SCOUT NOTES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3400, 30 July 1932, Page 6

SCOUT NOTES

SCOUT LAW No. 6. A nervous recruit was being examined on the Scout Law. His idea of the fourth Scout Law was that “A Scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other animal, no matter to what social class he may belong.” It was a splendid answer, except that it should have been as the sixth law instead of the fourth. A Scout is a friend to animals because he is a friend to all, and he will certainly try to be a brother to every other animal, quite independently of their social distinctions. It is true that some animals are a curious kind of breed, without much hair on their backs, while others are woolly or fluffy. But the fact that the first kind are called Scouts, while the second kind are called lambs and kittens, makes not the least difference to the fact that you and they are friends. They may be tiny animals like ants, or they may be very large animals like elephants. They may be rather silly animals like mules, or they may be rather clever animals like Scoutmasters. The great point about them all is that they have two things in common. The first is that they are all created by the same Father, God. The second is that they all have a share in the greatest of all possessions, £ife. The nervous Scout was therefore right, for all the animals and human beings in the world are brothers, and it is their duty to treat one another if possible with kindness and respect. You may say that if a lion meets the Chief Scout in the jungle, it is not at all likely to treat him with either, but then a lion hasn’t had a chance of learning anything about the Scout Law. It has not got the power of reason. The sixth law needs a book to itself, and you must remember that here I have only been able to touch of little bits of it.