Scouting, Volume 1, Number 9, August 15, 1913 Page: 2
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SCOUTING.
INFLUENCING CHARACTER THROUGH HIKING.
By Professor I. E. Vining.
PROMPT DELIVERY BY
SUPPLY DEPARTMENT.
SCOUT Masters must realize that we
have supervision of the boy nature
at a most vital period; that is, be-
tween twelve and eighteen years. What
happens to a boy's life in that special
period?
First, there are the inherited influ-
ences of the racial boy. By the racial
boy, I mean the physical boy with his
animal instincts, appetites and desires.
Up to about twelve years a boy is what
we call a racial boy, that is, he is not
differentiated. His voice has not yet
taken definite shape, nor have his body,
his features or his mind. In fact, his
mind is the outward mind of the senses,
what is called the objective mind. His
inner, thinking, or subjective mind is not
developed until he is a little older. So,
we take the boy at the differentiating
period of life.
Prior to that, the boy is almost neu-
tral on the sex question—his voice is
like that of a girl and if he were dressed
up as a girl, he would look quite pre-
sentable. But now the boy is beginning
to assert himself; he is growing out of
the general mass, and is coming to be
John Smith, or Fred Wilson. He is
beginning to look inward. Heretofore,
he was merely one of a great many, and
very readily merged himself with others.
But now he begins to feel his own indi-
viduality and wonders whether he will
develop like other fellows. All these
things are in his inner nature. Very
often he will not speak about them to
you, and if there is anything queer or
abnormal about him, he says nothing
about it, but he begins to brood over it.
In the camp and on the hikes, Scout
Masters will get the boy that the father
and the mother will never know, the
boy who is stepping out from under par-
ental restraint. The home heretofore has
dominated him, but now he is beginning
to think of himself as a self. Then he
steps again into the nature home, but
not as he was at twelve. He is now a
responsible being who comes out as a
somewhat dominating individual, and
the keynote of your treatment of that
boy, must be freedom. That does not
mean that you are to let him alone
without restraint, but it does mean that
a Scout should act absolutely with the
conviction that what he is doing is the
proper thing.
Next we come to the social aspect of
boy life, the ability of a boy to be
acceptable among others. He appre-
ciates other boys, and knows that there
are others in the world besides himself.
He wants to know how to treat them
and how to work with them, so that he
and they can be friends. The real
training of the boy in the social life,
in the spirit of the age, rests with the
Scout Master.
Away from the home life, what do
you find a boy's outside associations to
he? Out in the street there is a definite,
organized government among the boys.
In the streets and on the playgrounds
they make their own laws, and they
have precedents. With this in mind,
we have tried to reiterate the fact that
we must let the boys feel that they are
acting spontaneously, and that your su-
pervision is simply to make possible the
very things that they want to do. Enter
into the spirit of it with them. That
must be fundamental in your program,
in your studies, on your hikes, and in
everything. Give the boys the freedom
that is characteristic of their age, but
see to it that the program is carried out
in a way that is definite and natural to
the boy.
A doctor in New York once tele-
phoned to Columbia University, "Have
you got a great, big, husky Westerner
up there, who can take a boy out, and
cuff him around, and put a little red
blood in his veins? I have a boy that
has evoluted to essence. His father has
tried to bring him up according to cer-
tain principles, but the boy is nothing
but a little shadow."
The doctor wanted some fellow who
could take the boy out, away from home,
cuff him around, and bring back the
little savage into his life. We found
such a fellow, and the parents paid him
three hundred dollars a month to give
a few hours a week to the boy. Now
allow the boy his instincts and his de-
sires, but turn these things into the
proper channels, for the Scout Master
who tries to repress boy nature is abso-
lutely untrue to the spirit of the Boy
Scout movement.
The second influence that works upon
boys; is their environment. Very often
you will get boys from homes where
there has been so much social pressure
and so little spontaneous growth, that
they are simply little walking shadows.
On the other hand, you have some boys
who have had no social environment and
who are too much of the savage.
The third great phase in human life,
you will find in your older boy. It does
not come from desires or instincts, nor
from environment, but from within the
boy himself. That is his ideal, what
the voice of the self within tells him
is the right thing to do. You must not
appeal to that in too young a boy. It
comes as he grows older, but the age
for making this appeal varies.
With racial instincts, environment and
ideals in mind, when you take boys on a
hike, the object is not to carry out a
certain activity. Your hike forms a
train of endeavor. What are your ob-
jects? What is the train to be loaded
with? It is to be loaded with certain
mental qualities of observation, so that
the boys may hear with a hearing ear,
and see with a seeing eye. What happens
when you reach the station? You will
notice that most of the programs in the
manual include a report. In other words,
when your passengers get to the station,
are they all there safely? Very often,
in some of these activities, you have a
train wreck, and not one original passen-
ger is left.
You know the responsibility that you
accord to an engineer or a conductor;
but what is that compared to the train
of life that the Scout Master is con-
ducting for the boys? You take up the
boy when he is breaking away from
home restraints, when he and the boy
next to him get together and talk among
themselves things that they wouldn't dis-
cuss with their fathers or mothers. Here
the Scout Master enters. Instead of
the street environment, where a boy
takes up everything, with no particular
aim but momentary amusement, the
Boy Scout is up against a definite pro-
gram with a definite object and aim.
In arranging for the hikes with the boys,
throw responsibilities on them. Let the
boy take the initiative, and arrange
things. You stand at his side.
No Delay in Orders Received from
Scout Masters and Scouts.
The Supply Department at National
Headquarters deeply appreciates the pa-
tience and forbearance which have been
displayed by all who have been incon-
venienced and disappointed by the delays
in shipment of uniforms during the
spring and early summer. It has already
been explained to individuals that this
was due to a strike over which neither
the Supply Department nor the manu-
facturer had any control, and which pre-
vented the accumulation of adequate
advance stock. The factory at Red
Bank, N. J., has now been able to catcli
up in orders and resume its normal con-
dition.
All uniform orders received by the
Supply Department prior to 4 p. m. are
transmitted to Red Bank in the evening
mail of the same day, and where only
sitock sizes are called for, the factory
usually makes shipment within forty-
eight hours. At least a week is required
when special uniforms must be made.
Orders which do not include uniforms
will in most cases be shipped on the day
of their receipt. As a matter of con-
venience it is suggested /that when send-
ing in a mixed order of Scout equip-
ment and uniforms, express instructions
be given as to whether or not it is de-
sired that as much as possible of the
order shall be shipped immediately.
The Boy Scout song book with forty-
six songs, both old and new, has been
compiled with special care for the use
of troops and patrols all over the coun-
try. On account of liberal discounts
which we are able to make the price of
15 cents per copy can be reduced con-
siderably for orders of a large size. The
new mess kit offers much improvement.
It is made of heavier metal and the
broiler is electic welded and without
solder. The price remains the same, 75
cents.
In response to numerous demands for
a large troop flag, one has been issued
of "parade size," 4^ x 5y2 feet, made of
best all-wool bunting and selling for
$3.00. These flags can be lettered with
the troop number and town at the price
of 10 cents for each letter, numeral or
other character.
The Supply Department exists prima-
rily to render helpful service to members
of the Scout organization throughout
the country, and the trouble during the
past few months has been a source of
anxiety and dismay to those at National
Headquarters. Nothing is held more
important than to avoid disappointments
to boys who are eagerly awaiting the
receipt of supplies and equipment. Scout
Masters are urged to encourage the pur-
chase of supplies direct from National
Headquarters with the assurance that
prompt and careful service will be ren-
dered.
Every Scout official is urged to
interest the news editor of the local
newspaper in the publication of
one or more of the items in this
issue of Scouting.
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 1, Number 9, August 15, 1913, periodical, August 15, 1913; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282639/m1/2/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.