BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 93, 20 April 1932, Page 16

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA.

The following speech was delivered by Mr. Daniel C. Beard, National Boy Scout Commissioner, at Valley Forge, on Washington's anniversary:— Distinguished Guests and Fellow Scouts: All within hearing of my voice please stand at salute while we, one and all, repeat the Scout oath: On my honour I will do my best to do inv duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout law; to help other people at all times and to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. There is more than usual solemnity and meaning to our oath when taken where so many American Scouts suffered terrible privations, but it is pleasant for us to think that while we were repeating the Scout oath there was an invisible troop of old Continentals in their ragged regimentals standing at present arms; each one with a pack on his back. Every man must carry a pack. Among tho sourdoughs of the wilderness they have a saying that one must not fight his pack, "that is, one must not fret and whimper because of his load. Up north there are two kinds of packs — the hiking pack and the portage pack. The hiking pack is much lighter, for the good reason that it must be curried day after day, week in and week out, but the portage pack is as heavy as a man's strength can bear, and he can carry it only because he knows that at the end of the portage he will drop it, and this knowledge gives him strength to carry a heavy load.

In the White House, President Hoover is to-day staggering under the weight of a heavy portage pack, but he has the grit and, with our help, will carry it. Our distinguished guest, General Pershing, carried a pack all through the World War. It was no hiking nack, but a heavy portage pack, and, while no one could see the pack on his back, nevertheless it was there and consisted of the tremendous and anxieties he had to carry.

Here at Valley Forge, the halfstarved, half-frozen Continentals carried their packs of misery, but their splendid loyalty and patriotism gave them strength to carry on. George Washington stood over Oft in his stockings, erect and straight as a ramrod in spite of the heavy portage load he bore. Washing- i ton did not fight his pack, he did not; whine or complain, and he won. The j lesson that Valley Forge teaches all the ! Scouts of to-day is that Washington succeeded because he did not fight his pack There is no one in the world who can escape carrying one. With you boys it may be an unsympathetic school teacher, employer or even parents who do not understand and appreciate the meaning of Scouting, or it may be studies in which you are not interested, but which you must pursue in order to make your grade. Of whatever your pack consists do not fight it, but keep your Scout smile as you inarch along. My delightful friend, explorer, author and artist, Belmore Browne, has permanent scars on his shoulders from the straps of his pack. Whenever the pack became too heavy he would think about the good times he had at the camp fire club dinners, and before he knew it he would be trudging along humming a eamplire song and forget all about his load. In this way he learned to forget his pack, and by so doing was enabled to mush over the Arctic wastes with dog teams and to be the first man who made the ascent of Mount McKinlcy. Just remember, boys, that at no time in the history of America has it been more worth while to live and work than at the present day; at no time has America seen greater need of just such an organisation as ours, where the boys may learn the eternal principles of service, justice and the necessity of being heart and soul unreservedly with the United States in the great work which is before it, to preserve the priceless heritage of the privilege of living a decent life in our own great Republic.