Young Knights of the Empire : Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns

by Baron Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baden-Powell of Gilwell

YOUNG KNIGHTS OF THE EMPIRE

THE SCOUT LAW

Perhaps you wonder what is a Young Knight of the Empire.

Well, you know what a knight is—or rather, used to be in the old days—a gallant fellow who was always ready to defend weaker people when they were being bullied; he was brave and honourable, and ready to risk his life in doing his duty according to the code or law of Chivalry.

Well, nowadays there are thousands of boys all over the British Empire carrying out the same idea, and making themselves into fine, reliable men, ready to take the place of those who have gone away to fight and who have fallen at the Front. These are the Boy Scouts. Their code is the Scout Law—that is, a set of ten rules which they carry out in their daily life.

I will explain these Laws, and will give you some other yarns of camp life and adventure such as the Scouts go in for.

HONOUR

Law 1. A SCOUT'S HONOUR IS TO BE TRUSTED.

If a Scout says "On my honour it is so," that means it is so, just as if he had taken a most solemn oath.

Similarly if a Scout officer says to a Scout, "I trust you on your honour to do this," the Scout is bound to carry out the order to the very best of his ability, and to let nothing interfere with his doing so.

If a Scout were to break his honour by telling a lie, or_ by not carrying out an order exactly when trusted on his honour to do so, he may be directed to hand over his Scout badge and never wear it again. He may also be directed to cease to be a Scout._

People of a civilised country, just like boys in a school, are bound to conduct themselves in a proper manner, because of the law which causes them to be punished if they misbehave. There is a code of laws drawn up for this purpose.

But there is another kind of law which binds people just as much as their written laws, though this one is neither written nor published.

This unwritten law is Honour.

A boy who has clambered over the school wall to go out of bounds and smoke secretly has committed an offence against the published law of the school. If next day the master asks in school, "Who has broken out of bounds?" the boy is not bound by the law to confess that he did; he can remain silent and thus escape punishment; but he is a poor-spirited creature if he does so, and has no sense of honour. If he is honourable he will manfully and honestly tell the master that he broke out and will stand whatever punishment comes of it. By so doing he will have proved to the master and to the other boys that he is manly and not afraid to tell the truth, and is to be relied upon because he puts his honour before all.

So the first training that the Boy Scout gets is to understand that Honour is his own private law which is guided by his conscience, and that once he is a Scout he must be guided in all his doings by his sense of Honour.

LOYALTY

Law 2. A SCOUT IS LOYAL to the King, and to his officers, and to his parents, his Country, his employers, and to those under his orders. He must stick to them through thick and thin against anyone who is their enemy or who even talks badly of them.

There was a Scoutmaster in the East End of London who when the war broke out felt it his duty to give up the splendid work he was doing amongst the poor boys of the East End in order to take up service for his Country.

Scoutmaster Lukis—for that is his name—felt bound, by his sense of loyalty to his King and his Country, to give up the life he was then living and face the dangers of soldiering on active service.

But the example which he set in loyalty was promptly followed by some eighty young fellows who were his Scouts or Old Scouts.

Their loyalty to him made them wish to follow their leader wherever his duty led him. So they became soldiers like himself and all went together to the Front.

A day came when the trenches which they were holding were heavily shelled. The danger was great and the losses were heavy, and finally a piece of shrapnel struck Captain Lukis in the leg and shattered his thigh. Two of his East London Boy Scout's sprang to his assistance and tended him with devoted care. They waited for a lull in the firing and finally between them they carried him, although exposed to a deadly fire, to a place of safety. While so doing one of them was hit and severely wounded.

But the spirit of the lads was splendid. They cared nothing for their own safety so that they got their beloved Scoutmaster out of danger. That was loyalty.

Loyalty means faithfulness. Your dog is faithful to you and sticks to you even though you may beat him. He overlooks your faults and your unkindness and remains loyal to you.

Loyalty begins at home.

Some boys are always thinking that their parents are wrong or unfair to them. If you think that your parents have any faults, don't look at those faults. Be loyal to your parents; remember only that it is thanks to them that you are alive and able to be a Scout.

Obey your parents, believe in them, and respect them; if you can at any time help them, do so. By doing these things you are being loyal to them. By being loyal to them you are carrying out that commandment of the Bible which says: "Honour thy father and thy mother." Be loyal, also, in the same way-by obeying and thinking no evil and by backing them up-to your Patrol-leader, your Scoutmaster, and your schoolmaster. If you are a working boy carry out the same idea towards your foreman, your manager, and your employer.

On taking up your work, you have agreed to do a certain amount for a certain wage, and it is loyalty on your part then to stick to that agreement and to give good work in return for your pay.

If, on the other hand, you are a well-to-do boy and come to have a servant or a man working under you as you grow older, you should equally be loyal to him. Remember that in taking him on you expect a certain amount of work from him for the money you give him; if you find that he gives you more work than you agreed for, you will be acting loyally to him if you then increase his wage: but never go back on your agreement, and do not try to make more money out of him than you meant to do when first making the contract. So, too, if you are a Patrol or other leader, and if those under you get into trouble through carrying out your ideas, be loyal to them; own up that it was through your fault that they did wrong.

Whatever line of life you may be in, be loyal to God, to your King, and to your Country.

* * * * *

ANTARCTIC SCOUTING.

All Boy Scouts know of Sir Ernest Shackleton, a brother peace-scout of the Empire—and a first-class one, too.

On one of his voyages of exploration to the South Pole he was very nearly successful in getting to that point, he was within ninety-seven miles of it, in fact, when his food supplies gave out, and he and those with him were in great danger of starving, and had, most unwillingly, to turn back to regain their ship.

They had left the ship when they had got her as far south as was possible through the ice; they then went on foot over land and sea, all hard frozen and covered with snow, and they took their food with them, and stored depots, or what Scouts would call "caches," to use on their return journey. For weeks they struggled along over difficult ground.

One day in January, although they had cut down their rations and ate as little as possible (so little indeed that they were getting weak), they found that they were coming to the end of their food, and they must either turn back or go on and die, in which case the record of their work would have been lost. So they planted a flagstaff with the Union Jack on it, and left a box containing a notice that they had annexed the land for Great Britain and King Edward VII.

They took a long look with their field-glasses in the direction of the South Pole to see if any mountains were to be seen, but there were none. And then they started on their desperate tramp to the ship.

They made a number of interesting and useful discoveries. They came upon mountains and glaciers of ice, and mineral rocks of coal and limestone.

And they found tiny insects which are able to live in the ice, and when they boiled them, they did not kill them!

They found that the penguins, the great wingless birds which sit up and look just like people, enjoyed listening to a gramophone, which they set going for their benefit.

But their journey back was a very anxious and trying experience for them.

In order to guide them they had planted flags here and there along their path, but storms came and blew them down, and it was, therefore, most difficult to find their way from one food depot to another. They did it largely by spooring their old tracks.

This is how Sir Ernest Shackleton describes their doings on one particular day:

"We were thirty miles from our depot. Although we could see it in the distance, it was practically unattainable, for soft snow covered treacherous crevasses, and as we stumbled along in our search for food we seemed to get no nearer to our longed-for goal. The situation was desperate.

"Two of our party, utterly worn out and exhausted, fell in harness, but with the greatest pluck again pushed on as soon as they had temporarily recovered. It was with a feeling of devout thankfulness that we crossed the last crevasse and secured some food. Beyond a little tea we had had nothing for thirty-four hours, and previously to that our last meal consisted merely of one pannikin of half-cooked pony maize-not much foundation for work under such conditions, and with an extremely low temperature. Under these conditions we marched sixteen miles in twenty-two hours.

"On another occasion during that same journey we were all struck down with dysentery, and this at a distance of ninety miles from our depot. Though the weather was fine, we were all too weak to move, but here, as on other occasions, Providence came to our rescue, and strong southerly blizzards helped us along.

"From December 4th, 1908, to February 23rd, 1909, we lived in a state of constant anxiety, intensified by more acute knowledge gained from narrow escapes and close contact with death. Over and over again there were times when no mortal leadership could have availed us.

"It was during these periods that we learnt that some Power beyond our own guided our footsteps. If we acknowledged this—as we did—down among the ice, it is only fitting that we should remember it now when the same Power has brought us safely home through all these troubles and dangers. No one who has seen and experienced what we have done there can take credit to himself for our escape from what appeared to be overwhelming difficulties."

Sir Ernest Shackleton also praises the conduct of his officers and men as helping largely to their success. He says:

"We were all the best of comrades. Every man denied himself, and was eager to do his level best."

True Scouts, all of them.

* * * * *

SOME FAMOUS VICTORIES THROUGH LOYALTY TO LEADERS.

Trafalgar.

The month of October is full of glorious national memories for Scouts.

On October 21st, 1805, was fought the battle of Trafalgar, when the British Fleet, under Admiral Lord Nelson, attacked and defeated the combined forces of French and Spanish men-of-war.

It looked almost hopeless for a small fleet to attack so large a one; but Nelson made that grand signal which called on every man that day to do his duty, and every man, like a true Scout, did his duty, even though in many a case it cost him his life.

Nelson himself showed the example, for he drove his ship in between two of the enemy's ships and fought them, one against two. He never attempted to take cover, but exposed himself to danger as much as anyone, and was killed at the moment of victory. The sailors of to-day still wear a black silk neckerchief round their necks as a sign of mourning for the great admiral.

* * * * *

BALACLAVA.

Then on October 25th, 1854, in the Crimea, in South Russia, took place two grand charges by the British cavalry-against the Russian cavalry.

One of these, the charge of the Light Brigade, every boy knows about, but somehow the charge of the Heavy Brigade is not so much talked about, although it was equally fine in its way.

I have been lucky, because I have served in two cavalry regiments, and
both of them were in these charges one, the 13th Hussars, was in the
Light Brigade, and the other, the 5th Dragoon Guards, was in the Heavy
Brigade.

I don't mean that I was in the charges, too-no; I wasn't born then!
But I am very proud to belong to two regiments that were there.

Hussar regiments are called light cavalry, because they used to have small, light-weight men who could ride far and fast to scout the enemy. Dragoons were heavy troopers on big, strong horses, who by their weight and long swords could deliver an overwhelming charge upon an enemy.

A Brigade consists of three regiments. Two Brigades make up a
Division. So the Cavalry Division in the Crimea was made up of a Light
Brigade and a Heavy Brigade.

On October 25th the Light Cavalry Brigade got the order to charge the
Russian artillery, which was supported by the infantry and cavalry.

It was a hopeless task. The order had really been given by mistake. But that did not matter to men who were accustomed to obey. They charged, and, though it cost them a great number of gallant lives, they carried out their duty with such bravery and dash as to command the highest praise even from their enemies, and they won for British soldiers the name of being ready to sacrifice their lives to carry out their orders, even though the job looked hopeless. That is why Scouts to-day have as their motto the single word,

"BALACLAVA"

to remind them that if they get an order which it is a bore or even a danger to perform, their duty is to do as their brave fathers did at Balaclava, and carry it out cheerily and well.

Now I will tell you about the charge of the Heavy Brigade,

* * * * *

"THE THIN RED LINE."

You have often heard the British Army talked of as "the thin red line." Well, it got that title at Balaclava. Four hundred men of the 93rd Highlanders and a battalion of Turks were posted to guard the road leading to the harbour of Balaclava, when the Russians, some twenty thousand strong, proceeded to attack them. The Turks didn't like the look of things, so they turned tail and bolted but the brave Sir Cohn Campbell, who was in command of the Highlanders, said to them:

"My lads, remember there is no retreat from here. You must die where you stand."

And the gallant fellows meant to do it if they had to die—but they were not the sort to say die before they were dead They formed a line—a "thin red line," as it was afterwards described—on a small rising ground, and received the first charge of the Russian cavalry with so well-aimed and deadly a fire, at close range, that it put the others off charging for a while.

The British Commander-in-Chief, seeing their danger, sent a message to the Heavy Brigade of cavalry, who were camped in the neighbourhood, to go to their assistance.

The "Heavies" were already parading just outside their camp, when suddenly there appeared over the rising ground, within half a mile of them, the head of a big force of Russian cavalry quietly advancing towards them. Rather a startling apparition when the squadrons were all moving out of camp to form up on parade.

But the General—General Scarlett—did not lose his head or hesitate for a moment.

The enemy were on the left flank of the squadrons as they were moving out. He ordered them to wheel into line to the left, and, without the usual first orders to "Trot" and then to "Gallop," he directed his trumpeter to sound "Charge!" and he at once turned his horse towards the enemy, and started, with his staff officer and orderly, at a gallop to lead the attack.

"DO OR DIE."

The Brigade saw what was wanted. They did not wait to form into one line—that operation would have taken time—but each squadron wheeled up, and, closing in towards its neighbour, galloped forward to back up the General in the charge.

The Scots Greys, in red tunics and bearskins, mounted on their grey horses, were in the front line with some of the Irish Inniskilling Dragoons, and close behind them came the 5th Dragoon Guards and the 1st Royal Dragoons, with their red tunics and shining helmets.

There were not more than three hundred of them altogether, while the
Russian column amounted to some twelve thousand. 'It looked as if the
British must be smashed up by such overwhelming odds.

[Illustration: This sketch map stows the positions of the British and
Russian Forces in the charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaclava.]

But the General knew that he must do his best to save "the thin red line" from being overridden, and the men knew that they had got the order to "charge," and it was their business to carry out the order, and not to look at the danger in doing it. So they charged.

The Russians were not less astonished than the British had been; instead of surprising the British, they were themselves surprised.

For a minute or two they hesitated. No officer gave any command, no one knew quite what to do, and in another minute the bolt burst upon them.

General Scarlett and his staff came—bang, smash!—right through their front ranks, followed immediately by the crashing weight of the Greys and the wildly cheering Inniskillings.

The shock of this charge rolled the foremost ranks of the Russians down underfoot as it ploughed its way into the centre of the column, and gave a sort of backward surge to the whole mass-for the Russian force was simply a big, square mass of men and horses.

Our charge, being made by a very small body, only broke into the central part of the Russian front, so the two flanks of their line wheeled forward like two arms to enfold it. But just as they were in the act of doing so they were caught by our second line of Royal Dragoons, 5th Dragoon Guards and Inniskillings; and were rolled up and ridden over in an awful confusion.

These heavy blows seemed to send the great Russian mass staggering backwards, when at this critical moment two more squadrons of Heavies, belonging to the 4th Dragoon Guards, suddenly plunged into the right flank of the Russian column, and completed its break-up.

It reeled again, and in a few minutes more was gradually melting and spreading over the hills behind in hurried flight from the battlefield. And the thin red line was saved.

The whole fight had lasted only eight minutes, the British loss was fifty killed and wounded, while the Russians lost about four hundred.

This battle, like Trafalgar and like many other British victories, showed that, with good, plucky leaders, backed up by men who can be trusted to obey their orders, we could attack overwhelming forces against us and come out victorious every time.

Without discipline it could never have been done.

* * * * *

THE LOYALTY OF JACK TARS.

Sir Christopher Myngs was one of the tough sea-dogs of the British
Navy in the old days.

He was killed in action at sea in 1666. He had been wounded by a bullet in the throat, but he held the wound together with his fingers and went on fighting till a second shot struck him, and he shortly afterwards died of his wounds. He was a splendid leader, brave and strict, and beloved by his men.

His body was brought ashore to be buried in London, and at the funeral a party of sailors came up to the carriage in which Sir W. Coventry sat, and the leader of them, with tears in his eyes, asked him to beg of the King to give them an old ship which they might use as a fire-ship, and with which they might sail into the middle of the enemy's fleet and set fire to it.

They would, of course, all lose their lives in doing this, but they did not mind so long as they could avenge the death of their beloved leader.

It was a fine spirit of loyalty to their chief which led these simple seamen to do this, and their loyalty—not the spirit of revenge—is an example to all to be loyal to their chief in whatever line they may be. Don't look out for faults in him; note his good points, and stick to him through thick and thin, for the good of what you and he are doing together whether it is defending your Country or running a big business.

USEFULNESS

Law 3. A SCOUT'S DUTY IS TO BE USEFUL AND TO HELP OTHERS.

And he is to do his duty before anything else, even though he gives up his own pleasure or comfort or safety to do it. When in difficulty to know which of two things to do, he must ask himself, "Which is my duty?" that is, "Which is best for other people?"—and do that one.

He must Be Prepared at any time to save life or to help injured persons.

And must try his best to do a good turn to somebody every day.

* * * * *

DO IT NOW.

Once when driving in my car I passed a man on a sunny, dusty road, and I thought after I had passed him whether I might not have offered to give him a lift. Then I thought probably he would be only going a short distance to some house a little farther along the road.

As I sped farther and farther upon my way, I saw no house and no turning, and therefore I argued that the poor man would have to be walking all this dusty way when I might have given him a lift.

But while I sat all this time thinking, my car was rushing me miles away from the spot. Eventually I made up my mind that I ought to go back and do my good turn to the man. But I had gone so far that when I got back again to where I expected to find him, he was not to be seen. He had evidently taken some short cut across the fields, and I never saw him again.

But the memory of it lingered in my mind for a long time, and ever since that, when driving along, I have been quick to make up my mind and use the opportunity when it has presented itself, of giving a lift to any weary wayfarer.

I don't want to make out myself as being so very good for doing this kind of good turn, for that is easy enough with a motor-car; but what I do want to point out is that you should never let your chance go by, else you may regret it, as it might not occur again. Your motto should be—"Do it now."

* * * * *

GOOD TURNS.

Always remember that in going through this world we only pass this way once, and if we miss our chance it never comes again.

I believe that our first business in life is to be happy. This world with all its beauties and its sunshine of happiness was meant for us to enjoy. When clouds come over with grief or pain, they are only the contrasts to show us what true happiness is and to make us appreciate it when it comes.

The shortest and most certain way to happiness is to make other people happy. Even if we cannot make them happy, we can at least be helpful to them. But so often we forget to do this, or, as I did in the motor-car, leave it till too late, and let the chance slip by.

In order to be continually happy, the thing is to be continually doing good turns. To get a habit you must at first carry out a great deal of practice, and that is why it is part of the Scout Law to do a good turn every day.

At first it may come a little difficult to remember each day that you have this duty to do, and you may have some trouble in finding a job that will be helpful to other people but if you stick to it, and force yourself to do it day by day, it very soon grows into a habit with you, and you then find how many little things you can do which all count as good turns although small in themselves.

I could tell you endless yarns of the different kinds of "good turns" which the Boy Scouts have done, but one of the most pleasing that I have heard lately was when a Scout carefully placed a piece of orange peel on the pavement, and when asked why he had done this, said:

"I am doing a good turn to some other Scout by giving him the opportunity of doing his good turn by removing that orange peel so that people will not slip on it!"

* * * * *

"AN AWFUL ACCIDENT."

A poor fellow was lying pretty badly hurt when I came upon him one afternoon. His left leg was broken, and an artery in his right arm was cut through, while he was evidently badly burnt about the chest.

How it all happened I didn't stop to inquire—I merely looked at the steps which had already been taken to doctor him. His arm was bound up with a handkerchief "tourniquet," twisted tight with a stick, to stop the blood squirting from the artery; his leg was bound between two straight bits of wood; and his tummy was covered with a mixture of wool, oil, and flour, which suggested that with a little more roasting the patient would have made a good pie!

I need scarcely add there was not much the matter with him except that he belonged to a patrol of Boy Scouts who were practising "first aid."

In the same troop another patrol were cooking a very savoury Irish stew, mixing dough on a haversack (which, I think, is quite as good as my way of doing it inside my coat!), and baking bread in an oven made out of an old biscuit tin, and roasting "twists" made on stakes planted near the fire. (For "Tenderfoots," anxious for details as to how these things are done, I recommend a study of the chapter on camp cooking in Scouting for Boys.)

The point about this cooking was that the food was being really well cooked, and fit for anyone to eat with enjoyment.

In the same troop signallers were at work sending and receiving messages. And also one of their horsemen was there to act as mounted dispatch rider, with a smart pony which he was able to saddle and look after as well as to ride. Nearly every Scout in this troop was a First Class Scout, of an average age of thirteen.

Two hundred yards from their little camp was another troop of younger Scouts, of about eleven years of age. All were busy cooking their teas at numerous little camp fires at the time when I saw them, and made a most picturesque scene.

Then a third troop had its camp in a different spot, where three patrols of boys of about fifteen years of age were collected. Fine, strapping, long-limbed types of Britons. It was a pleasure to see them going "Scout pace" across the grass, and a still greater pleasure when I found that they were as good Scouts as they looked. Nearly all were First Class Scouts. I was invited to hand out to them the Efficiency Badges they had been winning.

These included quite a number of First Class, Cyclists', Firemen's,
Musicians', Electricians', Cooks', etc.

I had just said a few words to the troop of my pleasure at seeing them so smart and so efficient, when the alarm was given that the school buildings were on fire. A few brief words of command were given by the Scoutmaster, and each patrol streaked off in a different direction at a great pace. We hurried to the scene of the outbreak, and had just time to see (in our mind's eye only) dense clouds of smoke with tongues of flame and showers of sparks bursting from the doomed building, while the windows were alive with terrified women and screaming children—that is what we were picturing—when out came a knot of Scouts running the fire-hose into position, and joining it up from one part of the building, while from another there came a second patrol trundling along the great giraffe-like fire-escape. Within four minutes of the alarm the leading fireman was up on the ladder directing the nozzle of the hose-pipe with a strong jet of water on the windows of the (supposed) burning chamber.

It was all very smartly, quickly, and quietly carried out, and the patrols thoroughly deserved the Firemen's Badges which they had won.

Denstone College, where I saw all this, is one of the great schools which have taken up scouting as a sport and training for their boys; and the results, according to the masters who act as Scoutmasters, are most satisfactory.

* * * * *

SCOUTS' GOOD TURNS.

Recently, all in the one day, I came across three cases of Scouts doing their duty.

One lady told me that when travelling in a crowded train she and her daughter were put into a carriage which was already crammed full of boys.

She did not like it a bit at first, but she soon found the difference between "Scouts" and "boys." These were "Scouts," and they at once helped the ladies and their baggage into the carriage, and then made plenty of room for them by sitting on each other's knees, and kept order and behaved so nicely that she fell in love with all of them, and talked with them and found them "quite charming and gentlemanly."

Another lady told me that some Scouts had asked leave to camp in her grounds, and as she has allowed boys to do this for some years past, she did not like to refuse them: at the same time she was not very glad to have them, because she had found it expensive and troublesome every year to have to get the camping-ground cleaned up and set right after they had gone.

The day after the Scouts had finished their camp, she sent as usual some men to work on the camp-ground, when to her astonishment, they came back and said there was no work to be done there, the ground was all clean, rubbish and ashes removed, and turf replaced. And then she remembered that these were "Scouts," not ordinary boys, who had been camping there—and she will be glad to see them there again whenever they like to come!

The weather this morning was beautifully hot and fine, but in the afternoon it suddenly changed to cold, windy, and steady rain. Numbers of ladies and children had gone out for a day on the beach or in the country. In one case a woman and her two children had to come back part of the way in an open boat, and then in a steam-launch, in their summer clothes, without umbrellas or waterproofs.

A Scout who was there seemed to have foreseen bad weather, as he had two waterproof coats, and he gave up one and offered it to cover the children.

"Well!" you would say, "that is easy enough, and he kept himself dry and snug in the other."

No, he didn't, he put that on the woman, and went and did the best he could for himself on the lee side of the deck; he put a smile on and pretended that a cold trickle down the back is a good thing for the complexion; and that is what any other Scout would have done in the circumstances.

* * * * *

GALLANTRY OF BOY SCOUTS IN HELPING THE POLICE.

On different occasions I have had the pleasure of issuing Silver
Medals to Scouts for gallantry in saving life or assisting the police.

Scoutmaster Crowther, of the Huddersfield Boy Scouts, went to the assistance of a police constable who was being violently assaulted by some roughs in a slum. Although he was knocked about himself in doing so, Crowther managed to help the officer, and, by blowing his whistle, to get more police on to the scene. The principal offenders were arrested, and ultimately got six months' imprisonment from the magistrate, who at the same time highly complimented Mr. Crowther on his plucky action.

Scout P. L. G. Brown, of the 7th (All Saints) Southampton Troop, did much the same thing. He saw a police constable struggling with four violent roughs, and, although there was a hostile crowd round them, Brown remembered his duty and dashed in to help the officer. Although he got a kick on the knee, he was able to get hold of the policeman's whistle and to blow it, and in this way brought more police upon the scene, so that the four men were arrested and punished.

Brown himself went away without giving his name or making any fuss about what he had done, but he was discovered and later on received the Silver Medal.

Then, when I was reviewing the Gateshead Scouts, I heard of the case of two Boy Scouts being rewarded by the magistrate for their gallantry in assisting the police.

The Scouts of Newton Abbot were at hand when a motor-car dashed into a cart, smashing it up and injuring the two occupants. The Scouts detained the car; and although the motorists endeavoured to drive off, they put their staves between the spokes of the wheels and hung on and prevented the car getting away until the police came up and took charge.

It was splendid how these Scouts showed such pluck and readiness in helping the King's officers. They got knocked about in doing so, but what are a few bruises? They wore off in a few days; but the thing that won't wear off is the satisfaction that each one of those Scouts will feel for the rest of his life—namely, that he did his duty.

* * * * *

THE SCOUT OF LABRADOR.

Dr. Wilfred Grenfell is an ideal type of peace Scout, and during his labours as a missionary in Labrador he has had many adventures.

On one occasion he had to visit a sick man at a place two days' journey from where he lived, and he started off with his sledge and team of dogs, to cross a frozen arm of the sea, which would save him a long journey round by land. But it was in the month of April, when the sea ice was beginning to get treacherous and to break up.

The distance across the ice was about seven miles, with an island about half-way.

He reached the island all right, and was pushing on from there to the opposite mainland, when he found that the ice was becoming rotten and soft—what is called "sish"—that is, pounded ice formed from big slabs which have been ground together by the action of the sea.

As he found himself sinking in this, together with his sledge, he slipped off his heavy oilskins and coat, and quickly got out his knife and cut the traces of his dog-team, winding the leader's trace round his wrist.

In this way he was himself pulled along by the dogs plunging through the slush. The leading dog got on to a solid ice-floe, and Grenfell was gladly hauling himself up to him by the trace, when the dog slipped all his harness off, and his master was left, sinking among the other dogs in the "sish."

Then he luckily caught the trace of another, and pulled himself along that till he managed to get on to the block of ice, on to which he helped the rest of the dogs.

But it was quite a small block, which would soon break up, so he saw that the only chance was to struggle on through the "porridge-ice" till he could reach a bigger floe, which could serve as a raft for him.

He did not, as some people might have done, give up all hope; he wasn't going to say die till he was dead.

So he took off his gauntlets and moccasins and packed them on to the dogs' backs, then he secured their harness so that it could not slip off, and tied the traces round his wrists so that the team would drag him through; then he tried to start.

But the dogs did not like facing the danger, and he had to push them off the block; even then they only struggled to get back, till a particularly favourite dog understanding him when he threw a bit of ice on to another "pan" or block? started, and so led the others to get to it.

In this way, dragging their master after them, the dogs struggled from pan to pan, till at last they reached one larger than the rest, about ten feet by twelve in size.

It was not real solid ice, but a block of powdered ice, which might fall to bits at any time. Still, it was the best they could get, and with the rising wind and current it soon floated with them on to more open water, and began to drift away from the shore and down the coast. So they had no choice but to make the best of a very poor substitute for a raft.

The cold was intense, and poor Grenfell, like a clever Scout, at once thought out a plan for making himself a coat. His moccasins were long, soft boots made of sealskin reaching to the thigh, so he slit these up with his knife, and, by means of a bit of line, he made them into a kind of cape to put on his back.

Hours passed, and they kept drifting out from the coast, and night was approaching.

Then he saw that he must have more clothing, and also that he and the dogs must have some food the only thing to do was to sacrifice one of his beloved team. So he made a noose with one of the traces, and slipped it over a dog's neck, and tied it to his own foot; then, holding its head down in this way, he threw the dog on its back, and stabbed it to the heart.

Two more were killed in the same way. Then he skinned them and stitched their hides together with thin strips of leather, and thus made himself a coat, with the fur inside.

All the clothes he had had on till then were some old football things he had come across that morning in his house. A pair of football shorts and stockings of the Richmond Football Club (red, yellow, and black), and a flannel shirt and sweater, so he was practically in Boy Scout's kit rather than what you would expect a missionary-doctor to be wearing.

But then, you see, he was quite as much a Scout as he was a doctor or missionary; and we understand from this story how, like a Scout, he was able to turn his hand to anything and invent for himself the different means for saving his life although he was all alone with his dogs on a small lump of rotten ice floating past the coast of Labrador.

There was one little point in which, perhaps, a Boy Scout could have helped him had he been there. As darkness came on, he thought he would light up a flare, which would catch the attention of anyone on shore, so he frayed out a piece of rope and smeared it with the fat of the dead dogs, and was about to light it when he found that his matches had got wet, and in that damp air he could not get them dry.

I wonder whether he thought of the Scout's dodge of drying them in his hair for a minute or two?

[Illustration: Dr. Grenfell as he appeared on the ice-floe, with a cloak of dog-skins, and puttees made of flannel taken from a dog's traces. He used his shirt for a flag, and made a flagstaff of frozen dogs' legs.]

In order to keep warm he used one of the dead dogs as a seat, with the other dogs hugged close round him for warmth. His feet being in thin moccasins, which easily got wet through, were freezing with cold till he thought of an idea for keeping them warm.

He had seen the Laplanders put a lot of grass into their boots before pulling them on, and then filling up the legs with as much more grass as they could cram in.

There was not much grass growing on his ice-floe, so Grenfell had to invent something to use in place of it; he cut from the dogs' traces some flannel with which they were lined to prevent chafing, and with this he stuffed the moccasins, and so made them warmer, and then bound the remainder round his knees as puttees.

In this way he got sufficient warmth to enable him to sleep. Towards morning he awoke with the idea that he must make something in the way of a flag to attract the notice of people on shore, and to show them that there was someone in distress on the ice.

The question was, how to make a flagstaff? I wonder whether a Boy
Scout could have seen a way?

Grenfell took the frozen legs of the three dead dogs, and bound them together with strips of raw hide, and thus manufactured a staff, on to which he then tied his shirt to act as a flag. It worked very well till the sun rose, and then the legs began to melt a little, and the flagstaff became a very wobbly one; and, as the Doctor describes it, "almost tied itself into knots."

Like a true Scout, Grenfell never despaired; he kept thinking out different ways by which he might survive the danger.

He thought of setting light to some unravelled rope by using a piece of ice to act as a burning glass. In this way he hoped to attract the attention of the people on shore by a smoke signal; but, while he was busy preparing it, he saw the distant sparkle of what looked like an oar from a boat, presently he saw it again, and soon he could see the boat itself.

His flag had been seen by the fishermen, and they pushed out in their boat through the frozen ice till they got him and his faithful dogs all safely aboard.

One man had seen him the night before just as it was getting dark, and had spread the news down the coast, so that all the time, though he did not know it, anxious eyes were watching him.

The only difficulty was to get a boat through the mass of broken ice-floes and drifting ice, which covered the heaving surface of the sea between him and the shore, but pluck and strong arms did it.

In the end his rescuers brought him safely ashore, where every man, woman and child in the settlement was on the beach to welcome him with cheers and—many of them—with tears of joy.

Doctor Grenfell says that during the whole of this terrible experience he did not once feel fear. He felt that he would probably lie down and sleep his last sleep on that ice-floe; the thought did not disturb him very much.

At the same time, he did feel something of that regret which comes to all people when dying, and that was the remembrance of how much time he had wasted (even he!) when he had life and opportunities for doing good for other people, and how he had let his opportunities slide by without doing so much as he might have done.

So keep on doing good turns every minute whenever you can get a chance of doing them, and then when you are face to face with death, you will be able to say:

"Well, I did my best to do my duty. I did not waste much time on other things."

* * * * *

A PLUCKY BOY SCOUT.

It is not always in the field of action that Scouts can show their heroism; sometimes it is at home or in their private life, where their deeds are not so much seen. Here is a case:

Patrol Leader Leonard Sanderson, of the 1st Jesmond Troop, met with a bad lift accident, and smashed his thigh. But even when in awful pain, and in the shock of the sudden accident, he made light of it for fear of worrying his parents. Then he was for many weeks in hospital, and had to undergo several operations, but he was always cheerful and patient.

Many presents of fruit came to him, but, like a true Scout he shared them with the other patients. He made toys for the sick children, and helped the nurses to roll bandages. He never forgot his duty as a Scout, and proved himself a good example for others to follow.

* * * * *

A SCOUT WHO WAS A SCAMP.

"The boy who stopped the runaway horse would never have done it if he had not been a Scout. He was formerly a first-class young scamp and always in some mischief."

That is what the report says of him.

But that is what happens when a lad becomes a Scout; he is no longer a fool-boy, who goes about yelling aimlessly and making himself a nuisance to everybody. Instead of that he smartens into a manly fellow, ready at any moment to give a helping hand to anybody who wants it, and without taking any reward for it, and without thinking how poor or rich, how old or young the person may be.

I was talking once to a well-known nobleman, who told me that he broke his leg not long ago, and when it was getting right his doctor advised him to go and walk a little every day with two sticks to support him.

He accordingly went to Hampstead Heath, and was waddling along quite comfortably, an inch at a time, when a patrol of Scouts came up, and the Leader saluted and said:

"May we help you, sir? We could make a stretcher out of our coats and staves, and carry you."

The Duke said that when he looked at the boys and thought of them trying to carry him—for he is not a small man—he nearly laughed aloud; but as it was he thanked them very much and told them how he was walking purposely to get his leg into working order.

This kind intention, however, has given the Scouts a warm place in his heart.

* * * * *

TRACKING EXERCISE.

When I am walking along a road or path, I generally do a little tracking every day, because it is only by constant practice that a fellow can learn tracking or can keep his eye in when he has learnt it. It is quite easy and simple to do, only Scouts often do not think of doing it.

Here, for instance, is what I did one morning. There is nothing wonderful in it, but Scouts will understand all the better that such practice should be an everyday matter, and not merely attempted on some great occasion. It is bound to be a failure then if it has not been regularly gone in for before.

My practice was on an ordinary country road, dry and hard, with a slight layer of dust in most places, up and down hill; between high hedges; no wind (wind, you know, soon flattens out tracks in dust and makes them look much older than they really are).

At about eight o'clock in the morning, as I passed from one field to another, I crossed the main road at the point where it reached the top of a hill.

I read some news on the ground, and this is what it said

"Mrs. Sharp is ill this morning; and Johnny Milne has been to the railway station to fetch some newspapers."

This was how I got at it.

There were only two fresh tracks. One was of a boy walking and the other of a bicycle.

The boy's footmarks showed a nailed boot, not big enough for a man, walking along the road which led to the school and to the railway station. It was Saturday, a whole holiday, so he could not be going to school; he would therefore be going to the station.

Why to the station? Because at 7.33 the train came with the newspapers, and there were his tracks going back again, (They occasionally overtrod the outgoing footprints.)

One boy in the village, Johnny Milne, was employed by the shop to fetch the papers from the train.

So if the train were punctual he would have passed this spot on his way back about twenty minutes later; that was at seven minutes to eight.

[Illustration: "Mrs. Sharp is ill, and Johnny Milne has brought the newspapers from the station.">[

Now, the bicycle track showed that the machine was ridden up the hill (the track zig-zagged along the road, whereas if it had been running downhill it would have gone pretty straight), the rider getting very tired (more zig-zag) near the top. There the bicycle had stopped (sharp turn and slither of the wheels in the sand), and the rider had got off to rest. It was a woman (small foot, no nail marks, small, sharp heel).

She had stood a short time (footmarks on top of each other), and had then remounted and ridden on. She had passed this spot between 7.15 and ten minutes to eight. (The bicycle tracks had passed over Johnny Milne's outgoing track of 7:15, but his returning footmarks of ten minutes to eight overtrod the cycle tracks, so they had been made since it passed.)

What lady would be cycling along this road at that hour of the morning? (A rather stout lady, too, judging from the breadth of her foot and the fact that she had to rest on arriving at the top of the hill.)

The road led to a cottage where lived Mrs. Sharp, who was not very well.

The lady must surely be Mrs. Clarke, the matronly district nurse on her bicycle going to see Mrs. Sharp and she was still there (as there were no return wheel marks).

That is how a Scout can read news from the ground, and, though this morning's news was not important, it is always worth while to practise reading, because some day you will probably want to pick up some important information, and it is only everyday practice that will enable you to do it.

FRIENDLINESS

Law 4. A SCOUT IS A FRIEND TO ALL and a Brother to every other Scout, no matter to what social class the other belongs.

_If a Scout meets another Scout, even though a stranger to him, he must speak to him and help him in any way that he can, either to carry out the duty he is then doing, or by giving him food, or, so far as possible, anything that he may be in want of.

A Scout must never be a snob.

A snob is one who looks down upon another because he's poorer, or who is poor and resents another because he is rich. A Scout accepts the other man as he finds him and makes the best of him—

"Kim," the boy scout, was called by the Indians "Little friend of all the world," and that is the name which every Scout should earn for himself._

The Arabs of the desert are some of the finest Scouts in the world, not only because they are brave and manly fellows who can shift for themselves, but also because they are gentlemen at heart, kind to strangers, and men of honour.

When you come to an Arab encampment, he does not ask whether you are rich or lowly born. Once you are within the neighbourhood of his tent, he expects you to be his guest, and while you are with him he will do everything that he can to protect you from your enemies.

These kindly people, who always live in tents, have a habit of using very long tent ropes for the support of their tents, and these stretch out some distance on to the plain around their encampment.

This is done in order that any stranger passing near will find himself within the Arab's tent ropes—which means that he must come and be his guest. He expects you to stay with him for about five days, during which time he feeds you, houses you, and protects you, and he expects no kind of payment when you depart.

One of his first acts when you come into his camp is to offer you water. This is partly in order that you may refresh yourself, but it is also a secret sign meaning that he will not betray you.

It is considered bad form to decline hospitality offered in this way, and even if you are in a hurry you must suppress your own desire to get forward in order to be courteous to the man who wishes to be your host.

The Arabs have a saying, "None but the base and ungrateful refuse generosity"; but this does not mean that he will take a reward for being kind to you. To offer a tip is to insult him, and I hope that Boy Scouts will take it in the same light.

If you pitch your tent near that of an Arab, and become good friends with him, he will alter his tent-pegs so that they come within the line of your own and the tent ropes cross each other.

This again is a secret sign which means that he and those who live in his tent are for ever friends of you and any who are living with you.

Arabs are honourable fellows, and may be trusted to stick to such understanding.

One point in which an Arab shows himself more of a gentleman than, say, the Germans in South-west Africa, is that he will never poison wells, even though he knows his enemy may use them.

True comradeship does not take any account of what the other fellow's position in life may be.

I remember that when I took a troop of Boy Scouts to Canada, they all worked in pairs during the whole of the trip, and one of these pairs consisted of two boys who were respectively the son of an Earl and the son of a sergeant in an infantry regiment. Yet, although they had been brought up on totally different lines, they were boys, they were Scouts, they were not snobs, and they were the best of pals.

And we see very much the same thing at the Front to-day, where, in the ranks of every battalion, are to be found men of every class and standing—

"Cook's son, duke's son, son of a belted earl!"

And so, too, between officers and men there is a splendid feeling of comradeship, each working for the other so far as he possibly can. And that is a result that the Germans cannot possibly arrive at, for the one reason that they are not gentlemen.

I hope to see this spirit kept up and strengthened by the Scouts, and especially that rule which makes a Scout a friend to every other Scout, no matter what his class, creed, or country may be. I am certain that if this rule is carried out in full it will be a very great help after the war towards bringing real peace between the different nations, since the Boy Scouts in each will be true friends and comrades to those in the others.

* * * * *

DOCTORING THE NATIVES.

A Scout ought to know a little about most injuries and diseases, and to be able to treat them. In uncivilised countries the natives all look on a white man as a born doctor, and they bring you cases of every kind to deal with.

When I was in Kashmir, a lad was brought to me who had just fallen down a steep bank. He was in great pain, and his friends and relatives were already considering him as good as dead. On examination, I found no bones broken, but his right shoulder out of joint at the socket. So I told them to lay him flat on his back, and I began to take off my right shoe, or rather the grass sandal that I was wearing.

Some of the bystanders, seeing me do this, said: "Oh! he is going to pray," and immediately began unfastening my other sandal for me.

You see, these people take off their shoes when they go into church or to pray, just as we take off our hats. But I wasn't going to pray, and only took my right sandal off.

Then I sat down alongside the patient, facing towards his head, my right leg against his right side, so that my heel came into the armpit of the injured shoulder, I got one of his friends to sit on the other side of him to hold him down; then catching tight hold of his wrist with both hands, I gave a long, steady, strong pull at his arm, using my heel as a lever, till the shoulder suddenly clicked into its place again. Such a nice feeling to me, just as if I had hooked a salmon!

Then he fainted.

His mother howled? and said I had made a nice mess of the job, and had killed him. But I grinned and put on my sandal, and told her that was all part of the show, and that I would now bring him to life quite sound and well, which I proceeded to do by sprinkling a little water over his face. He gradually came to his senses, and then found that his arm was practically all right.

His own astonishment and theirs was very great, and within half an hour my tent was full of fruit and chickens and eggs as thank-offerings.

But during the next three days all the sick, the maimed, and the blind were brought in from the country round for me to cure. You never saw such a lot. Men, women, and children with every conceivable ailment, including bad eyes, which I treated by bathing with warm weak tea. One poor chap had had half his face bitten off by a bear, losing his eye and the whole of his cheek, so that all his teeth were showing in a horrible grin—the more horrible because the wound had never been properly dressed.

Then one enormously fat man asked me to do something for him. Now, what would you have done in such a case? I only had some lead lotion, some disinfectant, and a few mustard poultice leaves. So I gave him one of these mustard leaves, and told him if that wouldn't cure him I didn't know what would, and in saying that I was speaking the exact truth. I told him to wet it and put it on his "chest" when he went to bed.

Next day he came with tears of gratitude and said I had done more for him in one night than all the doctors had done for him in years. He felt that he was already growing thinner.

I moved my camp twenty miles off that day, as I thought it better to get away while I had such a good reputation, and, besides, they were beginning to bring in patients from all over the district, and I had nothing to cure them with.

But that is the kind of thing you may expect when you are travelling, and you should learn while you can how to deal with the usual ailments, so that you can be of some help to the poor creatures when you come across them.

* * * * *

THE SWASTIKA.

All the nations of the world have customs of their own, which bear a curious resemblance to each other. For instance, when a Zulu has to undertake the dangerous job of crawling up to a lion, he likes to dress himself in his war-paint before beginning.

That same sort of idea is to be found in other parts of the world. Even in our own country, not one hundred years ago, our sailors, before going into action with an enemy, always liked to wash and shave themselves, tie their pigtails nattily, and put on their best neckerchiefs. And even now in Canada the Cree Indians, when they are hunting a bear, put on their best clothes and decorate themselves before tackling the danger.

[Illustration: THE "SWASTIKA.">[

So you see we are all alike in some ways in different parts of the world. If you sneeze in Scotland people say: "God bless you." If you sneeze in Masailand (British East-Africa) a native will say: "Good health to you!"

There are hundreds of these little customs which are used by people in different corners of the earth who have never had anything to do with each other.

But perhaps the most wonderful of all is the sign of the "Swastika," which we Scouts use as our "Badge of Brotherhood."

Nobody knows the exact history of where it came from, or what it means; but it is found in almost every part of the world, and is very, very old.

Rudyard Kipling believes it was made by a man in ancient days, who put two twigs crossed on the ground and trod them down into the mud so as to leave a mark to act as a guide to others, like a Scout's ground-mark.

But another story is this:

Where the Atlantic Ocean now is, people in old days believed that there was a great land called Atlantis, which has since sunk under the sea.

This land was watered by four great rivers, which ran across the whole in different directions—north, south, east, and west. This cross is meant for the four rivers, and is the crest of the Continent of Atlantis.

But whatever the meaning of it was, the Swastika Cross is found in all parts of the world as an ancient mark.

Thus, in Norway it appears on the sword-scabbard of the ancient
Norsemen as a sign to bring good luck; also in Iceland, Germany, and
France on old pottery.

In the south it is found in West Africa, in Greece, and Egypt.

In the west it is found in America, in Arizona, and Mexico, and South
America.

And in the east in India, Tibet, Japan, China, and Persia.

Thus, it stands for Europe, Asia, Africa, and America—all the world; and it is, in each of them, considered to be a sign of friendliness and good wishes.

That is how we come to use it in the Scouts, whose business is to do good turns and to help other people wherever we may be.

When, therefore, we want to show particular goodwill to anyone, especially those who have done us a good turn, we give to them a "Swastika," or "Badge of Brotherhood," to wear. This makes them members of the brotherhood of Scouts, although they are not actual Scouts themselves; and when they show their badge to a Scout he will do all he can to help them in whatever part of the world they may be.

* * * * *

OUR BUTTONHOLE BADGE.

I expect most Scouts have found, like I have done, that wherever you go in the streets, or in a strange town, or far out in the country, you come across a boy wearing a buttonhole badge. As you get nearer you see that it is the well-known three-pointed badge of the Scouts.

You make the salute sign, shake hands with left hands, and there you are, in company with a friend and brother, who a minute before was a total stranger to you.

* * * * *

CHILIAN SCOUTS.

Our World-roving Commissioner—for we have one who travels about to all countries now—was once in Chile, which, as you know, is a long, narrow strip of country in South America, three thousand miles long, and not one hundred miles wide, packed in between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

The Boy Scouts of Chile are among the best in the world. They have done a lot of tramping-camps and other expeditions. Finally, their Government arranged a cruise for them on board a man-of-war, and they lived for over a week on the ship, about two hundred of them, learning swimming, boating, navigation, engine-room work; in fact, all the duties of Sea Scouts.

These boys all had to pay their messing and other expenses, so it was only the richer ones that were able to go; but since then they have arranged to go another cruise, and each of the richer ones is going to take a poorer Scout with him as his guest, and will pay his expenses for him.

That's what I like to see, and it tells me more than any other reports that the Chilian Scouts have got the right spirit in them.

A lad from Brixham, in Devonshire, went out to take up some work in Chile. He was a Boy Scout, and continued while away to wear his buttonhole badge. One day, when he was out in the back parts of that out-of-the-way country, a Chilian boy came up to him, gave the Scout salute, and pointing to his badge, said:

"You Boy Scout? Me Scout too!" and he took him home to tea, and looked after him, and thus they became good friends.

So you see the use of being a Scout and of wearing your badge.

Even in everyday life at home it is also a good thing to do, because you may often have a chance of doing a good turn to a stranger Boy Scout if he could only recognise that you were a scout.

I suppose there is not a day passes without my coming across a Scout, in plain clothes, wearing his buttonhole badge and so I am able to spot him and to have a chat with him. Whereas, if he had not had his badge on, I should probably never have noticed him.

Also, it is a sign to outsiders. People have got to know now how useful the Scouts are, and they are often anxious to get hold of one to help them in some difficulty. Well, if they see a boy coming along with the badge on, they know that he is a Scout, though not in uniform, and they are able to ask him to do them the good turn.

So wear your buttonhole badge for the sake of other people.

POLITENESS

LAW 5. A SCOUT IS COURTEOUS.

A Scout should be polite to all—but especially to women and children, old people and invalids, cripples, etc. And he must not take any reward for being helpful or courteous.

Courteousness is much the same sort of thing as Chivalry, which is closely allied to Honour. Both were practised in the old days by the Knight's, who went about risking their lives in order to defend and help the weaker people, women and children, against bullies and marauders.

Why did they do this?

It did not bring them money, for it would be a disgrace to a Knight to accept any reward for doing a good turn. It only brought them danger of wounds or death. It was an adventure. They were good sportsmen and manly fellows. Their conscience told them that it was right for the strong and plucky man to protect those who were weaker than himself. They were not obliged to do it by the law of the land, but there was a stronger law which appealed to them—and that was their own sense of Honour which led them to be chivalrous men.

Honour was the spirit that moved them;

Chivalry was the putting into practice what their Honour bade them do.

The ordinary boy has no chivalry—at least, he has got it all right under the surface, only he is in the silly-ass stage, and he forgets it. If he sees a poor hunchback or a cripple he will often laugh or stare at him. He forgets that the other is an unfortunate, and has had the bad luck to be born that way.

A healthy boy on seeing a deformed person ought to thank God that he is himself sound in body and able to enjoy life, and he should do what he can to make things pleasant for his less fortunate brother.

That, is what a Scout would do, because he is chivalrous.

* * * * *

KNIGHT'S OATH ON INVESTITURE

A.D. 506.

Sir, you that desire to receive the Order of Knighthood, swear, before God, and by this Holy Book, that you shall not fight against the King, who now bestoweth the Order of Knighthood upon you; you shall also swear with all your force and power to maintain and defend all ladies, gentlewomen, widows, orphans, and distressed women; and you shall shun no adventure of your person in any way or war wherein you shall happen to be.

Fourteen hundred years ago the old Knights of Britain used to be sworn to do their duty in these words.

Their oath was much the same as the promise which the "young Knights" of the present time make when they become Boy Scouts, for they promise to serve God and the King, and to help others, especially women and children, and not to think of their own trouble or risk so long as they do a good turn to others needing help.

The Knights, being mounted men, were called the "Chivalry," the old word for "Cavalry"—from the Latin "cavallus" and the French "cheval," meaning a horse.

Then any noble act done by the Knights was said to be "Chivahous" or
Knight-like.

So the word "chivalry" now means doing things which the Knights of old did.

It is chivalry to do one's duty to God and the King, to help women and children, and all people in distress; and to be plucky and brave in carrying out one's duty.

That is why Boy Scouts are frequently being described in the papers as "chivalrous." I hope they will go on and continue to deserve the title.

One great step in "Courteousness" is to be grateful when anybody does you a "good turn," and to tell them you are grateful by saying "Thank you." It is a little thing to do, but it is a great thing to the person who has done the kindness to feel that it was not thrown away.

* * * * *

A DIRTY GENTLEMAN.

A bus drove by under my window. It was crowded with people, inside and out. On the outside every seat was filled, so much so that one woman had to stand. I saw men look round at her, one apparently annoyed because she accidentally jostled his newspaper, but none offered to give her his seat.

They were most of them well-to-do men, such as go by the name of gentlemen so far as their dress and appearance went but when it came to the true test of a gentleman, that is, the feeling of chivalry and politeness to women, the only gentleman among them was a working boy, a lad of about fifteen, in dirty clothes, with dirty hands and face.

When he saw a woman standing he at once left his seat and beckoned her into it. I hope that some of his so-called betters had the good sense to feel ashamed at being taught manners by a working boy. Perhaps he was a Scout. At any rate, he acted as a Scout would in the same circumstances.

* * * * *

WHAT IS A GENTLEMAN?

Many people are inclined to think that the word "gentleman" means a man who was born rich, and that a boy brought up at expensive schools and colleges must therefore be a gentleman when he has grown up. But this does not always follow.

A fellow who is lucky enough to have been brought up in that way has certainly better chances of being a gentleman than many a poor boy has; but at the same time a poor boy can be just as good a gentleman as a rich one.

A gentleman is what the word says; he is a man, but a gentle man, not a rough, bullying, coarse customer, but a fellow who, though big and strong, can be kind and chivalrous and helpful to other people.

As good a sample as any of a "gentleman" is the London policeman. He is at all times courteous and helpful to others, even to the extent of being ready to risk his life at any moment to save people in cases of accidents, or to protect them against rough handling, and he treats rich and poor, old and young, with equal attention and patience, and good humour.

* * * * *

SCOUTS OF THE DESERT.

Several years ago I spent, some time with Arabs in North Africa, in Tunisia and Algeria, and I found them first-rate fellows, They were very fond of any kind of adventurous sport, and were hospitable and courteous.

Numbers of them used to come out with their dogs to help me to find game, and after a long day's beating in the thorn bush and high grass, when we finished hunting, they used to shake hands and go off home, quite happy if I had had a good day, and not expecting or seeking for a tip or a reward as is so generally the case, I am sorry to say, in England. Men here seem to think that they ought to be paid for every blessed thing they do.

The Arab chiefs, too, were kindly hosts, they gave me the best of food, generally a sort of Irish stew of chickens and rice, and made me comfortable in their own tents at night under their blankets.

They are very clean people, very brave, very courteous and very honourable. So they are true Scouts of the Desert. They have a number of little camp customs which Scouts ought to know—and many of them are like those practised by scouts.

Arabs are always very strict in saluting each other.

The custom of saluting came, as you know, from the old times, when everybody carried weapons, and the act of raising the right hand on meeting another man was meant to show that you had not got a weapon in that hand, and were therefore a friend.

It is exactly the same to this day with the Zulus and other South African tribes, who carry clubs and assegais; on meeting each other they pass their weapons into the left hand, and raise their right to show that it is empty, and that therefore they don't mean to fight you.

So it is, too, with the Arabs.

If a horseman meets a man on foot, the horseman salutes first, because he is in the more powerful position, and it is only fair that the man on foot should therefore have his weapon ready till he knows that the mounted man is friendly.

In the same way, if a man is sitting down and another walks up to him, the man who is walking is in the better position for attacking, so he salutes first to show that he is friendly.

It is very bad form to pitch your tent close to the water supply of the camp, because it looks as if you were taking possession of the spring, and that anyone else wanting to use it would have to get your permission or be liable to be attacked by you when getting his water. So an Arab always pitches his tent at some little distance away from the spring or well, in order to show that it is free to all.

When an Arab comes to a strange camp he rides up to the largest tent and dismounts., and walks straight to the fire around which the inhabitants are sitting. He then says in a loud voice:

"Peace be with you."

All those sitting round the fire get up and reply:

"And with you, peace."

KINDNESS TO ANIMALS

Law 6. A SCOUT IS A FRIEND TO ANIMALS.

_He should save them, so far as possible, from pain, and should not kill any animal unnecessarily, even if it is only a fly, for it is one of God's creatures. Killing an animal for food, or an animal which is harmful, is allowable.

It is a curious thing that animals and children both seem to recognise a good man when they meet him, and are at once friendly with him; and I have always found that the bravest men are in their turn kind to them.

You must have noticed how our soldiers at the Front and our sailors in the Fleet all seem to have their pet animals and mascots, and when I was in France I noticed on many occasions our men playing with the little French children among their ruined homes close up to the firing line.

They were all the best of friends: although they knew scarcely a word of each other's language.

In the same way as a Knight or a Boy Scout is chivalrous to weaker folk, so he is chivalrous also to animals.

Animals are weaker folk than ourselves in the matter of mind and understanding, but they can be very affectionate and faithful where they have learnt that the human being, though strong enough to hurt, them, is kind and gentle. They are quick to show that they appreciate such kindness. You know how your own dog half-curls himself round Wagging his tail and grinning with pleasure when he sees you; and also how your horse nuzzles you all over to find the sugar that he knows you are going to give him.

So give animals all the kindness you can, and make their lives happy.

Many boys are inclined to be cruel simply because they don't think—they are not yet manly enough—they are, as I said before, in the silly-ass stage.

But a Scout who is manly and chivalrous towards people will at all times be the same towards animals. It is wonderful what pleasure you can get out of it in return, whether you train your dog to obey your slightest sign, or whether you tame a robin to be your friend.

The other day I came across a proprietor of a garage who showed himself to be a good and kindly man because he had supplied the Scout troop of the town with a loft to use as a club-room. But he proved to me that he was a good man by taking me into his sitting-room and showing me his tame canary, which did every kind of trick at his command, and sang to him, answered his whistle, and came at his call and kissed him.

Apart from the interest of training an animal in confinement, there is all the fun and adventure to be got out of stalking and watching animals and birds in the wild and learning their ways and customs. The more you do this, and the more you understand about how they are made and how they do their various works, the better you will understand the wonders of Nature and of the Creator.

* * * * *

THE RIGHT WAY TO GO BIRDS'-NESTING.

A man who studies birds is called an ornithologist. Mark Twain, the amusing yet kind-hearted American writer, says:

"There are fellows who write books about birds and love them so much that they'll go hungry and tired to find a new kind of bird—and kill it.

"They are called 'ornithologers.'

"I could have been an 'ornithologer' myself, because I always loved birds and creatures. And I started out to learn how to be one. I saw a bird sitting on a dead limb of a high tree, singing away with his head tilted back and his mouth open—and, before I thought, I fired my gun at him; his song stopped all suddenly, and he fell from the branch, limp like a rag, and I ran and picked him up—and he was dead. His body was warm in my hand, and his head rolled about this way and that, like as if his neck was broke, and there was a white skin over his eyes, and one drop of red blood sparkled on the side of his head-and-laws! I couldn't see nothing for the tears."

"I haven't ever murdered no creature since then that warn't doing me no harm—and I ain't agoing to neither."

A good Scout is generally a good "ornithologer," as Mark Twain calls him. That is to say, he likes stalking birds and watching all that they do. He discovers, by watching them, where and how they build their nests.

He does not, like the ordinary boy, want to go and rob them of their eggs, but he likes to watch how they hatch out their young and teach them to feed themselves and to fly. He gets to know every species of bird by its call and by its way of flying; and he knows which birds remain all the year round and which only come at certain seasons; and what kind of food they like best, and how they change their plumage, what sort of nests they build, where they build them, and what the eggs are like.

A good many birds are almost dying out in Great Britain, because so many boys bag all their eggs when they find their nests.

Birds'-nesting is very like big-game shooting—you look out in places that, as a hunter, you know are likely haunts of the birds you want; you watch the birds fly in and out and you find the nest. But you do not then go and destroy the nest and take all the eggs. If you are actually a collector, take one egg and leave the rest, and, above all, don't pull the nest about, otherwise the parent birds will desert it, and all those eggs, which might have developed into jolly young birds will be wasted.

Far better than taking the eggs is to take a photograph, or to make a sketch of the hen sitting on her nest, or to make a collection of pictures of the different kinds of nests built by the different kinds of birds.

Aberdeen, in Scotland, is supposed to be specially well off for skylarks for the following reason:

A few years ago there came a very severe gale and snow-storm late in March, and all the high ground inland was so buried under snow and ice that the birds were all driven to the Lower land near the coast. The fields by the seashore were covered with them.

Numbers of people went out to catch them with birdlime, nets, snares, and guns. Large numbers were taken alive to be 'sent to market' in London and other towns.

One gentleman found a man selling a big cage full of them. They were crowded up to a fearful extent, and all fluttering with terror at their imprisonment, struggling over each other in their frantic desire to escape. He felt so sorry for them that he bought the whole lot, and took them to his warehouse, where he was able to give them plenty of room and food and water.

Then he offered to buy all the larks that were being captured for the market at market prices. In this way he received over a thousand; and these he put in a big room, where they had comparative freedom and plenty of food. It is said that the noise of their singing in the morning was almost deafening, and crowds of birds used to gather over the house to hear them.

At last the bad weather passed off, the sun shone out again, and the fields became green and bright, and then the kind man who had housed the birds opened the windows of the room and all the birds flew out in a happy crowd, chirping and singing as they mounted into the bright, warm air, or fluttered off to the adjoining fields and woods. And there they built their nests and hatched out their young, so that to-day the song of the lark is to be heard everywhere round Aberdeen.

* * * * *

BIRDS' NESTS.

One January I went "bird's-nesting" with a party of Scout-masters. It seems an odd time of year to do that; but we really went to see how they manage to persuade birds to come and make their nests in the Bird Sanctuary, near Brentford, just outside London.

We went into the big wood there, and soon found ourselves in the presence of birds, for everywhere one could hear the piping, trilling, and whistling of unseen warblers, and every now and then one of them would flit across our path.

Then, on the side of almost every tree, we noticed a small box, entirely closed up except for a small hole in the front. These were the "nesting-boxes," and every spring the birds come and make their nests in these boxes, and bring up their families. The consequence is that the place is now alive with singing birds.

The son of Mr. Mark Webb, the manager of the Sanctuary, is in his teens, but he knows everything about the birds that come there and their ways, and he also knows all the different kinds of plants and trees that grow in the wood. He is a very complete stalker-Scout, and evidently gets a lot of fun and satisfaction out of watching the birds and their doings.

Well, almost any Scout can do the same, and my advice to you is to make a nesting-box or two as soon as you can, and put them up on trees. Then, at the proper time, you may have the satisfaction of seeing some rare kind of bird coming to your box and raising a family there.

The box should be eight to ten inches high, by six wide and deep, and the top preferably sloping to run any rain off.

[Illustration: A NESTING-BOX FOR BIRDS.]

The door is a small round or pear-shaped hole near the top of the box, so that there is plenty of room for the nest below it.

A little ledge for the birds, and especially the young ones, to rest upon, is a good thing to have on the front of the box. If possible, paint your box roughly with dabs of green and brown to make it match the tree stem and leaves, and put on it the name of your patrol and troop if you like.

Then fix it to a tree trunk about six feet above the ground, where it is safe from rats or snakes, and on the side of the tree farthest from the path, if there be one near, so that the birds will not be frightened by passers-by. If it is on the sunny side, so much the better.

Birds will build in almost anything which offers them safety and shelter; an old kettle, for instance, or an old tin pot is a favourite site for a nest. If you scatter a few crumbs or grains of corn about your box every day at first, the birds will become accustomed to it, and will soon adopt it as their home.

Any Scout who has not a tree of his own to hang his box on can probably get leave to put it up, if he asks nicely, in some neighbour's wood or garden, or in a park, and can then visit it from time to time to see how it is getting on.

Most nesting-boxes have their roof, or front, on hinges, or made so that it can slide off; but it does not do to examine the nest when once it is made, or the old birds will desert it.

* * * * *

BIRD MIGRATION.

The movements of birds as they change their quarters still puzzle the naturalists.

It is marvellous how they seem to like travelling, and no one can understand why they take certain paths through the air when they are doing it.

For instance, the black pool warbler, in America, spends its summer in Alaska, and goes down to South America for the winter. It takes the straightest course it can from Alaska to Brazil, flying over land and sea—and a wide sea, too, is the Gulf of Mexico. But the cliff swallow, which also spends the winter in Brazil and the summer in North Canada, takes quite a different route, and goes an extra 2000 miles in order to avoid going over the sea, and follows the land all round by Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and so through the United States.

The distances which birds cover when "migrating" are enormous. Some American plovers are known to travel for 8000 miles, one part of the journey being 2500 miles without resting as they pass over the sea.

The arctic tern goes even farther, it nests near the North Pole, and then makes its way down to near the South Pole, a journey of 11,000 miles.

Perhaps you wonder how we know that the birds travel these long distances. Well, a good many naturalists and stalkers catch birds when young or tired and mark them by putting a small ring round their leg with a number on it. Then other naturalists keep a look out in other parts of the world, and when they kill or find a bird with such a number on it they report it.

Aberdeen University marked a large number of birds in this way—with a tiny aluminium ring round the bird's leg, with the words "Aberdeen University" and a number on it.

A wild duck which they had marked in Scotland was caught in a net the same year in Holland.

Of five lapwings marked in Aberdeenshire, four were shot in Ireland the same year, and one in Portugal, 1250 miles away. A song-thrush was also shot in Portugal, which had been marked in Scotland the same year.

A young guillemot was taken from its nest in Aberdeenshire and marked, and less than five months afterwards it was shot in Sweden.

So, you see, it is interesting to watch in this way what the birds do in the travelling line.

Scouts can help in keeping a look out, and if ever they capture or hear of a bird marked with a ring, they should report it to Professor A. Thomson, The University, Aberdeen. They should state the number on the ring, the kind of bird, where found, and the date on which it was found.

* * * * *

STUDYING ANIMALS.

The boar is certainly the bravest of all animals: he is the real "King of the Jungle," and the other animals all know it. If you watch a drinking-pool in the jungle at night, you will see the animals that come to it all creeping down nervously, looking out in every direction for hidden enemies. But when the boar comes he simply swaggers down, with his great head and shiny tusks swinging from side to side; he cares for nobody, but everybody cares for him; even a tiger drinking at the pool will give a snarl and sneak quickly out of sight.

I have often lain out on moonlight nights to watch the animals, especially wild boars, in the jungle, and it is just as good fun as merely going after them to kill them.

And I have caught and kept a young wild boar and a young panther, and found them most amusing and interesting little beggars. The boar used to live in my garden, and he never became really tame, though I got him as a baby.

He would come to me when I called him—but very warily; he would never come to a stranger, and a native he would "go for," and try to cut him with his little tusks.

He used to practise the use of his tusks while turning at full speed round an old tree stump in the garden, and he would gallop at this and round it in a figure of eight continuously for over five minutes at a time, and then fling himself down on his side, panting with his exertions.

My panther was also a beautiful and delightfully playful beast, and used to go about with me like a dog; but he was very uncertain in his dealings with strangers.

I think one gets to know more about animals and to understand them better by keeping them as pets first, and then going and watching them in their wild, natural life.

But before going to study big game in the jungles, everybody must study all animals, wild and tame, at home. It would be a very good thing if every Scout kept some kind of animal, such as a pony or a dog, birds or rabbits, or even live butterflies.

Every Boy Scout ought to know all about the tame animals which he sees every day. You ought to know all about grooming feeding, and watering a horse, about putting him into harness or taking him out of harness, and putting him in the stable, and know when he is going lame and should not therefore be worked.

* * * * *

CHIVALRY TO A SHEEP

A lady was walking on the Sussex Downs with her old father, who was an invalid. Suddenly, she saw below her a number of sheep penned in, as they often are, for the night. Two large dogs had got among them, and the bodies of two dead sheep told of the mischief already done, while the other frightened sheep were huddled together, waiting for their turn to be attacked.

The lady did not know what to do; she did not like to leave her invalid father alone while she went down, and it was far too steep a descent for the latter to attempt.

Just then, round the corner came five Scouts, quite small, the eldest being only thirteen years old. They soon took in the situation and advanced to the fray. When the dogs saw them, they left the sheep and rushed, barking, at them, and the Scouts fled. But only for a minute!

A council of war was held, and again they advanced, poles in hand, and this time succeeded in driving off the dogs. The last the lady saw was the plucky little patrol kneeling, with their coats off, round a poor sheep on the ground. After that, she left, feeling the sheep was in good hands.

In a few moments the sheep revived, its temples were laved with water, some of which it also drank and enjoyed. Still, it was beyond standing alone, and what was to be done next?

A stretcher was made with the poles and coats, and then came the difficulty of getting the heavy body on to the stretcher. At last this difficulty was overcome, and the procession started over the rough field to the farm, two miles off.

At last the farm was reached, and the Scouts, after helping the farmer render further, and perhaps more useful, first-aid, started on their journey homeward.

This is an absolutely true story. What would have happened twenty years ago had five town boys seen those dogs at work destroying sheep?

They might perhaps have run away, possibly to seek help, but I am none too sure that they would not have looked on and rather enjoyed it, merely thinking what a good story they would have to tell their comrades on their return home.

Scouting has not only taught boys what to do in an emergency, but it has taught, and is teaching, our small boys the meaning of love and kindness to other human beings and also to animals.

* * * * *

LORD NELSON AT A BULL FIGHT.

The following is what Lord Nelson wrote about a bull fight which he went to see in Spain:

"The amphitheatre will hold 16,000 people, and some 12,000 were present. Ten bulls were selected, and one brought out at a time. Three cavaliers on horseback and foot men with flags were the combatants. We had what is called a fine 'feast,' for five horses were killed and two men very much hurt; had they been killed it would have been quite complete.

"We felt for the bulls and the horses, and I own it would not have displeased me to have seen some of the dons (Spaniards) tossed by the enraged animals.

"How women can even sit out, much less applaud, such sights is astonishing. It even turned us sick, and we could hardly go through it; the dead, mangled horses and the bulls covered with blood were too much. We have seen one bull feast, and agree that nothing shall ever tempt us to see another-"

This is what Nelson, the hero of many a grimly fought battle, has written, and it shows how even a man accustomed to the sight of blood and death can be horrified and disgusted at it when it is done as a form of sport and at the cost of pain to dumb animals.

Scouts should always remember this in dealing with animals, and have the same feeling which that prince of sea scouts, Nelson, had.

* * * * *

A GOOD YOUNG SCOUT.

I met a young Patrol-leader going along in a hurry, evidently on duty. So I asked him where he was off to, and he replied that he was going to call his patrol together—there are only three in it at present—and to get three more Tenderfoots to join it at once, as they had serious work on hand.

I then found out from his father that the serious work was this: The patrol had come across a lot of boys torturing some frogs by blowing them out with straws. The Scouts were not strong enough to stop them, but they went to the police constable, and asked if they might take the law into their own hands and "go for" these boys.

The policeman consented, and now they were going to raise their patrol to full strength in order to tackle the torturers, and put a stop to the cruelty to the frogs.

I heard afterwards that they were successful.

OBEDIENCE

Law 7. A SCOUT OBEYS ORDERS of his parents, Patrol-leader, or
Scoutmaster without question.

Even if he gets an order which he does not like, a Scout must do AS soldiers AND SAILORS DO, or AS _he would do if he got it _FROM his CAPTAIN in a football match—he must carry it out all the same, because it is his duty; after he has done it he can come and state any reasons against it: but he must carry out the order at once. That is discipline.

* * * * *

PLAY THE GAME.

Suppose you were playing outside forward in a football match, and you were on the ball with a good opening for a run before you, when you suddenly heard your captain shout "Centre!" What would you do? Go on with the ball, or pass it to a centre player?

You would, of course, obey the captain's order and pass it.

Why?

Because you know that if every fellow played the game for his own fun and glory, his side would never win—the team would be all over the place.

To prevent this, each player has got his certain allotted place in the field, and the captain, who is best placed for seeing how the game is going on, is able to give directions that will help his side to win.

Of course, the success depends on every player doing his best to carry out his captain's orders efficiently and well.

It is not only in football or hockey that this system brings success, but in every game of life.

We see it just now on a very big scale at the Front—in the great game of war—where men obey their captains' orders not only when it is inconvenient to them to do so, but often when it means danger and death to them. But in doing it they well know that, though they are sacrificing themselves, they are helping their side to win; and that is the right, spirit in which to play the game of life.

Therefore, even in small things, get yourself into the habit, of obeying orders whether or not you like doing it.

If you can thus make a practice of it in small everyday matters like obeying your parents at home, or your Patrol-leader when scouting, obedience will come quite natural to you in the bigger duties of life, and you will then be looked upon by both your comrades and your officers as a really valuable man—one who can be trusted to play in his place and to play the game in obedience to the rules and to his captain, not for his own glorification but in order that his side may win.

* * * * *

BRITISH DISCIPLINE.

When Gibraltar was being besieged a hundred and thirty years ago by the French and Spaniards on land and sea, the British Troops holding the place stuck it out valiantly for three long years, and were in the end relieved by the Fleet from home. But though there were many who wanted to give in and were dead sick of the whole thing, General Elliott, the commander of the garrison, showed such dogged determination, and insisted on such strict discipline, that he held the garrison together.

His measures for defence were so successful that every man realised that the real road to safety and success was strict obedience to his orders. In fact, it was a case where obedience won the day. And they loved and admired the old general, too, for his pluck, his humanity, and his sense of humour.

On one occasion a man ventured to disobey an order that was given to him, and when he was brought before the commander the General said that if a man could disobey an order at such a critical time he could not be in his right mind, he must be mad. Therefore he ordered that the usual treatment accorded to a lunatic should be applied to the offender. His head was to be shaved, he was to be blistered and bled, and kept in a padded cell on a light diet of bread and water—and also be prayed for in church.

Well, the General was quite right. If a man cannot obey orders when there is danger to all he must be mad. But it is difficult for a man to be obedient at such a time if he has never learnt to be obedient in ordinary times, and that is why discipline is so strongly kept up in both the Army and Navy in peace time.

A man is taught to obey even the smallest order most carefully and without hesitation, until it becomes such a habit with him that when an order is given him, a big or dangerous one, he carries it out, at once without any question. And, when everybody can be trusted to obey orders, it is an easy thing for the commander to manoeuvre his troops and conduct the battle with some chance of success.

You remember the story which I told you in Scouting for Boys about the ship Birkenhead, on board of which discipline and obedience were so splendidly shown by the soldiers.

The ship was carrying about 630 soldiers, with their families, and 130 seamen. Near the Cape of Good Hope one night she ran on to some rocks, and began to break up. The soldiers were at once paraded on deck half-dressed as they were, just out of their hammocks.

Some were told off to get out the boats and to put the women and children into them, and others were told off to get the horses up out of the hold, and to lower them overboard into the sea, in order that they might have a chance of swimming ashore.

When this had all been done, it was found that there were not enough boats to take everybody, and so the men were ordered to remain in their ranks on the deck, while the women and children, with a few men to row them, moved off from the sinking ship.

The boats had not gone far when the ship broke into half and began to go down. The captain shouted to the men to jump overboard and save themselves, but the Colonel, Colonel Seaton, interrupting the captain ordered the men to stand where they were, and to keep their ranks, for he saw that if they swam to the boats and tried to get in they would probably sink them too.

So the men kept their ranks, and as the ship rolled over and sank, they gave a cheer and went down with her.

Out of the whole 760 on board only 192 were saved, but even these would probably have been lost had it not been for the discipline and self-sacrifice of the others in obeying the order to keep their ranks and not to try to get into the boats.

So you see the value of discipline in a difficult crisis or moment of danger.

The great Duke of Wellington, who was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, when describing this heroic act on the Birkenhead, praised very highly the discipline of the men—he did not praise their bravery. It was brave of them, but he considered that all Britons are naturally brave—he expected bravery of them. But discipline is another thing; it has to be learnt.

In battle or in a big danger a brave man may be very useful, but if he does pretty much as he pleases he is not half so valuable as the man who, besides being brave, has also learnt, to obey every order at once.

Watch firemen at work. They are all brave enough; they would all like to be at the top of the ladder fighting the flames, but their discipline makes them work at their different jobs, each playing in his place, obeying orders, and doing his share in order that the fire may be put out, not that he should win special glory or excitement for himself.

Even in the streets there is discipline. The policeman regulates the traffic so that all vehicles moving in one direction keep to one side of the road, and thus allow the traffic in the opposite direction to keep moving along the other side. But if one 'bus-driver did not feel inclined to obey orders, but dashed about in his own way, not caring to which side of the road he went so long as he went ahead, there would be accidents and delay in no time, and the whole traffic would be upset. If you are in business with a large number of others, it is useful for the good of the whole that you obey the orders which you receive from those who are in authority over you. If the seniors can be sure that their assistants will carry out their orders, they can carry on the business properly. Discipline is necessary everywhere, but the thing is to learn while you are young to carry it out in small things, so that you would be able to do so when it comes to your turn to do it in a great difficulty or danger. In order to do this you have to be able to command yourself in the first place.

The soldier does not go into a battle because he likes it. It is a dangerous place, and he feels inclined to run away; but he commands himself, and says "I must go whether I like it or not, because it is my duty."

When he gets his orders from his officers to attack the enemy, he would probably be more anxious still to go in the opposite direction, but he commands himself and says: "I must obey the orders of my officers."

And the officers obey the orders of the general, and so the whole force moves everywhere to the attack simply from a spirit of discipline, each man making himself do his proper share, so that although he may lose his life, yet his side may win the battle.

So it will be with you every day. You will have your duty to do, when often you would much rather do your pleasure, or play some games; but you have to command yourself and order yourself to do your duty in the first place, and amuse yourself afterwards.

When you succeed in doing this, and in always obeying the orders of your officer readily and cheerily, in small things as well as in great things, you will soon find that it becomes a habit with you and not a trouble, so that when the time comes for you to carry out some difficult and dangerous order you will be able to do it at once, without any hesitation and with complete success for the good of your side—that is, for the good of your business, your employer, or of your Country, without thinking of the difficulty or danger to yourself.

With a Scout, your "Duty" is to do a good turn to somebody every day. Your "Discipline" makes you command yourself to carry this out, even though it may be irksome or dangerous, and though nobody is there to see you do it. You do it because it is your duty and you are trusted, on your honour, to do it.

* * * * *

A DISOBEDIENT SCOUT.

I once had a brave scout in my force in the South African War. He was a brave man and an active scout, but he was not good at obeying orders, and in the end this cost him his life and did harm to our plans.

We had news of a force of the enemy which did not know of our presence in that part of the country. So we hid ourselves, meaning to surprise and capture them when they came along.

The orders were that not a sound was to be made and not a man was to show himself, and these orders were faithfully carried out—except by this one scout. He thought he knew better than others, and he slipped away unseen to go and look out for the enemy's approach.

Presently he spied a hostile scout and fired at him; the enemy's scout returned his fire, and after a short duel both of them fell mortally wounded.

But the noise of their shooting gave the alarm to the enemy's force; more came upon the spot, and, finding a British scout there, they naturally guessed that there must be more in the neighbourhood, so they took all precautions, sent out scouts in all directions, and then, coming on our tracks, at last discovered our hiding-place, and gave warning to their own side, who were then able to make their escape.

If my scout had only learnt, when a boy, how to obey orders, it might have made a great difference that day to him, to us—and to the enemy.

* * * * *

SCOUT TEXT.

Here is a text which will help Scouts to discipline themselves:

CHEW GUM IF YOUR JAWS WANT EXERCISE.

That was the advice given by a "self-made merchant to his son." He meant, don't exercise your jaws by talking if you have nothing important to say don't talk for the mere sake of talking; and, above all, don't argue when you get an order.

Boys, you know, are rather fond of asking endless silly questions. Before speaking you should think first whether what you are going to say is really necessary or not, and then don't waste words or other people's attention if it is not. If you must keep your jaw wagging, our American friend says "chew gum."

* * * * *

THE SILENT KING OF ASHANTI.

In the expedition to Ashanti, on the Gold Coast, West Africa, when we captured the King, Prempeh, he was carrying in his mouth a kind of nut which looked like big, fat cigar. We found that he did this to prevent himself talking too much.

If he felt inclined to make some meaningless remark, or in the heat of an argument to let out a hasty opinion, he could not do so without first having to take this impediment out of his mouth, and that gave him time to think twice about what he was going to say.

I often think it would be a good thing if every nasty-tempered fellow had to carry such a nut in his mouth, so that when he wanted suddenly to let out a volley of abuse it would give him time to think and stop it.

* * * * *

SHOUTING SCOUTS AT WIMBLEDON.

I heard of a lady who, when riding on Wimbledon Common, came across a party of Boy Scouts. She discovered their whereabouts by the immense amount of jabbering that was going on; so, being the wife of an officer, and knowing a good deal about scouting, she rode up to the Scouts, and told them just what I should have told them, that unless you practise keeping quiet at all times, you will forget to do so on some important occasion, and so will give yourselves away.

Scouts should always talk low and quietly, and also should always move quietly and lightly.

Remember on a still day or in the night a heavy, thumping footfall can be heard a long way off, even in open country, and very much more so in a street or in a house. So practise always treading lightly and silently, and you will soon gain the Scouts' habit of moving unheard.

I have heard from an officer at the Front, who regrets that two old Scouts whom he had with him have been killed or wounded. He found that ordinary soldiers would not move quietly at night, and so were useless to him. He has now got an ex-burglar as the next best thing to an ex-Boy Scout!

CHEERFULNESS

Law 8. A SCOUT SMILES AND WHISTLES UNDER ALL DIFFICULTIES.

When he gets an order, he should obey it cheerily and readily, not in a slow, hang-dog _sort of way.

Scouts never grouse at hardships nor whine at each other, nor_ swear _when put out, but go on whistling and smiling. When you just miss a train, or someone treads on your favourite corn—not that Scouts should have such things as corns—or in any annoying circumstances, you should force yourself to smile at once, and then whistle a tune, and you will be all right.

The punishment for swearing or using bad language is for each offence, a_ mug of _cold water to be poured down the offender's sleeve by the other Scouts. It was the punishment invented by the old British scout, Captain John Smith, three hundred years ago.

When I was encamped with my troop of Scouts at Humshaugh, Northumberland, a gentleman living in the neighbourhood invited us to come and visit the castle in which he lived. It was a beautiful old tower left much in the state in which it was when it formed one of the Border defences against Scotland. On the top was the fighting platform from which the archers fired their bolts and arrows, and the gunners fired their culverins. On the storey below were the rooms in which the family lived, and below these again were the guardrooms of the men-at-arms. On the ground-floor was the cattle stable into which the herds were driven for security when the enemy were around. The portcullis which closed the gateway was still in existence, hauled up and down by means of ropes over pulleys of which the levers were worked on the floor above.

In later and more peaceful times, that is in the reign of James I, a house was built on to the tower to give more room to the inhabitants.

In the hall of this house was a noble fireplace above which there was an elaborate overmantel of carved oak illustrating the seven Christian virtues. There were little statues representing Fortitude, Benevolence, Faith, etc., etc., all the qualities which a good Christian should possess and carry into practice. But I felt, after looking at them all, that there was still one virtue missing, and I suggested to the boys that you might carry out all these seven good qualities of a Christian without doing it to the best effect. You might carry it out as an order to be kind, to be helpful, to be chivalrous, and so on, but if you only did it because it was an order, and therefore did it grumpily, half its value was lost.

The important point is that when you know what is the right thing to do, you should jump to it and do it cheerily with a smile. Therefore I thought that we Scouts might add one more to these seven Christian virtues—namely Cheerfulness.

Then there is another good reason for being cheerful.

Have you ever noticed as you walk along the street how very few people look really happy? They are going along often with downcast eyes, and nearly always with dejected, serious countenances; if one comes along who looks at you smilingly it is a great relief, and makes you feel a bit happier yourself. And there is a reason why a Scout should go about with a smile on, because it makes other people happy. You may not always feel cheerful yourself, but you should not show this, as it will make other people feel glum, too. If you make yourself look cheerful, you will gradually find that you are becoming brighter.

If you are troubled or anxious, or in pain, force yourself to smile. It will be difficult at first; still, force yourself to do it, and you will find to your surprise that your trouble is not so great as you thought it was.

I have known men in action getting very anxious when great danger overshadowed them. But if one began to laugh and to talk cheerily, or to whistle, the cloud passed by and everybody bucked up and was ready to face the situation.

That is what makes our men so formidable in the war just now. In spite of heavy losses, in spite of overwhelming attacks against them, they have always kept up their spirits and therefore their pluck. It has often been the secret of their being able to hold their own, and it will be the secret of their coming out victorious in the end.

Remember this—and I have found it come true in hundreds of different kinds of cases:

"A difficulty ceases to be a difficulty directly you smile at it and tackle it."

* * * * *

THE SCOUT'S SMILE.

During one of my visits to Birmingham, I saw a Rally of the local Scouts. One thing that struck me about them, besides their good work, was their cheerfulness. The outside of their programme had printed upon it portraits of eight of their smartest Scouts, and each one of these has a big grin on.

Well, that is what I like to see; fellows who can work, and work cheerily. It is just what our men are doing at the Front.

I saw a letter the other day from an officer describing how the men lived a miserable existence crouching in the trenches, always wet and cold and muddy, being shot at and shelled all the time, but they welcomed the shells as if they were friends, giving them the nicknames of Jack Johnsons, Black Marias, Woolly Bears, etc. He says of the men:

"If I were asked what struck me most, I would say that it was the marvellous cheerfulness of the men living in such awful circumstances. Every one to a man seemed happy. They are always ready for a joke, and they see fun in everything."

And that is why we shall succeed in this war, because our men see the bright side of it, and take things cheerfully and hopefully, even in the worst circumstances. It is also the way to succeed in peace time when doing work or suffering hardships or disappointments.

* * * * *

FIGHTING FROM A CHAIR.

[Illustration: KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE DOG.]

One bit of advice I gave to the Birmingham Scouts was that, if ever you run a race with a dog, keep your eye on the dog, and don't look about at other things. I myself was an example of "how not to do it," for I had had a race with my dog—I was running in shorts—and he saw me looking round and promptly ran between my legs and threw me over. So I had to go to Birmingham on two sticks with a bandaged knee.

But what is true of a dog race is true of any other competition in life. When you start out to do a thing, keep your attention fixed on what you are doing, and do not let it wander off to other things, otherwise you may come a cropper.

It is a bit of a handicap to go about inspecting Scouts with one leg out of action, but still I was only carrying out the example of other Scouts.

There was Rob. Miller, a Scout at Whitby, who, when he lost a leg through a German shell, was quite cheery, and wrote to me that he felt it an honour to be the first Scout wounded whilst on duty, and that he meant to go on scouting notwithstanding the loss of a leg.

Another Scout who lost his eye through a Toby Tenderfoot fooling with a gun wrote to say that he could go scouting just as well with one eye as with two. That is the spirit of the scouts.

In addition to these, I had a fine example in a namesake of mine, Major H. G. Powell, out at the Front. He had left the Army some ten years ago, but when the war broke out he went back to his old regiment. In advancing to an attack he sprained his ankle badly. However, he got a stick and a chair from a neighbouring cottage, and continued to hobble along at the head of his men, sitting down whenever there was a halt and directing their operations from the chair. He went on doing this until he himself was hit and badly wounded, and he was able to be carried safely back still sitting in his chair.

[Illustration: A CHEERY OLD SCOUT.]

* * * * *

HOW TO LIVE LONG.

I suppose none of you Scouts who read this are cheerful, happy fellows! [I don't think!] But if you should happen to want to live to be 100 years old, here is the way to do it—written by one who has done it:

"Be cheery, and work hard!"

That is what Mrs. Rebecca Clark, of High Road, Wood Green, said a few days before she died, and she was 110 years old, so she ought to know.

I think that most Scouts are doing exactly what she recommends—so in
A.D. 2010 there will be 200,000 old fellows of over 100 years of age,
skipping about in bare knees and worn-out hats, singing: "Boys, Be
Prepared!"

* * * * *

THE ONLY BAD THING.

Mrs. Scoresby Routledge, a well-known lady explorer, wrote to me once to say that while travelling in the Pacific she came across Scouts in all sorts of unexpected places.

After giving them a good character, she added that the only bad thing about Scouts was that they whistled.

She pointed out that a great many people already suffer from the noises in the streets of our towns, especially people who are ill and weak. Even small, harmless noises "get on their nerves," and keep them from resting. And whistling is one of these dreaded noises.

I hope Scouts, in going about the streets, will think of this, and tone down their whistling, as a good turn to people who may possibly be disturbed by it.

At the same time, I need not remind you that it is good to whistle and smile in a difficulty, when otherwise you might break out into curses, or into a cry of pain or of panic, or take to your fists (or your heels), according to what might be happening to you.

I have known fellows whistle in very bad times in action, and their whistling has not only kept them calm themselves, but has also made those around them feel calm and cheery, too.

* * * * *

AN ANCIENT INSCRIPTION.

At Timgad in Algeria there are some interesting ruins, among them being those of the theatre and the baths.

The theatre is a huge open-air one of horse-shoe shape with stone seats rising like steps above each other, and with a row of private boxes at the top.

The stage is a handsome one built of stone with fine marble pillars, and a back wall—for the Romans did not make use of painted scenery as we do—and behind the stage are the dressing-rooms for the actors.

The theatre itself was big enough to seat 3400 spectators, which is more than most theatres in London could do, and as Timgad was merely a country town of no very great size it shows that the Romans were as fond of theatrical plays as the English are of cinematograph shows to-day.

They were equally fond of bathing, and in this one town alone there were twelve public baths. They were what we call Turkish baths, that is, there were bathrooms of several grades of heat to be gone through—one tepid, the next warm, the next one very hot, and then cooler and cold, and the Romans were fond of taking these baths every day.

This is too much of a good thing, as it is apt to weaken a man. The Romans, as you know, were in the end driven out of their Empire, because they allowed themselves to become weak in mind and in body by too much laziness in theatre-going and continual hot baths.

One inhabitant had inscribed on a stone in Timgad what he thought to be the best form of happiness. He wrote:

"To hunt, to bathe, and to laugh—that's the way to live."

And there is a good deal in what he says, for in hunting you have to use much woodcraft and hard exercise, and keeping clean and being cheery is all part of the Scout's life.

But he has forgotten to mention one very important thing towards making your life a happy one, and I expect that any Scout could tell me at once what that point is—couldn't you?

He has left out the happiness which you get from doing a good turn. If he had slightly altered his sentence, and had put it this way:

"To scout, to bathe, to do a good turn, and to smile—that is the way to live and be happy," he would have said the truth, and he would have exactly described what every Boy Scout does.

* * * * *

DON'T STAND WITH YOUR BACK TO THE SUN.

This is one of the Scout mottoes.

Every Scout knows that when you examine footmarks on the ground, you should generally do so facing the sun, have them between you and the light, and you will see them all the better.

But that is not the meaning of this text; it has a second and bigger meaning.

It means that when there is any sunshine or brightness possible, 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 never can play at all.

However down on your luck you may be, remember there is a bright lining to every cloud. There is some brightness somewhere, if only you look out for it and don't turn your back on it.

When things are looking their worst, and everybody is depressed, make up your mind that you, at any rate, will be hopeful.

Try to see where there is hope.

Remember St. Paul said that God was the "God of Hope." Hope gives you pluck and comfort at a bad time, and your hopefulness will comfort others round you and nerve them to stick it out.

* * * * *

LORD ROBERTS.

Lord Roberts died the best death that could have been hoped for him. He died in the field, within the sound of the guns, doing his duty for his Country even at the age eighty-two.

It was very many years ago that I first got to know him. It was at Simla, in India. I had just joined the Army, and was enjoying myself in all the glory of my new uniform at a ball. I had gone to the refreshment-room to get something for my partner, but I could not make the native waiter understand what I wanted, as I had not at that time learnt any Hindustani.

A very small but very polite officer alongside me kindly explained to the servant what I wanted. Then he said to me that if I wanted to enjoy India I ought to learn the language as soon as possible. I should get much more fun out of the country if I could talk to the natives. And he asked me my name and where I was staying.

After thanking him, I thought no more about the matter till next day, when there arrived at my house a native teacher of Languages, who said that Sir Frederick Roberts had sent him to give me some lessons!

Thus, like everybody else, I began my acquaintance with him by heartily liking him. He had gone out of his way to do a kindness to a young officer of whom he knew nothing. But that was just like him—it was his way.

I need not tell you about his early career in the Army. Probably every Scout knows how, in the Mutiny in India in 1858, Lieutenant Roberts won the Victoria Cross. He had charged with the cavalry, and had followed the flying mutineers, when he saw one of them attacking a loyal native cavalryman.

Roberts at once dashed to his rescue and cut down the Sepoy. As he did so, he saw two more Sepoys making off with a regimental flag; so he pushed on after them, although single-handed and alone. He seized the Standard and cut down the man who held it. The other man aimed his rifle at him, close against him, and pulled the trigger but the gun failed to go off, and the man turned and fled for his life.

In 1880 Lord Roberts made his famous march in Afghanistan, from Kabul to relieve Kandahar, which was besieged by the Afghans. He took ten thousand men and marched the 320 miles in twenty-two days, which was a splendid performance in that difficult, mountainous desert. He arrived in time to relieve Kandahar and to inflict a very heavy defeat on the Afghans. For his splendid victory here he received the title of Lord Roberts "of Kandahar."

In 1900 he was Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in the Boer war in South Africa. Here again he displayed his self-sacrifice and determination.

His winning of the Victoria Cross had showed that, though a very small man—he was very nearly rejected from the Army because he was so small—he had great pluck. And he also had a great heart.

His pluck and self-control were perhaps better proved by his bracing himself up to send men to their death in battle when he loved them and would gladly have saved them if duty and the good of the Country were not at stake. And it was in South Africa that he met with the sorrow of his life, when his only son was killed in trying to save the guns at the battle of Colenso.

For his gallantry on this occasion young Roberts was awarded the
Victoria Cross, although he was dead. It is seldom that the Victoria
Cross has been won by both father and son.

In South Africa Lord Roberts again did me a kind act by riding out many miles to meet me on my coming into Pretoria after the siege of Mafeking.

On his return to England after that war, Lord Roberts became
Commander-in-Chief of the British Army.

When the Boy Scout movement began, he took the greatest interest in it, because he was always fond, of boys and knew how useful to the Country they might be if only they were trained to it.

So he came on the Council of the Scouts' Headquarters, and he reviewed the Scouts at a big Empire Day parade in Hyde Park.

When I went to stay with him, he talked of little else but the Scouts; and the Scouts at Ascot, who were raised and organised by his daughter, Lady Aileen Roberts, miss their great friend.

The Ascot Scouts formed part of the Guard of Honour which escorted his body through that place on its way to burial in London. At St. Paul's Cathedral I was glad to see also a Guard of Honour of Scouts, who had come to pay their last respects to our national hero.

Lord Roberts was a splendid example for any boy to follow, because he rose from small beginnings to the highest position in the Army and, what is more, to the highest position in the admiration and affection of all his fellow-subjects of the King, whether they were white or coloured. And he did it all by his own merit, though he was not extraordinarily brilliant or clever as a lad.

How did he manage it?

I think it was largely because he was a true Scout in every sense of the word. The things which brought him success were:

His pluck in facing every kind of difficulty or danger with cheery hopefulness.

His eagerness to work hard and to do his duty regardless of whether it was what he liked or wanted to do. His honesty and straightforwardness, which made everybody trust and believe in him.

His humility, by which he put himself on equal terms with everybody; he had no kind of "swank" or pride, in spite of his brilliant successes.

His kind-heartedness and thoughtfulness for others, especially those at the bottom of the ladder. And that was one of the secrets of his success—those working under his orders worked like slaves for him because they loved him.

His simple faith in God, which led him true and straight through every difficulty.

Well, when you come to look into it, you will see that by doing these things in his daily life Lord Roberts was exactly carrying out the Scout Law. It is what you as a Scout are already aiming to do.

So, now that you have his great example before you, all you have to do is to go ahead and stick to it, with all the greater determination that you will make yourself, like Lord Roberts, a cheery, brave fellow and a valuable man for your Country.

THRIFT

Law 9. A SCOUT IS THRIFTY.

It is expected that a Scout will save every penny he can, and put it in the bank, so that he may have money to keep himself when out of work, and thus not make himself a burden to others; or that he may have money to give away to others when they need it.

There are many Boy Scouts to-day who will in a few years' time become very rich men although they have not much to begin with. That is a certainty, because a good many are determined to make their fortunes, and if a lad begins by being thrifty he generally succeeds in the end.

A fellow who begins making money as a boy will go on making it as a man. Some fellows, of course, want to do it by easy means, and that as a rule does not pay.

Some fellows see a fortune in betting on a horse race or football match; you may win a few shillings now and then but you are absolutely certain to lose half the time, and it is a fool's way of trying to make money, because the bookies who make a living by it trust to there being a sufficient number of fools to keep on betting and supplying them with money.

Such money is not earned, it is only gained by chance and therefore is not worth having—to a fellow with manly ideas.

Any number of poor boys have become rich men, but it was because they meant to from the first. They WORKED for it and put by every penny that they earned in the bank to begin with.

Lots of boys are already at work doing this, and I hope that very many of the Boy Scouts are also at it. Two good rules are given for making your fortune. The first is "Spend less than you earn." The second is "Pay ready money, and don't run into debt."

Many of you probably have heard of the Nasmyth steam hammer which is used in all the great iron works?

Well, Nasmyth, as a boy, worked in his father's workshop, and used to spend a great deal of his spare time in a neighbouring iron foundry, and he took to using tools and making all sorts of models of engines, etc., just as you Boy Scouts who are working up for your Engineer's Badge might do.

He made one model steam-engine so large that a man bought it for the purpose of driving a machine tool in his factory, and so he began to make money by selling his own home-made engines. And finally he went to work at a big engineering shop because he felt that he was one of a large family and that his father could not afford to keep them all and he was resolved to make his own living.

He could not afford to have his food cooked for him on the small pay that he got as a boy at the works, but he manufactured his own cooking-stove and found that with its help he was able to live on ten shillings a week.

He worked so well in the shop that the manager raised his wages to fifteen shillings a week. But as he had found that he could live on ten shillings, he put by the extra five shillings each week in the bank, and all the time he kept making tools for himself in his spare hours, and eventually started himself in business on his own account with his own money and his own tools, and finally invented his celebrated steam hammer.

By the time he was forty-eight, he had made a big income and quite a fortune. Many men would not have been content with this, but would have gone on until they became millionaires. But Nasmyth did not, he was content to retire from hard work with sufficient money to buy a happy home, where he went in for making telescopes and studying astronomy and also in doing good turns to people not so well off as himself.

And he gave some good advice to young fellows wanting to make a success of their lives in the following words:

"If I were to try to compress into one sentence the whole of the experience I have had, and offer it to a young man as a certain means of bringing success in whatever position he holds, it would be this:'Duty first, pleasure second,'"

"I am certain from what I have seen that what so many call 'bad luck' comes in nine cases out of ten from putting that maxim the other way round and satisfying your pleasure first and attending to work and duty afterwards."

One poor man, a farm labourer, made himself rich by writing poetry. His name was Stephen Duck, the thresher poet. But unfortunately numbers of other working men, seeing his good fortune, also thought it would be an easier way of making money to write poetry rather than by doing hard work, and Horace Walpole, when writing of Duck, said., "that he succeeded as a poet, but he also succeeded in ruining at least twenty good workmen."

There are very few young men who have not at one time or another in their lives thought themselves splendid poets. I hope this will be a warning to them, and that they will take to hard work as a means of making their way in the world.

* * * * *

THE MAN WHO "STUCK TO IT."

Lord Strathcona began life as a poor boy in Scotland and he ended up by being one of the richest men in Britain, and, not only the richest in money, but in having also the admiration and affection of a vast number of his fellow-countrymen.

When he was eighteen, as plain Donald Smith, he went out to Canada and joined the Hudson Bay Trading Company there. This Company used to buy fur skins from the trappers and Indians, and their trading stations were built in far-off, out-of-the-way places in order to be near to the hunting-grounds of these people.

Also, as you never could trust the Red Indians, they were all fortified posts, ready for defence against attack.

Young Smith was sent up to a place called Mingan, right away up in the north-east of Canada, in Labrador, a cold, bleak, dreary country.

After he had been there some time, his eyes began to give him great trouble, and he feared he was going blind. There was no doctor nor anyone else to consult, so he started off to make his way down to Montreal to see a doctor. He took with him as guides two half-breed Indians.

For weeks he toiled through the awful wilderness, among snow and blizzard, but at length he reached Montreal.

Do you think they made a hero of him?

Not a bit of it. His employers rounded on him for quitting his post without leave, and told him to go back at once.

At first he felt—like many of us would have done—so angry that he was on the point of throwing up the whole thing and leaving the service of the Hudson Bay Company.

But on second thoughts he felt that, after all, the managers were right. They had put him there to have charge of valuable stores and important work, and that it was his duty to stick there, and not to come in to civilised parts for his own sake.

So he accepted the wigging, and started back on the long, dreary journey to his gloomy post in Labrador.

He had luckily been able to see a doctor, and had got his eyes put right.

It was an awful journey: so bad that the two guides gave way under their hardships and died. But again Donald Smith stuck to it, and struggled on, and in the end he just managed to get to his post, worn out and exhausted.

But that sticking to it was exactly what was the secret of his success.

For thirteen years he stuck to his job in that awful country and then his employers saw that he was so strong on doing his duty that they promoted him to higher and more important work, till in the end he became Chief Factor or Head Manager of the Company.

Then came the idea of making the Canadian Pacific Railway right across
Canada.

People said it was a mad scheme; that it could never pay to make a railway into that vast wilderness which in those days had not been properly explored.

But Donald Smith looked far ahead, and saw the time when Britain would be overcrowded with people, and corn-growing, cattle-raising land would be needed for colonists.

So he put his savings into the railway and worked hard to make it a success.

Everything seemed to go against it. But he stuck to it, and fought against all difficulties, until in the end he came out successful. And to-day the Canadian Pacific is one of the greatest railways in the world, and has opened up Canada to be a great country, peopled by thousands of British colonists.

And so he made his fortune, and later on, in return for his splendid work for the Empire, he was made Lord Strathcona.

Most men leave off work when they are between sixty and seventy, but Lord Strathcona did not. He still continued to stick to it for twenty or thirty years longer than most men. Only a few days before his death he was at work in his office (and he died at the age of ninety-four).

And in his office every day he stuck to it, for he went there about eleven in the morning, but seldom left before seven—often he was there till nine.

When all the neighbouring offices in Victoria Street had turned off their lights and closed their doors for the night, Lord Strathcona's window was to be seen still brilliantly lit up, so much so that the policemen and others about there called it "The Lighthouse."

Now, why should a man go on working overtime like that? He was not making money; he had enough of that and to spare. It was simply because he considered it was his duty, and he stuck to it.

Besides his adventures in Canada, and besides his power of sticking to his duty, Lord Strathcona was also a good scout, because he was kind and helpful to others.

* * * * *

MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING.

For the South African War he paid the expenses of raising a regiment to fight for the King—and a fine regiment it was, too—of mounted men, which was called after him "Strathcona's Horse."

Also the Boy Scouts owe him a debt of gratitude, because in the early days of the movement, when we were struggling to get along, he gave 500 Pounds to me to help to start our brotherhood.

So Boy Scouts owe much to Lord Strathcona for that, and for setting a real living example of how a man should stick to it in doing his duty, and in being kind and helpful to others.

From these stories of poor boys who have made successes of their lives and become rich men I do not want you to think that I look upon money as the aim of your life. You should only wish to gain sufficient money to put you in a position where you can live happily into old age if necessary, and bring up a family without calling on other people to support you.

And I would tell you just one more story of a poor man who yet made a fortune other than that which money produced.

This man was John Pounds, and he kept a little cobbler's shop in Portsmouth, where he worked hard and well, so that people began to bring their boots to him for repair in preference to any other cobbler, because they knew that he did honest work and they got a better return for their money.

Soon he began to gather in much more cash than was necessary for his modest wants. But he did not buy a big house and set himself up in comfort. He did a better thing than that.

When he was at his work, idle boys used to come and hang around his shop watching him busily employed, and while he stitched and cobbled he chatted with the boys and took an interest in them.

Boys are good fellows, and when they found somebody thought about them, although they were dirty, ragged urchins, they took an interest in him, until gradually they came at their own desire to hear him talk, and began to imitate him in doing steady work. Then he made use of his savings in a way that was better than feeding himself on good things, for he fed these boys who badly wanted a good meal.

As time went on, he started a sort of club or school for his ragged friends, and in the end had a sort of Scout troop of boys who learnt handicrafts under him and became strong with their good feeding, became good workmen under his instruction, and saved up money under his example.

Thus he was able to send out into the world a number of good, strong, prosperous workmen who would otherwise have drifted into being wasters.

And from his little effort in Portsmouth sprang up similar ragged schools and boys' clubs in different parts of the Kingdom.

So he did as much by his thrift as many have done by saving their millions.

* * * * *

HOW A POOR BOY BECAME RICH.

"How can I ever succeed in becoming great and rich? It is impossible.
I am only a poor boy!"

That is what a lad said to me. I was able to restore him to greater hopefulness by saying:

"Nothing is impossible if you make up your mind to do it. Many a great man who is alive to-day began as a poor boy like yourself, with no help besides his own wits and pluck."

Then I told him about Sir William Arrol. At nine years of age he went to work as a "piecer" in a cotton factory. A few years later he became apprenticed to a blacksmith. He worked hard and well, and was very steady, so that at the age of twenty-three he found himself foreman in Messrs. Laidlaw's boiler works in Glasgow. Like a Scout, he was thrifty, and in five years of this employment he saved up 85 Pounds of his wages, and with this sum he started a business of his own.

At first he made boilers and girders, and then, as his business grew bigger, he took up bridge-building.

Steadily he worked at this, being at all times anxious to show good solid work, without any scamping.

To start with he had met with disappointments and failures, but he would not give in to then; when things looked their worst he kept a smiling face and stuck to it.

And in the end he came out successful, as every man does who is patient and sticks it out. He got a name for steady, persevering work, and for giving full value for any money paid to him.

For these reasons he obtained good contracts for building bridges, and soon enlarged his business into a very big one.

Among others, the great Tay bridge and the bridge over the Forth in
Scotland are his work.

He died a rich and highly respected man, but in the height of his power he never forgot that he began as a poor boy, and he always did what he could to help other poor boys to win their way to success.

He used, however, to say that success depended mainly on the boy himself. If a boy were determined to get on, and knew a handicraft or two, he would probably succeed, but if he merely dabbled in one thing and then another, and wasted his time in amusements, and could not stick it out when luck seemed against, him, that boy would be a failure, and would probably go on being a failure all his life.

* * * * *

THRIFT IS MANLINESS.

So you see if, as a Scout, you pick up and really practise what Scouting teaches you, it gives you every chance of being a success in life, since it teaches you to be active and enduring, to be trustworthy, to be obedient to your duty, to be thrifty, and to learn handicrafts.

In fact, it teaches you to Be Prepared to make a successful career for yourself if you stick to it.

The knights in the old days were ordered by their code of rules to be thrifty, that is, to save money as much as possible in order to keep themselves and not to be a burden to others, and that they might have more to give away in charity.

If they were poor, they were not to beg for money, but had to make it by their own work.

Thus, Thrift is part of manliness because it means hard work and self-denial, and boys are never too young to work for pay, which they should put in the Post Office Savings Bank or some other Government security.

CLEANLINESS

Law 10. A SCOUT IS CLEAN IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED.

Decent Scouts look down upon silly youths who talk dirt, and they do not let themselves give way to temptation, either to talk it or to do anything dirty. A Scout is pure, and clean-minded, and manly.

When boys are getting big, they generally want to show off and to impress other boys with their "manliness"—or at least what they think is manliness.

It generally begins with smoking. They think it fine to smoke, so they suck and puff at cigarettes, partly because these are cheap, and partly because a pipe would make them sick.

The reason why half of them do it is because they are arrant cowards, and are afraid of being laughed at by the other boys if they don't do it. They think themselves tremendous heroes, while in reality they are little asses. Then they like to use swear words because they think this makes them appear tremendously ferocious and big. Also they think it the height of manliness to tell smutty stories and to talk dirt.

But these things don't say much for the boy who does them. He generally curls up and hides them directly a man is present. He only produces them for swanking in the presence of other boys, This shows that he is not really very proud of his accomplishments, and the boy who has a sense of honour in him knows at once that such things are against his conscience-law and he will have nothing to do with them.

This often puts him in a difficult position when among boys who are showing off, as they will be ready to jeer at him; but if he has honour and pluck—in a word, if he is a true Scout—he will brave it out and, as a result, he will come out the only real man of the party.

The probability will be that though they do not show it at the moment, some of the others will see that he is right and that they are wrong, and will pluck up courage themselves and follow his example in being clean and straight.

If, by his conduct, a Scout can in this way save one fellow, he will at any rate have done something in the world.

You may think there is no harm in a little joking of a risky kind, or in the occasional secret smoking of a cigarette, although you allow it may be silly; but if you look into it, and especially when you have, later on, seen results such as I have seen that come of it, you will at once understand there is great harm—great danger in it. It is the beginning; and the beginning of anything is very often the important point.

If you talk or listen to what is wrong, you get to think about what is wrong and very soon you get to doing what is wrong.

By doing things which you would not care to do before your father or mother, you are becoming a bit of a sneak. You do these things secretly, you are not straight.

A fellow who is not straight at starting is pretty sure to go on being crooked for the rest of his career. He knows all the time in his inmost heart that he is a sneak, and he can therefore never take a pride in himself and others are bound to find it out sooner or later, so he never gets a real friend nor a good employer.

Then these things are likely to do him bodily harm.

Smoking is poison to a growing lad. It may not do you much harm if you take to it when you are grown up; but while you are still forming your muscles as a lad it is almost certain to do damage to your heart, your wind, your digestion, and very likely your eyesight and teeth.

I take it that most boys want to be good healthy runners and able to play at all the games, and I am certain that every Scout wants to Be Prepared to be a good healthy man for his Country.

Well, you can't do it if you begin by smoking as a boy.

Drinking begins, like everything else, in a small way; but it very soon grows on a fellow unless he is on the look out to stop it. More than half the crime in Great Britain is due to drink, and so is most of the poverty, and three-quarters of the insanity. And it is much the same with thoughts about women; they soon grow into wrong action, and if these are kept up they grow into habits which lead in an awful number of cases to misery, disease, and madness.

Brace up!

Be a man! Keep off these dangers.

If fellows around you are swanking in dirt, leave them and go elsewhere.

Don't let yourself BEGIN loafing about, taking drinks, talking smut, or doing what you know is wrong; give yourself bettor things to do—games, handicrafts, good turns, work, and you will grow up a clean, straight, and happy fellow, and, what is more—a man.

* * * * *

MANLINESS IS NOT DIRTINESS.

Not long ago there was a lot of argument about certain music-halls in London. Many people were disgusted at the low and dirty talk or hints made by some of the performers. Most of these rotten ideas of half-dressed women, dancing about trying to look pretty, come from abroad, and do not really please the ordinary British man.

Harry Lauder is delightfully funny, but he is funny without being dirty, and so is Chevalier, the coster singer. Dan Leno made you laugh, but he was never dirty—and that was why he and these other singers have been so popular.

I saw a performance not long ago, where a half-dressed woman came and danced about on the stage, but, though she was tremendously advertised as the great attraction of the place, she got very little applause. Soon after her there came a bright-looking girl in ordinary clothes, who merely sang an English ballad, but she was cheered and applauded till she had to come on again and sing a second, and even a third time.

I believe that the proper, manly Britisher likes a good clean show on the stage; he likes to have a good hearty laugh, or to hear good music, but I believe it is only a very few (and those nearly all slackers and wasters) who care to go and see the nasty, half-indecent shows which come sometimes from other countries.

* * * * *

THE ORDER OF THE BATH.

In the old days when being made Knights, members of the Order of the Bath used to go and take a bath as part of the ceremony. I was very glad to see in Hull during a visit there that at the Boys' Club every boy on coming into the club has a bath.

In the first room he comes into on entering the club he takes off all his clothes and puts them in a rack made for the purpose. Then he goes into a big warm plunge bath, from which he goes into a drying-room, and beyond this is a dressing-room, where he gets a club shirt and pair of shorts to wear for the evening, till it is time to get into his own clothes to go home again.

[Illustration: BRITISH SOLDIERS SURPRISED THE FRENCH NATIVES BY THEIR
EAGERNESS TO HAVE A WASH, EVEN ON ICY COLD MORNINGS.]

This daily bath is an excellent thing for keeping a fellow healthy and strong—and the most important part of it is the rubbing with the towel.

Well, it is often difficult for a Scout to get a bath. Sometimes in his home there are no means for doing it, and often out on the veldt or desert there is very little water, but if he has a towel, especially a damp one, he can always give himself a good rub down with it—he should scrub himself well all over! and that is what I should like every Scout to do every morning when he gets up. It will not only keep him clean, but will make him grow far more healthy and happy and strong, because it cleans the skin and wakes up the blood so that it rushes through his veins and brings him health.

So get yourself a towel, every Scout; and carry out your rubbing every day when you get up.

In the same way see that you clean your teeth regularly night and morning—not because it will help you to pass the time away, but because it will prevent your teeth from getting rotten, thus saving you from toothache.

* * * * *

SPITTING.

"Gentlemen do not spit; men must not spit" is a notice which may be seen in an American city; also there is a similar one which says: "If you expect to rate as a gentleman, don't expectorate."

On the steamships to South America the English passengers were often disgusted by the amount of spitting about the decks done by some of the foreigners on board.

One of the captains thought of a good idea; he ordered a sailor, carrying a mop, to follow each of these foreigners where-ever he went; whenever the foreigner spat, the sailor used the mop, and in a short time all the foreigners learnt that if they behaved like other gentlemen and did not spit, they were spared having an attendant with a mop, so they soon gave up the dirty habit.

When I was in charge of a public building in Malta, which was guarded at night by Maltese watchmen, I soon found that I need not be always going round to see that they were alert, because their habit of constantly spitting showed me next morning whether they had been awake and where they had stood or walked during the night.

One day I found the pavement of one man's beat quite clean and dry, so I had him up and accused him of having been absent without leave. He did not know how I found it out, so confessed that he had been away to see a friend, thinking there was no harm in it, since the place was all locked up and secure.

Englishmen are fortunately not so dirty in their habits as to be always spitting, but, still; there is a little of it going on in our streets; and even a little is a bad thing.

It is not only a habit that is nasty to other people, but it is dangerous as well, for the following reason;

So many men are suffering from consumption or disease of the lungs even without knowing it. When they spit they throw out a number of tiny "germs," which, although too small to be seen, get into the air and are very easily breathed in again by other passers-by; and these germs contain the seeds of the disease, which are thus sown in healthy people, and make them "consumptives" also.

Unhappily people are rather fond of spitting in railway carriages. A man doing this was fined ten shillings and two guineas costs not long since.

His excuse was that he had a bad cough.

Any Scout could have told him, apart from the dirty, disgusting part of the habit, how very dangerous to other passengers it is for a person with a bad cough to indulge in this habit.

Little living seeds of disease are in this way let loose to get into other people's throats and lungs, and possibly to bring them illness and death.

* * * * *

THE WAR AGAINST CONSUMPTION.

Sixty thousand people die every year of consumption in Great Britain.

One death in every eight is from consumption.

Two hundred and fifty thousand people, or one in every two hundred, have the disease in them.

Consumption is caught through carelessness or ignorance, by breathing the germs, or in drinking them in milk.

The following are a few simple rules which, if followed, should help to prevent you from getting it:

1. Live much in the open air. 2. Sleep with the window open. 3. Breathe through the nose. 4. If you drink milk, be sure that it is pure. 5. Keep your blood healthy with exercise, good and plain food. 6. Keep your home clean and well ventilated. 7. Never neglect a cold.

Here are some pictures showing how people get the germs of consumption into them unless they are very careful.

A large number of cows have the germs or seeds of consumption in them, and they give out these germs in their milk. So milk ought to be "sterilised," that is to say, it should be made so hot that the germs are killed before it is drunk.

[Illustration: DO NOT DRINK MILK STRAIGHT FROM THE COW, AS A GREAT
NUMBER OF THESE ANIMALS HAVE THE GERMS OF CONSUMPTION IN THEM.]

Then a large number of people have the consumption germs in them, although they may not yet be ill with it. They will get ill sooner or later, and they give out germs whenever they cough or spit.

[Illustration: HOW CONSUMPTION IS SPREAD.

A man spits and the germs rise. They try a boy who breathes through the nose, but get thrown out again. Then they try another boy who breathes through his open mouth, and so they get into his lungs.]

These germs get blown about in the air with the dust, and get into other people's mouths, and so into their lungs—that is, if the other people go about with their mouths partly open. If they breathe through their nose only, as I hope all Scouts do, there is less chance of the germs getting into the lungs, as they get caught in the sticky liquid in the nostrils, and get driven out again when you blow your nose.

It is the same with other diseases besides consumption.

The Missioner Scout can safely go about among people who are ill with colds, measles, and other sicknesses, if he breathes only through his nose. All illnesses that are "catching" are spread by germs flying from one person to another.

The consumptive germs get into you and go for your lungs, which are big sponges inside you, through which your blood gets the air, which is necessary to keep it healthy. Consumption germs "consume" your lungs.

The nasty little germ of disease thrives in dirt, and dark and muggy air, and so he grips even the healthiest people in rooms that are dark and dirty, and where the windows are not kept open.

Fresh air, sunlight, and cleanliness kill the germs.

Now that you know what consumption is, you will be doing a good turn to get other people to understand it.

I want every Scout who reads this to show the pictures to at least five other people, AND EXPLAIN them. He may thus save lives.