When you have learnt all these things you will have confidence in yourself, so that when an accident happens and everybody is in a state of fluster, not knowing what to do, you will quietly step out and do the right thing.
Remember the case at the Hampstead Ponds last year when a woman drowned herself in shallow water before a whole lot of men, who were too frightened to do anything but shout to her. It was a disgrace to our nation that there was not a real man amongst them. It would have been a grand opportunity for a Boy Scout, had there been one there, to go in and fetch her out. As it was, these cowards stood there clamouring and chattering on the bank—not one of them daring to go in because the others did not. And she was drowned before their eyes.
[Teach the scouts how to lift and carry an insensible man. Also how to drag an insensible man through smoke, gas, etc. Also how to cover nose and mouth with wet handkerchief. Divide them off into pairs, and let each in turn act as insensible patient to be rescued by his comrade.]
Endurance.—To carry out all the duties and work of a scout properly a fellow has to be strong, healthy, and active. And he can make himself so if he takes a little care about it.
It means a lot of exercise, like playing games, running, walking, cycling, and so on.
A scout has to sleep very much in the open, and a boy who is accustomed to sleep with his window shut will probably suffer, like many a tenderfoot has done, by catching cold and rheumatism when he first tries sleeping out. The thing is always to sleep with your windows open, summer and winter, and you will never catch cold. Personally I cannot sleep with my window shut or with blinds down, and when living in the country I always sleep outside the house, summer and winter alike. A soft bed and too many blankets make a boy dream bad dreams, which weaken him.
A short go of Swedish or ju-jitsu exercises every morning and evening is a grand thing for keeping you fit—not so much for making showy muscle as to work all your internal organs [Explain], and to work up the circulation of the blood in every part of you.
A good rub down daily with a wet rough towel, even if you cannot get a bath, which of course is preferable, is of the utmost importance.
Scouts breathe through the nose, not through the mouth; in this way they don't get thirsty; they don't get out of breath so quickly; they don't suck into their insides all sorts of microbes or seeds of disease that are in the air; and they don't snore at night, and so give themselves away to an enemy.
"Deep breathing" exercises are of great value for developing the lungs, and for putting fresh air (oxygen) into the blood, provided that they are carried out in the open air, and are not overdone so as to injure the heart, etc. For deep breathing the breath must be taken in slowly and deeply through the nose, not through the mouth, till it opens out the ribs to the greatest extent, especially at the back; then, after a time it should be slowly and steadily, breathed out again without strain. But the best deep breathing after all is that which comes naturally from plenty of running exercise.