THE BOY SCOUT

Evening Star, Issue 14533, 8 December 1910, Page 8

THE BOY SCOUT

HOW ENGLAND CACGfIT THE IDEA. ] FROM ERNEST THOMPSON SETON. | America claims the credit' of initiating the movement known us the Boy Scout Movement. A writer in the October number of -Everybody's' sr.ys-.~-"It is a big movement. We seem to have taken it from our English brothers, J but what really happened was that our English brothers took it in the first instance from us. They expanded and developed it into a great national institution, and'then it crossed the water again, and seems to be expanding and developing into a great national institution here. And at the bead of the. organisation is the. mail who started the thing many years ago in a small way, carrying it along until the Knglisli got' hold of the idea and upon it i built their ow-.i big organisation. . That man is Krnest Thompson Seton, probably our best-know i naturalist and student of j outdoor life. Kverybody knows Mr Seton's wild animals, and lias seen his wonderfnl i pictures, ,md perhaps heard him spin those marvellous yarns of his. We all know Lobo the Wolf, and few parts of America J have been left untouched by the hand of | the wizard whose mission has been the interpretation of the whole outdoor world. It is ii good many years now since Mr Seton began his organisation of the Seton Indian':- These were groups nf beys all over the country tira-vu together by me of the strongest instincts of the American boy•- (he love of outdoor life, '''hero tin now more than lUXOOO of them snitt'ied through the States. ''",ey Ik-." thencamps, and their council-, and their big pow-wows; but the biggest of all is tho encampment that is h< : d two or thiec times a year at the great central meetingplace, 'f'his is W-mlygoul, llie name Mr Scion ha.- given to lii.s country place at Cos Cob, ConnectinU. Here is a splendid stretch of woods almost as Nature left it, witii a lake ami hill-; and natural campinggrounds, ami tbc; very council rock that the Indians mvii hundreds of years ago. And here, in truth, u the birthplace of the whole boy scoot movement." It. was out "of this organisation thai we have developed our scout- movement, which is now so tremendous a force. The writer in •Everybody's' proceeds to give the vows taken in the Sfton Indians. These are they : Not to rebel. Not to kindle a wild tire, nor to leave a lire in camp without someone to watch itTo protect the song birds; not to injure or frighten song birds, nor to disturb their nest or eggs, nor to molestsquirrels-. Not to make a dirty camp, nor to bring firearms of any kind into tho camps of those ur.dei fourteen, nor to point a weapon at anyone. To keep the game laws. No! to smoke (for iho.-e under eighteen). Not to have fire water in camp. To play fa.ir. To keep his word of honor sacred. The ..-out's oath is different: ! give my word of iioimr that 1. will do my best : ilj To do my duty to God and the country. (2) To help other people at all times. (,">) To obey the i-cotit iaw. And lids is tho scout law: |1) A .-cent's honor is to be trusted. i2) A scout is loyal to the president and his officers, and to his parents, his country, and his employers. loi A scout's duty is to be useful and to help others. (4) A scout, is ii friend to all, and a brother to eveiy other scout, no matter to wlyit social claw the other belongs. (5) A scout is courteous. (6) A scout is a friend to animals. i 7) A scout obeyi-- orders of his parents, patrol leader, or schoolmaster without question. > fß.i A scout smile*- and looks pleasant under all circumstances. (9) A scout is thrifty.

Now, there may be a- few who read this lo whom the print acquaintance of Ernest Tlumijwou Seton has not been given. Let them be assured that it- is'an acquaintance worth making for themselves and their hoys: and they can find no belter Christmas box for their lads than the American naturalist's enticing stories "Wild Animals I Have Known' and 'Animal Heroes,' which i iu he procured from any bookseller. Mr Seton has just completed his most monumental work, ' Life Histories of Northern Animals.' and the London 'Times,' in a column of unstinted praise, thtifi summarises one of his deductions as lo Ihe reasoning powets of animals: If there is one aspect of the author's chapters which is of greater general interest than the others, it is provided by his studies of ihe mind of animals. H is quite clear, even without, his express avowal of belief, thai, the author credits animals with degrees of sagacity which amount practically to leiiKoniug powers. Just as surely as man's both- had origin in the animals ludow him, so also among them are to be found the |!Ossib.ilitic-s of what he has attained to in the world of mind—that is Mr

Seton's confession of faith, and though it may be novel and f.taniing when thrs bluntly statcl, at-least il .v_i-or.<-.i-:i;.-iit with the series of animal rtudie;; whu'i have issued horn his pen during the y.-.ni few \ears. ft i.-. this principle which is cm- !v----sised constantly 'throughout tlv. l bowK--now more, now teas atc-oiding to ihe rlu-n-rcc of intelligence ;cached by the f-prfie-under consideration. 'ilktc civ ccveral animals whose i-levemws tin; author esteems very highiy. N'umciour, occurrences a-ie ciled to show how even the cunrnr-g of man himself may lV.il to oukwi!- kiuic ol' tliem. The wolvcv. offer a- cah\ in point. During the •'eighties" ol the last century the American wolves turned their attention to the la-i't-hcrs' cattle, owing to the extinction of tne buffalo herds on which they were formerly wont to jvbsift. The damage thus done became so fevious that a price was set nj>on woli' j-.eadn by various Governments, and in a lew years traps and poiaon killed enormous numbers of them---o many, indeed, that the spent .< .-eemed in prospect- of total extinction. Then a comprehension of their danger spread somehow among the- packs. They learned how to detect and defy both trap-.; and strychnine, and now it ii very diflicult to kill a wolf by either plan. Since the young wolves muct get their information wnnelio;.v as to the dangers of meddling with these human device*, if- is doubtless communicated to them by the- older ones, and passed on in turn to their own descendants; but not- even. Mr Seton. can tell us quite how it in dom?. At- any rate, the result is that- wolves have 'been inercaf mg Meadilv in numbers for twenty years past, and are extending their range over lerritoi'v from which they had been entirely eradicated. It would appear that wolves have now so wliolefwmo a fear of man thai, they never attack him, whereas until the introduction of modern patterns of firearms and the education of the wolves to their capacity it was not at all iare in winter for human baings to be attacked and devoured. Another very cunouu fact whidi illustrates the intelligence of the wolf is that it ifi quite poasiblo ami not at -ill we for a captured wolf cub to be brought, up and trained to pull in harness with .' (earn, of K.-kimo dogs; indeed, the half-breed woli'-Erkimo dog is be! lor csleemed for this work than the pure dog itself, lit tie. removed as the latter is from its wild cousins,