4
	Loyalty to the Movement                          5
	His Reward                                       6
THE BOY                                                  7
	The Nature of the Boy                            9
	Environment and Temptations                     11
	Troop Headquarters and Camp                     12
	How to Catch Our Boys                           13
SCOUTING                                                15
	Scouting Is Simple                              16
	The Aim of Scouting                             16
		The Four Branches of Scout Training     17
	The Activities of Scouting                      18
	The Scout Spirit                                20
	The Patrol System                               22
	Patrol Leaders' Council-
		Court of Honour                         23
	Values of the Patrol System                     24
	The Scout Uniform                               24
	The Scoutmaster's Share                         25

1.  CHARACTER                                           27
	Importance of Character                         27
	Why a Troop Should Not Exceed 32                28
	Chivalry and Fair Play                          29
	Discipline                                      30
	Sense of Honour                                 31
	Self -Reliance                                  32
	Enjoyment of Life                               33
	Development of Outlook: Reverence               36
	Self-Respect                                    39
	Loyalty                                         40

2.      HEALTH AND STRENGTH                             41
		Importance of Health                    41
		Be Fit!                                 42
		Organised Games                         43
		Physical Exercises                      44
		Drill                                   45
		The Out-of-Doors                        46
			Camp Life                       48
		Swimming, Boat-Rowing, Signalling       50
		Personal Hygiene                        50
			Cleanliness                     50
			Food                            50
			Temperance                      51
			Continence                      51
			Non-Smoking                     53
			Walking the Tight Rope          53
		Handicapped Scouts                      54 
		
	3.      HANDCRAFT AND SKILL                     55
		Handicrafts and Hobbies                 55
		Pioneering as a First Step              56
		Proficiency Badges (Merit Badges)       56
		Intelligence                            58
		Self-Expression                         59
		From Hobby to Career                    60
		The Scoutmaster's Share                 61
		Employment                              61

	4.      SERVICE TO OTHERS                       63
		Selfishness                             63
		To Eradicate Selfishness                64
		The Good Turn Habit                     64
		Service for the Community               65
		Ulterior Effect                         67

	TO SUM UP                                       68
 










  FOREWORD

DON'T feel worried at the length of this book.
	Scouting is not an abstruse or difficult science: rather 
it is a jolly game if you take it in the right light.  At the 
same time it is educative, and (like Mercy) it is apt to benefit 
him that giveth as well as him that receiveth.
	The term "Scouting" has come to mean a system of training 
in citizenship, through games, for boys or girls.
	The girls are the important people, because when  the 
mothers of the nation are good citizens and women of character, 
they will see to it that their sons are not deficient in these 
points.  As things are, the training is needed for both sexes, 
and is imparted through the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides (Girl 
Scouts) Movements.  The principles are the same for both.  It is 
only in the details that they vary.
	A.S.M. Hutchinson in one of his novels suggests that what 
Youth needs is Background.  Well, we have a Background to give 
them in Scouting and Guiding, and it is the Background that God 
has provided for everybody-the open-air, happiness and useful-
ness.
	Indeed, the Scoutmaster in introducing the boy to this, 
incidentally brings upon himself a share in that same happiness 
and usefulness.  He finds himself doing a greater thing than 
possibly he foresaw in taking up the job, for he finds himself 
rendering a life-worth Service for Man and God.
	You will find this book a disappointing one if you hope 
to find in it a set of definite stepping-stones to complete 
knowledge.
	I merely propose to state, as suggestive, the line which 
we have found to be successful, and the reasons for it.
	A man carries out suggestions the more wholeheartedly 
when he understands their aim.
	So most of these pages will be taken up with the objects 
of the steps rather than with the details of the steps them-
selves.  These can be filled in by the learner according to his 
own ingenuity, and in harmony with the local conditions under 
which he is working.

			[signed: Baden Powell of Gilwell]

 






THE SCOUTMASTER

	AS A PRELIMINARY word of comfort to intending Scout 
masters, I should like to contradict the usual misconception 
that, to be a successful Scoutmaster, a man must be an Admirable 
Crichton - a know-all.  Not a bit of it.
	He has simply to be a boy-man, that is:-        

	(1)  He must have the boy spirit in him; and must be able 
to place himself on a right plane with his boys as a first step.
	(2)  He must realise the needs, outlooks and desires of the 
different ages of boy life.
	(3)  He must deal with the individual boy rather than with 
the mass.
	(4)  He then needs to promote a corporate spirit among his 
individuals to gain the best results.

	With regard to the first point, the Scoutmaster has to be 
neither schoolmaster nor commanding officer, nor pastor, nor 
instructor.  All that is needed is the capacity to enjoy the 
out-of-doors, to enter into the boys' ambitions, and to find 
other men who will give them instruction in the desired direc-
tions, whether it be signalling or drawing, nature study or 
pioneering.

	He has got to put himself on the level of the older 
brother, that is, to see things from the boy's point of view, and 
to lead and guide and give enthusiasm in the right direction.  
Like the true older brother he has to realise the traditions of 
the family and see that they are preserved, even if considerable 
firmness is required.  That is all.  The Movement is a jolly 
fraternity, all the jollier because in the game of Scouting you 
are doing a big thing for others, you are combating the breeding 
of selfishness.
	Regarding the second point, the various handbooks cover 
the successive phases of adolescent life.
	Thirdly, the business of the Scoutmaster-and a very 
interesting one it is-is to draw out each boy and find out what 
is in him, and then to catch hold of the good and develop it to 
the exclusion of the bad.  There is five per cent of good even in 
the worst character.  The sport is to find it, and then to devel-
op it on to an 80 or 90 per cent basis.  This is education in-
stead of instruction of the young mind.
	Fourth.  In the Scout training the Patrol or gang system 
gives the corporate expression of the individual training, which 
brings into practice all that the boy has been taught.
	The Patrol System has also a great character-training 
value if it is used aright.  It leads each boy to see that he has 
some individual responsibility for the good of his Patrol.  It 
leads each Patrol to see that it has definite responsibility for 
the good of the Troop.  Through it the Scoutmaster is able to 
pass on not only his instruction but his ideas as to the moral 
outlook of his Scouts.  Through it the Scouts themselves gradual-
ly learn that they have considerable say in what their Troop  
Scouting for that matter, a real co-operative effort.

The Scoutmaster's Duty

	Success in training the boy largely depends upon the 
Scoutmaster's own personal example.  It is easy to become the 
hero as well as the elder brother of the boy.  We are apt, as we 
grow up, to forget what a store of hero worship is in the boy.
	The Scoutmaster who is a hero to his boys holds a power-
ful lever to their development, but at the same time brings a 
great responsibility on himself.  They are quick enough to see 
the smallest characteristic about him, whether it be a virtue or 
a vice.  His mannerisms become theirs, the amount of courtesy he 
shows, his irritations, his sunny happiness, or his impatient 
glower, his willing self-discipline or his occasional moral 
lapses-all are not only noticed, but adopted by his followers.
	Therefore, to get them to carry out the Scout Law and all 
that underlies it, the Scoutmaster himself should scrupulously 
carry out its professions in every detail of his life.  With 
scarcely a word of instruction his boys will follow him.
	The Scoutmaster's job is like golf, or scything, or fly-
fishing.  If you "press" you don't get there, at least not with 
anything like the extent you do by a light-hearted effortless 
swing.  But you have got to swing.  It's no use standing still.  
It is one thing or the other, either progress or relax.  Let us 
progress-and with a smile on.

	Loyalty to the Movement

	Let the Scoutmaster remember that in addition to his duty 
to his boys he has a duty also to the Movement as a whole.  Our 
aim in making boys into good citizens is partly for the benefit 
of the country, that it may have a virile trusty race of citizens 
whose amity and sense of "playing the game" will keep it united 
internally and at peace with its neighbours abroad.
	Charged with the duty of teaching self-abnegation and 
discipline by their own practice of it, Scoutmasters must neces-
sarily be above petty personal feeling, and must be large-minded 
enough to subject their own personal views to the higher policy 
of the whole.  Theirs is to teach their boys to "play the game," 
each in his place like bricks in a wall, by doing the same them-
selves.  Each has his allotted sphere of work, and the better he 
devotes himself to that, the better his Scouts will respond to 
his training.  Then it is only by looking to the higher aims of 
the Movement, or to the effects of measures ten years hence that 
one can see details of to-day in their proper proportion.
	Where a man cannot conscientiously take the line re-
quired, his one manly course is to put it straight to his Commis-
sioner or to Headquarters, and if we cannot meet his views, then 
to leave the work.  He goes into it in the first place with his 
eyes open, and it is scarcely fair if afterwards, because he 
finds the details do not suit him, he complains that it is the 
fault of the Executive.
	Fortunately, in our Movement, by decentralisation and  
red tape which has been the cause of irritation and complaint in 
so many other organisations.
	We are also fortunate in having a body of Scoutmasters 
who are large-minded in their outlook and in their loyalty to the 
Movement as a whole.
  A Scoutmaster's Reward

	A man dared to tell me once that he was the happiest man 
in the world! I had to tell him of one who was still happier 
myself.
	You need not suppose that either of us in attaining this 
happiness had never had difficulties to contend with.  Just the 
opposite.
	It is the satisfaction of having successfully faced 
difficulties and borne pin-pricks that gives completeness to the 
pleasure of having overcome them.
	Don't expect your life to be a bed of roses; there would 
be no fun in it if it were.
	So, in dealing with the Scouts, you are bound to meet 
with disappointments and setbacks.  Be patient: more people ruin 
their work or careers through want of patience than do so through 
drink or other vices.  You will have to bear patiently with 
irritating criticisms and red tape bonds to some extent but your 
reward will come.
	The satisfaction which comes of having tried to do one's 
duty at the cost of self-denial, and of having developed charac-
ters in the boys which will give them a different status for 
life, brings such a reward as cannot well be set down in writing.  
The fact of having worked to prevent the recurrence of those 
evils which, if allowed to run on, would soon be rotting our 
youth, gives a man the solid comfort that he has done something, 
at any rate, for his country, however humble may be his position.
	This is the spirit with which Scoutmasters and Commis-
sioners, Committeemen, instructors, organisers and secretaries-
the word "Scouter" describes them all-work in the Boy Scout 
Movement.
The credit for the Organisation and the spread of the Scout 
Movement is due to this army of voluntary workers.  Here we have 
remarkable if silent evidence of the fine patriotic spirit that 
lies beneath the surface of most nations.  These men give up 
their time and energies, and in many cases their money as well, 
to the work of organising the training of boys, without any idea 
of reward or praise for what they are doing, They do it for the 
love of their country and their kind.

THE BOY

	THE FIRST STEP towards success in training your boy is to  
know something about boys in general and then about this boy in 
particular.
	Dr. Saleeby, in an address to the Ethical Society in 
London, said: "The first requisite for a successful teacher is  
small edition of a man or woman, not a piece of blank paper on 
which the teacher should write, but every child has his own 
peculiar curiosity, his inexperience, a normal mysterious frame 
of mind which needs to be tactfully helped, encouraged and mould-
ed or modified or even suppressed."
	It is well to recall, so far as possible, what your ideas 
were when a boy yourself, and you can then much better understand 
his feelings and desires.
	The following qualities in the boy have to be taken into 
consideration: -
	Humour. -  It must be remembered that a boy is naturally 
full of humour; it may be on the shallow side, but he can always 
appreciate a joke and see the funny side of things.  And this at 
once gives the worker with boys a pleasant and bright side to his 
work and enables him to become the cheery companion, instead of 
the taskmaster, if he only joins in the fun of it.
	Courage. - The average boy generally manages to have 
pluck as well.  He is not by nature a grumbler, though later on 
he may become one, when his self-respect has died out of him and 
when he has been much in the company of "grousers."
	Confidence. - A boy is generally supremely confident in 
his own powers.  Therefore, he dislikes being treated as a child 
and being told to do things or how to do them.  He would much 
rather try for himself, even though it may lead him into blun-
ders, but it is just by making mistakes that a boy gains experi-
ence and makes his character.
	Sharpness. -  A boy is generally as sharp as a needle.  
It is easy to train him in matters appertaining to observation 
and noticing things and deducing their meaning.
	Love of Excitement. - The town boy is generally more 
unsettled than his country brothers by the excitements of the 
town, whether they are "a passing fire engine, or a good fight 
between two of his neighbours." He cannot stick at a job for more 
than a month or two because he wants change.
	Responsiveness. - When a boy finds somebody who takes an 
interest in him he responds and follows where he is led, and it 
is here that hero-worship comes in as a great force for helping 
the Scoutmaster.
	Loyalty. - This is a feature in a boy's character that 
must inspire boundless hope.  Boys are usually loyal friends to 
each other, and thus friendliness comes almost naturally to a 
boy.  It is the one duty that he understands.  He may appear 
selfish outwardly, but, as a general rule, he is very willing 
under the surface to be helpful to others, and that is where our 
Scout training finds good soil to work upon.

	If one considers and studies these different attributes 
in the boy one is in a far better position for adapting the 
training to suit his different propensities.  Such study is the 
first step to making a success of the training.  I had the pleas-
ure, during one single week, of coming across three boys in 
different centres who were pointed out to me as having been 
incorrigible young blackguards and hooligans until they came 
under the influence of Scouting.  Their respective Scoutmasters  
bad ones in them, and having seized upon these had put the boys 
on to jobs which suited their peculiar temperaments; and there 
are now these three, fine hulking lads, each of them doing splen-
did work, entirely transformed in character from their old 
selves.  It was worth the trouble of having organised the Troops 
just to have had these single successes.
	Mr. Casson, writing in the magazine Teachers' World, thus 
describes that complicated work of Nature the boy:-
		"Judging from my own experience, I would say that 
boys have a world of their own-a world that they make for them-
selves;         and neither the teacher nor the lessons are admitted to 
this world.  A boy's world has its own events and standards and 
code and gossip and public opinion.
	"In spite of teachers and parents, boys remain loyal to 
their own world.  They obey their own code, although it is quite 
a different code to the one that is taught to them at home and in 
the schoolroom.  They gladly suffer martyrdom at the hands of 
uncomprehending adults, rather than be false to their own code.
	"The code of the teacher, for instance, is in favour of 
silence and safety and decorum.  The code of the boys is diamet-
rically opposite.  It is in favour of noise and risk and excite-
ment.
	"Fun, fighting, and feeding! These are the three indis-
pensable elements of the boy's world.  These are basic.  They are 
what boys are in earnest about; and they are not associated with 
teachers nor schoolbooks.
	"According to public opinion in Boydom, to sit for four 
hours a day at a desk indoors is a wretched waste of time and 
daylight.  Did anyone ever know a boy-a normal healthy boy, who 
begged his father to buy him a desk? Or did anyone ever know a 
boy, who was running about outdoors, go and plead with his mother 
to be allowed to sit down in the drawing room?
	"Certainly not.  A boy is not a desk animal.  He is not a 
sitting-down animal.  Neither is he a pacifist nor a believer in 
safety first,' nor a book-worm, nor a philosopher.
	"He is a boy-God bless him-full to the brim of fun and 
fight and hunger and daring mischief and noise and observation 
and excitement.  If he is not, he is abnormal.
	"Let the battle go on between the code of the teachers 
and the code of the boys.  The boys will win in the future as 
they have in the past.  A few will surrender and win the scholar-
ships, but the vast majority will persist in rebellion and grow 
up to be the ablest and noblest men in the nation.
	"Is it not true, as a matter of history, that Edison, the 
inventor of a thousand patents, was sent home by his school 
teacher with a note saying he was 'too stupid to be taught'?
	"Is it not true that both Newton and Darwin, founders of 
the scientific method, were both regarded as blockheads by their 
school teachers?
	"Are there not hundreds of such instances, in which the 
duffer of the classroom became useful and eminent in later life? 
And doesn't this prove that our present methods fail in develop-
ing the aptitudes of boys?
	"Is it not possible to treat boys as boys? Can we not  
requirements of the boy's world? Can we not interpret our adult 
wisdom into the language of boyhood?
	"Is not the boy right, after all, in maintaining his own 
code of justice and achievement and adventure?
	"Is he not putting action before learning, as he ought to 
do? Is he not really an amazing little worker, doing things on 
his own, for lack of intelligent leadership?
	"Would it not be vastly more to the point if the teachers 
were, for a time, to become the students and to study the marvel-
ous boy-life which they are at present trying vainly to curb and 
repress?
	"Why push against the stream, when the stream, after all, 
is running in the right direction?
	"Is it not time for us to adapt our futile methods and to 
bring them into harmony with the facts? Why should we persist in 
saying dolefully, 'boys will be boys,' instead of rejoicing in 
the marvelous energy and courage and initiative of boyhood? And 
what task can be nobler and more congenial to a true teacher    than 
to guide the wild forces of boy nature cheerily along into paths 
of social service?"

	Environment and Temptations

	As I have said, the first step to success is to know your 
boy, but the second step is to know his home.  It is only when 
you know what his environment is when he is away from the Scouts 
that you can really tell what influences to bring to bear upon 
him.
	Where the sympathy and support of the boy's parents are 
secured, where the parents have been brought into a mutual part-
nership with a fuller interest in the working of the Troop and 
the aim of the Movement, the task of the Scoutmaster becomes 
proportionately light.
	Occasionally, in the home, there may be evil influences 
to overcome.  In addition there are other temptations to the bad 
which the instructor of the boy must be ready to contend with.  
But, if he is forewarned, he can probably devise his methods so 
that the temptations fail to exercise an evil influence on his 
lads; and in that way their character is developed on the best 
lines.
	One of the powerful temptations is that of motion pic-
tures.   Motion pictures have undoubtedly an enormous attraction 
for boys, and some people are constantly cudgelling their brains 
how to stop it.  But it is one of those things which would be 
very difficult to stop even if it were altogether desirable.  The 
point, rather, is how to utilise films to the best advantage for 
our ends.  On the principle of meeting any difficulty by siding 
with it and edging it in one's own direction, we should endeavour 
to see what there is of value in motion pictures and should then 
utilise them for the purpose of training the boy.  No doubt it 
can be a powerful instrument for evil by suggestion, if not 
properly supervised; but steps have been taken, and continue to 
be taken, to ensure a proper censorship.  But, as it can be a 
power for evil, so it can just as well be made a power for good.   
study, which give a child a far better idea of the processes of 
nature than its own observation can do, and certainly far better 
than any amount of lessons on the subject.  History can be taught 
through the eye.  There are dramas of the pathetic or heroic 
kind, and others of genuine fun, humour, and laughter.  Many of 
them bring what is bad into condemnation and ridicule.  There is 
no doubt that this teaching through the eye can be adapted so as 
to have a wonderfully good effect through the children's own 
inclination and interest in the "cinema palace." We have to 
remember too that motion pictures have the same influence on the 
schools which are now turning them to good account.  In Scouting 
we cannot do this to the same extent, but we can utilise them as 
a spur to our own endeavours.  We have to make our Scouting 
sufficiently attractive to attract the boy, no matter what other 
counter-attractions there may be.

	Juvenile smoking and its detriment to health; gambling 
and all the dishonesty that it brings in its train; the evils of 
drink; of loafing with girls; uncleanness, etc., can only be 
corrected by the Scoutmaster who knows the usual environment of 
his lads.

	It cannot be done by forbidding or punishment, but by 
substituting something at least equally attractive but good in 
its effects.

	Juvenile crime is not naturally born in the boy, but is 
largely due either to the spirit of adventure that is in him, to 
his own stupidity, or to his lack of discipline, according to the 
nature of the individual.

	Natural lying is another very prevalent fault amongst 
lads; and, unfortunately, a prevailing disease all over the 
world.  You meet it particularly amongst uncivilised tribes, as 
well as in the civilised countries.  Truth speaking, and its 
consequent elevation of a man into being a reliable authority, 
makes all the difference in his character and in the character of 
the nation.  Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to do all we can 
to raise the tone of honour and truth speaking amongst the lads.

Troop Headquarters and Camp

	The main antidote to a bad environment is naturally the 
substitution of a good one, and this is best done through the 
Troop Headquarters and the Scout Camp.  By Headquarters I do not 
mean half-an-hour's drill once a week in a big schoolroom lent 
for the occasion-which has so often appeared to be the aim of 
those dealing with boys-but a real place which the boys feel is 
their own, even though it may be a cellar or an attic; some place 
to which they can resort every evening, if need be, and find 
congenial work and amusement, plenty of varied activity and a 
bright and happy atmosphere.  If a Scoutmaster can only arrange 
this, he will have done a very good work in providing the right 
environment for some of his lads which will be the best antidote  
characters.

	Then the camp (and this should be as frequent as possibly 
can be managed) is a still further and even more potent antidote 
than the Headquarters.  The open and breezy atmosphere and the 
comradeship of continued association under canvas, in the field, 
and round the camp fire, breathes the very best of 
spirit .amongst the lads, and gives the Scoutmaster a far better 
opportunity than any other of getting hold of his boys and of 
impressing his personality upon them.

	How to Catch Our Boys

	I like to think of a man trying to get boys to come under 
good influence as a fisherman wishful to catch fish.
	If a fisherman bait his hook with the kind Of food that 
he likes himself it is probable that he will not catch many-
certainly not the shy, game kind of fish.  He therefore uses as 
bait the food that the fish likes.
	So with boys; if you try to preach to them what you 
consider elevating matter, you won't catch them.  Any obvious 
"goody-goody" will scare away the more spirited among them, and 
those are the ones you want to get hold of.  The only way is to 
hold out something that really attracts and interests them.  And 
I think you will find that Scouting does this.
	You can afterwards season it with what you want them to 
have.
	To get a hold on your boys you must be their friend; but 
don't be in too great a hurry at first to gain this footing until 
they have got over their shyness of you.  Mr. F. D. How, in his 
Book of the Child, sums up the right course in the following 
story: - 

"A man whose daily walk led him down a certain dingy street saw a 
tiny boy with grimy face and badly-developed limbs playing with a 
banana-skin in the gutter.  The man nodded to him-the boy shrank 
away in terror.  Next day the man nodded again.  The boy had 
decided there was nothing to be afraid of, and spat at the man.  
Next day the little fellow only stared.  The day after he shouted 
'Hi!' as the man went on.  In time the little fellow smiled back 
at the greeting which he now began to expect.  Finally, the 
triumph was complete when the boy-a tiny chap-was waiting at the 
corner and seized the man's fingers in his dirty little fist.  It 
was a dismal street, but it became one of the very brightest 
spots in all that man's life,"



	SCOUTING

	SCOUTING IS A GAME for boys, under the leadership of 
boys, in which elder brothers can give their younger brothers 
healthy environment and encourage them to healthy activities such 
as will help them to develop CITIZENSHIP. 
craft.  It deals with the individual, not with the Company.  It 
raises intellectual as well as purely physical or purely moral 
qualities.
	At first it used to aim for these ends-now by experience 
we know that, where properly handled, it gains them.
	Perhaps the best exponent of the aim and methods of 
Scouting has been Dean James E. Russell, of Teachers College, 
Columbia University, New York.  He writes thus:
	"The program of the Boy Scouts is the man's job cut down 
to boy's size.  It appeals to the boy not merely because he is a 
boy, but because he is a man in the making ... The Scouting 
program does not ask of the boy anything that the man does not 
do; but step by step it takes him from the place where he is 
until he reaches the place where he would be ...
	"It is not the curriculum of Scouting that is the most 
striking feature, but it is the method.  As a systematic scheme 
of leading boys to do the right thing and to inculcate right 
habits it is almost ideal.  In the doing, two things stand out-
the one is that habits are fixed; the other is that it affords an 
opportunity for initiative, self-control, self-reliance, and 
self-direction.
	"In the development of initiative Scouting depends not 
merely on its program of work for the boy, but in a marvelous way 
it also utilises its machinery of administration.  In the admin-
istrative scheme a splendid opportunity is given to break away 
from any incrusting method.  It comes about in the Patrol and in 
the Troop.  It teaches the boys to work together in teams.  It 
secures co-operative effort for a common end; that is a democrat-
ic thing in and of itself . . .
	"By encouraging your Scouts in a healthy, cheery, and not 
in a sanctimonious looking-for-a-reward spirit to do Good Turns 
as a first step and to do service for the community as a develop-
ment, you can do more for them even than by encouraging their 
proficiency or their discipline or their knowledge, because you 
are teaching them not how to get a living so much as how to 
live."

Scouting is Simple

	To an outsider Scouting must at first sight appear to be 
a very complex matter, and many a man is probably put off from 
becoming a Scoutmaster because of the enormous number and variety 
of things that he thinks he would have to know in order to teach 
his boys.  But it need not be so, if the man will only realise 
the following points:-
	1. The aim of Scouting is quite a simple one.
	2. The Scoutmaster gives to the boy the ambition and 
desire to learn for himself by suggesting to him activities which 
attract him, and which he pursues till he, by experience, does 
them aright. (Such activities are suggested in Scouting for 
Boys).
	3. The Scoutmaster works through his Patrol Leaders.

 
ANALYSIS OF THE SCOUT SCHEME OF
TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP

1.CHARACTER    

 QUALITIES AIMED FOR                 THROUGH PRACTICE OF

Civic                               Patrol Work.
  fair play.                        Team Games.
  Respect for the                   Court of Honor.
     rights of others.                (Patrol Leaders' Council)
  Discipline.                       Scout Law and Promise.
  Leadership.                       Scout Work and Activities.
  Responsibility                    Appreciation of Nature.
Moral                               Nature Lore and Study.
  Honor.                            Astronomy.
  Chivalry.                         Kindness to Animals.
  Self-Reliance.                    Service to Others.       
  Courage.                            (see below)
  Capacity for Enjoyment.
  Higher Tone of Thought.
  Religion.
    Reverence.
  Self-Respect.
  Loyalty.



2. HEALTH AND STRENGTH

 QUALITIES AIMED FOR                 THROUGH PRACTICE OF 

Health                              Responsibility for 
				      Personal Health.
				    Hygiene.
				      Temperance.
				      Continence.
				    Camping.
				    
Strength                            Physical Development.
				    Games.
				    Swimming.
				    Hiking.
				    Climbing and Natural 
				      Activities.
				    


3. HANDCRAFT AND SKILL

 QUALITIES AIMED FOR                 THROUGH PRACTICE OF

Technical Skill.                    Scoutcraft.
				    Camp Expedients.
Inventiveness.                      Pioneering.
				    Rewards by Badges, 
				      in many forms of 
Intellectual                         Handicraft.
  Observation.                      Hobbies.
  Deduction.                        Woodcraft.
  Self-Expression.                  Tracking.
				    

4. SERVICE TO OTHERS  

 QUALITIES AIMED FOR                 THROUGH PRACTICE OF 
 
Unselfishness.                     Scout Law and Promise.
				   Good Turns.
Civic Duty.                        First Aid.
Patriotism.                        Life Saving.
				   Firemanship.
Service for Country.               Accident Corps.
Service for Humanity.              Hospital Assistance.
Service for God.                   Other Community Service.
				   
 








THE AIM OF SCOUTING

	The aim of the Scout training is to improve the standard 
of our future citizenhood, especially in Character and Health; to 
replace Self with Service, to make the lads individually effi-
cient, orally and physically, with the object of using that 
efficiency for service for their fellow-men.
	Citizenship has been defined briefly as "active loyalty 
to the community." In a free country it is easy, and not unusual, 
to consider oneself a good citizen by being a law-abiding man, 
doing your work and expressing your choice in politics, sports, 
or activities, "leaving it to George" to worry about the nation's 
welfare.  This is passive citizenship.  But passive citizenship 
is not enough to uphold in the world the virtues of freedom, 
justice, and honour.  Only active citizenship will do.

The Four Branches of Scout Training

	To accomplish the aim of training for active citizenship, 
we take up the following four branches which are essential in 
building up good citizens, and we inculcate them from within 
instead of from without:

	Character - which we teach through: the Patrol System, 
the Scout Law, Scout lore, woodcraft, responsibility of the 
Patrol Leader, team games and the resourcefulness involved in 
camp work.  This includes the realisation of God the Creator 
through His works; the appreciation of beauty in Nature; and 
through the love of plants or animals with which outdoor life has 
made one familiar.

	Health and Strength - Through games, exercises, and 
knowledge of personal hygiene and diet.
	Handcraft and Skill - occasionally through indoor activi-
ties, but more specially through pioneering, bridge-building, 
camp expedients, self-expression through the arts, which all tend 
to make efficient workmen.
	Service to Others  - The carrying into daily life of the 
practice of religion by "good turns," dealing with quite small 
good actions as well as with community service, accidents, life-
saving.

	The details of these four branches are shown on page 17 
and described in Part II of this book.


THE ACTIVITIES OF SCOUTING 
	By the term "Scouting" is meant the work and attributes 
of back-woodsmen, explorers, hunters, seamen, airmen, pioneers 
and frontiersmen.
	In giving the elements of these to boys we supply a 
system of games and practices which meets their desires and 
instincts, -and is at the same time educative.
	From the boys' point of view Scouting puts them into  
games, mischief, or loafing; it gives them a smart dress and 
equipment; it appeals to their imagination and romance; and it 
engages them in an active, open-air life.
	From the parents' point of view it gives physical health 
and development; it teaches energy, resourcefulness, and handi-
crafts; it puts into the lad discipline, pluck, chivalry, and 
patriotism; in a word, it develops "character," which is more 
essential than anything else to a lad for making his way in life.
	The Scout training attracts boys of all classes, high and 
low, rich and poor, and even catches the physically defective, 
deaf mutes, and blind.  It inspires the desire to learn.  The 
principle on which Scouting works is that the boy's ideas are 
studied, and he is encouraged to educate himself instead of being 
instructed.
	It gives a good start in technical training through 
badges for proficiency in various kinds of hobbies and handi-
crafts, in addition to the actual Scouts' Badges of First and 
Second Class, testifying to their capabilities in swimming, 
pioneering, cooking, woodsmanship, and other points of manliness 
and handiness.  The object of offering so many as we do at an 
elementary standard is to draw out the boys of every type to try 
their hand at various kinds of work, and the watchful Scoutmaster 
can very quickly recognise the particular bent of each boy and 
encourage it accordingly.  And that is the best road towards 
expanding his individual character and starting a boy on a suc-
cessful career.
	Moreover, we encourage personal responsibility in the boy 
for his own physical development and health: and we trust in his 
honour and expect him to do a Good Turn to someone every day.
	Where the Scoutmaster is himself a bit of a boy, and can 
see it all from the boy's point of view, he can, if he is imagi-
native, invent new activities, with frequent variations, to meet 
the boys' thirst for novelty.  Note the theatres.  If they find 
that a play does not appeal to the public, they don't go on 
hammering away with it in the hope that it will in the end do 
so-, they take it off and put on some new attraction.
	Boys can see adventure in a dirty old duck-puddle, and if 
the Scoutmaster is a boy-man he can see it too.  It does not 
require great expense or apparatus to devise new ideas; the boys 
themselves can often help with suggestions.
	A further way of discovering activities that will appeal 
to the boys is for the Scoutmaster to save his brains by using 
his ears.
	When in war-time a soldier-scout is out at night and 
wants to gain information of the enemy's moves, he does so to a 
large extent by listening.  Similarly, when a Scoutmaster is in 
the dark as to what is the inclination or the character of his 
boys, he can, to a great extent, get it by listening.
	In listening, he will gain a close insight into the 
character of each boy and a realisation of the way in which he 
can best be interested.
	So, too, in the Patrol Leaders' Council debates and camp 
fire talks; if you make listening and observation your particular 
occupation, you will gain much more information from your boys  

	Also, when visiting the parents, don't go with the idea 
of impressing on them the value of Scouting so much as to glean 
from them what are their ideas of training their boys and what 
they expect of Scouting or where they find it deficient.
	Generally speaking, when short of ideas don't impose on 
your Scouts' activities which you think they ought to like; but 
find out from them by listening or by questioning which activi-
ties appeal most to them, and then see how far you can get these 
going that is, if they are likely to be beneficial to the boys.
	Where a Troop resounds with jolly laughter, and enjoys 
success in competitions, and the fresh excitements of new adven-
tures, there won't be any loss of members through boredom.

The Scout Spirit

	The underlying feature is the spirit of the Movement, and 
the key that unlocks this spirit is the romance of Woodcraft and 
Nature Lore.
	Where is there a boy, or for the matter of that a grown-
up man, even in these materialistic times to whom the call of the 
wild and the open road does not appeal?
	Maybe it is a primitive instinct-anyway it is there.  
With that key a great door may be unlocked, if it is only to 
admit fresh air and sunshine into lives that were otherwise grey.
	But generally it can do more than this.
	The heroes of the wild, the frontiersmen and explorers, 
the rovers of the sea, the airmen of the clouds are Pied Pipers 
to the boys.
	Where they lead the boys will follow, and these will 
dance to their tune when it sings the song of manliness and 
pluck, of adventure and high endeavour, of efficiency and skill, 
of cheerful sacrifice of self for others.
	There's meat in this for the boy; there's soul in it.
	Watch that lad going down the street, his eyes are look-
ing far out.  Is his vision across the prairie or over the grey-
backed seas? At any rate, it isn't here.  Don't I know it!
	Have you never seen the buffaloes roaming in Kensington 
Gardens? And can't you see the smoke from the Sioux Lodges under 
the shadow of the Albert Memorial? I have seen them there these 
many years.
	Through Scouting the boy has now the chance to deck 
himself in a frontier kit as one of the great Brotherhood of 
Backwoodsmen.  He can track and follow signs, he can signal, he 
can light his fire and build his shack and cook his grub.  He can 
turn his hand to many things in pioneer- and camp-craft.
	His unit is the natural gang of the boy, led by its own 
boy  leader.
	He may be one of a herd, but he has his own entity.  He 
gets to know the joy of life through the out-of-doors.
	Then there is a spiritual side.
	Through sips of nature lore imbibed in woodland hikes the 
puny soul grows up and looks around.  The outdoors is par excel-
lence the school for observation and for realising the wonders of  
	It opens to the mind appreciation of the beautiful that 
lies before it day by day.  It reveals to the city youngster that 
the stars are there beyond the city chimney-pots, and the sunset 
clouds are gleaming in their glory far above the roof of the 
"cinema" theatre.
	The study of nature brings into a harmonious whole the 
question of the infinite, the historic, and the microscopic as 
part of the Great Creator's work.  And in these, sex and repro-
duction play an honoured part.
	Scoutcraft is a means through which the veriest hooligan 
can be brought to higher thought and to the elements of faith in 
God; and, coupled with the Scout's obligation to do a Good Turn 
every day, it gives the base of Duty to God and to Neighbour on 
which the parent or pastor can build with greater ease the form 
of belief that is desired.

 "You can dress a lad as Cowboy, as a Tommy or a Jack,
  You can drill him till he looks as smart as paint,
  But it does not always follow when you come to scratch his back
  That he's really either hero or a saint."

    It is the spirit within, not the veneer without that does it.

	And the spirit is there in every boy when you get him, 
only it has to be discovered and brought to light.
	The Scout Promise (or Oath) to carry out, on his honour, 
as far as in him lies, and the Scout Law is our binding discipli-
nary force, and with ninety-nine out of a hundred it pays.  The 
boy is not governed by DON'T, but is led on by DO.  The Scout Law 
is devised as a guide to his actions rather than as repressive of 
his faults.  It merely states what is good form and expected of a 
Scout.

THE PATROL SYSTEM

	The Patrol System is the one essential feature in which 
Scout training differs from that of all other organisations, and 
where the System is properly applied, it is absolutely bound to 
bring success.  It cannot help itself!
	The formation of the boys into Patrols of from six to 
eight and training them as separate units each under its own 
responsible leader is the key to a good Troop.
	The Patrol is the unit of Scouting always, whether for 
work or for play, for discipline or for duty.
	An invaluable step in character training is to put re-
sponsibility on to the individual.  This is immediately gained in 
appointing a Patrol Leader to responsible command of his Patrol.  
It is up to him to take hold of and to develop the qualities of 
each boy in his Patrol.  It sounds a big order, but in practice 
it works.
	Then, through emulation and competition between Patrols, 
you produce a Patrol spirit which is eminently satisfactory, 
since it raises the tone among the boys and develops a higher 
standard of efficiency all round.  Each boy in the Patrol rea- 
honour of his group depends in some degree on his own ability in 
playing the game.

	Patrol Leaders' Council-Court of Honour*

*The term "Court of Honor," in the Boy Scouts of America, denotes 
the function at which a Scout is awarded Merit Badges or Badges 
of Rank

	The Patrol Leaders' Council and Court of Honour is an 
important part of the Patrol System.  It is a standing committee 
which, under the guidance of the Scoutmaster, settles the affairs 
of the Troop, both administrative and disciplinary.  It develops 
in its members self-respect, ideals of freedom coupled with a 
sense of responsibility and respect for authority, while it gives 
practice in procedure such as is invaluable to the boys individu-
ally and collectively as future citizens.
	The Patrol Leaders' Council takes charge of routine 
matters and the management of such affairs as Troop entertain-
ments, sports, etc.  In this Council it is often found convenient 
to admit the Seconds (Assistant Patrol Leaders) also as members, 
and, while getting their help, this incidentally gives them 
experience and practice in committee procedure.  The Court of 
Honour, on the other hand, is composed solely of Patrol Leaders.  
The Court of Honour, as its name implies, has a rather exception-
al mission, such as dealing with cases of discipline and ques-
tions of awards.

Values of the Patrol System

	It is important that the Scoutmaster recognise the ex-
traordinary value which he can get out of the Patrol System.  It 
is the best guarantee for permanent vitality and success for the 
Troop.  It takes a great deal of minor routine work off the 
shoulders of the Scoutmaster.
	But first and foremost: The Patrol is the character 
school for the individual.  To the Patrol Leader it gives prac-
tise in Responsibility and in the qualities of Leadership.  To 
the Scouts it gives subordination of self to the interests of the 
whole, the elements of self-denial and self-control involved in 
the team spirit of cooperation and good comradeship.
	But to get first-class results from this system you have 
to give the boy leaders real free-handed responsibility-if you 
only give partial responsibility you will only get partial re-
sults.  The main object is not so much saving the Scoutmaster 
trouble as to give responsibility to the boy, since this is the 
very best of all means for developing character.
	The Scoutmaster who hopes for success must not only study 
what is written about the Patrol System and its methods, but must 
put into practice the suggestions he reads.  It is the doing of 
things that is so important, and only by constant trial can 
experience be gained by his Patrol Leaders and Scouts.  The more 
he gives them to do, the more will they respond, the more 
strength and character will they achieve. 
THE SCOUT UNIFORM

	I have often said, "I don't care a fig whether a Scout 
wears a uniform or not so long as his heart is in his work and he 
carries out the Scout Law." But the fact is that there is hardly 
a Scout who does not wear uniform if he can afford to buy it.
	The spirit prompts him to it.

	The same rule applies naturally to those who carry on the 
Scout Movement-the Scoutmasters and Commissioners; there is no 
obligation -on them to wear uniform if they don't like it.  At 
the same time, they have in their positions to think of others 
rather than of themselves.
	Personally, I put on uniform, even if I have only a 
Patrol to inspect, because I am certain that it raises the moral 
tone of the boys.  It heightens their estimation of their uniform 
when they see it is not beneath a grown man to wear it; it 
heightens their estimation of themselves when they find them-
selves taken seriously by men who also count it of importance to 
be in the same brotherhood with them.
	Smartness in uniform and correctness in detail may seem a 
small matter, but has, its value in the development of self-
respect, and means an immense deal to the reputation of the 
Movement among outsiders who judge by what they see.
	It is largely a matter of example.  Show me a slackly-
dressed Troop and I can "Sherlock" a slackly-dressed Scoutmaster.  
Think of it, when you are fitting on your uniform or putting that 
final saucy cock to your hat.
	You are the model to your boys and your smartness will 
reflect itself in them.

THE SCOUTMASTER'S SHARE

	The principles of Scouting are all in the right direc-
tion.  The success in their application depends on the Scoutmas-
ter and how he applies them.  My present object is to endeavour 
to help the Scoutmaster in this particular: First, by showing the 
object of the Scout training; secondly, by suggesting methods by 
which it may be carried out.
	Many a Scoutmaster would probably desire I should give 
him all particulars in detail.  But this would in reality be an 
impossibility, because what suits one particular Troop or one 
kind of boy, in one kind of place, will not suit another within a 
mile of it, much less those scattered over the world and existing 
under totally different conditions.  Yet one can give a certain 
amount of general suggestion, and Scoutmasters in applying this 
can judge for themselves far best which details are most likely 
to bring about success in their own particular Troops.
	But before going into details, once more let me repeat: 
Do not be appalled by any imaginary magnitude of the task.  It 
will disappear when once you see the aim.  You have then only to 
keep that always before you and adapt the details to suit the 
end.
	As in Peveril of the Peak: "It matters not much whether  
high."
	Occasionally, difficulties may loom up so as almost to 
blot out the radiant possibilities.  But it is comforting to 
remember  that they are generally out of their proper proportion 
and subside as you approach them.  Take comfort from the old 
negro's rhyme:

	"You look 'way down 'long de railroad track
	And you scratch yer crown; and your brain yer rack,
	By gum, y'say, How de train don' guine
	To make its way where de two rails jine?

	"On flies de train-for it don't appear,
	To bodder de brain ob de engineer.
	And y'sure to find wid de nearer sight
	Dat de rails ain't jined and de track's all right.

	"Jes' so we all, in de future far
	See de path get small, how we guine past dar?
	But we'proach de place and it wider seem
	And we fin' dere's space for a ten-mule team!"

					(Saturday Morning Post)



I. CHARACTER

	A NATION owes its success, not so much to its strength in 
armaments, as to the amount of character in its citizens."
	"For a man to be successful in life, character is more 
essential than erudition."
	So character is of first value whether for a nation or 
for the individual.  But if character is to make a man's career 
for him, it ought to be developed in him before he starts out; 
while he is still a boy and receptive.  Character cannot be 
drilled into a boy.  The germ of it is already in him, and needs 
to be drawn out and expanded.  How?
	Character is very generally the result of environment or 
surroundings.  For example, take two small boys, twins if you 
like.  Teach them the same lessons in school, but give them 
entirely different surroundings, companions, and homes outside 
the school.  Put one under a kindly, encouraging mother, among 
clean and straight playfellows, where he is trusted on his honour 
to carry out rules of life and so on.  On the other hand, take 
the second boy and let him loaf in a filthy home, among foul-
mouthed, thieving, discontented companions.  Is he likely to grow 
up with the same amount of character as his twin?
	There are thousands of boys being wasted daily through 
being left to become characterless, and therefore, useless wast-
ers, a misery to themselves and an eyesore and a danger to the 
nation.
	They could be saved if only the right surroundings or 
environment were given to them at the receptive time of their  
placed on quite so low a level (for there are wasters in every 
class of life), but who would be all the better men and more 
valuable to the country and more satisfactory to themselves if 
they could be persuaded, at the right age, to develop their 
characters.
	Here, then, lies the most important object in the Boy 
Scout training-to educate; not to instruct, mind you, but to 
educate, that is, to draw out the boy to learn for himself, of 
his own desire, the things that tend to build up character in 
him.


One Reason Why a Troop Should not Exceed 32 
	The number in a Troop should preferably not exceed 
thirty-two.  I suggest this number because in training boys 
myself I have found that sixteen was about as many as I could 
deal with-in getting at and bringing out the individual character 
in each.  I allow for other people being twice as capable as 
myself and hence the total of thirty-two.
	Men talk of having fine Troops of 60 or even 100-and 
their leaders tell me that their boys are equally well trained as 
in smaller Troops.  I express admiration ("admiration" literally 
translated means "surprise"), and I don't believe them.
	"Why worry about individual training?" they ask.  Because 
it is the only way by which you can educate.  You can instruct 
any number of boys, a thousand at a time if you have a loud voice 
and attractive methods of disciplinary means.  But that is not 
training-it is not education.
	Education is the thing that counts in building character 
and In making men.
	The incentive to perfect himself, when properly instilled 
into the individual, brings about his active effort on the line 
most suitable to his temperament and powers.
	It is not the slightest use to preach the Scout Law or to 
give it out as orders to a crowd of boys: each mind requires its 
special exposition of them and the ambition to carry them out.
	That is where the personality and ability of the Scout-
master come in.
	So, let us consider a few of the qualities, moral and 
mental that go to make Character, and then see how the Scoutmas-
ter can get the boy to develop these for himself through Scout-
ing.


	Chivalry and Fair Play

	The code of the medieval knights has been the foundation 
for the conduct of gentlemen ever since the day around A.D. 500, 
when King Arthur made the rules for his Knights of the Round 
Table.
	The romance of the Knights has its attraction for all 
boys and has its appeal to their moral sense.  Their Code of 
Chivalry included Honour, Self-Discipline, Courtesy, Courage, 
Selfless Sense of Duty and Service, and the guidance of Religion. 
VII are as follow: -
	
	1. They were never to put off their armour, except for 
	   the purpose of rest at night.
	2. They were to search for adventures wherein to attain 
	    "bruyt and renown."
	3. To defend the poor and weak.
	4. To give help to any who should ask it in a just quarrel.
	5. Not to offend one another.
	6. To fight for the defence and welfare of their country.
	7. To work for honour rather than profit.
	8. Never to break a promise for any reason whatever.
	9. To sacrifice themselves for the honour of their country.
	10. "Sooner choose to die honestly than to flee shamefully."

	The ideals of the Knights and the idea of fair play is 
above all the one which can be best instilled into boys and leads 
them to that strong view of justice which should be part of their 
character, if they are going to make really good citizens.
	This habit of seeing things from the other fellow's point 
of view can be developed in outdoor games where fair play is 
essential, whether it is in "Flag Raiding" or "Dispatch Running." 
During the game the strictest rules are observed which mean 
self-restraint and good temper on the part of the players, and at 
the end it is the proper form that the victor should sympathise 
with the one who is conquered, and that the opponent should be 
the first to cheer and congratulate the winner.
	This should be made the practice until it becomes the 
habit.
	A further valuable aid to the training in fairness is the 
holding of debates amongst the boys on subjects that interest 
them and which lend themselves to argument on both sides.  This 
is to get them into the way of recognizing that every important 
question has two sides to it, and that they should not be carried 
away by the eloquence of one orator before they have heard what 
the defender of the other side has to say on the subject, and 
that they should then weigh the evidence of both sides for them-
selves before making up their mind which part they should take.
	A practical step in ensuring this is not to vote by show 
of hands, where the hesitating or inattentive boy votes according 
to the majority.  Each should record his vote "ay" or "no" on a 
slip of paper and hand it in.  This ensures his making up his 
mind for himself after duly weighing both sides of the question.
	In the same, way mock trials or arbitration of quarrels, 
if carried out seriously and on the lines of a law court, are of 
the greatest value in teaching the boys the same idea of justice 
and fair play, and also give them a minor experience of what 
their civic duties may be as jurymen or witnesses later on.  The 
Court of Honour in the Troop is another step in the same direc-
tion, and as the boys here have a real responsibility by being 
members of the Court, the seriousness of their views is brought 
home to them a11 the more, and encourages them to think out  
arguments on both sides.
	Thus a Scoutmaster, who uses his ingenuity towards the 
end of teaching fair play, unselfishness and sense of duty to 
others, may make ample opportunities, whether indoors or out, for 
training his Scouts.  Of all the subjects with which we are 
dealing, I believe this to be one of the most important towards 
self-governing citizenship, though I fear I have only touched 
upon it in a very sketchy manner.

Discipline

	A nation to be prosperous must be well disciplined, and 
you only get discipline in the mass by discipline in the individ-
ual.  By discipline I mean obedience to authority and to other 
dictates of duty.
	This cannot be got by repressive measures, but by encour-
agement and 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 effective by means of example, 
by putting responsibility upon him and by expecting a high stand-
ard of trustworthiness from him.
	Responsibility is largely given through the Patrol System 
by holding the Leader responsible for what goes on amongst his 
boys.
	Sir Henry Knyvett, in 1596, warned Queen Elizabeth that 
the State which neglects to train and discipline its youth pro-
duces 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 hour and wealth both of 
Prince and countrie is desperatlie and frivouslie 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.
	The Scoutmaster should insist on discipline, and strict, 
quick obedience in small details.  Let the boys run riot only 
when you give leave for it-which is a good thing to do every now 
and then.

Sense of Honour

	The Scout Law is the foundation on which the whole of 
Scout training rests.
	Its various clauses must be fully explained and made 
clear to the boys by practical and simple illustrations of its 
application in their everyday life.
	There is no teaching to compare with example.  If the 
Scoutmaster himself conspicuously carries out the Scout Law in 
all his doings, the boys will be quick to follow his lead.
	This example comes with all the more force if the Scout-
master himself takes the Scout Promise, in the same way as his 
Scouts.
	The first Law, namely, A Scout's honour is to be trusted 
(A Scout is Trustworthy), is one on which the whole of the  
expected to be straight.  So it should be very carefully ex-
plained, as a first step, by the Scoutmaster to his boys before 
taking the Scout Promise.
	The investiture of the Scout is purposely made into 
something of a ceremony, since a little ritual of that kind if 
carried out with strict solemnity, impresses the boy; and consid-
ering the grave importance of the occasion, it is only right that 
he should be impressed as much as possible.  Then it is of great 
importance that the Scout should periodically renew his knowledge 
of the Law.  Boys are apt to be forgetful, and it should never be 
allowed that a boy who has made his solemn promise to carry out 
the Scout Law should, at any time, not be able to say what the 
Law is.
	Once the Scout understands what his honour is and has, by 
his initiation, been put upon his honour, the Scoutmaster must 
entirely trust him to do things.  You must show him by Your 
action that you consider him a responsible being.  Give him 
charge of something, whether temporary or permanent, and expect 
him to carry out his charge faithfully.  Don't keep prying to see 
how he does it.  Let him do it his own way, let him come a howler 
over it if need be, but in any case leave him alone and trust him 
to do his best.  Trust should be the basis of all our moral 
training.
	Giving responsibility is the key to success with boys, 
especially with the rowdiest and most difficult boys.
	The object of the Patrol System is mainly to give real 
responsibility to as many of the boys as possible with a view to 
developing their character.  If the Scoutmaster gives his Patrol 
Leader real power, expects a great deal from him, and leaves him 
a free hand in carrying out his work, he will have done more for 
that boy's character expansion than any amount of school-training 
could ever do.

Self-Reliance

	A boy does not really get the full value of Scout train-
ing until he is a First Class Scout.  The tests for First Class 
Scouts were laid down with the idea that a boy, who proved him-
self equipped to that extent, might reasonably be considered as 
grounded in the qualities which go to make a good, manly citizen.
As the boy becomes conscious of no longer being a Tenderfoot, but 
of being a responsible and trusted individual with power to do 
things, he becomes self-reliant.  Hope and ambition begin to dawn 
for him.
	He could not but feel himself a more capable fellow than 
before, and therefore, he should have that confidence in himself 
which will give him the hope and pluck in time of stress in the 
struggle of life, which will encourage him to stick it out till 
he achieves success.
	First aid or firemanship, or trek cart or bridge building 
are of value for handiness and use of wits, since the boy, while 
working in co-operation with the others, is responsible for his 
own separate part of the job.
	Swimming has its educational value-mental, moral, and  
power of saving life, and in the development of wind and limb.
	When training the South African Constabulary I used to 
send the men out in pairs to carry out long distance rides of two 
or three hundred miles to teach them to fend for themselves and 
to use their intelligence.
	But when I had a somewhat dense pupil he was sent out 
alone, without another to lean upon, to find his own way, make 
his own arrangements for feeding himself and his horse, and for 
drawing up the report of his expedition unaided.  This was the 
best training of all in self-reliance and intelligence, and this 
principle is one which I can confidently recommend to Scoutmas-
ters in training their Scouts.
	Of all the schools the camp is far and away the best for 
teaching boys the desired character-attributes.  The environment 
is healthy, the boys are elated and keen, all the interests of 
life are round them, and the Scoutmaster has them permanently for 
the time, day and night, under his hand.  In camp the Scoutmaster 
has his greatest opportunity for watching and getting to know the 
individual characteristics of each of his boys, and then apply 
the necessary direction to their development; while the boys 
themselves pick up the character-forming qualities incident to 
life in camp, where discipline, resourcefulness, ingenuity, 
self-reliance, handcraft, woodcraft, boat-craft, team sense, 
nature lore, etc., can all be imbibed under cheery and sympathet-
ic direction of the understanding Scoutmaster.  A week of this 
life is worth six months of theoretical teaching in the meeting 
room, valuable though that may be.
	Therefore, it is most advisable that Scoutmasters who 
have not had much experience in that line should study the sub-
ject of the camp in its various bearings.

Enjoyment of Life 

	Why is Nature Lore considered a Key Activity in Scouting?
	That is a question on which hangs the difference between 
Scout work and that of the ordinary boys' club.
	It is easily answered in the phrase: "We want to teach 
our boys not merely how to get a living, but how to live"-that 
is, in the higher sense, how to enjoy life.
	Nature lore, as I have probably insisted only too often, 
gives the best means of opening out the minds and thoughts of 
boys, and at the same time, if the point is not lost sight of by 
their Scoutmaster, it gives them the power of appreciating beauty 
in nature, and consequently in art, such as leads them to a 
higher enjoyment of life.
	This is in addition to the realisation of God the Creator 
through His wondrous work, which when coupled with active per-
formance of His will in service for others constitutes the con-
crete foundation of religion.
	Some years ago I was in the sitting-room of a friend who- 
bad just died, and lying on the table beside his abandoned pipe 
and tobacco pouch was a book by Richard Jefferies-Field and 
Hedgerow, in which a page was turned down which said: "The con-
ception of moral good is not altogether satisfying.  The highest  
good not for any reward now or hereafter, nor for the completion 
of any imaginary scheme.  That is the best we know, but how 
unsatisfactory! An outlet is needed more fully satisfying to the 
heart's inmost desire than is afforded by any labour of selfabne-
gation.  It must be something in accord with the perception of 
beauty and of an ideal.  Personal virtue is not enough.  Though I 
cannot name the ideal good it seems to me that it will in some 
way be closely associated with the ideal beauty of Nature."
	In other words, one may suggest that happiness is a 
matter of inner conscience and outward sense working in combina-
tion.  It is to be got where the conscience as well as the senses 
together are satisfied.  If the above quoted definition be true, 
the converse is at least equally certain-namely, that the appre-
ciation of beauty cannot bring happiness if your conscience is 
not at rest.  So that if we want our boys to gain happiness in 
life we must put into them the practice of doing good to their 
neighbours, and in addition, the appreciation of the beautiful in 
Nature.
		The shortest step to this last is through Nature 
lore:-

	" . . . books in the running brooks,
	Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

	Among the mass of boys their eyes have never been opened, 
and to the Scoutmaster is given the joy of bringing about this 
worth-while operation.
	Once the germ of woodcraft has entered into the mind of a 
boy, observation, memory and deduction develop automatically and 
become part of his character.  They remain whatever other pur-
suits he may afterwards take up.
	As the wonders of nature are unfolded to the young mind, 
so too its beauties can be pointed out and gradually become 
recognised.  When appreciation of beauty is once given a place in 
the mind, it grows automatically in the same way as observation, 
and brings joy in the greyest of surroundings.
	If I may diverge again, it was a dark, raw, foggy day in 
the big gloomful station at Birmingham.  We were hustled along in 
a throng of grimy workers and muddy travel-stained soldiers.  
Yet, as we pushed through the crowd, I started and looked around, 
we.-it on, looked round again, and finally had a good eyefilling 
stare before I went on.  I don't suppose my companions had rea-
lised it, but I had caught a gleam of sunshine in that murky hole 
such as gave a new pleasure to the day.  It was just a nurse in 
brown uniform with gorgeous red-gold hair and a big bunch of 
yellow and brown chrysanthemums in her arms.  Nothing very won-
derful you say.  No, but for those who have eyes to see, these 
gleams are there even in the worst of gloom.
	It is too common an idea that boys are unable to appreci-
ate beauty and poetry; but I remember once some boys were being 
shown a picture of a stormy landscape, of which Ruskin had writ-
ten that there was only one sign of peace in the whole wind-torn 
scene.  One of the lads readily pointed to a spot of blue peace-
ful sky that was apparent through a rift in the driving wrack of  
	Poetry also appeals in a way that it is difficult to 
account for, and when the beautiful begins to catch hold, the 
young mind seems to yearn to express itself in something other 
than everyday prose.
	Some of the best poetry can of course be found in prose 
writing, but it is more generally associated with rhythm and 
rhyme.  Rhyme, however, is apt to become the great effort with 
the aspiring young poet, and so you get the most awful doggerel 
thrust upon you in your efforts to encourage poetry.
	Switch them off doggerel if you can.  It is far too 
prevalent.

Development of Outlook: Reverence

	Development of outlook naturally begins with a respect 
for God, which we may best term "Reverence."
	Reverence to God and reverence for one's neighbour and 
reverence for oneself as a servant of God, is the basis of every 
form of religion. The method of expression of reverence to God 
varies with every sect and denomination.  What sect or denomina-
tion a boy belongs to depends, as a rule, on his parents' wishes.  
It is they who decide.  It is our business to respect their 
wishes and to second their efforts to inculcate reverence, what-
ever form of religion the boy professes.
	There may be many difficulties relating to the definition 
of the religious training in our Movement where so many different 
denominations exist, and the details of the expression of duty to 
God have, therefore, to be left largely in the hands of the local 
authority.  But there is no difficulty at all in suggesting the 
line to take on the human side, since direct duty to one's neigh-
bour is implied in almost every form of belief.
	The following is the attitude of the Scout Movement as 
regards religion, approved by the heads of all the different 
denomination s on our Council: -
	"(a) It is expected that every Scout shall belong to some 
religious denomination, and attend its services.
	"(b) Where a Troop is composed of members of one particu-
lar form of :religion, it is hoped that the Scoutmaster will 
arrange such denominational religious observances and instruction 
as he, in consultation with its Chaplain or other religious 
authority, may consider best.
	"(c) Where a Troop consists of Scouts of various reli-
gions they should be encouraged to attend the service of their 
own denomination, and in camp, any form of daily prayer and of 
weekly Divine service should be of the simplest character, at-
tendance being voluntary."
	If the Scoutmaster takes this pronouncement as his guide 
he cannot go far wrong.
	I am perfectly convinced that there are more ways than 
one by which reverence may be inculcated.  The solution depends 
on the individual character and circumstances of the boy, whether 
he is a "hooligan" or a "mother's darling." The training that may 
suit the one may not have much effect on the other.  It is for 
the teacher, whether Scoutmaster or Chaplain, to select the right  
	Religion can only be "caught," not "taught." It is not a 
dressing donned from outside, put on for Sunday wear.  It is a 
true part of a boy's character, a development of soul, and not a 
veneer that may peel off.  It is a matter of personality, of 
inner conviction, not of instruction.
	Speaking from a fairly wide personal experience, having 
had some thousands of young men through my hands, I have reached 
the conclusion that the actions of a very large proportion of our 
men are, at present, very little guided by religious conviction.
	This may be attributed to a great extent to the fact that 
often instruction instead of education has been employed in the 
religious training of the boy.
	The consequence has been that the best boys in the Bible-
class or Sunday School have grasped the idea, but in many cases 
they have, by perfection in the letter, missed the spirit of the 
teaching and have become zealots with a restricted outlook, while 
the majority have never really been enthused, and have, as soon 
as they have left the class or school, lapsed into indifference 
and irreligion, and there has been no hand to retain them at the 
critical time of their lives, i.e., sixteen to twenty-four.
	It is not given to every man to be a good teacher of 
religion, and often the most earnest are the greatest failures-
and without knowing it.
	We have, fortunately, a number of exceptionally well-
qualified men in this respect among our Scoutmasters, but there 
must also be a number who are doubtful as to their powers, and 
where a man feels this, he does well to get a Chaplain, or other 
experienced teacher, for his Troop.
	On the practical side, however, the Scoutmaster can in 
every case do an immense amount towards helping the religious 
teacher, just as he can help the schoolmaster by inculcating in 
his boys, in camp and club, the practical application of what 
they have been learning in theory in the school.
	In denominational Troops there is, as a rule, a Troop 
Chaplain, and the Scoutmaster should consult with him on all 
questions of religious instruction.  For the purpose of its 
religious training, a service or class can be held, called a 
"Scouts' Own." This is a gathering of Scouts for the worship of 
God and to promote fuller realisation of the Scout Law and Prom-
ise, but supplementary to, and not in substitution for, regular 
religious observances.
	Many of our Troops, however, are interdenominational, 
having boys of different forms of belief in their ranks.  Here 
the boys should be sent to their own clergy and pastors for 
denominational religious instruction.
	Other Troops in slums and less-chance areas have lads of 
practically no religion of any kind, and their parents are little 
or no help to them.  Naturally, these require different handling 
and methods of training from those boys in whom religion has been 
well grounded.
	Here, again, Scouting comes very practically to the aid 
of the teacher, and has already given extraordinarily good re-
sults.
	The way in which Scouting can help is through the follow- 
	(b)     Nature study.
	(c)     Good Turns.
	(d)     Retention of the older boy.

	(a)     Personal Example There is no doubt whatever that in 
the boys' eyes it is what a man does that counts and not so much 
what he says.
	A Scoutmaster has, therefore, the greatest responsibility 
on his shoulders for doing the right thing from the right mo-
tives, and for letting it be seen that he does so, but without 
making a parade of it.  Here the attitude of elder brother rather 
than of teacher tells with the greater force.

	(b)     Nature Study - There are sermons in the observation of 
Nature, say, in bird life, the formation of every feather identi-
cal with that of the same species 10,000 miles away, the migra-
tion, the nesting, the colouring of the egg, the growth of the 
young, the mothering, the feeding, the flying power-all done 
without the aid of man, but under the law of the Creator; these 
are the best of sermons for boys.
	The flowers in their orders, and plants of every kind, 
their buds and bark, the animals and their habits and species; 
then the stars in the heavens, with their appointed places and 
ordered moves in space, give to every one the first conception of 
Infinity and of the vast scheme of his Creator where man is of so 
small account.  All these have a fascination for boys, which 
appeals in an absorbing degree to their inquisitiveness and 
powers of observation, and leads them directly to recognise the 
hand of God in this world of wonders, if only some one introduces 
them to it.
	The wonder to me of all wonders is how some teachers have 
neglected this easy and unfailing means of education and have 
struggled to impose Biblical instruction as the first step to-
wards getting a restless, full-spirited boy to think of higher 
things.

	(c)     Good Turns - With a little encouragement on the part 
of the Scoutmaster the practice of daily Good Turns soon becomes 
a sort of fashion with boys, and it is the very best step towards 
making a Christian in fact, and not merely in theory.  The boy 
has a natural instinct for good if he only sees a practical way 
to exercise it, and this Good Turn business meets it and develops 
it, and in developing it brings out the spirit of Christian 
charity towards his neighbour.
	This expression of his will to good, is more effective, 
more natural to the boy, and more in accordance with the Scout 
method than his passive acceptance of instructive precepts.

	(d) Retention of the Older Boy - So soon as the ordinary 
boy begins to get a scholastic knowledge of reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, he is sent out into the world, as fit and equipped 
for making his career as a good working citizen.  After leaving 
school, excellent technical schools are generally open to the 
boy, as well as continuation classes, if he likes to go to them,  
over.  The best boys go, and get a good final polish.
	But what about the average and the bad? They are allowed 
to slide away-just at the one period of their life when they most 
of all need continuation and completion of what they have been 
learning, just at the time of their physical, mental and moral 
change into what they are going to be for the rest of their 
lives.
	This is where the Scout Movement can do so much for the 
]ad, and it is for this important work that we are doing all we 
can to organise the Senior Scouts in order to retain the boy, to 
keep in touch with him, and to inspire him with the best ideals 
at this, his crossroads for good or evil.

Self-Respect

	In speaking of the forms of reverence which the boy 
should be encouraged to develop, we must not omit the important 
one of reverence for himself, that is self -respect in Its high-
est form.
	This, again, can well be inculcated through nature study 
as a preliminary step.  The anatomy of plants, or birds, or 
shell-fish may be studied and shown to be the wonderful work of 
the Creator.  Then the boy's own anatomy can be studied in a 
similar light; the skeleton and the flesh, muscle, nerves, and 
sinews built upon it, the blood flow and the breathing, the brain 
and control of action, all repeated, down to the smallest de-
tails, in millions of human beings, yet no two are exactly alike 
in face or finger prints.  Raise the boy's idea of the wonderful 
body which is given to him to keep and develop as God's own 
handiwork and temple; one which is physically capable of good 
work and brave deeds if guided by sense of duty and chivalry, 
that is by -a high moral tone.
	Thus is engendered self-respect.
	This, of course, must not be preached to a lad in so many 
words and then left to fructify, but should be inferred and 
expected in all one's dealings with him.  Especially it can be 
promoted by giving the boy responsibility, and by trusting him as 
an honourable being to carry out his duty to the best of his 
ability, and by treating him with respect and consideration, 
without spoiling him.

Loyalty

	In addition to reverence to God and to one's neighbour, 
loyalty to the country is essential.
	Loyalty to country is of the highest value for keeping 
men's views balanced and in the proper perspective, The external 
signs, such as saluting the flag, standing for the National 
Anthem, and so on, help in promoting this, but the essential 
thing is the development of the true spirit which underlies such 
demonstrations.
	Loyalty to himself on the part of the boy-that is, to his 
better conscience-is the great step to self-realisation.  Loyalty 
to others is proved by self-expression and action rather than by  
sarily include readiness to serve one's country should the neces-
sity arise for protecting it against foreign aggression; that is 
the duty of every citizen.  But this does not mean that he is to 
develop a bloodthirsty or aggressive spirit, nor that the boy 
need be trained to military duties and ideas of fighting.  This 
can be left until he is of age to judge for himself.



II. HEALTH AND STRENGTH

	THE VALUE of good health and strength in the making of a 
career and in the enjoyment of life is incalculable.  That is 
pretty obvious.  As a matter of education one may take it to be 
of greater value than "book-learning" and almost as valuable as 
"Character."
	We in the Scout Movement can do much by giving to the 
boys some of the training in health and personal hygiene which is 
so essential to their efficiency as citizens.
	Our task should be to get the boys to be athletic-minded, 
at the same time showing them that they must first build up their 
bodily health before they can safely take up strenuous physical 
exercises.  This would be by proper plain feeding, and hygienic 
care of themselves in the matter of cleanliness, nose breathing, 
rest, clothing, regular habits, continence, and so on.  We must 
avoid making them introspective by thinking of themselves liable 
to illness, etc., but hold up fitness for sport as the aim of 
health training.
	With only half an hour per week in the ordinary Scout 
Troop meeting it is not possible for us to give formal physical 
training, but what we can do is to teach the boy to be PERSONALLY 
RESPONSIBLE TO HIMSELF FOR HIS HEALTH-how to secure it and keep 
it; also we can teach him a few exercises that will help him to 
develop his strength if he will practise them in his own time; 
and we can interest him in outdoor activities and games as being 
not only amusement for him but of practical value in making him 
sound, strong and healthy for life.
	Health of body involves health of nerves and health of 
mind.  Here our character training meets the physical.

BE FIT!

	Studies have shown that there is an immense percentage of 
unfit men among our citizens who, with reasonable care and under-
standing, could have been healthy efficient beings.  Some of the 
reports on the health of school children show that one in every 
five suffers from defects that will prevent him from being effi-
cient in after-life defects, mind you, which might have been 
prevented.
	These returns are immensely suggestive, and point at once 
to the need and the remedy; if we took the boy in time, tens of 
thousands could be saved every year to become strong and capable 
citizens instead of dragging out a miserable semi-efficient 
existence. 
tance.
	There is much talk of developing the physical training of 
the rising generation on a much more general basis, and in this 
direction lies a tremendous opening for our work.
	But I want to warn Scoutmasters against being led by this 
cry on to the wrong tack.
	You know from our chart on page 17 how and why Character 
and Physical Health are two of our main objects in Scouting, and 
also the steps by which we endeavour to gain them.
	But bear in mind physical health is not necessarily the 
result of physical drill.
	The physical training given in the Army has been careful-
ly thought out, and is excellent for its purpose.  It is suited 
to the more formed muscular system of the man, and soldiers 
improve tremendously under this intensive form of training.
	But it is often artificial, designed to make up for what 
has not been naturally acquired.
	God didn't invent physical "jerks," The Zulu warrior, 
splendid specimen though he is, never went through Swedish drill.  
Even the ordinary boy, who has played football and has kept 
himself fit by training exercises between whiles, seldom needs 
physical drill to develop him afterwards.
	It is good open-air games, hiking and camping, and 
healthy feeding coupled with adequate rest which bring to the boy 
health and strength in a natural and not an artificial way.
	Nobody will disagree with this.  It is quite simple in 
theory, but in its practice we find some few difficulties to 
overcome.
	Your city boy or the factory hand who is at work all day 
cannot get out to play games in the open.  The outdoor worker and 
country boy should by right have a better chance since he lives 
more in the open air, but it is seldom that even a country boy 
knows how to play a game, or even how to run!
	It is perfectly astonishing to see how few boys are able 
to run.
	The natural, easy light step comes only with the practice 
of running.  Without it the poor boy develops either the slow 
heavy plod of the clod-hopper or the shuffling paddle of the city 
man (and what a lot of character is conveyed in the gait of a 
man!).

Organised Games

	One of the objects of Scouting is to supply team games 
and activities which can promote the boy's health and strength 
and help to develop his character.  These games have to be made 
attractive and competitive, and it is through them that we can 
inculcate the elements of pluck, obedience to rules, discipline, 
self-control, keenness, fortitude, leadership and unselfish team 
play.
	Examples of such games and practices are climbing of all 
sorts, ladders, ropes, trees, rocks, etc.; stepping-stones and 
plank-walking competitions; hurdle racing over staves supported 
on forked sticks; "Spottyface" for strengthening the eyesight;  

skipping, hopping fights. relay racing, cock-fighting, folk-
dancing, action songs and chanties, etc.  These and many other 
activities open a wide and varied program of competition for 
Patrol against Patrol, which an aginative Scoutmaster can apply 
in turn to develop the physical points required.
	Such vigorous Scout games are to my mind the best form of 
physical education, because most of them bring in moral education 
as well, and most of them are inexpensive and do not require 
well-kept grounds, apparatus, etc.
	It is important to arrange all games and competitions, as 
far as possible, so that all the Scouts take part, because we do 
not want to have merely one or two brilliant performers and the 
others no use at all.  All ought to get practice, and all ought 
to be pretty good.  Games should be organised mainly as team 
matches, where the Patrol forms the team.  In competitions where 
there are enough entries to make heats, ties should be run off by 
losers instead of the usual system of by winners, and the game 
should be to find out which are the worst instead of which are 
the best.  Good men will strive just as hard not to be worst as 
they would to gain a prize, and this form of competition gives 
the backward man most practice.
	We in the Scouts can show every boy-town or country how 
to be a player of games, and so to enjoy life and at the same 
time to strengthen his physical as well as his moral fibre.

Physical Exercises

	Physical exercises are an intensive form of development 
where you cannot get good or frequent opportunity of games, and 
may well be used in addition to games, provided that:
	1.      They are not made entirely a drill, but something that 
each boy can really understand and want to practise for himself 
because of the good that he knows it does him.
	2.      The instructor has some knowledge of anatomy and the 
possible harm of many physical drill movements on the young 
unformed body.  The six body exercises given in Scouting for Boys 
can be taught without any danger to the lad by Scoutmasters who 
are not experts in anatomy, etc. (These exercises should be done 
by the Scout himself-once he has learned the proper actions and 
breathing-at his own time, at home, and should not become a 
routine part of a Troop meeting.)
	We should do everything to get the boy to interest him-
self in steadily exercising his body and limbs, and in practising 
difficult feats with pluck and patience until he masters them!
	It is a good plan, for instance, for each Troop to adopt 
certain standards for simple exercises like "standing high jump," 
"hop, step and jump," "putting the bag," and so on, so that each 
individual Scout can try to increase his own ability and reach a 
higher standard.
	Then a team uniform of sorts is an attraction to the 
boys, promotes esprit de corps in his athletic work, and inciden-
tally involves changing his clothes before and after playing, 
encourages a rub down-a wash-cleanliness.
	"How to keep fit," soon becomes a subject in which the  
the basis of valuable instruction in self-care, food values, 
hygiene, continence, temperance, etc., etc.  All this means 
physical education.

Drill

	One hears a great many people advocating drill as the way 
to bring about better physical development among boys.  I have 
had a good deal to do with drilling in my time, and if people 
think they are going to develop a boy's physical strength and 
set-up by drilling him for an hour a week, they will meet with 
disappointing results.
	Drill as given to soldiers, day by day, for month after 
month, undoubtedly does bring about great physical development.  
But the instructors-these are well-trained experts-have their 
pupils continually under their charge and under strict disci-
pline, and even they occasionally make mistakes, and heart-strain 
and other troubles are not infrequently produced even in the 
grown and formed man.
	Furthermore, drill is all a matter of instruction, of 
hammering it into the boys, and is in no way an education where 
they learn it for themselves.
	As regards drill for Scouts, I have frequently had to 
remind Scoutmasters that it is to be avoided-that is, in excess.  
Apart from militarist objections on the part of some parents, one 
is averse to it because a second-rate Scoutmaster cannot see the 
higher aim of Scouting (namely, drawing out of the individual), 
and not having the originality to teach it even if he saw it, he 
reverts to drill as an easy means of getting his boys into some 
sort of shape for making a show on parade.
	At the same time, Scoutmasters occasionally go too far 
the other way, and allow their boys to go slack all over the 
place, without any apparent discipline or smartness.  This is 
worse.  You want a golden mean-just sufficient instruction to 
show them what is wanted of them in smartness and deportment, and 
a fund of team spirit, such as makes them brace themselves up and 
bear themselves like men for the honour of their Troop.  Occa-
sional drills are necessary to keep this up, but these should not 
be indulged in at the expense of the more valuable Scout train-
ing.
	All The drill we require in Scouting to set our boys up, 
and get them- to move like men and not sheep, is a few minutes 
silent drill at the beginning of a meeting or an occasional game 
of "O'Grady says." Although we do not want to neglect drill 
altogether, far preferable is the drill in firemanship, trek 
cart, lifeboat launching, bridge building, and other sets of 
exercises.  These demand equal smartness, activity, and disci-
pline, but the point is that each boy is using his head in doing 
his own particular share of the work for the success of the whole 
team.  Moreover, competitions in these are of highest interest to 
the boys as well as to the onlookers.  An ulterior point is that 
they can breed morale and fair play.
	It should be "the thing" for the boy's never to bear envy 
or to mention unfairness of judging or of the opponents tactics  
feel they should only show cordial praise for the other side.  
This means true self-discipline and unselfishness, and it pro-
motes that good feeling all round which is so much needed for 
breaking down prejudices.
	I know a very smart regiment in wh-.ich the recruits 
received very little drill; when once they had been shown how to 
hold themselves they were told that as soon as they could do it 
habitually they would be allowed to go out and take their pleas-
ures and their duties as ordinary soldiers.  It was 'up to them" 
to smarten themselves up instead of having deportment drilled 
into them for months.  They drilled themselves and each other, 
and passed out of the recruit stage in less than half the ordi-
nary time.
	Education as opposed to instruction once more! The result 
was obtained by putting the ambition and responsibility on to the 
men themselves.  And that is exactly the way by which, I believe, 
you can best produce physical development among boys.
	But, after all, natural games, plenty of fresh air, 
wholesome food, and adequate rest do far more to produce well-
developed healthy boys than any amount of physical or military 
drill.

The Out-of-Doors

	Oxygen for Ox's Strength.-I once saw some very smart 
physical drill by a Scout Troop in their headquarters.
	It was very fresh and good, but, my wig, the air was not! 
It was, to say the least, "niffy." There was no ventilation.  The 
boys were working like engines, but actually undoing their work 
by sucking in poison instead of strengthening their blood.
	Fresh air is half the battle towards producing results in 
physical exercises and it may advantageously be taken through the 
skin as well as through the nose when possible.
	Yes-that open air is the secret of success.  It is what 
Scouting is for-to develop the out-of-doors habit as much as 
possible.
	I asked a Scoutmaster once, in a great city, how he 
managed his Saturday hikes, whether in the park or in the coun-
try?
	He did not have them at all.  Why not? Because his boys 
did not care about them.  They preferred to come into the meeting 
room on Saturday afternoons!
	Of course they preferred it, poor little beggars; they 
were accustomed to being indoors.  But that is what we are out to 
prevent in the Scouts-our object is to wean them from indoors and 
to make the outdoors attractive to them.
	Alexandre Dumas fils wrote: "If I were King of France I 
wouldn't allow any child of under twelve years to come into a 
town.  Till then the youngsters would have to live in the open - 
out in the sun, in the fields, in the woods, in company with dogs 
and horses, face to face with nature, which strengthens the 
bodies, lends intelligence to the understanding, gives poetry to 
the soul, and rouses in them a curiosity which is more valuable 
to education than all the grammar books in the world. 
of the night; they would have the best of religions-that which 
God himself reveals in the glorious sight of His daily wonders.
	"And at twelve years of age, strong, high-minded and full 
of understanding, they would be capable of receiving the methodi-
cal instruction which it would then be right to give them, and 
whose inculcation would then be easily accomplished in-four. or 
five years.
	"Unfortunately for the youngsters, though happily for 
France, I don't happen to be King.
	"All that I can do is to give the advice and to suggest 
the way.  The way is-make physical education of the child a first 
step in his life."
	In the Scouts especially, if we adhere to our proper 
metier, we ought to make a big step in this direction.
	The open-air is the real objective of Scouting, and the 
key to its success.  But with too much town life we are apt to 
underlook our object and revert to type.
	We are not a club-nor a Sunday school-but a school of the 
woods.  We must get more into the open for the health, whether of 
the body or the soul, of Scout and of Scoutmaster.
	The camp is what the boy looks forward to in Scouting, 
and is the Scoutmaster's great opportunity.
	The camp cannot fail to grip every boy with its outdoor 
life and taste of the wild, with its improvised cooking expedi-
ents, the games over woodland or moor, the tracking, the path-
finding, the pioneering, the minor hardships and the jolly camp 
fire sing songs.
	We want open-air space, grounds of our own, preferably 
permanent camp grounds easily accessible for the use of Scouts.  
As the Movement grows these should form regular institutions at 
all centres of Scouting.
	Besides serving this great purpose such camps would have 
a double value.  They could form centres of instruction for 
officers, where they could receive training in camp craft and 
Nature lore, and above all could imbibe the spirit of the 
out-of-doors-the Brotherhood of the Backwoods.
	In the past years many such grounds have been acquired, 
for use as Training Grounds for Scouters, and Camping Grounds for 
Scouts.  These permanent grounds have well proved their value for 
camp life, but we want more and that soon before all the ground 
round our cities has been bought up for building purposes.
	I used the expression "camp life." Keep in mind that 
"camp life" is different from "living under canvas."
	I was shown a pattern school boy camp not long ago where 
there were rows of tents smartly pitched and perfectly aligned, 
with a fine big mess marquee and well-appointed cooks' quarters.  
There were brick paths and wooden bathing houses and latrines.  
It was all exceedingly well planned, and put up by the contrac-
tor.  The officer who organised it all merely had to pay down a 
certain sum and the whole thing was done.  It was quite simple 
and businesslike.
	My only complaint about it was that it wasn't camping.  
Living under canvas is a very different thing from camping.  Any 
ass, so to speak, can live under canvas where he is one of a herd  
home for all the good it is likely to do him.
	In Scouting we know that what appeals to the boys, and is 
at the same time an education for them, is real camping-that is, 
where they prepare their own encampment even to the extent of 
previously making their own tents and learning to cook their own 
food.
	Then the pitching of tents in separate sites and selected 
nooks, by Patrols, the arranging of water-supply and firewood, 
the preparation of bathing places, field kitchens, latrines, 
grease and refuse pits, etc., the use of camp expedients, and the 
making of camp utensils and furniture, will give a keen interest 
and invaluable training.
	Where you have a large number of boys in a canvas town 
you are forced to have drill and special instruction as a means 
of supplying mass occupation; whereas with a few Patrols, apart 
from their camp work, which fills up a lot of time, there is the 
continuous opportunity for education in nature lore and in the 
development of health of body and mind through cross-country runs 
and hikes, and the outdoor life of the woods.
	My ideal camp is one where everybody is cheery and busy, 
where the Patrols are kept intact under all circumstances, and 
where every Patrol Leader and Scout takes a genuine pride in his 
camp and his gadgets.
	In a small camp so very much can be done through the 
example of the Scoutmaster.  You are living among your boys and 
are watched by each of them, and imitated unconsciously by them, 
and probably unobserved by yourself.
	If you are lazy they will be lazy; if you make cleanli-
ness a hobby it will become theirs; if you are clever at devising 
camp accessories, they will become rival inventors, and so on.
	But don't do too much of what should be done by the boys 
themselves, see that they do it-"when you want a thing done don't 
do it yourself" is the right motto.
	We want not only really healthy and clean camps, carried 
out in accordance with the local instructions, but camps where 
the boys can employ the nearest approach to a backwoodsman life 
and adventure.

Swimming, Boating, Signalling

Swimming - The advantages of swimming among many other forms of 
physical training are these:-
	The boy delights in it, and is keen to learn.
	He gets to enjoy cleanliness.
	He learns pluck in attaining the art.
	He gains self-confidence on mastering it.
	He develops his chest and breathing organs.
	He develops muscle.
	He gains the power of saving life and locks for opportu-
nities of doing it.
	Boat-rowing also is an excellent muscle developer, and 
appeals very greatly to the Scout.  It is only allowed after he 
has qualified in swimming, so induces a good lot of boys to train 
themselves in that line. 
the boy's intelligence, is at the same time giving him valuable 
physical exercise hour after hour in body-twisting and arm-work, 
and in training the eye, but it is a practice which should be 
taken out-of-doors, so that it does not degenerate into a mere 
indoor exercise devoid of utility, purpose or romance.

PERSONAL HYGIENE

Cleanliness

	Cleanliness inside as well as out is of prime importance 
to health.
	That rub down with a damp rough towel, where baths are 
impossible, is of very big importance to inculcate as a habit in 
your boys.  Also, the habit of washing hands before a meal and 
after the daily rear.  The need for scrupulous cleanliness may 
well be inculcated by the practice of "Kill that fly," not merely 
as a useful public service which Scouts can perform, but also as 
a means of introducing them to the minuteness of disease-germs as 
conveyed on flies' feet, and yet of such effect as to poison 
people.

Food

	Food is an all-important consideration for the growing 
lad, yet there is a vast amount of ignorance on the subject on 
the part of parents, and, therefore, on the part of the boys.  It 
is helpful towards the energy and health of his boys-especially 
in camp that the Scoutmaster should know something about the 
matter.
	As regards quantity, a boy between thirteen and fifteen 
requires about 80 per cent of a man's allowance.  He will gladly 
put down 150 per cent if permitted.

Temperance

	Temperate eating is almost as necessary with the boy as 
temperate drinking with the man.  It is a good lesson in self-
restraint for him to curb his appetite, both as regards the 
quantity and the nature of his food-few have fathomed the extent 
of a boy's capacity when it comes to tucking away food of whatev-
er variety.  The aim to be held out to him is fitness for athlet-
ics.
	Temperance thus becomes a moral as well as physical 
detail of training.

Continence

	Of all the points in the education of a boy the most 
difficult and one of the most important is that of sex hygiene.  
Body, mind, and soul, health, morality, and character, all are 
involved in the question.  It is a matter which has to be ap-
proached with tact on the part of the Scoutmaster, according to 
the individual character of each case.  It is not as yet dealt  
cannot be ignored in the education of a boy, still less in that 
of the girl.
	There is a great barrier of prejudice and false prudery 
on the part of parents and public still to be overcome, and this 
has to  be recognised and handled tactfully.  It is, of course, 
primarily the duty of parents to see that their children receive 
proper instruction, but a very large number of them shirk their 
duty and then build up excuses for doing so.  Such neglect is 
little short of criminal.
	As Dr. Allen Warner writes:-
	"Fear has often been expressed in the past that such 
teaching will lead to vicious habits, but there is no evidence 
that this is true, whilst experience proves that ignorance on 
this subject has led to the moral and physical wreckage of many 
lives."
	This is only too true, and I can testify from a fairly 
wide experience among soldiers and others.  The amount of secret 
immorality that is now prevalent is very serious indeed.
	The very fact that the subject is taboo between the boy 
and grown-ups is provocative, and the usual result is that he 
gets his knowledge, in a most perverted form, from another boy.
	In What a Boy Should Know, Drs.  Schofield and Jackson 
write:-"The sexual development of boys is gradual, and it is an 
unfortunate fact that habits of abuse are begun and constantly 
practised at a much younger age.  If safety lies in the adage 
that 'to be forewarned is to be forearmed,' then boys must be 
told what is coming to them, for the critical period of puberty 
lies ahead of them, and no boy should be allowed to reach it in 
ignorance."
	A Scoutmaster has here a tremendous field for good.  He 
must in the first instance ascertain whether the father of the 
boy has any objection to his talking to him on the subject, He 
will do well also to consult with those who know the boy-Pastor, 
Doctor, Schoolmaster, and to realise that he himself must be 
possessed of sufficient experience, knowledge and character in 
order to be in a position to be of real help to the boy.
	Then he will best enter into it in a matter-of-fact way 
among other subjects on which he may be advising him, placing 
himself on the footing of an elder brother in doing so.  To some 
Scoutmasters who have never done it the question seems a very 
difficult one to approach.  It is in reality as easy as shelling 
peas.  And the value of it cannot be exaggerated.
	Personally, apart from explaining as a preliminary how 
plants, and fishes, and animals reproduce their species, I have 
found it appeal to boys, as it did to me when I first heard it, 
to tell them how in every boy is growing the germ of another 
child to come from him.  That germ has been handed down to him 
from father to son from generations back.  He has it in trust 
from God; it is his duty to keep it until he is married and 
passes it to his wife for reproduction.  He cannot honourably 
forget his charge and throw it away in the meantime.  Temptation 
will come to him in many forms to do so, but he has got to be 
strong and to guard it.
	Every different boy at each age may need a different way  
ter to have the lad's full confidence as a first step, and to be 
to him in the relation of an elder brother-where both can speak 
quite openly.
	At the same time it is necessary for me to add a word of 
warning to young and inexperienced Scouters.  The fact that they 
are nearer the boy in age is not necessarily an advantage.  
Frequently it is a handicap and sometimes a real danger.  From 
what I have written in the past on this subject, an impression 
has gone abroad that I consider it to be the duty of every Scout-
master to enlighten each of his Scouts on this subject.  That has 
never been my intention.  It would upset the whole fabric of the 
family system to do so.  What I do desire to do is to direct the 
attention of Scoutmasters to the question and to ask them to try 
and see that their Scouts receive enlightenment from the right 
person at the right time.  More frequently than not the Tight 
person is the Parent, Pastor, Doctor or another-NOT the Scoutmas-
ter.

Non-Smoking

	Somebody once wrote an improved edition of Scouting for 
Boys, and in it he ordered that "Scouts are on no account to 
smoke." It is generally a risky thing to order boys not to do a 
thing; it immediately opens to them the adventure of doing it 
contrary to orders.
	Advise them against a thing, or talk of it as despicable 
or silly, and they will avoid it.  I am sure this is very much 
the case in the matter of unclean talk, of gambling, of smoking, 
and other youthful faults.
	It is well to establish a good tone and a public opinion 
among your boys on a plane which puts these things down as "what 
kids do, in order to look smart before others."

Walking the Tight Rope 

	This may strike some readers as a curious means of teach-
ing self-discipline or health.  But it has been found by experi-
ence to do so.
	You may see it being- practised in Army gymnasia in the 
form of men walking a plank fixed up sidewalks it a height of 
some feet above the floor.  It is found that by getting them to 
concentrate their whole attention on this ticklish test, they 
gain a close hold over themselves and their nerves.  The experi-
ment has been carried further to the extent that it has been 
found that if a soldier is making bad practice on the rifle-range 
a few practices in ,,walking the plank" readily bring back for 
him the necessary self-control and power of concentration.
	It is an exercise that appeals to boys.  They can bind 
several Scout staves together as a balancing pole, which will 
give them additional power of balance in their first efforts.
	As I have already indicated, character is concerned in 
such exercises too, and that is one of the reasons I deplore the 
modern tendency to place "Safety first," before all else.  A 
certain amount of risk is necessary to life, a certain amount of  
life.  Scouts have to be prepared to encounter difficulties and 
dangers in life.  We do not, therefore, want to make their train-
ing too soft.

Handicapped Scouts

	Through Scouting there are numbers of crippled, deaf and 
dumb, and blind boys now gaining greater health, happiness and 
hope than they ever had before.  Most of these boys are unable to 
pass all the ordinary Scout tests, and are supplied with special, 
or alternative tests.
	Many of these boys are by no means easy to deal with, and 
demand far more patience and individual attention than ordinary 
boys.  But the result is well worth it.  The testimony of doc-
tors, matrons, nurses and teachers-who in the majority of cases 
are not Scouts themselves-to the good done to the boys, and 
through the boys to the Institutions, by Scouting, is overwhelm-
ing.
	The wonderful thing about such boys is their cheeriness 
and their eagerness to do as much in Scouting as they possibly 
can.  They do not want more special tests and treatment than is 
absolutely necessary.  Scouting helps them by associating them in 
a world-wide brotherhood, by giving them something to do and to 
look forward to, by giving them an opportunity to prove to them-
selves and to others that they can do things-and difficult things 
too-for themselves.



III. HANDCRAFT AND SKILL

	THERE IS TODAY, as there has always been, a fearful waste  
of human material.  This is. mainly due to ineffective training.  
The general mass of boys are not taught to like work.  Even when 
they are taught handicrafts or business qualities, they are 
seldom shown how to apply these to making a career, nor is the 
flame of ambition kindled in them.  Square pegs are too often 
placed in round holes.
	Exactly where the fault lies one cannot say, but the fact 
remains that it is so.
	Consequently, those boys who have not got these gifts 
naturally are allowed to drift and to become wasters.  They are a 
misery to themselves and a burden even in some cases, a danger 
-to the State.  And the large proportion of those who do make 
some sort of a success would undoubtedly do better were they 
trained in a more practical way.
	In the Boy Scouts we can do something to remedy these 
evils.  We can take some steps towards giving even the poorest 
boy a start and a chance in life equipped, at any rate, with hope 
and a handicraft.
	How? Naturally one's thoughts run to handcraft Badges.  
Though we call these "Handicrafts," they are, with our standard 
of tests, little more than "Hubbies." This, however, is part of 
our policy of leading the boys on with small and easy beginnings;  
for the Senior Scouts, In the meantime, hobbies have their value; 
through these the boy learns to use his fingers and his brain, 
and to take a pleasure in work.  For one boy these may remain his 
hobbies for years; for another they may lead to craftsmanship 
which will give him a career.  In either case, the boy is not so 
likely to become a waster later on.  Hobbies are an antidote to 
Satan's little games.
	But hobbies or handicrafts are not likely to make a 
career for a boy without the help of certain moral qualities.  
Thus, the craftsman must have self-discipline.  He must adapt 
himself to the requirements of his employer and of his fellow-
workers, he must keep himself sober, and efficient, and willing.
	He must have energy, and that depends on the amount he 
has of ambition, of skill, of resourcefulness, and of good 
health.
	Now, how do we apply these in the Boy Scout's training?

Pioneering as a First Step

	The first step towards getting a Scout to take up handi-
work is most easily effected in camp, in the practice of hut-
building, tree-felling, bridge-building, improvising camp uten-
sils, such as pot-books and plate-racks, etc., tent-making, mat-
weaving with the camp-loom, and so on.  The boys find these tasks 
to be practical and useful to their comfort in the camping sea-
son.
	After making a start on these, they will be the more keen 
to go in for such hobbies in the winter evenings, as will bring 
them Badges in return for proficiency, and money in return for 
skillful work.  In that way they soon grow into ardent, energetic 
workers.

Proficiency Badges (Merit Badges) 
	Proficiency Badges are established with a view to de-
veloping in each lad the taste for hobbies or handicrafts, one of 
which may ultimately give him a career and not leave him hopeless 
and helpless -on going out into the world.

	The Badges are merely intended as an encouragement to a 
boy to take up a hobby or occupation and to make some sort of 
progress in it; they are a sign to an outsider that he has done 
so; they are ,not intended to signify that he is a master in the 
craft he is tested in. If once we make Scouting into a formal 
scheme of serious instruction in efficiency, we miss the whole 
point and value of Scout training, and we trench on the work of 
the schools without the trained experts for carrying it out.
	We want to get ALL our boys along through cheery self-
development from within and not through the imposition of formal 
instruction from without.
	But the object of the Badge System in Scouting is also to 
give the Scoutmaster an instrument by which he can stimulate 
keenness on the part of every and any boy to take up hobbies that 
can be helpful in forming his character or developing his skill.
	It is an instrument which-if applied with understanding  
dullest and most backward, who would otherwise be quickly outdis-
tanced and so rendered hopeless in the race of life.  It is for 
this reason that the standard of proficiency is purposely left 
undefined.  Our standard for Badge earning is not the attainment 
of a certain level of quality of knowledge or skill, but the 
AMOUNT OF EFFORT THE BOY HAS PUT INTO ACQUIRING SUCH KNOWLEDGE OR 
SKILL This brings the most hopeless case on to a footing of equal 
possibility with his more brilliant or better-off brother.
	An understanding Scoutmaster who has made a study of his 
boys' psychology can thus give to the boy an encouraging handi-
cap, such as will give the dull boy a fair start alongside his 
betterbrained brother.  And the backward boy, in whom the inferi-
ority complex has been born through many failures, can have his 
first win or two made easy for him so that he is led to intensify 
his efforts.  If he is a trier, no matter how clumsy, his examin-
er can accord him his Badge, and this generally inspires the boy 
to go on trying till he wins further Badges and becomes normally 
capable.
	The examination for Badges is not competitive, but just a 
test for the individual.  The Scoutmaster and the examiner must 
therefore work in close harmony, judging each individual case on 
its merits, and discriminating where to be generous and where to 
tighten up.
	Some are inclined to insist that their Scouts should be 
firstrate before they can get a Badge.  That is very right, in 
theory; you get a few boys pretty proficient in this way- but our 
object is to get all the boys interested.  The Scoutmaster who 
puts his boys at an easy fence to begin with will find them 
jumping with confidence and keenness, whereas if he gives them an 
upstanding stone wall to begin, it makes them s
	At the same time, we do not recommend the other extreme, 
namely, that of almost giving away the Badges on very slight 
knowledge of the subjects.  It is a matter where examiners should 
use their sense and discretion, keeping the main aim in view.
	There is always the danger of Badge-hunting supplanting 
Badge-earning.  Our aim is to make boys into smiling, sensible, 
self-effacing, hardworking citizens, instead of showy, self-
indulgent boys.  The Scoutmaster must be on the alert to check 
Badge-hunting and to realise which is the Badge-hunter and which 
is the keen and earnest worker.
	Thus the success of the Badge System depends very largely 
on the Scoutmaster himself and his individual handling of it.

Intelligence

	Observation and deduction are the basis of all knowledge.  
The importance of the power of observation and deduction to the 
young citizen can therefore not be overestimated.  Children are 
proverbially quick in observation, but it dies out as they grow 
older, largely because first experiences catch their attention, 
which they fail to do on repetition.
	Observation is, in fact, a habit to which a boy has to be 
trained. Tracking is an interesting step towards gaining it.  
Deduction is the art of subsequently reasoning out and extracting  
	When once observation and deduction have been made habit-
ual in the boy, a great step in the development of character has 
been gained.
	The value of tracking and tracking games can thus readily 
be seen. Tracking out-of-doors and lectures on tracks and track-
ing in the meeting room should be encouraged in all Scout Troops.
	The general intelligence and quick-wittedness of the boys 
can very considerably be educated by their finding the way with a 
map, noticing landmarks, estimating heights and distances, notic-
ing and reporting details of people, vehicles, cattle, by the 
reproduction of Sherlock Holmes stories in scenes, and through 
numerous other Scout practices.  Signalling sharpens their wits, 
develops their eyesight, and encourages them to study and to 
concentrate their minds.  First aid instruction has also similar 
educative value.
	Winter evenings and wet days can be usefully employed by 
the Scoutmaster reading the principal items of news in the day's 
newspaper, illustrating them by map, etc.  The getting-up of 
plays and pageants bearing on the history of the place is also an 
excellent means of getting the boys to study, and to express 
themselves without self-consciousness.

Self-Expression

	Our Art Badge is devised to lead boys on to express their 
ideas graphically from their own observation or imagination 
without attempting thereby to be or to imitate artists.  By 
encouraging drawing, however crude, on the part of the youngster, 
he can be led on to recognise beauty in color or in form, to 
realise that even in sordid surroundings there may yet be light 
and shadow, color and beauty.
	A further stage in his education can be brought about by 
getting him to practice mental photography, that is to notice the 
details of a scene or incident or person, and fix these in his 
mind, and then to go and reproduce them on paper.
	This teaches observation in the highest degree.  Person-
ally I have found by practice that one can develop a certain and 
considerable power in this direction.
	Rhythm is a form of art which comes naturally even to the 
untrained mind, whether it be employed in poetry or music or in 
body exercises.  It gives a balance and order which has its 
natural appeal even and especially among those closest to 
nature-savages.  In the form of music it is of course most obvi-
ous and universal.  The Zulu War Song when sung by four or five 
thousand warriors is an example of rhythm, in music, poetry and 
bodily movement combined.
	The enjoyment of rendering music is common to all the 
human family, The song as a setting to words enables the soul to 
give itself expression which, when adequately done, brings pleas-
ure both to the singer and to his hearer.
	Through his natural love of music the boy can be linked 
up with poetry and sentiment as by a natural and easy transition.  
It opens a ready means to the SCOUTMASTER Of teaching happiness 
to his lads and at the same time of raising the tone of their  
	Play-acting also ought to form part of every boy's educa-
tion for self-expression.
	At school I was encouraged to do a lot of play-acting and 
I have thanked my stars ever since That I did so.  For one thing 
it taught me to learn yards of stuff by heart; also accustomed me 
to speak clearly and without nervousness before a lot of people; 
and it gave me the novel joy of being someone else for a time.
	It led one to know the beauties of Shakespeare and other 
authors, to feel, while expressing them, the emotions of joy and 
sorrow, love and sympathy.
	Above all it gave one the pleasure and happiness of 
giving pleasure to other people at times when they needed it.
	Many Troops are giving entertainments in the winter 
months and are thus not only earning satisfactory additions to 
their funds, but are giving good training to their boys and 
pleasure to others.

From Hobby to Career

	Hobbies, handcraft, intelligence and health are prelimi-
nary steps for developing love of work and ability to carry on, 
which are essential to successful work.  The second stage is 
fitting the young worker to the right kind of work.
	The best workers, like the happiest livers, look upon 
their work as a kind of game: the harder they play the more 
enjoyable it becomes.  H. G. Wells has said: "I have noticed that 
so called great men are really boys at heart, that is, they are 
boys in the eagerness of their enjoyment of their task.  They 
work because they like to work, and thus their work is really 
play to them.  The boy is not only father to the man, but he is 
the man and does not disappear at all."
	Ralph Parlette says truly: "PLAY is Loving to do things, 
and WORK is Having to do things."
	In Scouting we try to help the boys acquire this atti-
tude, by making them personally enthused in subjects that appeal 
to them individually, and that will be helpful to them later on.
	We do this first and foremost through the fun and jollity 
of Scouting.  The boys can then by progressive stages be led on 
naturally and unconsciously to develop themselves for their 
future.

THE SCOUTMASTER'S SHARE

	So much for the lines on which a boy can be practically 
prepared through Scouting for making a career.
	But this only prepares him.  It is still in the power of 
his Scoutmaster to give him further help to making that career a 
successful one.
	First, by showing the lad ways by which he can perfect 
the superficial instruction received as a Scout; whereby, for 
instance, he can develop his hobbies into handicrafts.  The 
Scoutmaster can show him where to get higher technical education, 
how to get scholarships or apprenticeships, how to train himself 
for particular professions, how to invest his savings, how to  
	Secondly, by himself knowing the different kinds of 
employment agencies and how to use them, the terms of service in 
various professions, the Scoutmaster can give the lad invaluable 
help, by advising him, on his knowledge of his qualifications, as 
to which line of life he is best fitted for.
	All this means that the Scoutmaster must himself look 
around and inform himself fully on these and like points.  By 
taking a little trouble himself he can make successful lives for 
many of his boys.
	It is encouraging to a lad, even if he is only an errand 
boy, to know that if he does his errands so well that his employ-
er feels he could not get a better boy, he is safely on the road 
to promotion.  But he must stick to it, and not be led aside by 
fits of disinclination or annoyance; if he gives way to these he 
will never succeed.  Patience and perseverance win the day.  
"Softly, softly, catchee monkey."

Employment

	The Scoutmaster, by watching and studying the individual 
character and ability of each boy, can to some extent recognise 
the line of life for which he is best fitted.  But he should 
realise that the question of employment is one for the parents 
and the boy himself to decide.
	It is then a matter of consultation with the parents, and 
for cautioning them against putting their square peg of a son 
into a round hole of employment for the sake of immediate mone-
tary return.  Get them and the boy himself to look well ahead and 
to see ulterior possibilities that lie open to him, provided that 
his start is made on the right lines.
	Here it is important to discriminate between those em-
ployments which offer a future to the boy and those which lead to 
nothing-so-called "blind alley" jobs.  These latter often bring 
in good money for the time being, to increase the weekly income 
of the family, and are, therefore, adopted for the boy by the 
parents regardless of the fact that they give no opening to him 
for a man's career afterwards.
	Those which promise a future need careful selection with 
regard to the lad's capabilities, and they can be prepared for, 
while he is yet a Scout.  A skilled employment is essentially 
better than an unskilled one for the boy's future success in 
life.  But care should be taken that consideration of this ques-
tion is not left until the time is past for a boy to conform to 
the standards and rules for entering into the desired career.


IV. SERVICE TO OTHERS

	THE ATTRIBUTES which we have so far been studying, as 
tending to make our boys into manly, healthy, happy working 
citizens, are, to a great extent, selfish ones designed for the 
good of the individual.  We now come to the fourth branch of 
Scout training, through which, by developing his outlook, the boy 
gives out good to others. 
Selfishness

	If I were asked what is the prevailing vice in the world 
I should say-Selfishness.  You may not agree with this at first 
sight, but look into it and I believe you will come to the same 
conclusion.  Most crimes, as recognised by law, come from the 
indulgence of selfishness, from a desire to acquire, to defeat, 
or to wreak vengeance.  The average man will gladly give a con-
tribution to feed the poor and will feel satisfied that he has 
then done his duty, but he is not going to dock himself of his 
own food and good wine to effect a saving for that purpose.
	Selfishness exists in a thousand different ways.  Take, 
for instance, party politics.  Men here get to see a question, 
which obviously has two sides to it, exactly as if there were 
only one possible side, namely, their own, and they then get to 
hate another man who looks upon it from the other side.  The 
result may lead men on to commit the greatest crimes under high-
sounding names.  In the same way, wars between nations have come 
about from neither party being able to see the other's point of 
view, being obsessed entirely by their own interests.  Strikes, 
too, and lockouts are frequently the outcome of developed self-
ishness.  In many cases, employers have failed to see that a 
hard-working man should, in justice, get a share of the goods of 
the world in return for his effort, and not be condemned to 
perpetual servitude simply to secure a certain margin of profits 
for the shareholders.  On the other hand, the worker has to 
recognise that without capital there would be no work on a large 
scale, and there can be no capital without some return to the 
subscribers for the risks they face in subscribing.
	In one's newspaper every day one sees examples of self-
ishness when one reads the letters of these small-minded men who, 
at every little grievance, rush headlong to "write to the 
papers."
	And so it goes on, down to the children playing their 
games in the streets; the moment that one is dissatisfied at not 
getting his share of winning he abruptly leaves the scene remark-
ing: "I shan't play any more!" The fact that he upsets the fun of 
the others does not appeal to him-unless it be satisfying to his 
spite.

To Eradicate Selfishness-The Good Turn Habit

	The Scouting practices tend in a practical way to educate 
the boy out of the groove of selfishness.  Once he becomes char-
itable he is well on the way to overcome or to eradicate the 
danger of this habit.
	The Promise that a Scout makes on joining has as its 
first point: "To do my duty to God." Note that it does not say 
"To be loyal to God," since this would merely be a state of mind, 
but to do something, which is the positive, active attitude.
The main method in the Boy Scout Movement is to give some form of 
positive training rather than merely to inculcate negative pre-
cepts, since the boy is always ready to do rather than to digest.
	Therefore, we put into his activities the practice of  
and helpfulness to others.  The religious basis underlying this 
is common to all denominations, and we, therefore, interfere with 
the form of none.
	The boy can then realise better that part of his "Duty to 
God" is to take care of and develop as a sacred trust those 
talents with which God has equipped him for his passage through 
this life; the body with its health and strength and reproductive 
powers to be used in God's service; the mind with its wonderful 
reasoning, memory and appreciation, which place him above the 
animal world; and the soul, that bit of God which is within him-
namely, Love, which can be developed and made stronger by contin-
ual expression and practice.  Thus we teach him that to do his 
Duty to God means, not merely to lean on His kindness, but to do 
His will by practising love towards one's neighbour.
	The curious thing is that this duty of Service for Others 
through Good Turns is the one to which Scouts rise with the 
fullest alacrity.  On this seemingly small foundation (the giving 
up of small personal conveniences or pleasures in order to render 
service) is built the character of self-sacrifice for others.
	The minor Good Turns which are part of the Scout's faith 
are in themselves the first step.  Nature study and making 
friends with animals increase the kindly feeling within him and 
overcome the trait of cruelty which is said to be inherent in 
every boy (although, personally, I am not sure that it is so 
general as is supposed).  From these minor Good Turns he goes on 
to learn first aid and help to the injured, and in the natural 
sequence of learning how to save life in the case of accidents, 
he develops a sense of duty to others and a readiness to sacri-
fice himself in danger.  This, again, leads up to the idea of 
sacrifice for others, for his home, and for his country, thereby 
leading to patriotism and loyalty of a higher type than that of 
merely ecstatic flag-waving.

Service for the Community

	The teaching of service is not merely a matter of teach-
ing in theory, but the development of two distinct phases-the 
inculcation of the spirit of goodwill; and the provision of 
opportunity for its expression in practice.
	The teaching is mainly through example, and the Scoutmas-
ter gives exactly the right lead in his patriotic dedication of 
self to the service of the boy, solely for the joy of doing it, 
and without thought of material reward.
	The opportunity for practice is given by the Scoutmaster 
suggesting to his boys special service projects.
	Public services offer the best opening for practical 
training
 in sense of duty to the community, patriotism and self-sacrifice 
through expression.
	The work of Scouts during peace and during wars in volun-
tarily taking up arduous duties in service of their country is in 
itself a proof of the keenness of the lads to do good work, and 
of their readiness to make themselves efficient where they see a 
good object.  In this direction lies a powerful means of develop- 
	As one specific example of public service might be men-
tioned Boy Scout Accident and Fire Service (Emergency Service) 
for towns and villages.  Such service is especially applicable to 
Senior Scouts, and acts as an attractive force to the older boy 
while giving him public services to train for and to render.
	The Troop is organised, equipped, and trained primarily 
for fire fighting, but with the further ability to deal with all 
kinds of accidents that, are possible in the neighbourhood, such, 
for instance, as: Street accidents; gas, chemical or other explo-
sions; floods or inundations; electric accidents; railway acci-
dents; fallen trees or buildings; ice accidents; bathing or 
boating accidents; airplane crashes; etc.
	This would demand, in addition to the drill, rescue and 
first aid required for fire work, knowledge and practice in 
methods of extricating and rescuing, and rendering the proper 
first aid in each class of work; such as: Knowledge of gases and 
chemicals; handling of boats, improvising rafts, use of life 
line; use of lifebuoys, life saving in the water, artificial 
respiration; how to deal with frightened animals; how to deal 
with electric live wires, burning liquids; etc.
	In some cases it may be best for each Patrol to specia-
lise in a particular form of accident, but generally if the 
Patrols practise all in turn they arrive at complete efficiency 
for the whole Troop.
	Organisation for an accident would, however, confer 
specific duties on each Patrol, e.g., a Patrol of rescuers, first 
aiders, crowd holders, messengers, etc.
	The variety of work to be done supplies a whole series of 
activities such as should appeal to the boys.
	Frequent mobilizations to practise on improvised acci-
dents are essential to attaining efficiency and keenness.
	As efficiency becomes evident public interest will be 
aroused probably to a helpful degree.  The scheme will then be 
recognised as having a double value, an education for the boys, 
and a blessing for the community.

Ulterior Effect

	The repression of self and development of that love and 
service for others, which means God within, bring a total change 
of heart to the individual and with it the glow of true Heaven.  
It makes a different being of him.
	The question becomes for him not "What can I get?", but 
"What can I give in life?"
	No matter what may be his ultimate form of religion, the 
lad will have grasped for himself its fundamentals, and knowing 
these through practising them he becomes a citizen with a widened 
outlook of kindliness and sympathy for his brother men.

 
TO SUM UP


	THE WHOLE OBJECT of our Scouting is to seize the boy's  
the right shape and to encourage and develop its individuality so 
that the boy -nay educate himself lo become a good man and a 
valuable citizen for his country.

	By so doing we may hope to take a useful part in bringing 
strength, both moral and physical, to the nation.

	But in developing national aspirations there is always 
the danger of becoming narrow and jealous of other nations.  
Unless we avoid this we bring about the very evil we are anxious 
to escape.

	Fortunately in the Scout Movement we have Brother Scouts 
organised in almost every civilised country in the world, and we 
have formed already the tangible nucleus of a World Brotherhood.  
And the potentialities of this are being supplemented by the 
wider development of the cooperative sister movement, the Girl 
Guides (Girl Scouts).

	In every country the purpose of the Scouts' training is 
identical, namely, efficiency for Service towards others; and 
with such an object in common, we can, as an International Broth-
erhood in Service, go forward and do a far-reaching work.

	In our training of the boy we develop the individual in 
both spirit and efficiency to be an effective player in his 
national team of citizenhood.  Acting on the same principle in 
the case of a nation, we should try to develop the right spirit 
and efficiency for helping that nation to work effectively in the 
team of nations.

	If each, then, plays in its place, and "plays the game," 
there will be greater prosperity and happiness throughout the 
world, there will be brought about at last that condition which 
has so long been looked for-of

	Peace and Goodwill among men.





THE END
