Boy Scouts Handbook Part 54

Notes

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Notes

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CHAPTER VI

CHIVALRY

_By John L. Alexander, Boy Scouts of America_

Ancient Knighthood

A little over fifteen hundred years ago the great order of knighthood and chivalry was founded. The reason for this was the feeling on the part of the best men of that day that it was the duty of the stronger to help the weak. These were the days when might was right, and the man with the strongest arm did as he pleased, often oppressing the poor and riding rough shod without any regard over the feelings and affections of others. In revolt against this, there sprang up all over Europe a n.o.ble and useful order of men who called themselves knights.

Among these great-hearted men were Arthur, Gareth, Lancelot, Bedivere, and Alfred the Great. The desire of these men was "To live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the king." Of course in these days there also lived men who called themselves knights, but who had none of the desire for service that inspired Arthur and the others. These false knights, who cared for no one but themselves and their own pleasure, often brought great sorrow to the common people. Chivalry then was a revolt against their brutal acts and ignorance and a protest against the continuation of the idea that might was right.

Nowhere in all the stories that have come down to us have the acts of chivalry been so well told as in the tales of the Round Table. Here it was that King Arthur gathered about him men like Sir Bors, Sir Gawaine, Sir Pellias, Sir Geraint, Sir Tristram, Sir Lancelot, and Sir Galahad. These men moved by the desire of giving themselves in service, cleared the forests of wild animals, suppressed the robber barons, {238} punished the outlaws, bullies, and thieves of their day, and enforced wherever they went a proper respect for women. It was for this great service that they trained themselves, pa.s.sing through the degrees of page, esquire, and knight with all the hard work that each of these meant in order that they might the better do their duty to their G.o.d and country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ancient knight.]

Struggle for Freedom

Of course this struggle of right against wrong was not confined to the days in which chivalry was born. The founding of the order of knighthood was merely the beginning of the age-long struggle to make right the ruling thought of life. Long after knighthood had pa.s.sed away, the struggle continued. In the birth of the modern nations, England, Germany, France, and others, there was the distinct feeling on the part of the best men of these nations that might should and must give way to right, and that tyranny must yield to the spirit of freedom. The great struggle of the English barons under King John and the wresting from the king of the Magna Charta, which became the basis of English liberty, was merely another development of the idea for which chivalry stood. The protest of the French Revolution, and the terrible doings of the common people in these days, although wicked and brutal in method, were symptoms of the same revolt against oppression.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pilgrim father.]

The Pilgrim Fathers

When the Pilgrim Fathers founded the American colonies, the work of Arthur and Alfred and the other great men of ancient days was renewed and extended and fitted to the new conditions and times. With the English settlements of Raleigh and Captain John Smith we might almost say that a new race of men was born and a new kind of knight was developed. All over America an idea made itself felt that in the eyes of the law every man should be considered just as good as every other man, and that every man ought to have a fair and square chance {239} at all the good things that were to be had in a land of plenty. It was this spirit that compelled the colonists to seek their independence and that found its way into our Declaration of Independence as follows:

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The fight of the colonists was the old-time fight of the knights against the oppression and injustice and the might that dared to call itself right.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pioneer.]

American Pioneers

No set of men, however, showed this spirit of chivalry more than our pioneers beyond the Alleghanies. In their work and service they paralleled very closely the knights of the Round Table, but whereas Arthur's knights were dressed in suits of armor, the American pioneers were dressed in buckskin. They did, however, the very same things which ancient chivalry had done, clearing the forests of wild animals, suppressing the outlaws and bullies and thieves of their day and enforcing a proper respect for women. Like the old knights they often were compelled to do their work amid scenes of great bloodshed, although they loved to live in peace. These American knights and pioneers were generally termed backwoods men and scouts, and were men of distinguished appearance, of athletic build, of high moral character and frequently of firm religious convictions. Such men as "Apple-seed Johnny," Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark, Simon Kenton and John James Audubon, are the types of men these pioneers were. They were noted for their staunch qualities of character. They hated dishonesty and were truthful and brave. They were polite to women and old people, ever ready to rescue a companion when in danger, and equally ready to risk their lives for a stranger. They were very hospitable, dividing their last crust with one another, or with the stranger whom they happened to meet. They were ever ready to do an act of kindness. {240} They were exceedingly simple in their dress and habits. They fought the Indians, not because they wished to, but because it was necessary to protect their wives and children from the raids of the savages. They knew all the things that scouts ought to know. They were acquainted with the woods and the fields; knew where the best fish were to be caught; understood the trees, the signs and blazes, the haunts of animals and how to track them; how to find their way by the stars; how to make themselves comfortable in the heart of the primeval forest; and such other things as are cla.s.sed under the general term of woodcraft. And, with all this, they inherited the splendid ideas of chivalry that had been developed in the thousand years preceding them, and fitted these ideas to the conditions of their own day, standing solidly against evil and falsehood whenever they lifted their head among them. They were not perfect, but they did their best to be of service to those who came within their reach and worked conscientiously for their country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Modern knight.]

Modern Knighthood

A hundred years have pa.s.sed since then, and the conditions of life which existed west of the Alleghanies are no more. Just as the life of the pioneers was different from that of the knights of the Round Table, and as they each practised chivalry in keeping with their own sur-roundings, so the life of to-day is different from both, but the need of chivalry is very much the same. Might still tries to make right, and while there are now no robber barons or outlaws with swords and spears, their spirit is not unknown in business and commercial life. Vice and dishonesty lift their heads just as strongly to-day as in the past and there is just as much need of respect for women and girls as there ever was. So to-day there is a demand for a modern type of chivalry. It is for this reason that the Boy Scouts of America have come into being; for there is need of service in these days, and that is represented by the good turn done to somebody every day. Doing the good turn daily will help to form the habit of useful service. A boy scout, then, while living in modern times, must consider himself the heir of ancient chivalry {241} and of the pioneers, and he must for this reason give himself to ever renewed efforts to be true to the traditions which have been handed down to him by these great and good leaders of men. The boy-scout movement is a call to American boys to-day to become in spirit members of the order of chivalry, and a challenge to them to make their lives count in the communities in which they live--for clean lives, clean speech, clean sport, clean habits, and clean relationships with others. It is also a challenge for them to stand for the right against the wrong, for truth against falsehood, to help the weak and oppressed, and to love and seek the best things of life.

Abraham Lincoln

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait of Abraham Lincoln. (tr)]

Perhaps there is no better example of chivalry than the life and experience of Abraham Lincoln, the greatest of all our American men.

Every boy ought to read the story of his life and come to understand and appreciate what it means. Lincoln was born in the backwoods of Kentucky. He was a tall, spare man of awkward build, and knew very little of the school room as a boy. He fought for his education. He borrowed books wherever he could. Many long nights were spent by him before the flickering lights of the log cabin, gleaning from his borrowed treasures the knowledge he longed to possess. He pa.s.sed through all the experiences of life that other scouts and pioneers have experienced. He split rails for a livelihood, and fought his way upward by hard work, finally achieving for himself an education in the law, becoming an advocate in the courts of Illinois. Wherever he went, he made a profound impression on the lives and minds of the people and won over his political opponents by his strength, sympathy, {242} and breadth of mind. At the period when storms threatened to engulf our Ship of State, he became President of our country. Although Lincoln was an untried pilot, he stood by the helm like a veteran master. A man of earnest and intense conviction, he strove to maintain the glory of our flag and to keep the Union un-broken.

Hundreds of stories are told of his great heart and almost boundless sympathy for others. The generals of the Civil War were deeply attached to him, and the rank and file of the sold-iers who fought under these generals loved and revered him. He was familiarly known as "Honest Abe." He could always be relied upon to give help and encouragement. His smile cheered the defenders of the Union, and his wise counsel gave heart to the men who were helping him to shape the destinies of the nation. At the close of the war which saw the Union more firmly established than ever, he fell by the hand of the a.s.sa.s.sin, mourned deeply both by his own country and by the world at large.

The further we get from the scene of his life and work the more firmly are we, his countrymen, convinced of his sincerity, strength, wisdom, and bigness of heart. The two men who stand out preeminently in history among great Americans are Washington and Lincoln, the former as the founder of the Union and the latter as the man who gave it unbreakable continuity and preserved it, as we hope and believe, for all time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Using every opportunity.]

Lincoln's life and career should be the study and inspiration of every boy scout. He became familiar with all of the things for which the Boy Scouts of America stand. He was a lover of the wild things in the woods, and loved and lived the life of the out-of-doors. He had a high sense of honor and was intensely chivalrous, as the many hundred stories told about {243} him testify. He did many times more than one good turn a day; he sincerely loved his country; he lived, fought, and worked for it; and finally he sealed his loyalty by giving his life.

The path that he travelled from the log cabin to the White House clearly shows that an American boy who has well defined ideas of truth and right, and then dares to stand by them, can become great in the councils of the nation. The life, then, of Abraham Lincoln should be a steady inspiration to every boy who wishes to call himself a scout.

Challenge of the Present

Thus we see that chivalry is not a virtue that had its beginning long ago and merely lived a short time, becoming a mere story. Chivalry began in the far-distant past out of the desire to help others, and the knights of the olden days did this as best they could. Later the new race of men in America took up the burden of chivalry, and did the best they could. Now the privilege and responsibility comes to the boys of to-day, and the voices of the knight of the olden time and of the hardy pioneers of our own country are urging the boys of to-day to do the right thing, in a gentlemanly way, for the sake of those about them. All of those men, whether knights or pioneers, had an unwritten code, somewhat like our scout law, and their motto was very much like the motto of the boy scouts, "Be Prepared."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Politeness.]

Good Manners

The same thing that entered into the training of these men, knights, pioneers, and Lincoln, then, must enter into the training of the boy scouts of to-day. Just as they respected women and served them, so the tenderfoot and the scout must be polite and kind to women, not merely to well-dressed women, but to poorly-dressed women; not merely to young women, but to old women: to women wherever they may be found-- {244} wherever they may be. To these a scout must always be courteous and helpful.

When a scout is walking with a lady or a child, he should always walk on the outside of the sidewalk, so that he can better protect them against the jostling crowds. This rule is only altered when crossing the street, when the scout should get between the lady and the traffic, so as to shield her from accident or mud. Also in meeting a woman or child, a scout, as a matter of course, should always make way for them even if he himself has to step off the sidewalk into the mud.

When riding in a street car or train a scout should never allow a woman, an elderly person, or a child to stand, but will offer his seat; and when he does it he should do it cheerfully and with a smile.

When on the street, be continually on a quest, on the lookout to help others, and always refuse any reward for the effort. This kind of courtesy and good manners is essential to success. It was this unselfish desire to protect and help that made these men of olden time such splendid fellows.

Good manners attract and please, and should be cultivated by every boy who expects to win success and make his life interesting to others. In the home, on the street, in the school, in the workshop or the office, or wherever one may be, his relationship to others should be characterized as gentle, courteous, polite, considerate and thoughtful. These are virtues and graces that make life easier and pleasanter for all.