Fast walking you walk a mile in 16 minutes, or nearly four miles an hour.
THE SCOUT IS ALWAYS A HANDY-MAN.
Pioneers are always "handy-men." In the Army the Regimental Pioneers are the men who in war make bridges and roadways for the troops to get along; they destroy the enemy's bridges and railways so that he cannot get away; and they blow up his fortifications so that the rest of the soldiers can rush in and capture the place, and so on. In peace-time the pioneers do all the useful jobs in barracks, such as carpentering, doing plumbers' and painters' work, bricklaying and metal work, making chairs, tables, bookshelves, etc. So scouts, if they want to be handy pioneers, should also learn this kind of work; and it will always be useful to them afterwards.
Also scouts must know how to mend and even to make themselves clothes and boots. I have made myself boots as well as shoes out of all sorts of materials, but always wished I had, while a boy, learned to do a bit of boot-mending from a cobbler.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
Start a carpentry class, or instruction in electricity, or plumbing, elementary engineering, etc., with a view to teaching the boys handicrafts that may be of real use to them in their future life. If you do not know enough about it yourself, get a friend to come and demonstrate with models or instruments for a few evenings.
Get leave to take the scouts over a factory to study the engines, etc.
Teach the boys to chop firewood. If they learn to chop up old packing cases, etc., and make the billets into bundles for the trade, they can earn a good deal towards their funds.
Teach them to make wooden mechanical toys, (from one or two penny ones as models.) Thereby teaching them elementary mechanics, and handiness with tools.