SCOUT NOTES

Northern Advocate, 24 October 1936, Page 14 (Supplement)

SCOUT NOTES

A CAMP-FIRE SONG

Tune, “Home, Sweet Home.’ ’Mid mountains and ' moorlands though we may tramp. Be the ground e’er so lumpy there’s no place like camp! All wasps in the neighbourhood follow us there, And the grass in our tea is ne’er met with elsewhere. Chorus: Camp, camp, dry or damp. There’s no place like camp, There’s no place like camp! Though scorched by the sun and though soaked in the rain, Oh, give me my tent and my ground-sheet again! The ants and the earwigs which bite, buzz and crawl — Give me them! and the outdoor, life dearer than all! «--“The Rover World.”

Scouts Pace. You have probably heard how wonderful the Zulus and other savage tribes are in covering long distances at fast speeds, and yet being quite fit at the end of their journeys, writes “Barnacle” in the “Scouts’ Weekly.” They perform this seemingly difficult feat in quite a simple manner, trotting along until they are nearly puffed, then breaking into an easy walk. When they feel rested, off they go once more at a trot. These savages are very fine fellows, in perfect training, and have not much in the way of clothes to hamper them.

They cover six or even mere miles in an hour, going on for hours on end without being in the least distressed at the end of their journey.

The “Chief,” knowing this, expects Scouts to do something of the same sort, which is called “Scout’s Pace.” We jog-trot, say, twenty or thirty steps, then walk the same number, so timing ourselves that we cover a mile in twelve minutes, or five miles in an hour.

You may ask what is the use of this in a civilised country, but let me assure you that not only is it useful, but essential, especially to a Scout.

A minute saved in many emergencies may mean the difference between life and death., It is not a bit of good if you have to go even two or three miles, to find you are so exhausted at the end of the first mile that you areforced to rest.

Ways With Morse. Dummy Morse. —The Scouts stand in file in patrols, the first one facing the S.M., and the others standing with their backs to He signals a letter to the first Scout, who turns round and sig»als it on the next Scout’s back, a stroke downwards with the finger meaning a dash, and a poke meaning a dot. This is continued to the end of the patrol, and the last one writes it down. After each letter the front Scout goes to the end of the patrol so that each one gets a turn at reading. At the end of the word, the first patrol up with the word correct wins a point.