SCOUT NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 21504, 31 August 1933, Page 5

SCOUT NOTES

[By Gkev Wolf.] With the disbanding of the Scouters’ Association affairs have been put on a businesslike footing. It is pleasing to see the matters relating to Scout work in the hands of a group of enthusiasts who really understand their tasks and who appear to be fully capable of carrying to a successful finish the jobs they undertake. The trouble with the movement in the recent past has been the lack of the spirit of getting things done. The executive has started with a commendable spirit, and has already justified its existence. The Hobbies Show is going to be the first test of this new committee, and with the support it is getting from the districts it should be able to make the exhibition a success. Many have lost sight of the reason why they are in the movement. They have felt that they are important, and have become a hindrance rather than a help. Instead of people being at cross purposes in trying to put into effect their ideas of how their boys should be trained, everyone would be fired with the spirit of youth and would feel privileged in assisting these boys along the path of life. In each group each part must do its allotted part, and no other. The committee must not interfere with the running of the troop or the harmony of the group will be spoiled and re-act unfavourably on the boys. With the recent changes it was found that the meeting of the executive was on the same night as the Scouters’ Club, and at once a storm of protest was heard. The executive soon agitated for this matter to be rectified. The club will meet on the Tuesday in each month, and the commissioner for training must take a district training course from 7 to 8 on these evenings. In a recent publication one can read of a Scouter who travelled 1,220 miles to attend such a course. After- the training there comes a time when problems and current topics may be discussed. This should be of value to all in that advice and help can be obtained for our own particular problems. After this there will be supper and a talk on some subject—this time on “ What Toe H is.” WOLE CUBS. •‘ What is a Wolf Cub?” people often ask. Well, of course, one might just answer, “ A Wolf Cub is a certain kind of small boy; a small boy with a cheery face, a jersey, coloured neckerchief, and bare knees; a boy who has promised to be loyal to God and the King, to keep a law which imposes obedience and self-control, and to do a good turn to somebody every day; a boy who lives up to the motto of the Wolf Cubs —Do Your Best.” Such an answer would give only a surface impression. To understand what a Wolf Cub is, it is necessary to grasp the principle underlying the movement; to look at life for a moment with the eyes of a Cubmaster, and to feel the joy and romance with the heart of a small boy. Let us first look into the principle. God made the small boy according to certain laws. Discover these; work in accordance with them instead of in opposition to them, and you will succeed, for you will have Nature on your side and the hearty co-operation of the boy. If God made the boy a creature of extreme and restless energy, with an inquisitive and eager mind, a sensitive little heart, and a romantic imagination, it is up to us to make full use of them instead of suppressing them. We cannot improve on what God made—-what we can do is develop it and protect it from being turned into something it was never intended to be. How to do this is the question. The Chief Scout has solved this by devising the Wolf Cub scheme. Unless one understands the principle, one will never be able to make head or tail of the quaint things we do, and the way we do them—l refer to our particular kind of discipline and method of instruction. The principle is then just to discover, develop, and guide. The Cubmaster aims to give the boy a good time, to fill his life with the joy which is the birthright of every child. He also aims to put into effect the Chief Scout’s principle. It is his object not to turn the boy into an unnatural little paragon of perfection, but into a true child—as full of laughter, noise, energy, romance, love as every child should be. Then as Nature brings him to the second stage to send him up into the Scouts, where he, too, will be helped to be as honourable, chivalrous. brave, self-reliant, and full of ideals as every boy should be. so that he may end in becoming steady, thoughtful, unselfish, kind. God-fear-ing—in fact, a man. The boy knows that at last he has found a set of really sensible grown-ups who see the reasonableness of making a noise; who actually take leap-frog and games seriously; who arc full of stories; who do not use punishments, but make work so jolly that he wants to do it ; who, in short, are big brothers, real friends who understand. I must honestly admit 1 was eavesdropping, but as the conversation overheard was between two of my own Scouts perhaps 1 shall be forgiven. They were discussing a new recruit, whom one of them called “ a bit of a humbug,” explaining that this particular fellow did all he could to belittle his comrades, continually finding faults in their private lives, and with much arrogance contrasting what he considered his immaculate self with those who had made some mistakes. This is my excuse for writing on such a subject as 1 Cant.’ Although a small word, its miserable gospel has affected the lives of many good Scouts. It is closelv allied to bigotry and humbugging,* and does everything possible to destroy a young fellow’s faith in Ins friends, knocks out loving kindness, stains the white flower of chivalry, detracts from honesty, and makes many Scouts snobs. When cant and humbug take hold of us w© fail in comradeship and lose our sense of fair piny ; we are alwavs looking out for trivial faults in our pals and making them public, and in our self-righteousness we grin when one of them succumbs to temptation. We cannot afford to have any cant or humbug in our lives, for a biased viewpoint will not enable us to make this world better. We must remember that there is so much good in the worst of us and so 1111011 bad in the best of us. Petty jealousies and envy must be thrown aside, aid vo must be good comrades to all, hiding from public gaze other fellows’ imperfections, encouraging those who find it very difficult to play a straight game.