The Chief Scout Talks

Taranaki Daily News, 26 March 1932, Page 17 (Supplement)

The Chief Scout Talks

SHELTERS-— HOMES FROM HOME. (By Lt.-Gen. Loyd Baden Powell of Gil well.) I once crawled into a wolf’s lair to see what sort of a place he lived in, . It was a. low cave under an overhanging rock in the side of a dry earth bank. The hole was partly natural and partly dm* out by the wolves. Once inside the wolf was safely sheltered from bad weather, and from view, and from attack by any big animal, since the entrance was so low that he could only just crawl into it himself. It was not unlike the wolf’s cave described in the “Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling, where the tiger came and tried to get hold of Mowgli, the little boy, whom the wolves had rescued from him. The wolves and the boy were safely inside the cave, but the entrance was too low for Mr. Tiger to get in, so he could only glare at them angrily from outside. In the wolf’s cava which I examined there was a projecting, stone in the back, wall of the lair and I found behind this stone a second small cave which had been dug out, evidently by the -young wolves, and they had thus made for themselves a little home of their own. BETTER THAN TENTS. Well, that is an example to the boy wolf-cubs and scouts. , You should, be able to make for yourselves dry, comfortable homes when living out in the woods or plains. It is much better fun to make your own shelter than to buy ready-made tents. You can begin by making one in your own garden. The kind of shelter you make depends, ■ of course, op, the kind of material .you have with, which to make it., A simple one can be made with branches of laurel or fir or any leafy tree covering a slanting stake which rests in the fork of an upright stake. A still better one can be made out of two hurdles, bound together at the top and thatched, with straw. Remember, in making a shelter of leaves or thatched grass, or twigs, you should begin at the bottom and let the upper overlap the lower, just in the same way as tiles or slates are put on in making a roof. This is done in order that when rain comes down it will run off the roof instead of catching in the joints and soaking in. So, in thatching with twigs or branches, begin at the' ground and lay your twigs bushy side to the ground, stem on top; then cover the stem with the bushy part of the

next twig and so on, until you get to the top of the roof. At the beginning of this article I spoke of a real woli • lair as being a, very comfortable sort of cave. So it is —-.for a wolf, but not for a human being. CAVES ARE UNHEALTHY. Caves are generally damp, dark and earthy, and therefore not healthy. Tenderfoots sometimes dig out caves \for themselves to camp in, but no real scout would do that if he could help it, for he knows that living in such a place would soon taake him ill. Also there is the danger—and this has actually happened in cases that 1 know of—that such a cave might fall in on you while you were building it. No, the real Scout will have either a hut or a tent above ground to live in while in camp. s When I was in Canada last time I saw a troop of Boy Scouts in camp.’ They were handy fellows, like most Boy Scouts and all Canadians are. Instead of spending their money in buying or hiring tents or saying that they could not go into camp because they had none, they set to .vork in the long dark evenings and made their own. They got hold of a lot of old corn sacks and a few packing needles and some twine; they slit lip the sacks and stitched them together and mad them into jolly good tents. You can do the same, I am sure, if you only set to work in good time. And don’t leave it until the last minute before going to camp. •

TRICKS TO FLAY WITH A PENNY. There are many things you can do with a penny. In fact, a group of you can amuse yourselves for an afternoon with the tricks and games described here. Take a stout kitchen chair and turn it over on its front legs. On the chair back, near the top, place the- efiin. Now see who, by kneeling on the chair’s legs, can lean forward and pick up the penny with his lips. This is a good'trick and takes practice in balance before you can do it. Six Legs.—Leave the room on two legs and return with six? You can if you walk from the room on your own legs and return carrying a chair. • The four legs of the chair and'your 1 two make six. See if any of your friends can. think of so easy an answer for a puzzling feat. A Penny Jump.-—Place a penny on the floor so that the other boys and girls cannot jump-over it. Even-the tiniest tot thinks she can jump over a pennyplaced on the floor. But if you lay the penny very close to the wall, no. one can jump over it. The Leaping Spark.—Heat a strong •sheet of drawing paper thoroughly, and place on a wooden table. Rub paper 'briskly with a woollen cloth, until it sticks to the table. Place some gramophone needles in the centre of the sheet •of paper. Raise the .paper by the two corners next to you and tell your friend to place his finger close to the needles. This will cause a spark to leap between his finger and the needles. This trick •is performed best in dry weather. A dark room adds to the effect. The spark •is sometimes almost an inch long. A trick of skill requires a visiting card as well as a penny. Place the card on the tip of a left-hand finger,'■ with the penny on the card exactly over the finger-tip. With the right thupb and finger quickly snap the card, which •should spin- across the room, leaving ’the penny in its place.