Outdoor Sports and Games Part 3

1. Scouting does not consist in wearing a khaki suit or a lot of decorations. It is in doing the things that are required for the tenderfoot, second-cla.s.s and first-cla.s.s scout badges and the badges of merit.

2. Scouts do not wish any one to buy things for them. They buy their own equipment and pay their own way.

3. Scouts do their best to keep the scout oath and law.

4. The glory of scouting is "_to do a good turn to some one every day without reward_."

5. Scouts regard the rights of others, and do not trespa.s.s on the property or feelings of others.

6. Scouting means obedience and discipline. The boy who can't obey will never command.

7. Scouts are always busy and getting fun out of it--at work, at school, at home, at play. _Be a good scout._

HOW TO ORGANIZE A TROOP

_First_: Write to Headquarters, which is at 200 Fifth Avenue, New York City, for a scout master's certificate.

_Second_: Either combine three or more patrols or having one patrol, appoint several patrol leaders and enlist boys for the new patrols.

_Third_: The minimum number of patrols in a troop is three, and the maximum the number a scout master can _rightly_ handle. Care should be taken not to organize for the sake of a big showing.

_Hints on starting_: In actually starting a troop, it has been found better to start in a small way. Begin by one or two leader-men making a careful study of "Scouting for Boys" and as soon as the main ideas have been grasped, get together a small number of boys, and go through with them the initial stages step by step, until the boys bubble over with scouting ideals, and until the notion of a fancy uniform and games in the country have given place to a definite desire to qualify for manhood and citizenship. These boys will make the nucleus round which to form a troop, and should pa.s.s on their training and enthusiasm to the boys who are enlisting under them. It has been found better to obtain _distinctly older fellows for patrol leaders_: the scout masters should invariably be men who feel the great responsibility of having boys under their charge, and the possibility of leading the boys from the moment when they enlist in the scouts to the time they pa.s.s out again to be fully fledged men.

_Finances_: The finances necessary to run a troop of scouts should be met by the scouts themselves. It is a main principle of scouting to teach the boys to be self-reliant, and anything which will militate against the constant sending round of the hat will be a national good.

_The Scout Master_: The scout master is the adult leader of a troop.

The scout master may begin with one patrol. He must have a deep interest in boys, be genuine in his own life, have the ability to lead and command the boys' respect and obedience and possess some knowledge of a boy's ways. He need not be an expert on scoutcraft. The good scout master will discover experts for the various activities.

Applications for scout masters' certificates may be made at the Headquarters, 200 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

From the outset, the scout master must have the interest of each boy at heart. He must not play favourites with any of the boys in his patrol or troop. While there are sure to be boys in the group who will develop more rapidly than others, and whose keenness will be sure to call forth the admiration of the scout master, he should not permit himself to be "carried away" by the achievements of these "star boys"

to such an extent that he will neglect the less aggressive boy. The latter boy is the one who needs your attention most, and your interest in him must be genuine. Every effort he makes, no matter how poor it may be, should be commended just as heartily as the better accomplishments of the more handy boy.

PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES FOR SCOUTS

1. _Scoutcraft_: Boy Scouts' organization, scout laws, discipline, scouts' secret signs, badges, etc.

2. _Campaigning_: Camp life and resourcefulness. Hut and mat making.

Knots. Fire lighting. Cooking. Boat management. Judging distances, heights and numbers. Swimming. Cycling. Finding the way.

SIGN POSTS

1. Do not have in the same patrol boys of great disparity in ages. For instance, the boy of twelve should not be in the same group with the sixteen-year-old boy, if it can possibly be avoided. You must remember that in most cases the things that appeal to the younger boy will have no attraction for the older boy.

2. Do not enroll boys under twelve. If you do you are certain to lose your older boy. The movement is distinctly for boys of the adolescent period and is designed to help them to rightly catch the spirit of helpfulness.

3. Do not try to do everything yourself. Try to remember that the boys are always willing and anxious to take hold. Let the boys understand that the whole proposition is theirs. It is what they make it. Your contract with them should be largely of a big brother nature.

4. Do not burden nor weary the boys with excessive military drills and tactics. The movement is not a military one. The military virtues of obedience, neatness, order, endurance and erect, alert bearing, however, are scout virtues. Use everything that develops boys. This is good scoutcraft.

5. Do not confine the activities of the patrols to things of one character. Touch every activity as far as possible. Do not omit anything. Get the proper agencies to cooperate with you for these ends--a military man for signalling; a naturalist for woodcraft; a physician for first aid, etc.

6. Do not permit the boys to fail in the proper keeping of the scout oath and law.

7. Never fail to keep an engagement with your patrol or troop. If something should delay your coming or should you find yourself unable to keep an appointment with them, be sure to notify the patrol leaders beforehand. It might be well to require the same of the boys.

8. A real danger point is the failure of a scout master to visit the boys in their homes. Knowing the boys' parents means much, and their cooperation will be much heartier when they know the man to whose care they entrust their boy, after he has discussed with them the real purpose of the scout movement.

9. Do not hesitate to give a boy a hard task, but not an impossible one. A boy likes to do hard things.

10. Do not attempt right at the start to give the boy every bit of detail regarding the activities of the troop. Work out the plans with the boys from time to time, always reserving some things of interest for the next meeting. Your attempt to give them everything at one time will cause the whole proposition to a.s.sume the nature of a task instead of pleasurable education, as was originally intended.

11. Hold frequent tests for advancement to the cla.s.ses of scouthood.

Get your fellows to really win their badges.

12. As a scout master use good judgment. If there are other scout masters in your town, or a scout council or local committee, cooperate with these. To be a scout master, you must have the spirit of '76, but be sure to work with others. The boys will benefit by the lesson.

THE SCOUTS' CAMP

To go camping should mean more than merely living under canvas away from the piles of brick and stone that make up our cities. To be in the open air, to breathe pure oxygen, to sleep upon "a bed of boughs beside the trail," to look at the camp fire and the stars, and to hear the whisper of the trees--all of this is good. But the camp offers a better opportunity than this. It offers the finest method for a boy's education. Between twelve and eighteen years the interests of a boy are general ones, and reach from the catching of tadpoles and minnows to finding G.o.d in the stars. His interests are the general ma.s.s interests that are so abundant in nature, the activities that give the country boy such an advantage for the real enjoyment of life over the city lad. Two weeks or two months in camp, they are too valuable to be wasted in loafing, cigarette smoking, card playing or shooting c.r.a.ps.

To make a camp a profitable thing there must needs be instruction; not formal but _informal_ instruction. Scouting, nature study, scout law, camp cooking, signalling, pioneering, path finding, sign reading, stalking for camera purposes, knowledge of animals and plants, first aid, life saving, manual work (making things), hygiene, s.e.x instruction, star gazing, discipline, knowing the rocks and trees, and the ability to do for one's self, in order that a boy may grow strong, self-reliant, and helpful. This is a partial list of the subject in the camp curricula.

A model scout camp programme is given here. It takes eight days to carry it out, but there is material enough to run ten times the number of days specified.

A SIR R.S.S. BADEN-POWELL SCOUT CAMP MODEL PROGRAMME

_First Day_: Preliminary work: settling into camp, formation of patrols, distribution of duties, orders, etc.

_Second Day_: Campaigning: camp resourcefulness, hut and mat making, knots, fire lighting, cooking, health and sanitation, endurance, finding way in strange country, and boat management.

_Third Day_: Observation: noticing and memorizing details far and near, landmarks, tracking, deducing meaning from tracks and signs, and training the eyesight.

_Fourth Day_: Woodcraft: study of animals, birds, plants and stars; stalking animals, noticing people, reading their character and condition, and thereby gaining their sympathy.

_Fifth Day_: Chivalry: honour, code of knights, unselfishness, courage, charity and thrift; loyalty to G.o.d, country, parents and employers, or officers; practical chivalry to women; the obligation to do a "good turn" daily, and how to do it.

_Sixth Day_: Saving life: from fire, drowning, sewer gas, runaway horses, panic, street accidents, improvised apparatus, and first aid.

_Seventh Day_: Patriotism: national geography, the history and deeds that won our world power, the navy and army, flags, medals, duties of a citizen, marksmanship, helping the police.

_Eighth Day_: A summary of the whole course: sports comprising games and compet.i.tive practices in all subjects of the course.

CAMP ROUTINES