ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The Chief Scoul Talks

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 107, 2 April 1930, Page 4

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The Chief Scoul Talks

(By Lord Robert

fn a good many Scout and Guide Clubrooms you will find on the walls what we call the Scout Texts —big mottoes for decorating the walls ana giving the Scouts something to remember and think about.

When the cat’s away the mice will play—the little rotters. That is one of our texts. Be a man and don’t be a mouse. When your Scoutmaster or parent or master is away don’t take it as a time to neglect your work and play the fool. ' It is your duty—as a Scout—to carry on just the same whether your Scoutmaster is there to see you or not. Do your work because it is your work —not because some one is watching you do it. Act like a man and a Scout, not like a mouse and a rotter.

Here is another saying which is much used by successful scouts. It is really a saying which comes from the West Coast of Africa, where the people, when they want to get hold of a monkey, do not run after him and grab at him because he would dart away up a tree and out of reach. They slowly edgo nearer and nearer to him and then gently stroke and scratch him till they catch hold of him. Their way of describing it is to say: “Softlee Softlee Catchee Monkey.” So when

you are inclined to get impatient over some job that ■'•ou are doing, and feel inclined, to rush it because otherwise it seems so long and difficult, just remember —softlee, softlee catchee

SCOUTS’ TEXTS.

Baden-Powell.)

monkey—“patience wins the day” and stick to it.

A real Soout is always the most patient of men. He does not worry if he cannot succeed all at once, but waits and works quietly and determinedly until ho gets there in the end —in small things as well as in big ones. Even in undoing a parcel he will not pull and tear at tho string. He will set to work quietly to untie the knots. The following is another useful motto for Scouts: The oak was once an acorn. If ever you feel hopeless about achieving success in life from a small beginning remember that even that great strong tree, the oak, began at first as a little acorn lying on tho ground. -After he had got his roots into the ground and started to grow it must have seemed hopeless to him ever to rise to be a great tree like those over him. Ho stuck to it winter and summer, however, in gales as well as fine weather, and gradually grew into the great fine tree that he is, giving out shade to people and food to animals, and thus a friend to all the world — like a Scout. , Don’t stand with your back to the sun. That’s another useful thing to remember. Every Scout knows that when you examine footmarks on the j ground' you should generally do so ! facing towards the sun. Have them 1 between you and the light and you will see them all the better. But this text has a second and a bigger meaning. It means that, when there is any sunshine or brightness about, look out for it when you are in trouble or misfortune, and make the most of it. If you feel inclined to grumble at your lot because you have damaged your leg and can’t play in a game of football think of other poor cripples who can | never play at all. However down on ; your luck you may be. remember there is a bright lining to every cloud. , There is always brightness somewhere jif you only look out for it and don’t deliberately turn your back on it. | True Scouts never wear a worried ilook. So when you see a tenderfoot looking anxious or bored, you say to him: Cheer up! You’ll soon be dead I | When he has had this salutation once 'or twice he will begin to remember I that it is his duty to keep a smile on, not only to lighten his own trouble, whatever it may be, but also to make things brighter for other people around him. I will tell you about some more Scout mottoes another time.