The Boy Scouts.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144197, 13 September 1913, Page 5

The Boy Scouts.

b 7 Scoutmaster

Provincial Commissioner, Rev. G. T, Robson; District Commander, Rev. J. A. Kcmpthorno; District Secretary, Mr. J. R. Sullivan; Inspectors, Major F. W. Sanclford, G. H. M‘Gahey, H. C. Baker, and G. Mcllor; Scoutmasters, Rev. Robson, S. L. Weller, J. R. Sullivan, J. G. M'Gregor, H. Y. M'Gahoy (New Plymouth;, N. D. Day (Waitara). CENTRAL”*TROOP. Progress.—Good work for the badge tests is being done. During the week the following badges. have been obtained :— King Scouts, Sergeant-Major iVlilno and Scout Harker; Signallers, Leaders lledley and Elliot and Scout Harker; Marksman, K. Milne; Path-. Under, P. Barnett; Ambulance, H. iiarkcr. Mooting Night.—ln future this will lie every, Wednesday evening, commencing "at 7 p.m. BE TRUE SCOUTS. I wonder how many of you ever pause to think what Scouting nns done, and vhat it can do in the future? Xu my own district, it has, at any rate, given a number of boys a splendid chance of making the best of themselves, and of thus growing up to be good Christian citizens. More than that, it has given a lot of youngsters, who might have developed into weakly ne’er-do-wells, some idea of what a boy rcahy ought to be, and can be. I can claim that, since the start, of the Scout movement in the neighbourhood in question, there has been far loss bad language and horse play. It is like this, you see: The rough fallow sees that- the Scouts are every way superior to him, though they don’t show off or brag about it. The Boy Scout i& stronger, slraightcr, smarter, cleaner; he is good-tempered, and obliging, and all these things make an imX;ression upon the biggest ruffian. DON’T PLAY AT SCOUTING. So, you see, where there are good Scouts, they can’t -make* the best of themselves "without being of help to, others, and influencing them for good. But this, of course, is‘ true Scout-craft, and hot that form of Scouting 'which - , is merely having a uniform, playing Scouting games, and-enjoying a sum-, mcr camp. The mere holiday camper is hot necessarily. a. Scout at all. He may be just a selfish little humbug, who is trying to get all the fun, without working for it.' What pleases me in a troop, more than anything else, do you know, is the fact.that ifc. keeps together in tho winter—better, if possible, than in the summon .1 hope your troop is like that. ; It otight to be, ■ Of course, the winter is tho time for learning things, and the summer morefor outdoor practice. * After all, however, we must never forget that we belong to an Order of Soouthood, and, as was the caso with the knights of old, the most important thing is the promise, or vow, which keeps us all together. . v WE ARE ALL BROTHERS. When 1 meet a Scout—it doesn’t matter where—l.eay: “Here is a .fellow, who is keeping the promise;, he, can’t be a bad sort-, he is a brother bcout, a member of the same order to, which I belong.” . It is a grand thing to bo able to feel like that, and to make it true aud to keep it true is tho duty of every Scput. Remember, if one Scout gets. slack about his promise, he is tending to. .spoil the'whole movement; he is bringing discredit on aii oaier fceouts, and roobing the whale brotherhood of that feeling of confidence with wnich others have come to regard us. mat is why v:e have to turn out a boy if he does anything dishonourable, mean, of dirty. Have you ever had an ckolric shock from a shocking coil? You know how a whole circle oi- people can join hands, w that the current passes amongst them all. Scouts arc like that. Never mind for tho present where Uio -power, comes from ;• tho Chid Scout has hold of one handle, as it were, and he holds hands with, somebody cUo* and so wo nil stand togather, • a great circle formed by,the brotherhood, and in this .unity of ours we get power to be good Scouts ourselves, and to he-p others/ Let us be loyal audHruo to our Scout promise ail our lives, and we shall revolutionise England and tho world itself. But, if one Scout is unfaithful to his promise, -he, as ifc were, looses hands, and then the ring is broken,' tho current.'doesn’t pass, and tho power is lost. 1

Do you know, we people who are a little older than you oiten feel very sorry there was no Scouthood in our time. How wo would have gloried in it) • How much hotter we would have been now, if wo had been Scouts when w© were boys. Well, what we didn’t have, wo want you to profit by, because we can see, bettor even, than you can, the tremendous value of Scouting. 'I know you won’t mind my saying all this, because I don’t believe there is any such thing as a had boy—or, rather, a boy who wauls to be bad. Some of you are as lively as' crickets, ’ and a few of you together make as much row as half a dozen boilermakers rt -work; but that doesn’t matter much. I only hope yon will be lively, and in good spirits all your lives. When, however, , people tell me. that a boy loves to be hurting something, or cheating, and doing' a lot of other bad things, I simply don’t believe them. I know you are ready to learn, and that you like real fun much better than foolerv. and that is why, you delight in Scouting. THE GAME OF LIFE.. It is a game you aro ploying, but it is a grand one—the same game your ciders are playing, under different conditions, and that is the game of life. You are preparing for this by training your body, soul and spirit. Yes, the whole thing is real, very real indeed, and, because this is so, you are’ bound to want help by the ’way. That means you must have faith, -for without it we can never make the best of ourselves, whilst with it we can bo helped in every trial and difficulty. Scouting would not bo real, and you couldn’t make it so, if faith in God wore loft out. Where would he the use of trying so hard to be good Scouts, if there wero no help from higher powers ? You don’t want to talk about rcli-

gion all the time, any more than yon ■want physical drill to occupy every minute. But you can’t leave out faith, for it is at the back of the whole thing, “I promise on my honour to do my duty to God and the King.” , It is this faith in a higher power which will hold you together as Scouts, and make you really noble men by and by.