A Scout never flinches in the face of danger; for he knows that at such a time every faculty must be alert to preserve his safety and that of others. He knows what to do in case of fire, or panic, or shipwreck; he trains his mind to direct and his body to act. In all emergencies he sets an example of resourcefulness, coolness and courage, and considers the safety of others before that of himself. He is especially considerate of the helpless and weak.
A Scout can make himself known to a brother Scout wherever he may be by a method which only Scouts can know. He has brothers in every city in the land and in every country in the world. Wherever he goes he can give his signs and be assured of a friendly welcome. He can talk with a brother Scout without making a sound or he can make known his message by imitating the click of a telegraph key.
—From "The Boy Scouts' Year Book",
Courtesy of D. Appleton and Company.
Questions
1. Why would you like a Boy Scout as a companion if you were lost in the woods?
2. What is meant by, "His sense of honor is his only task-master"?
3. Why would you trust a Boy Scout who lived up to the teachings of the Boy Scouts?
[THE SCOUT AND THE KNIGHT]
Some of the pledges which the knights of King Arthur's Round Table had to take were not unlike the code of the Boy Scouts. Find the points of likeness in these lines from Tennyson's version of the vows:
"To honor his own word as if his God's;
To ride abroad redressing human wrongs;
To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it."