The Chief Scout Talks.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1929, Page 9 (Supplement)

The Chief Scout Talks.

A SCOUTS’ CLUB.

THERE ARE CLUBS AND CLUBS. (By Lt. Gen. Lord Jaden-Powell.) I have been in club rooms of many different kinds in my time. Of course there are the clubs in London, where old gentlemen sit in fat arm chairs, read newspapers and have their coffee or cigars brought to them by silent footed waiters. Everything is comfortably done for them and they have strict rules about not talking loudly, or smoking except in the smoking-rooms, so that they may not disturb the comfort

of other members. I belong to one of these myself so I know how very comfortable they are—and how very uncomfortable! Too starchy for me! In Kashmir I came across another kind of club. This was a sort of shed where the old men of the village used to meet in the evenings and tell stories about the tribe and its history. Here the younger men collected round to hear the brave deeds of their fathers in battle and in the chase, and so to learn how to become good men in their turn. THE BACKWOODSMAN’S CLUB. In the Canadian backwoods I have seen log huts put up by hunters and used by themselves or other people coming there for headquarters during their

shooting or fiehing expeditions. These ; ’y huts were built by the men themselves <■ and fitted with al] the woodman’s clever dodges such as simple door locks, rough . < but comfortable furniture, and ornamented with skins and horns they had secured in the chase, as well as with rough drawings or carved totems. That’s the sort of club I like best of all. A REAL SCOUT CLUB. Now a scouts’ clubroom is again different from any of these and yet if it is a wood one it has a touch of them all. ” If it°is to be comfortable and if it is to be a credit to the troop it must be kept clean and carried on in an orderly manner so that, if not exactly like a London club, at any rate it is not'd bear garden. Then, like a French Salle d’Honneur, it should have the trophies and records of the troop displayed on its wallfl, ineluding rolls of honour, records of prizes and competitions, photos of camps, flags, totems, and so on. As in the ease of the Kashmir village club, the scouts’ i.- 7 room is the place where young fellows come to hear about the'gallant deeds of their forbears and fellow-countrymen, and where they pick up the pluck and < spirit to do as these men have done. The club of which any scout is proud- U est is that which he has had a hand in building, or decorating, or furnishing. I have seen, all sorts of scouts’ clubs, bub by far the best and most interesting have been those which the boys have made and equipped for themselves rather than those which have been supplied to them by the generosity of others. DO IT YOURSELF. We all take a pride in something we have made ourselves and’ consequently the scout club that is looked after the fbest and kept the cleanest and most spick and span is the one that has been built entirely by the scouts themselves in their spare time after work or school \ hours, when each fellow turns up and. ;■ does his bit of the work in whatever > line he excels at. • There is nothing in - the inside of such a club that has not & been made by the members themselves; and, though they do not have fat leather i arm chairs, the seats they do have are : well made and strong and such as a scout is proud to offer to a visitor. When I flee a club room like that and hear that the scouts have done it all themselves I know at once that - they are a jolly good and efficient troop > and that the members, whether as a troop or afl individuals, will get on in the world because they can fend for themselves.