27.—Citizenship: Duties of Scouts as Citizens; Duties as Citizen Soldiers; Marksmanship; Helping the Police.
28.—United We Stand, Divided We Fall: Our Flag; Our Navy and Army; Our Government; Our King.
BOOKS TO READ.
CONTINUATION OF PART IV.
SOBRIETY.
Remember that drink never yet cured a single trouble; it only makes troubles grow worse and worse the more you go on with it. It makes a man forget for a few hours what exactly his trouble is, but it also makes him forget everything else. If he has wife and children it makes him forget that his duty is to work and help them out of the difficulties instead of making himself all the more unfit to work.
A man who drinks is generally a coward—and one used to see it very much among soldiers. Nowadays they are a better class and do not drink.
Some men drink because they like the feeling of getting half stupid, but they are fools, because once they take to drink no employer will trust them, and they soon become unemployed and easily get ill, and finally come to a miserable end. There is nothing manly about getting drunk. Once a man gives way to drink it ruins his health, his career, and his happiness, as well as that of his family. There is only one cure for this disease, and that is—never to get it.
PRACTISE OBSERVATION.
A well-known detective, Mr. Justin Chevasse, describes how with a little practice in observation you can tell pretty accurately a man's character from his dress.
He tells the story of a Duke who used to dress very shabbily. One day this nobleman was travelling by train with a friend of his, Lord A. A commercial traveller who was in the carriage got into conversation with them. At one station the Duke got out, and after he was gone the commercial traveller asked "Who is the gentleman who has just got out?" "Oh," said Lord A, "that is the Duke of X." The commercial traveller was quite taken aback and said, "Fancy that! Fancy him talking so affably to you and me. I thought all the time that he must be a gardener."